COVER STORY employees and manufacturers to generate enthusiasm for a product. “There’s not much of a difference between our roles today and in years past,” says Rossignol rep Tim Parker, who carries the company’s entire line of alpine, Nordic, snowboard and softgoods. “We’re working to become better partners with our customers. With expenses increasing, you just have to be more focused and efficient.” What has changed is the days of huge buys up front. Retailers need their hands held more, adjusting to a new era of in-season buys throughout the winter. “People are trying to find more ways to do business on a consistent basis,” says Lamb. “Shops and vendors are having to keep inventories more level rather than bulking up orders all at once – they’re updating their inventory more regularly rather than one big buy. Reps need to be in better contact with shops.” Another problem, he notes, is many retailers relying on less-qualified sales staff to move winter wares. Many manufacturers have also cut back on funds previously allocated for things like point-of-purchase displays, placing an additional burden on merchandising. Even the role of reps showing up to organize demo days has changed, he says. “Consumer demo days seem to have waned in importance compared to new product demos for shops.” All this makes a rep’s role more pertinent than ever. “It’s back to the role it was 15 to 20 years ago,” Lamb says. “More and more reps are trying to do as much as they can over the phone and via email, but dealers need to be serviced now more than ever. Reps need to be in constant contact.”
FACE TIME
Facing extra burdens, reps are continually turning to organizations like Motz’s for a helping hand. Motz says that EORA, which has an annual retention rate of 90 percent, attracted 48 new members in 2009, on top of 48 new members in 2008. “We’re really trying to address how to help them with everything from shows to benefits,” she says, adding that in 2010 the association is hosting 10 shows for its members, up from 8 in 2008.
While admittedly cost-effective, manufacturers’ efforts to train dealers via the Web isn’t the perfect solution, he adds. “The Internet will never replace face time,” he says. “It’s hard for a company that doesn’t use reps to generate the enthusiasm they can create on the sales floor.”
Reps also understand the importance of joining forces. “I think we’ll see more agency business,” says Kent Fried, 49, a Mid-Atlantic rep for Hestra, Sun Valley Ski Tools, Lorpen Socks, Carrera and Atomic. “More reps will start banding together so they can carry more lines efficiently.”
Generating this buzz allows reps like Lamb to share the wealth. “When I find something working well,” he says, “I share that with all my retailers. It can be something as simple as displaying companies’ products all together rather all mix-mashed together. If I find things like this kiosk effect to work well, I let my other retailers know about it.”
Reps’ workloads are also increasing. “Manufacturers are in a pinch, too,” says Fried, citing everything from fewer free products to give shop employees to less emphasis on point-of-purchase displays. “With leaner staffs, things are coming back to the rep to get handled that didn’t in the past. The economy’s tough on everyone.”
Of course, Lamb is more attentive than most. He won this year’s Rep of the Year Award from SIA, an honor bestowed via a retailer poll, and estimates he’s on the road as many as 250 days per year. To offset increasing travel costs, years ago he purchased a motor home as a moving showroom. “But I’m an anomaly,” he says. “Most reps don’t travel as much as I do.”
On the bright side, Fried notes that most manufacturers’ inventory levels have been cleaned up and there likely won’t be the close-outs that have appeared in the past. At the same time, that also places an additional burden on retailers to buy up front since the product might not be around to re-order later. And that’s where a rep’s true role comes in, he says.
The goods ones prioritize it. “You don’t know what’s going on if you don’t go to the shop,” says Scott’s Day, who still makes it a point to drive around and visit retailers. “You have to go there to see what’s selling and what the trends are.”
“We’re in a relationship industry,” says Fried, who readily admits that he loves his job and loves visiting retailers. “If I have something that won’t work, I don’t push it. And people respect me for that. But the bottom line is we still have to pay the right attention to the right brand.”
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