A logical approach to synergistic selling

Agency Sales,  Oct 2003  by Brosseau, Al

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Even the most casual look at Craig Lindsay's line card provides a deep ap-preciation for how he's incorporated the concept of syn-ergistic selling into the work of his agency. Nestled comfortably among the many safety-oriented products that he represents is none other than that all-time fa-vorite sports drink, Gatorade.

Lindsay, who heads Pacesetter Sales & Associates Ltd., Toronto, Ontario, explains how he makes this uniquely synergistic sale: "Gatorade is just one of the 13 product lines we represent. Sure, it's a consumer-market product and anyone's first thought is that the sale is being made to an ath-letic team. But consider that to-day it's 91 degrees here in Toronto. With the temperature so high, factory workers begin to perspire the minute they show up for work. If the heat gets to people and they become dehydrated, they can't function, and they're sent home. By providing them with Gatorade, companies keep their employees working. Hence, the effectiveness of the synergis-tic sale."

But, there's much more to the Craig Lindsay, CPMR, story than factory workers quenching their thirst with a sports drink.

With a chuckle, Lindsay reports that "Years ago, when I was 36 years old, married with two children, I was given the opportunity to seek alternate employment. For 15 years I had been working for the largest safety equipment distributor in Canada. I consider myself lucky in that I saw changes coming to the organization."

Part of Lindsay's responsibilities in his previous position as a distributor was to interview manufacturers who sold their products in Canada, but had no representation in that country. "Very often, we'd see reps that were headquartered in the United States, but no one with a business in Canada," he explains.

Beginning a Career as a Rep

"When I realized I might have to make a career change, I contacted a friend, George Hayward, and asked him about this 'rep thing.'" Hayward, president of United Sales Associates, Cincinnati, Ohio, currently serves as MANA's manager of international development. Hayward's first move was to send his friend a book describing the manufacturers' rep business. He followed that with a phone call asking Lindsay what he thought. "Since I really didn't know what to do, he invited me and my family to Cincinnati over a long weekend." Once there, Hayward filled him in on setting up and running a professional rep firm. According to Lindsay, "George convinced me that this was a great career and that I'd be good at it. I responded that I was going to do it, and just two weeks later I had three manufacturing lines to represent."

The lines that Lindsay started with were companies that he was already working with as a distributor. "Naturally there was a certain level of apprehension on both sides as we began our relationship. One of the first steps I took was to write a business plan and share it with the manufacturers. That went a long way toward eliminating any doubts they might have felt about the new arrangement. My story to them was very simple. 'Right now, you have no one representing you in Canada. You're going to need help to effectively market your products in this country. I realize that signing on with one person to represent you across this large country is ridiculous. I promise you that I'll invest money into the business and not simply stuff it into my pockets.' I kept my promise to them as I have to all the manufacturers I now represent. Today we have 14 people spread out across Canada providing coverage to the entire country."

Nationwide Coverage

It's that nationwide professional coverage that Lindsay is most proud of. "Manufacturers realize that they don't have to go to one place in the corner of the country to find the single rep. Instead, they'll find representatives from our agency located anywhere from the Atlantic to the Pacific. We are truly national."

To achieve and maintain that national coverage, Pacesetter Sales & Associates communicates electronically from coast to coast. "We're completely electronic and have everyone working on the same software. As any professional firm must, we depend on our cell phones and communicate instantly via e-mail."

Visitors can learn about the rep firm by going to their web site, www.pacesettersales.com. Part of the message the agency delivers at that site is that the firm provides "quality 'value-added' service for a select group of principals in the safety and industrial sectors. Our objective is to provide successful sales/marketing initiatives that reach the desired goals of all parties (principal, distributor and end-user)."

Executing a Strategy

The comprehensive strategy that Lindsay and his team have put together includes:

* Utilize "selected" distribution to cover the market.

* Direct end-user penetration in conjunction with distributor sales personnel.

* Develop both distributor field sales and inside sales personnel through constant training and selling initiatives.

* Develop Canadian business plans that harmonize with both principals and distributor plans.