by Charles Cohon, President and CEO, MANA A sonnet written by a machine will be better appreciated by another machine. — Alan Turing, English computer scientist widely considered to be the father of artificial intelligence. Will there always be reps? That’s a question that I was asked when reps’ role delivering three-ring engineering binders was […]
by Jerry Leth, Vice-President and General Manager, MANA To be successful in sales requires creating high-trust relationships with customers. We like to buy from those we know and trust. When you search for manufacturers’ representatives to represent your company, you want to find those with high-trust relationships with the customers for what you supply. They […]
by Charles Cohon, President and CEO, MANA “I put $3 million down that hole in the ground and never heard it hit bottom.” — Thomas Edison When we think of Thomas Edison, we think of his successes. The electric light. The record player. But in 1881 he spent $3,000,000 to build machinery that he thought could extract […]
by Lisa Wilson, L.S. Wilson & Associates, Inc. Did you ever notice that when you pick up the phone to make a doctor’s appointment, call your insurance company, call a retail store or just about any company, you almost always get some kind of automated system? The message often states that “We are busy taking […]
by Charles Cohon, President and CEO, MANA “Some may think these trifling matters not worth minding, but they should remember that human felicity is produced by little advantages that occur every day.” — Benjamin Franklin What did Franklin mean? One example dates back to the days when America was still a British colony. Streets were […]
by Tommy Garnett, CPMR, CSP, Garnett Component Sales, Inc. Recently, I was attending a MANA function with many other manufacturers’ representatives and my peer group from various industries across the U.S. During the conference, we held an open forum Q&A and amongst the group were many single person agencies or simply rep agencies seeking advice […]
by Charles Cohon, President and CEO, MANA When manufacturers call me looking for help finding reps, I suggest that they take a lesson from gold miners. If you are looking for gold, start by looking for quartz. Gold often occurs in between quartz crystals. Looking for quartz can help you find gold you otherwise would […]
by Jerry Leth, Vice-President and General Manager, MANA As a manufacturer who partners with manufacturers’ representatives, we hope you create relationships with your manufacturers’ representatives that work well for both of you and last a long time. Your manufacturers’ representatives create high‑trust relationships with customers who then purchase what you supply because of that trust, […]
by Charles Cohon, President and CEO, MANA Yes, sometimes reps write a six figure or seven figure deal and get to keep all the money. And it happens more often than you’d think. How does this happen? It happens when the rep sells their rep firm to a new owner and retires. What kind of […]
by Michelle Jobst, CPMR, Jobst Incorporated The tasks business owners shouldn’t do and how AI and virtual assistants can help independent manufacturers’ reps. In the ever-evolving landscape of entrepreneurship, independent manufacturers’ representatives play a crucial role in driving business growth and success for their factories. These owners have a unique set of challenges and opportunities, […]
by Charles Cohon, President and CEO, MANA You say you are a great rep. Who else says so? You say you are a great manufacturer to represent. Who else says so? Who else says so? Now, other MANA members can say so, and MANA will showcase these endorsements where manufacturers looking for reps and reps […]
by Marnee Palladino, MARN, Inc.; edited by Stephanie Bray While we may not be 100 percent back to the pre-Covid normal, things have opened up and face-to-face events are happening again, just as MANA Board Chair Tommy Garnett’s May 2023 editorial shares with us (and encourages us to participate in). As a longtime colleague of […]
by Charles Cohon, President and CEO, MANA “I’ve become great friends with one of my reps,” said the manufacturer. “But he still is reluctant to give me blunt constructive criticism about our company. My rep says: ‘The nail that sticks up gets hammered down,’ which is why I started our rep council.” A rep council […]
by Jerry Leth, Vice-President and General Manager, MANA It’s not uncommon for me to get phone calls from MANA manufacturers’ representative members who start the conversation by telling me a long-term principal they’ve worked with just notified them they were terminating the relationship. When they tell me that, I then ask, “So, how long has […]
Network with MANA’s Board of Directors, MANA CEO & President Charles Cohon, and MANA VP & GM Jerry Leth. Daniel E. Beederman, MANA’s legal counsel and a partner in Chicago-based law firm Schoenberg Finkel Beederman Bell Glazer, LLC, is our featured speaker. Beederman will present: Rep Succession Planning — Why It Is so Important for […]
by Charles Cohon, President and CEO, MANA What would the world of manufacturers’ reps look like if MANA did not exist? Without MANA: What Do You Mean, Market Development Fee? MANA championed Market Development Fees (MDF) so that manufacturers without existing sales in a territory can get the attention of high-powered rep firms whose customers […]
by Sid Ragona, Ph.D., Ragona Scientific, LLC This is a two-part editorial solely focused on the subject of representing principals from overseas. In Part 1 of this editorial, we covered some of the soft skills associated with working with overseas companies such as holiday schedules, language and U.S. geography. In this month’s editorial, we cover […]
by Sid Ragona, Ph.D., Ragona Scientific, LLC Representing overseas principals can be a very enriching and rewarding experience. It involves all of the skills associated with representing a domestic principal plus some additional skills that one needs to be sensitive to before signing up with an overseas principal. I have close to two decades of experience […]
by Charles Cohon, President and CEO, MANA Let me tell you a story. I struck up a conversation with a rep at an industry event. The rep glanced to the left and right. Then the rep lowered their voice and said: “Can I tell you a secret?” “Most of my principals pay about the same […]
by Charles Cohon, President and CEO, MANA Reps will tell you two of the same things that Lewis and Clark would have told you. Sometimes the only way to discover what’s out there is to go and look. When we go out and look, some of the value we generate won’t benefit us immediately. But often, we […]