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January 2026 By Jerry Leth For years, MANA used the same approach to help our manufacturer members find manufacturers’ representatives. We created a list of product classifications and asked the manufacturers’ representatives to select which ones they represented. Customers like to... Continue Reading
December 2025 By Marty Grimes I have often said the manufacturers’ representative business is like a three-legged stool. The three legs of the stool are the customer side of the business, the principal relationship side of the business, and managing the rep agency itself. This article... Continue Reading
December 2025 By Jack Foster It didn’t take long for Peter Zafiro to reference superpowers in the course of a MANAcast when he began speaking about the special relationship between manufacturers and reps. Zafiro, who noted that he had recently seen the “Fantastic Four” movie,... Continue Reading
December 2025 By Jack Foster What causes the relationship between principal and rep to disintegrate and how does the rep determine when it’s time to “cut bait” with a principal? Those were two of the critical questions addressed by MANA members in a MANAchat earlier this... Continue Reading
December 2025 By Kate Zabriskie Ever had that moment when a project seemed crystal clear during a meeting, only to find out weeks later that everyone had completely different interpretations? It’s like playing a grown-up version of the game “telephone,” where what starts as... Continue Reading
December 2025 By John Haskell Thinking from the other side of the desk or other end of the phone could help your rep firm make good moves in principal relationships. What do they think? “Oh, they don’t think!” Just not true. The principals control your income and your future... Continue Reading
December 2025 By Jeff Beals Most sales pros know they should network to help them more effectively prospect for new business. I remember as far back as high school being told by my guidance counselor that I needed to “meet a lot of people and build a network.” That was great advice... Continue Reading
December 2025 By Dave Kahle All too often, salespeople are directed by the urgencies of the moment: A lead pops up, a customer calls with a problem or some paperwork to which you need to attend. They find themselves busily pursuing an agenda created by other people. They are busy, but too often... Continue Reading
December 2025 Each year MANA recognizes members who are celebrating special anniversaries of their MANA memberships. In this issue we recognize members who are celebrating 75, 65, 60, 55, 50, 45, 40, 35, 30 or 25 years of MANA membership. MANA thanks and congratulates these members for their... Continue Reading
December 2025 | Principal Focus By Jack Foster When a manufacturer that was considering making the move from a direct to an outsourced sales force asked the question: “What should I expect from my rep?” we were reminded of how that question was answered years ago in a MANA... Continue Reading
December 2025 By Mark Hunter AI is powerful, but only if you use it wisely. Avoid these mistakes, and you’ll be ahead of the game. Let me walk you through the biggest mistakes I see people making when it comes to AI and prospecting. 1. Thinking more is better More is not better. Just... Continue Reading
December 2025 By Eric S. Engel In last month’s Agency Sales magazine, we explored ways in which principals and sales reps can be cheated out of commission payments by third-party fraudsters who hack and spoof their way into electronic transfers. In our hypothetical example, RepCoInc is... Continue Reading
