Bob Reiss, one of our contributors, is a retired successful sales rep who is moving into his next career of “preaching the gospel” of using independent sales reps. Bob is more than just a veteran sales rep – his work is featured in a case study in the Harvard Business Review, he’s taught in MBA […]
I get asked about many issues which come up when a company is considering adding Independent Sales Reps to their organization: Where do I find them? Are they a good fit for my business? What should I look for in a rep? How long before I am seeing sales? Do I need a rep agreement? […]
Five keys to keep in mind while building your independent sales rep business are: Some of the best new lines do not have a sales history: We hear it every day, “not interested in pioneering a new line.” Makes perfect sense and has been a common theme for years. Yet some of the potentially really […]
Use Exclusive Territories for your Independent Reps to Increase Sales I talk with clients every day who struggle with how to lay out territories for their independent rep team. There are multiple ways to do it. We have seen three that seem to produce the most success on a consistent basis. Exclusive territories can be […]
Being “Rep-Ready” Be profitable with independent sales reps! Be a quality company with quality products and services. Fast track your sales with these 21 Steps to Success. We hear from reps quite often about companies are not “Rep ready” – they have various areas of unpreparedness or even a lack of professionalism when it comes […]
By Charles Cohon “Well, that’s what I used to say about pioneering lines,” says Ralph, a manufacturers’ rep. “I have a well-established line card and I just couldn’t justify taking time away from those lines to promote a product that wasn’t bringing in any income. But a manufacturer who really wanted me to rep his […]
It is important for sales reps to have a good state of mind when attempting to get appointments with busy, important people. First, do not take rejection (non-answering of your calls and correspondence) personally. Your target may literally get 50 plus requests a day for an appointment. This is in addition to their regular extreme […]
Here’s A New Way To Get It Done When we were a dominant supplier to Department and Gift stores in the stationary department, we utilized 17 Sales Rep groups to cover the country. We prided ourselves on the quality of our Reps. A number of times we had to hire new ones and after exhausting […]
In sales, time is money. When your livelihood depends completely on your sales commissions as an independent rep, it’s crucial to be constantly finding ways to improve and streamline your sales process. We’ve seen thousands of internal and external sales reps use digital tools like sales order management software to save time and work faster, […]
Social networking in many ways has made sales reps more attached to our computers and phones, but there is one social network that lays its emphasis on getting people out and about in the real world. That network is Meetup. Meetup was launched in 2002 and currently boasts over 9.5 million members. Having recently completed […]
5 Ways Sales Reps can Get Busywork Done Automatically with the iPhone or iPad Everyone knows salespeople have one of the hardest jobs around. But its not just how they act in front of customers and how good they are at closing a deal that makes a Salesperson great at their job. Salespeople need […]
Anyone working with or as an independent sales rep can benefit from the wisdom of Bob Reiss found in the archive of his blog for sales reps. Aside from his wealth of blog posts, Bob has valuable sales rep and entrepreneur resources on his Bootstrapping101 website, www.bootstrapping101.com/blog/. As a Harvard Business School graduate as well […]
The software landscape changes all the time. Start-ups innovate and new software models, such as Software as a Service (SaaS), emerge to change the way even the largest businesses do business. Despite this rapidly changing landscape, enterprise IT sales still operate on many of the same fundamental principles they always have. In fact, all of […]
The LED lighting industry in the United States is already quite large and new innovations on the market promise to only expand its reach. The market not only offers great opportunities for LED sales reps, it also saves energy and helps the environment. Eco-friendly lighting is an important aspect of any environmental movement due to […]
If you own a business in the apparel industry you are well aware you must think years in advance and anticipate changes in consumers, the supply chain, and more. How can you position yourself so that you’re catching the wave years into the future, not being knocked over by it and more powerful competitors? Read […]