The 52nd Association of Independent Manufacturers Representatives (AIM/R) lit up Nashville from September 17-20. Rep members gathered for the annual event to network, enjoy keynote speakers and participate in valuable roundtable discussions. 

During the annual conference, AIM/R always takes time to honor the industry stand-outs. In Nashville, AIM/R inducted the newest member to its Hall of Fame – Chuck Michel of Michel Sales Agency (MSA). One of the founding members of AIM/R, Chuck Michel had a career spanning four decades in the manufacturer’s representative business. He began working at MSA in 1945 after returning from World War II. As his son, Kelly Michel recalls, “He was like a lot of returning servicemen…ready to work and start a family.”

Additionally, each year, AIM/R membership nominates individuals from manufacturing for the Golden Eagle Award. These individuals are often executives who embody all the core values of supporting and taking their products to market through independent manufacturers' representatives. Andrew Windsor, Senior Vice President of Sales with Watts Water Technologies, was honored with the 2024 AIM/R Golden Eagle Award. With Watts' position in the market, Windsor has been a strong advocate for pushing reps to think about and plan for the long-term success of their business. These are foundational elements of the curriculum planned for the annual AIM/R conference. 

The association is geared up for another successful, growing year helping manufacturers’ reps tackle everyday challenges, grow their market-share and prepare for the future of the PHCP-PVF industry. Each year during the event, AIM/R nominates a handful of rep members to sit with Supply House Times for an exclusive roundtable discussion. This year’s conversation highlights included: increased service after the sale, ongoing hiring struggles, the effects of mergers and acquisitions and much more. This year’s rep participants were: 

•    Alan Cohen, CPMR, Sr. Vice President, Sales, Rich-Tomkins Co.

•    Rich Palser, President, Palser Enterprises

•    Jim Ambery, President & CEO, Hugh M. Cunningham 

•    Craig Deerman, Owner, Deerman Sales

•    Val Galvan III, CPMR, Sales Manager, Southwest Mechanical Sales

Service after sale

The reps around the table agree that manufacturers and contractors alike are expecting more service than ever before. “Manufacturers are expecting us to service after the sale, and painting it as a potentially revenue stream for reps,” says Alan Cohen, Sr. Vice President of Pennsylvania-based Rich-Tomkins Co. “It’s difficult to find that revenue stream and charge for the service that’s now expected, but we as reps can’t spend unlimited time and resources on jobs without reimbursement.”

Data mining and job tracking have also become a large portion of what reps today have on their plates. Val Galvan III, CPMR, Sales Manager, Southwest Mechanical Sales explains that although data management is a tall order, investing in it has made reps better. 

“Whether you agree with it or not, I do think that some of these things that the manufacturers have imposed on us have made our company better,” he says. “We’re reluctant to take on some of these tasks, but once we do, it helps our business perform better in the long run.”

Rich Palser, President, Palser Enterprises agrees, adding that many of the jobs reps used to outsource, are now in-house services. “Data mining, social media, order entry are all things we used to send off, but now we have to hire multiple people to take them on,” he says. “With everything added to our plates, you have to scale and bring on more people.”

Palser’s point brings up another piece of the puzzle for reps – manufacturer consolidation. The PHCP-PVF industry is seeing mergers and acquisitions coming from all sides; manufacturers, distributors, contractors and rep agencies. These changes are adding more challenges for reps.

“As manufacturers acquire other manufacturers, our product lines grow,” Palser says. “Only rep firms of a certain size will be able to handle certain product lines as they get larger.”

Jim Ambery, President & CEO of Texas-based Hugh M. Cunningham adds there even with consolidation there is plenty of opportunity for smaller rep firms. “As long as rep firms don’t try to be something they’re not, and focus on servicing those manufacturers that are the best fit for them better than their competition, they can grow in thrive in their markets.”

Expanding the marketing role

Not only are reps having to expand their personnel in terms of channel expertise, they are having to take on more of a marketing role than ever before. These reps agree that social media continues to grow more important to a reps credibility and reputation with manufacturer partners.

"We can look to the social media accounts of our manufacturers and use those as a barometer of what they will expect and need from us," Freeman said. "We don’t have a full-time social media or marketing person yet, but we’re getting there."

Brummund says Midwest Sales and Marketing is in a similar boat. "We don’t yet have a full time person for this either, but it’s something we have analyzed," she explained. "We have to figure out if it’s a full-time role or not, what is the ROI; it’s hard to put dollars to that position."

The reps agreed it’s also difficult to identify a reps target audience when it comes to social media — is it your contractor and engineer customers or is it manufacturers and potential manufacturer partners?

"While we want to reach all customer segments, creating demand for our manufacturer’s is what is most important for us; they’re looking at what we’re doing online and comparing it to other rep firms,” Freeman explained. “Again, the bar is being raised, and we as reps have to meet the new expectations that are being set around us, which helps us improve."

Messier came to the table having some experience testing and analyzing social media performance, and he said it’s all about showing the manufacturer data that proves what type of content works online.

"You can show the manufacturer what they want to see on social, but you can also prove to them that they’re not your true audience," he said. "Our company is very tech-based and data driven, so we’ve actually tested engagement levels on various social channels. We found that there is virtually no engagement with many of the self-promotional posts our manufacturers were posting."

Messier continued to explain that content that does perform well on social media is educational. "We’re now trying to show our factories that social media presence needs to be another vehicle of communication, not a marketing tool," he added. "We’ve reached 6,000 LinkedIn followers as a rep, which took a lot of time and investment. The next step will be getting manufacturers to back us financially to fuel this growth, which will benefit us and them in the long run."

Invaluable resource: AIM/R

At the end of a long conversation tackling numerous hot-button topics for reps, the participants agreed that the value of the relationships and networking that comes from AIM/R can’t be beat.

"Where else can we talk directly to agencies that are going through the same dilemmas as we are?" Beard said. "Just being able to talk things like this through and take good ideas home is well worth the investment in AIM/R."

Messier agreed, adding that AIM/R gives reps the chance to learn from peers that you wouldn’t necessarily have met otherwise. "AIM/R provides that outside community of peers that have no interest in my business other than helping a friend succeed."

"I don’t know how many times I’ve called friends from AIM/R to talk through a challenge or gain perspective," Freeman added. "Coming to AIM/R year after year keeps those relationships alive."

Cooper adds that while the primary benefit of AIM/R is and has always been networking, the association has evolved in a lot of ways. "What AIM/R does year-round to provide monthly educational webinars shouldn’t go unnoticed," he said. "The organization has evolved tremendously from being primarily focused on getting people together once a year to being focused on being a continuous resource for reps to grow and prove their value in the industry."