From a Reps Point of View...

Do I Really Need to Give Product Samples to Reps?

Depending on what you are manufacturing you probably need to give a good sampling of products to your sales reps that will be on the road. It may help to look at what tools your competitors are selling with and how they are doing currently with those tools.

If you are showing at market, discuss the amount of room you have to show and what is best to show in that space. Think best sellers. Think anything new. 

Sales reps generally do not want to lug around a bunch of samples. However, they do want the newest, latest, greatest products to show. If that means sales sheets, catalogs, samples, you need to determine this. If you are lucky, you may friend some sales reps who give you good advice in this area. It is always much better to be perceived as being generous with your samples versus being stingy. If you are perceived as being too tight fisted, you actually might cut off communication from sales reps and customers that could potentially be big orders!

It is important to arm sales reps with whatever you can before they go to market. EDUCATE them with emails or letters directly to them. Once they get to market every other company will be trying to get their attention. If you can, consider Early Bird Specials before market for businesses that make appointments or place orders before market begins. If they order prior to market, allow them to continue at the Early Bird Rate when they get to market. Naturally, have a market special also.

If you do not show at market you definitely need to look at show dates anyway! It is even more important to be creative and get your "NO MARKET" specials out well before the show dates. Consider it a market before market. If you do not do this, those dollars will be spent on items shown at market.

In general, do not give one of everything you have to sell. Reps need best sellers. If those come in various patterns/colors, choose one pattern per style. Personally, I would get together a group of people in your home town to help choose the samples. Do not just do this yourself! Have a varied age and ethnicity group to choose. Best of luck to you!

How to Choose a Showroom

Once you decide that your product line needs market representation you need to set aside time to choose which showroom, carefully. If your products have strong marketability they will want you as much as you want them to represent you. The larger your product line, the more space you will garner in their showroom.

Many showrooms are multi-line showrooms where your products will be presented along with numerous others. Start out by contacting stores in your region. Ask them which showrooms they like the best and why. You should end up with several showroom names. With these names in hand, contact the owners/managers of those showrooms and ask if they are accepting new lines at this time. If not, move on. If they are, then you should plan a visit to the showroom. Do not just drop in, schedule the visit if possible.

You need to do some reconnaissance work. Find out what type of mix of product lines they represent and generally what type of stores purchase from them. Then, get three customer references from them. Ideally find companies who are similar in size to you. You will want to reach out to them to understand the Showrooms strengths and weaknesses. We all have them. You need to marry theirs to yours.

You want to know:
- Sales force - Are they great order takers or full service sales reps? Do they go "on the road"? What do they need to sell? Be specific to each sales rep/region. Do they make appointments or usually get drop-ins? How do they handle new product lines the best?
- Shows - Which shows will you be shown at? What type of space will you get? Can you do a spiff to the sales reps? Can you have a little time to educate and enthuse them? Should you do an Opening Special? Will they want you there? Are their days that are typically better than others?
- Press - What does the showroom do to get people to their showroom? Social Media? Emails? Postcards? Can you be featured on any of it? Will it be an additional cost?

You may find that many showrooms are not terribly communication savvy. The actual market will  have access to lists of previous attendees. Consider hiring your own market staff that can create BUZZ before you get there. It would be beneficial to your new showroom and definitely to you. Businesses like to go with winners. Go in like a Winner.

But note that some showroom managers have egos, large egos. Anything you want to possibly do, you need to lay on the table before you ever agree to sign with that showroom.

See how organized they are. Upfront you should get a checklist of when things are needed, including your payment. Being in a showroom is about selling product. Just having a showroom take on your product means nothing if you don't sell things.

Why is it so hard to get good reps?

This may seem like the million dollar question but, honestly, it is not. Would you want to work for you? That may seem like a silly question, but sales representatives are merely 1099 employees - cheap help!

First, you have to have a good product. Assuming you do, you need to make everything clear before you start working together.

1. Pay regularly and on time. Reps need to know when you will pay them and the payment needs to never be missed nor delinquent. Never. If you are late, more than likely they have other lines that are not. It does not matter how much they like you or you product line, business is business.

2. Arm them with marketing tools. Amazingly, most companies do not equip their sales representatives with the right pieces they need to show the line. If you have independent sales reps or showroom reps they need:
    a. Product samples
    b. Product catalog with pricing
    c. Leave behinds (could be catalog)

3. Social Media tools. What social media are you involved with? Is there a way to engage reps if they would like to be part of it. This could easily help to grow your base and increase the number of people knowing about your organization.

4. Website. Serious companies have professional organized websites. At the very minimum, your reps name and contact information should be easily found on the site. A pet peeve of mine is that many companies allow ordering through the website, thus bypassing the sales rep. Representatives should be given fixed areas so when an order comes through such a source they will be credited. Otherwise, why would they want to promote your company?

5. Regular Promotions. There are generally two types of promotions. One is where an incentive is given to a Sales Representative for what they accomplish and the other is an incentive for the customer.  Companies will benefit from planning this a year out. Know in advance the months you will do something for the reps and the months (or seasons) you will offer something for customers. Make sure that your representative have the information before you EVER start promoting it on your website, email blasts, etc. The best way to undermine a rep is to send out a promotion before they have it. The absolute minimum lead time would be a week.

So, look those items over. How does your company stack up? Would you want to work for your company the way it is now? If so, send me an email, I'd love to check you out. If not, get to work. These are not hard fixes but they do take being consistent.

Packaging, Think out of the Box!

Do not underestimate the importance of packaging.  It is what will make the consumer pick up your product... or not.

Visit several stores to see which products grab your attention first. Are you curious about them or do you pass them by? If you want to know more about the product, then its packaging design has somewhat done its job. Next, the packaging should fully explain the product. The packaging can be cute, beautiful, expensive or cheap but it needs to do its job. I am holding an Oil of Olay bottle. On the back it clearly explains how to use it and what your expected results will be. Their logo is clear and large on the front side.

Packaging speaks to perceived quality of a product.  If your packaging includes the vital elements then what you are left with is the image.

I have worked with a manufacturer whose product is beautiful but their packaging cheapens it. In addition, due to poor packaging you cannot tell what the actual product is used for or made of. 

Your packaging doesn't have to be the most expensive but it needs to be suited to your product. I have seen beautiful woven items placed in clear bags tied with beautiful expensive ribbon along with a custom design tag that make a beautiful statement. That is not expensive packaging. That company thought about consumers and what they would want to see. They considered the types of stores (boutique or mass) that would be stocking their products.

Let's say you offer unique bath products that have proven selling scents and you want to grow your company.