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It's Only Common Sense: Sales Reps—There Has to Be a Better Way, Part 2

In the first column of this four-part series, I discussed the idea that the rep/principal relationship is no longer as productive as it once was. I discussed the disconnect between what the reps want out of the relationship and what the principals want from it.  I also discussed how this relationship has to not only be examined and re-examined but overhauled as well.

During the next two weeks, the focus will be on what each of them want from the other. This week, I start with a focus on what the principals want from their reps, and what their expectations are when they work with a rep. Next week, this column will focus on the reps’ point of view and what they want from the relationship.

To conclude the series, we will reveal our take on what the relationship should be moving forward. 

It’s quite a list, but it’s worth going through each of these. Principals want from their reps to: 

1. Bring them all the business they need in a very short time. 
2. Be a less expensive alternative to direct salespeople who cost in the low six figures when you include travel expenses, cars, benefits, entertainment, and commissions. From this point of view, reps make a lot of sense. 
3. Act like they are part of the company. Be as dedicated to the company as their direct employees are. 
4. Bring them customers sooner than later. 
5. Get them the right kind of business. 
6. Know what the right kind of business is. 
7. Do a lot of prospecting for them. 
8. Act as if they are the only principal they have. 
9. Be available whenever they call a meeting. 
10. Include their company on their line cards. 
11. Highlight them on their websites. 
12. Set up a week of ride along calls anytime they want to go visit them. 
13. Market their company for them. 
14. Be willing to cut commissions whenever they are asked. 
15. Have very short termination clauses. 
16. Be willing to allow other reps in their territory. 
17. Agree to split commissions when the principal feels it is the right thing to do. 
18. Never complain even if the principals are really screwing up. 
19. Successfully sell no matter what, thinking that “a good salesperson is one who can get the order even if the company is late on all their orders to that customer.” 
20. Share in the pain and understanding if the company, through no fault of the rep, is going under. 
21. Consider herself lucky to be representing such a fine company as theirs. 
22. Feel privileged to sell for their company. 
23. Be willing to leave without repercussions when the principals don’t want them around anymore. 
24. Be willing to be the last to get paid when money is tight. 
25. Be willing to credit commissions when, through no fault of their own, the product fails and is returned to the principal. 
26. Be willing to work non-exclusive contracts. 
27. Be the last to be paid and only 30 days after the principals gets paid. 
28. Be willing to wait up to 10 months before they see a red cent for all of their efforts. 
29. Be willing to share their territory with a new rep who convinces the principal that he can do a better job. 
30. Go to trade shows and tend the booth on her own dime. 
31. Attend sales meeting at his own expense. 
32. Take a cut in commissions if their account gets so big that they are making too much money. 
33. Lose all equity in a large account because the principal is going to make it a house account. 
34. Take a cut in commissions because, now that the account is mature, the inside salespeople are handling it and don’t feel that the rep is adding value. 
35. Start chasing a completely new set of customers once the principal has added a new technology. 
36. Work on a descending sliding scale because the account has grown to a very large size. 
37. Not get upset for not getting copies of the quotes. 
38. Not get upset for being excluded in negotiations with their customers. 
39. Let the inside salespeople take over their accounts while they are sent out to get new accounts. 
40. Not add complementary accounts even through they are truly non-competing accounts.

This list of 40 expectations is really just the start of what companies want from their reps. This is not just my opinion; during 40-plus years spent working with both principals and their reps, I have witnessed every single one of these expectation many times. Moreover, if you think this is a list of very tough and unreasonable expectations, wait until next week when we list what the reps expect from their principals! Until then… 

It’s only common sense.

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.