Selling Through Independent
Reps
Selling through independent
reps is a powerful method for improving market share, rapidly penetrating new markets,
developing a strong sensitivity to local markets, and reaching impressive new targets in
your organization's growth trajectory-and with very little expense on your part.
But for all the benefits,
it's not a hands-off, no-fuss strategy. Developing a highly skilled, highly
motivated independent sales force requires careful, thoughtful, continual
management. Otherwise, you fall prey to the mistakes many of your competitors make, such
as hiring the wrong team, or being fuzzy on objectives, or providing inadequate support
for the reps.
Now you can learn how to
sidestep the problems-and maximize the benefits-with the third edition of the most
comprehensive and trusted guide to the topic: Selling Through Independent Reps. The
book gives you a proven six-step process for successfully mobilizing an independent sales
force to reach your goals.
You'll learn how to:
1. Define your objectives,
and design strategies for achieving them.
2. Determine which sales
channels best fit those strategies.
3. Create a profile of the
rep that best matches your short- and long-term needs.
4. Locate the best available
rep for each channel, in each trading area.
5. Develop a total support
system to ensure channel commitment.
6. Audit the entire system
constantly, making adjustments for changing conditions.
In addition, Selling
Through Independent Reps cuts through damaging misperceptions and flagrant
misinformation, giving you a clear idea about what sales reps are all about, how they
differ from direct salespeople, and what motivates them to excel. And you'll find sample
documents, forms, and letters to help you structure equitable contracts and commissions.
PLUS: This third edition
includes valuable new chapters on legal issues and trends... new information about
integrating sales force automation systems with independent rep networks... updated
guidelines on using independent sales organizations in foreign countries... new case
studies and appendices-including a thorough and up-to-date reference list of independent
reps-and more.
Whether your company is
currently considering using independent reps or has used them for years, whether yours is
an industrial-products or a consumer-oriented organization, whether you are in a
multibillion-dollar corporation or an entrepreneurial venture: This book offers key
insights and a proven methodology for maximizing your sales and profits using independent
reps.
Harold J. Novick is
president of Novick & Associates, Inc., a general management and industrial marketing
consulting firm that specializes in helping companies increase sales and profits by using
independent reps and distributors. His clients include Babcock & Wilcox, DuPont,
Mitsubishi, Monsanto, and Unisys. Previously, Mr. Novick served as president of the
Permutit Company, Inc., and Garry Manufacturing Company, and as Group Executive at
Research-Cottrell. He has also held senior sales and marketing positions at Joy
Manufacturing Company and Westinghouse. He is the author of the two previous editions of
this book, and his articles have appeared in Industry Week, Business Marketing,
Management Review, and many other magazines. He lives in Pittstown, New Jersey.
344 pages