As a member firm of IPRO, Independent Professional Representative Organization, we look forward to receiving the eye-opening results of their annual sales representative survey. One startling fact that always stands out is the estimated cost of a single sales call in our industry. Over the past five years, that number has consistently averaged around $250, taking into account all costs including salary, travel, phone, insurance, and office overhead.

Of course, the reason for carrying that sales call cost is clearly the value of communication with those dealers. The total information gained and delivered is what we, as reps, get for our $250. It’s a bit tricky because at the same time you need to balance the responsibilities of multiple lines, all the necessary travel and the ongoing challenge of coordinating and influencing dealer business.

Our offices have learned to augment this process with memorandums, phone canvasses, winfaxes, websites, and in some cases, a printed newsletter. Newsletters, for the most part, are like joining a health club. They start with the best of intentions; however, sustained regularity is hard to achieve. In the world of printed newsletters, the cost of labor, printing, and postage are substantial, and the timeliness of the contents is usually a bit behind the eight ball because it takes so long to get it together in the first place.

Sensing there must be a digital solution, we worked with a software developer and created what is now known in our territory as The Virtual Representative, an electronic newsletter delivered with pictures, graphics, and website links with lightning speed to our subscribers. The Virtual Representative has become our weekly conduit that selectively covers our territory with the most up-to-date and pertinent sales, marketing, and technology information. It has become our silent salesperson behind the scenes. Now we want to share our self-publishing newsletter system with other representatives because it works so well.

Why The Virtual Representative

The Virtual Representative was created by a 30 year-old sales representative organization that faces the same problems of communication that you do. As manufacturers depend more and more on the administrative, training, and marketing resources of their sales forces, the process of disseminating the enormous volumes of information on a timely basis becomes a real challenge… How do you manage that process?

How do you get the information out there in a timely manner?

Since we all represent multiple product lines all the time, a single publication is not appropriate and multiple publications are time and cost prohibitive.

So what is the best way to solve the problem?

The Virtual Representative self-publishing system has an internal software-sifting component that allows you to automatically fragment your publication (by manufacturer or subscriber group) in order to direct relevant communication discreetly to designated subscribers.

In short, if one of your dealers is not an authorized dealer for a particular line, they will not see information about that line (unless you want them to). The Virtual Representative is cost effective and is easy to publish even on an aggressive weekly schedule. Start with whatever frequency you wish and work up gradually. The publication reaches your dealers with text and photos at lightning speed as the system software and graphics reside on our remote server. There is no postage and the number of subscribers is almost limitless. As independent representatives, the most important asset we bring to bear is our relationship with our dealers.

The Virtual Representative enhances every relationship in your territory.

View Sample Newsletter