Sales reps are an important part of the industry and, more importantly, your business. Make sure you use them to their full potential, writes Jeremy Burkhardt.

As an independent business owner in the custom electronics industry, your main point of contact with a particular brand would be through an independent sales representative who sells many product lines. This is been a popular market strategy for many companies as it costs far less than hiring a full time team of people for each territory.

As a result, the questions I hear many dealers ask are: ‘What is a rep supposed to do?’ and ‘Why do they get big commissions on every single product I buy?’

Recently, however, several independent sales reps have been fired. I have never fired anyone that I think is doing a great job and I think that is probably the rule for most factories, but as business has slowed some factories think they can get rid of their reps to save money in the short term.

But without a great sales team, products don’t sell.

If I could bet on most of the reps that were recently terminated being rehired in the next six to 12 months, I would. After all, how can you run a kick-arse brand without someone leading the charge with every dealer on a daily basis?

Having employed both factory direct and independent reps since 1994 let me give you the low down on what a good sales rep should do for you.

The following has been compiled with SpeakerCraft dealer input from around the US, in discussion groups and factory focus groups.

You have told us that you have some great reps and some lame ones. Reps are your lifeblood and they should be seen as your business partner. So, as with any business relationship, I suggest you set a clear set of expectations of what you want from a rep upon visiting you.

The days of just dropping in are long gone; it’s all about delivering value so that when your meeting is over you can make more money.

I suggest you have one or two days a month that all your reps visit. You should send them the agenda of what you want to cover and also ask for their agenda in advance.

The most important thing a rep does on your behalf is ‘fix stuff’. When something goes wrong with a product or an order, or if there are any other issues, they need to be your ‘go-to’ person to get stuff done. No matter what it takes they need to get the problem resolved – they need to make calls, get the right product shipped, follow through, over-communicate and make sure you are always taken care of.

They are your factory advocate. They need to go into bat for you with a factory about terms, credit limits and deals. Your rep is in charge of helping you flourish with the brands they carry.

They should also help you to protect your territory. You want/need to know who is selling products and who is competing against you. And you have certain requirements of the lines you carry as it pertains to distribution. The rep needs to keep you in the loop and respect you.

They should also know more about the product they sell than anyone else in the market. If your rep isn’t technical and you have to call a factory for an answer, then that rep sucks. This is why they get paid and they need to bleed the technology.

A good rep should also have full training programs available for each brand they sell and at any time be able to make an appoint to train you and your staff. The best reps will introduce you to new business opportunities by training you on more than just products.

From simple literature to in-depth training on how to program or install, if your rep doesn’t have a car full of samples and sales support materials then they are screwing you as factories spend millions on these tools.

They should be able to share best practices with you, evaluate your facility, showroom, employees, pay and contracts and offer ideas to help you grow.

The role of sales has changed more in the last ten years than I believe in the history of the world. Companies often appear online with incredibly low prices, and they get business despite not offering any support. Other companies don’t value you enough to answer the phone and then when you get someone they’re probably across some ocean.

Your local rep is your friend and advocate, use them all you can as those commissions range from 1% to over 10% on every product you buy.

Become important to them by making commitments and meeting them and I promise that if the rep is worth their salt they will take good care of you.