MANUFACTURERS REPS – HOW TO IMPROVE INDUSTRIAL SELLING IN 30 DAYS

How To Improve Industrial Selling In 30 Days

If you want to sell, or presently do sell, as a Manufacturer’s Rep, there are a plethora of things you must do on a daily and weekly basis. Helping yourself “sell better” unfortunately is not a priority due to time and other life constraints. The life of a rep here has great rewards and comes with the ability to make a superior living ($100-150,000) out of the vortex of corporate politics and all too often the hindrances placed on selling and booking deals.

Many Reps will represent anywhere from 7-10 corresponding products that don’t compete but complement each other. This does require some experience in the sale and managing of accounts. It is common to see salespeople entering the field anywhere from their late 20’s up to their forties with up to twenty years of experience in a particular space or industry, according to Joe Miller, president of the Manufacturers’ Agents National Association (MANA).

Many manufacturers, whether domestic or international, enjoy having these “outside sales forces” vs. costly “on payroll” sales teams. It is more effective, especially in a slow or downturn economy. It has proven to deliver more productivity and a higher degree of cost-effectiveness. However, internal sales teams get training, but many independent reps are on their own.

Demand is still a driver here. In some cases, according to Miller, it is not uncommon for MANA to get calls about needing good Reps and the low inventory of these professionals. Although, this is not an effortless way to make a living, especially if you are new to the industry. Often, it can take at a minimum a couple of years to obtain enough products to meet your financial goals. If the rep happens to cover a broad group of customers, especially new companies (start-ups), it will carry more risk when they factor in an automobile, sales expenses, and supply issues.

All industries are changing in how sellers conduct business, especially using consultative selling. As a component of this, one of the biggest changes is how “social media selling” is impacting all industries and markets. Reps, like all salespeople, are doing exponentially more work selling (free gifts-of-knowledge”) than ever before. Compounding this challenge, we believe many reps do not have the time to hone their client skills, especially when it comes to changing buyer mentalities. All of this has a direct impact on “closing”. Reps can seek out help, and defer some of these costs by adding them to their orders, or if they do business with wholesalers, they can embark on joint sales calls while helping these salespeople learn their products.

There are many free and easy ways a rep can tune up their sales skills and which fit into busy schedules. SDM believes that selling knowledge needs to be easy to acquire, learn, and fit into how you do business. Manufacturer reps travel quite a lot, and it affords them opportunities where they can listen to articles, blog posts, or audio files to help brush up on selling skills.

Revenue Accelerators helps reps, small business owners and salespeople easily learn the latest “tips & tricks”  using:

Single topic sales gifts-of-knowledge (qualifying, negotiating…. and closing)

Consultative cheat sheets on email, phone and appointment strategies.

20-minute “speed learning” on latest tools, like “Using Social Selling to Outflank Competitors”.

Where to get “free” content and where to go to the Internet to get it.

Revenue AcceleratorsTM is the ONLY provider empowering Vendor Sales & Marketing teams to easily and more rapidly acquire high-performing opportunities from accessing and engaging Decision Makers and C-Suite. By defining the Vendors solution’s financial value, aligning it into Target Account objectives and business initiatives and using 1:1 ABM value messaging in SPEEDSHEETS; we transform Product to Value selling overnight for faster and easier selling. www.revenueaccelerators.com

 

MANUFACTURERS REPS – HOW TO IMPROVE INDUSTRIAL SELLING IN 30 DAYS

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