A Manufacturer’s Sales Representative Company: Behind the Curtain

Sales Representative Companies – What are they?
No matter what you design at some point you need to get it manufactured. If you are manufacturing locally it can be a serious challenge to tie together with a launch date and marketing. But what if you don’t know the region such as overseas? Many companies large and small figure out where they want to manufacture and possibly also distribute to and then through some sort of magic achieve this.Manufacturers may have a Sale Representative Company involved in selling manufactured products through marketing or direct to store procedures implemented by them depending on contract agreed upon.

What’s Wanted in a Manufacturer's Sales Representative Company
There is a demand for sale representatives that have specification skills. This means specialists in a design or engineering background that know exactly how to define what the product is and their expertise is a useful feature in spec-driven sales. These days products and services are more complex than ever and so understanding what the technical product specification and solution specification is for a product and how it fits with potential customer needs is key. Sales that need to backend to a specialist every time they need to speak to clients do not last long.Regardless of whether a direct or indirect sales model, manufacturers are investing more resources and putting focus on an integrated sells operation, CRM and platforms to better manage the complexities of a modern marketplace.Regardless of market type manufacturers are consolidating and therefore more independent sales representatives are needed.These professions are screened by each manufacturer they represent to ensure they will represent them well, with many interviewed for regional ‘positions’ as they become available.Sales Representatives are usually 100% commission based and therefore need to be highly motivated. They have to be responsible for their own taxes, healthcare and other benefits that employees have to take care of. If they work in a larger company this commission basis may change to help retain newer employees as they get better getting contracts closed. This is usually up for negotiation between the representative firm and the employee as it will have to reflect their living requirements. None the less their retention is based on performance.

Added Value
Sales representative companies normally want to add more services that they can offer a prospective client and therefore ask for more commission during negotiation with the manufacturers that don’t want to deal with downstream challenges such as shipping, marketing and distribution. They may also provide separate bodies of work for such optional services however the manufacturers that they deal with need to agree with these policies as well as know them to reduce any ambiguity for the client.Added value by adding local campaigns can be sort after by clients as the manufacturer's sales representative company will know the best advertisers to deal with. In addition to this local logistics companies can be suggested that will not tarnish the client’s brand through delivery challenges.
These days sales representatives may also provide, for example, legal assistance on understanding local laws and policies for the management of end-of-life products. If a product is manufactured and used some locations require stringent recycle or upcycle processes to be in place for customers to legally return their products for such activities, with the responsibility falling on to the supplier; in this case the client and not the manufacturer.

Summary of Benefits
Due to consolidation of manufacturing, marketing, distribution and logistics into modular or integrated approaches, sales representative companies are needed more than ever before. They push the risk and overheads of additional services required to maintain a manufacturing client to the manufacturer's sales representative company. Meanwhile the client gets the benefit of specialised help from technically proficient teams in that manufacturing field and knowledge of local manufacturers, testing companies, marketing and many other services that can be offered. Through adding these the client does not need to waste time on granular details and sourcing reputable partners to work with as the manufacturer's sales representative company needs to obtain their commission while allowing for repeat future business.