Find Manufacturers’ Reps to Sell Your Products

Most industrial businesses sell their products through independent sales organizations that are known as “manufacturers’ representatives.” The funny apostrophe on the end of “manufacturers” makes the word a plural possessive, since each representative represents several manufacturers. It’s a good concept, and the proof that it is a good idea is the fact that manufacturers’ representatives have been around for over 100 years. In “The Music Man,” a manufacturers’ rep who sells among other things, anvils, shows up looking for Professor Hill.   

Manufacturers’ representatives have matured from being just a single salesperson who represents several manufacturers to a small business with several salespeople and an office staff to support them that represents several manufacturers in a sales territory. A manufacturers’ rep typically represent non-competing businesses that all sell to the same industry or group of related industries. That enables a manufacturers’ rep to call on and offer multiple products and/or services to the same customer, making each sales call far more productive.

One of the major advantages of a manufacturers’ rep is that the cost is back-loaded since manufacturers’ reps work on straight commission. The rep is paid after he has landed the order, the order has been filled, the customer has been invoiced, and the bill has been paid.

Everyone in the industrial sector agrees that manufacturers’ representatives are a good idea. The only problem is finding one. Let’s say you are a manufacturer of electrical and electronic parts and assemblies, and you need representation in the Pacific Northwest. How do you find a manufacturers’ rep to sell your products to electrical and electronic equipment OEMs in Oregon and Washington? You cannot run an ad for them in the classifieds or at Monster.Com. Most companies end up resorting to networking around to try to find a manufacturers’ rep, and many companies go for years without direct sales coverage in many of their sales territories because it is so difficult to find a rep. The manufacturers’ reps are out there; they are hiding in plain sight.

Niche players identify a need, then find a way to fill that need, and that is what the Manufacturers Representatives National Resource Center (MRNRC) did and does. It is a sort of head-hunter, but for manufacturers’ reps instead of corporate executives. It conducts a manufacturers’ rep search for companies in need of reps. Manufacturers let MRNRC know exactly what they are looking for – what they want to sell, what industries they want to sell to, and what territories they need filled – and the Manufacturers Representatives National Resource Center does the rest.

And like manufacturers’ reps – who are paid on the back-end based on the results (sales) they generate for their principals (the manufacturers they represent) –  MRNRC is also paid on the back end, receiving a flat fee for each manufacturers’ rep it locates, recommend to the manufacturer, and the manufacturer contracts with to represent the company. And the Manufacturers Representatives National Resource Center guarantees each completed search. If the manufacturers’ rep quits or is terminated in the first 90 days, MRNRC conducts a second search at no charge.

MRNRC provides services besides just manufacturers’ rep recruitment. It helps manufacturers develop rep support programs, commission plans and rep agreements. The Manufacturers Representatives National Res0urce Center strives to be exactly what their name implies – a resource – so it provides valuable and practical advice to both manufacturers and reps. For example, “What do manufacturers want from independent sales reps?” The answer? “For starters, they do NOT want too much independence!”

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