Manufacturers Increase Sales With Independent Sales Reps

In today's economy with the rising costs of employee benefits and increasing pressure from international competition, U.S. manufacturers are looking for every advantage they can get. This is one of many reasons that the use of independent manufacturers' reps, also known as sales reps, is becoming a more popular option for them.

First, manufacturers are able to save a tremendous amount of cash by alleviating the expense of health & retirement benefits that comes with hiring employees. For example, the median annual salary for a full-time sales representative employee in New York State is $60,000. In comparison, the average cost of an employee's health and retirement benefits in New York State is an additional $15,000, roughly 25% of the employee's actual salary. Even if your company has only one sales rep for each state within the U.S., it does not take long for these expenses to add up. When retaining the services of independent sales reps, manufacturers don't pay for their health and retirement benefits.

Second, independent reps work on commission. And they are only paid a commission when they complete a sale. This eliminates the expenses incurred by employed sales personnel who may be underachieving as they've grown comfortable with their salary, but lost their motivation. Simply put, if independent sales representatives want to support themselves, they need to make sales – many sales. That is the best type of motivation sales reps have to perform or even, over achieve.

Third, recruiting independent reps costs you, the manufacturer, a fraction of what it costs to recruit and train your full-time employees. Many companies spend thousands of dollars advertising in local newspapers, on radio and expensive web sites such as Monster.com. Maybe you're one of them. If you are, you probably discovered that these employment ads -- buried among thousands of other job postings -- are only seen in one specified city. Then, you are left with the time-consuming task of weeding through endless applicants that, many times, do not even meet your job requirements.

In contrast, there's a Web site called http://www.manufacturers-representatives.com . It provides its manufacturer clients with one nationwide resource (that includes over 200 clearly defined industry categories) where they can list their sales opportunities. The Web site also goes a step further by pre-qualifying applicants for you. You select the minimum requirements for your sales opportunity. If an interested sales rep does not meet your minimum requirements, they are not able to submit their online profile (or resumé) to you.

This service is completely free to all sales reps. For manufacturers, it is the most highly targeted and lowest cost recruiting option available anywhere online or in print. A 30-day free trial allows manufacturers to post their sales opportunities at no cost and see if sales reps respond. When they do, http://www.manufacturers-representatives.com sends an e-mail to the manufacturer indicating the rep's background and qualifications. This allows them to gauge interest in their sales opportunity.

From that point, in order to access the contact information, manufacturers need to subscribe to the service. There are 4 subscription options starting as low as $55.95 a month with a 12-month commitment or $99 for one month. This is definitely a much more cost-effective option when compared to a cost of $399 for monster.com.

What Industries Use Independent Reps

Manufacturers from virtually every industry are utilizing independent sales reps today. Any industry that utilizes sales personnel is able to take advantage of the vastly growing population of qualified independent reps working around the country. At manufacturers-representatives.com, a sampling of some of the 200 industry categories they serve includes:

Aerospace

Apparel

Automobile

Beauty / Fashion

Construction

Finance / Insurance

Health Care

Industrial

Small Business

Sporting Goods

Transportation

Utilities

Businesses of All Shapes and Sizes

Manufacturers of all shapes and sizes are utilizing independent sales reps. Manufacturers-representatives.com currently serves a diverse group of clients ranging from small start-up businesses to multi-national Fortune 500 corporations. Regardless of the size of your company or the industry you are in, the advantages of utilizing a sales force of independent reps remains the same – save on advertising, recruitment, training, benefit package expenses and more.

Not Just for Manufacturers

While manufacturers have been the first group of businesses to take full advantage of the still untapped potential of independent reps, service-based businesses are also beginning to jump on the bandwagon. Whether you are selling office cleaning and maintenance services to marketing and web site design, companies like yours are utilizing independent reps to help them expand their reach, increase their clientele and therefore, their profits.