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Issue: May 2024 Will Artificial Intelligence Be the End of Reps? — Part 2 By Charles Cohon © PrettyVectors | stock.adobe.com Last month I started a discussion about why Artificial Intelligence (AI) won’t be the end of reps. This month I share two stories that show why AI can’t replace reps. AI Can’t Ask for a Favor Someone at my principal in Europe decided to ship mounting hardware by ocean freight (eight-week delivery) instead of air freight (two-week delivery), so mounting hardware stock dropped to zero for six weeks. The factory’s message: Tell your customers they have to wait.” My principal’s products were useless without mounting hardware and customers’ production lines were shut down. My largest customer was about to switch vendors. So I called another customer who had ample mounting hardware and asked for a favor. I need to borrow 1,000 meters of mounting hardware for a month.” That customer let me borrow that hardware and I saved my largest customer. AI can’t do that. AI Won’t Push Back My largest customer had a rule. If you don’t increase your prices, you get to keep the business. Every year my principal announced a routine 5 percent price increase. Every year I pushed back because prices in this product category actually were going down, and if the customer shopped around, they could get the same product for 30-40 percent less. Every year the factory backed off and this became one of their most profitable customers. Then a sales manager who never met the customer took the account away from me and gave it to a direct salesperson 700 miles from the customer. And, when the factory announced its annual 5 percent price increase, the direct salesperson did exactly what he was told and insisted on the increase. The customer found a new source for half the price. AI is just like that direct salesperson. It does exactly what you tell it to do. Unlike AI, reps will push back when the factory does something foolish. AI can’t do jobs that require trust and independent thinking. Those jobs will always go to reps. Posted in MANA Minute Relationship Reviews — Strengthening the Partnership Between Manufacturer and Rep By Jerry Leth One of MANA’s highest priorities is helping manufacturers’ reps and manufacturers develop mutually profitable, interdependent, and long‑lasting relationships. Part of the process includes relationship reviews — manufacturers’ representatives and principals should constantly be reviewing each other’s performance with the goal of improving the relationship. Improving the relationship involves both of you. On our own, we fail to see how others perceive our performance. We think we do okay, but unless someone comments on how we do something, we never know. We may do something we think is fine and it drives the other party nuts. They do not say anything, … Read the rest Posted in Editorial in the Field Reps Build Something of Their Own By Jack Foster The three partners of The Garham Group have been able to achieve their goals of successfully creating and growing a business all their own while Bringing Products to Life.” As stated on the agency’s website (www.garhamgroup.com), the products they bring to life” reside primarily in their customers’ backyards. Anthony Zasuwa, one of the agency’s three partners, states: We specialize in exterior building and outdoor living materials. These include decking, railing, cladding, foundation, and hardscape products. During the last five years, there’s been a real emphasis on backyard spaces. As an agency, we focus on selling innovative products that last a … Read the rest Posted in Feature Changes Can Trigger Line Productivity Analysis By Jack Foster Sometimes it takes a trigger to spur a rep into action. It might be something along the lines of a change in commission rates, new ownership taking over a manufacturer, or dealing with a new sales manager, but whatever the cause, reps report that performing line productivity analysis can be an indispensable tool when these changes occur. That was the gist of conversations that took place in the course of a MANAchat devoted to the subject of reps carefully analyzing how profitable their lines are. One rep started off the conversation by stating a fairly common predicament that many reps … Read the rest Posted in Feature Key Factors in Choosing a New Principal By Michael Berry Whether you are looking to replace a line, expand your line list, or start from scratch and build your agency business, there are many factors to...