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Independent Sales Agents/Brokers
An independent sales agent, also known as a Manufacturer’s Rep, is an independent business comprised of sales, marketing and customer service professionals who represent two or more related but non-competitive products/services in a well defined territory and industries such as restaurants, hotels, etc. They are compensated primarily on a commission basis for goods shipped for their clients (who might be manufacturers, distributors, importers or service providers.
Let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of contracting ‘Independent Sales Agents’.
First, I’d like to make a full disclosure. I have never hired an independent sales agent so the following information has been collected from third parties. Advantages of hiring ‘Independent Sales Agents’
As stated earlier, independent sales agents work within tightly defined territories and industries. This fact could help with overcoming barriers to entry that exist within some industries such as medical health, etc. because the agent will already have an established relationship with stakeholders. Independent sales agents will have in-depth knowledge and expertise related to industry that they could immediately pass on. And there’s normally very little to no set up cost required. Other benefits might include:
- Very little to no training needed
- Could be used to generate leads
- Disadvantages of hiring ‘Independent Sales Agents’
The up-side to contracting an independent sales agent appears very appealing, but if only life was so easy. Very little to no commitment or loyalty to your organization: ISA are going to concentrate on their main products, the bread and butter products. Your product will need to audition for a main spot and be up against potentially hundreds of other products or services. However, this audition process could prove useful as a form of market research to help you prepare to enter the market.
Obviously, if you are not getting centre-stage, your sales will be non-existent to very few – very few indeed. Other disadvantages include:
- No control of sales agents.
- How to recruit an independent sales agent
OK, so you’ve read the advantages and disadvantages of hiring an independent sales agent and still want to give it a try. A good starting point would be to get in touch with all the trade associations associated with the industry that you are targeting.
You could also talk to business owners and managers within that market and ask them for name(s) of any agents who already call on them. And finally, you could also try some of the online resources.
Promoting Your sales Position as a Business Opportunity
In the past, I have successfully recruited sales people by framing the job as a business opportunity on websites such as eBay. At a stretch, you can actually make a profit promoting your sales position BUT doing this will require quite a lot of extra work.
For example, you’ll need to create an auction listing, which is basically a sales letter.
NOTE: Although, this method can work, I have personally found it notoriously slow. When you place listings on eBay or online/offline classified ads responses are practically non-existent.
Author Bio
Charles West is a professional content writer and blogger since last 2 years. I have writing expertise in technology and certification topics specially. I love to share that recently I passed my 640-875 exam from SAS institute and 640-878 exam from VMware. Thanks for reading.