Category: Getting the Most From Your Reps
Managing Your Sales Team
Nothing happens by accident anymore, especially when it comes to sales. It used to be so much simpler; you’d buy a good directory, circle those companies that would make good prospects, call them, set up a meeting, go see them and if you did a pretty good job in that meeting you’d get a quote and if you were in […]
It’s Time To Rethink The Whole Rep Thing
For years now I have been working with reps acting as the liaison between them and the circuit board shops I work with. During that time I have seen the interest those reps have in working with board shops diminish as quickly as the market for fax machines. Most reps seem to have lost it for our shops. They seem […]
Don’t Fire Them,Fire Them Up!
Years ago, many years ago now, I read a book titled “Don’t fire them, Fire them up!” it was written by Frank Pacetta, an executive at Xerox at the time, and as the title states it was all about getting people fired up so that they would be great salespeople. The little book has stuck with me for years, in […]
When Was The Last Time Your Independent Reps Described You As “Indispensable” ?
There is that old adage that goes: the more you put into your reps the more you will get out of them. Which I believe is absolutely true. True to the point that if you want to have a successful relationships with your reps you have to give them everything they need to be successful. Let’s face it those of […]
On Being A Great Sales Manager
The position of sales manager is the most important and yet most underrated position in the company. Just to be straight here by the term” sales manager”, I mean the top sales person in the company, the one who is responsible for managing, measuring and motivating the sales team; the person who is responsible for their success and most of […]
How To Attract Great Reps
Look we all know that this is one of our industry’s greatest challenges. For a number of reasons not the least being that many board shops have screwed many reps over the years, it is getting more and more difficult to get good reps to represent us. I know that of all the services I provide finding good reps is […]
Tools For Managing Your Sales Team
Nothing happens by accident anymore, especially when it comes to sales. It used to be so much simpler; you’d buy a good directory, circle those companies that would make good prospects, call them, set up a meeting, go see them and if you did a pretty good job in that meeting you’d get a quote and if you were in […]
Growing Salespeople From Within Your Company
We all know that finding and hiring good sales people has become a problem. There are just not that many good ones out there right now. They are either, retired, gone to work in other fields or like the old general himself just faded away. So what are you going to do? You need sales people. You need more feet […]
Finding Salespeople For Contract Manufacturers
We talked last week about how contract manufacturers need sales and marketing So, being a big proponent of the putting your money where your mouth is school of thought, this week we’re going to talk about finding and hiring the right salespeople to sell your services. “Aren’t sales people alike?” I hear you asking. Yes, in some ways they are, […]
When Will PCB Shops Understand Rep Firms?
I spend a lot of my time helping board shops with their rep issues. I spend a lot of time trying to convince these shops that they are going to have to change the way they handle their rep relationships and start treating them as partners rather than second hand citizens if they want this whole thing to work. I […]
