From what MANA hears, due to the inability of our manufacturers’ representative members to make face-to-face calls with customers, they have more downtime.
Why not put this downtime to good use?
For example, when was the last time you performed a Line Profitability Analysis? Up until recently, everyone was so busy, they did not have time to do one. Now you do.
Same with professional sales training. How salespeople create high-trust relationships with customers differs today from how it was done not that long ago. The way you communicate with them today differs significantly from how you did it not that long ago. Take advantage of your extra available time to improve your sales skills.
Now might be a good time to connect with your principals, some who may be working from home as well, and create some mutual action plans for what to do together to get back on track and grow when this crisis is over.
A good way to start would be to create a strategic plan that guides you through all the steps to achieve the goals you set for this downtime. Plans identify the goals and what you need to do to get there. Now is the time to act because when post-COVID-19 comes upon us, we are going to be way too busy. Please login to the member area of the website and access the “Steps to Rep Professionalism” program. It provides many useful resources to help you get started.