IMRA Launches Campaign to Spotlight Reps

Tom Edgette, who is a veteran incentive representative based in Saratoga Springs, NY, says the role of  the incentive representative has become more focused on serving as an extension of the sales departments of their supplier clients—brands and master fulfillment companies. In the old days, a rep could take an order and move on. “Now, we do what we did before—going to Replink (the incentive industry’s real-time marketplace of brands available to the corporate market) to put together and create a presentation that’s on target and hopefully getting the order and the program that flows from that. Now, a big part of today’s rep work is managing the order and the program itself.” 

Even before the supply chain crisis, reps had become much more involved with the post-sale process. With supply chain issues, “getting an order is where the process just begins.”

 

Bill Martocci, IMA President, agrees. “We have seen a lot of disruption. The supply chain remains an issue, but it is slowly working itself out.” Combine component shortages with shipping issues, factory shutdowns in China and elsewhere, and inflation, he says, “there have been a lot of pressures on this channel, despite the fact that there are many companies that are killing it.”  

 

The result, agrees Edgette, is the need to focus on major accounts. “Often a rep might have three to five accounts accounting for 90% of their business, and the amount of work to manage those accounts is tremendous. Over the last year or two, constantly updating key customers on availability and price increases is a full-time job. The rep is working with less accounts, but those top accounts are demanding more service.”

 

Both Edgette and Martocci agree that while the visibility of the IRR field is a shadow of its former self in terms of brands with budgets dedicated to marketing and trade shows, they agree that the industry is alive and well in terms of new brands entering the market. What’s different is how they go to market.

 

Explains Edgette, “Most brands looking at this market do a lot of research on how to go to market, do they have enough product? Companies are careful. Then they must determine whether they cannot or do not wish to enter this market directly, so a lot of them turn to partners” such as master fulfillment companies, often called multi-line reps or master representative companies. Edgette believes this solution makes a lot of sense for many brands. “These companies provide them with the support of resources and a staff for whom this is their only business. They don’t have to worry about retail. Those partnerships are good and solid.”

Martocci and Edgette note the ever-increasing importance of promotional distributors. “I’m in the New York area where you have major companies with a lot of corporate gifting. The good news is that we have many distributors in our area focusing on the big accounts.  So, if I have a great idea for VIP Super Bowl event, I know who to go to. It’s in a lot of ways more efficient to work through the good distributors. They work their market. They really understand who they are calling on. The salesperson is the door to the end-user. They are the ones collaborating with their clients to come up with the best items. They know what the customer needs.  I know the brands.” 

 

Adding pressure on incentive reps, Martocci adds, is the expectation of speed. “The expectation often is to have a proposal in two to three hours. People will say, ‘I need this or your ideas by the end of the day.” He adds, “The way we work with clients is changing rapidly. We used to have a lot more trade shows.  People would go to get ideas. We’d be making a lot more in-person presentations. Now, people aren’t even in the office for meetings. People are working from home. The big challenge is how to stay in contact with customers.”

 

Martocci agrees there are permanent changes as a result of the pandemic, “but the pendulum swings. People are clamoring for more freedom, but on the other hand, being in the same room is better for collaboration than emails or video calls.” 

Both believe that the increasing emphasis on employee engagement and human capital is good for the business. “Companies are putting a lot more emphasis on employee satisfaction. I heard of a company that recently brought in an assortment of food trucks to its offices on a Friday offering free lunch to everyone. Small symbolic things are very important. That type of effort can then turn into a recognition program,” Edgette said. “With IMRA’s re-brand we hope to make it easier for program planners to find the reps and suppliers who can help with these programs.” 

 

Martocci says “The changes IMRA has made are in line with the IMA’s efforts, and the IMA remains steadfast in our mission to advocate and promote the use of incentives and recognition to improve business performance. We have made great strides in our corporate outreach measured by increased traffic on our website, and we want to make the effort bigger and better. However, we rely on volunteers and members to help develop and fund our online tools to help clients find members who can provide the products and fulfill their needs.” 

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