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July 2026 By Rick Pierce As a seasoned manufacturers’ representative agency owner since 1994, I have seen a lot of good, some very bad and some just okay. We are in this together, and both the rep and the principal have one common goal — to increase sales. As a rep we need to fully... Continue Reading
July 2026 By Jack Foster One of the secrets to Tony Hatton’s success as the president of Hatton Associates, LLC, is that before opening the doors to his own agency about four years ago, he was fully armed with more than 25 years’ working as a rep and several years of working as the... Continue Reading
July 2026 By Jack Foster The marketplace is busier now than it’s ever been. That’s why it’s critical for reps to be able to break through the noise, get prospective customers’ attention and build relationships. Ultimately, that will allow them to sell with integrity. In... Continue Reading
July 2026 By John Haskell Whether the rep firm has a designated sales manager or not, someone has to fill that role. There are so many parts of the rep firm that require a designated sales manager. Not having this function defined is a flaw in rep firm operations that can really hurt. Why Does... Continue Reading
July 2026 By Bob Wendover I started a rather large project a few months ago. It’s got a lot of elements and moving parts. I sat down at the very beginning and outlined the steps. I considered the pros and cons of the various ways to approach the project. I researched the vendors I would... Continue Reading
July 2026 By Kate Zabriskie Most of us become managers because we excelled at our previous jobs, not because we had a grand vision for leadership. One day we’re individual contributors, and the next we’re juggling endless meetings, urgent emails and last-minute crises while trying to... Continue Reading
July 2026 The Culture You Allow Is the Culture You Lead By Nathan Jamail You can feel it when a team culture is off. People are guarded. Trust is low. Meetings feel like landmine fields. Morale is in the gutter. And performance? Forget it. Even your best producers start mentally checking... Continue Reading
July 2026 By Dave Kahle In my 20+ years of educating salespeople, I have encountered tens of thousands of salespeople. The vast majority of them want to do better. They want the benefits of greater success: increased income, greater respect from their peers and managers, and increased... Continue Reading
July 2026 By John Tschohl If you are going to be relentless in serving your customers, you must first understand the meaning of that word. Relentless is an obsession with providing exceptional service to your customers. It’s a propulsive, self‑directed passion to continue to learn, to... Continue Reading
July 2026 | Principal Focus By Jack Foster No manufacturer wants to lose a good rep. At the same time no rep wants to lose a good principal. But sometimes situations develop that change the winning equation that allows two companies to work well together. That was the case with one manufacturer... Continue Reading
July 2026 By Jeb Blount Here’s a question that hits every sales professional right in the gut: What do you do when your email prospecting tanks and you’re staring at response rates that are circling the drain? That’s a question I hear constantly from sales development... Continue Reading
July 2026 By Jonathon Ward I often see situations where a contractor relationship (often a salesperson) deteriorates, the parties go their separate ways and then, despite everyone agreeing for years that there was an independent contractor relationship, there is a dispute as to the nature of the... Continue Reading
