You Can't Please Everyone, So...

I recently had a conversation with a jeweler friend of mine who was lamenting the fact one of his vendors let his rep go. It seems the vendor is going through some downsizing and reorganization to get leaner and more profitable. We discussed the factors: the economy, a rising cost of sales, and shrinking gross margins due to fewer sales to fewer jewelers and greater competition for the same dollar.

While that was understood, he was upset that a company would cut off his reason for starting in business with them in the first place. This was a rep with whom he built a relationship of trust and understanding over many years. My jeweler friend now wonders how his business will be serviced as the vendor has no intention of replacing him with a new rep, but will be handling his account from the home office with personal interaction being limited to trade shows.

Oh, and the jeweler will continue to be able to order product online, just as he has for the past couple of years.

Hmmm. So, he has been ordering online and it has been efficient and simple. He knows the product, knows the company and trusts the quality and delivery enough to order by computer without having to touch, feel and look at it in person each time there's a buying decision. And it has been a profitable line for him, so...

"And the rep? What did he do?", I asked. Well, to begin with he introduced him to the company. Without the rep the jeweler would never have known they existed or given them a chance. He sold him on the collection and placed the first order for inventory and became his primary link as his business grew with them, presenting new designs, new marketing concepts, and handling customer service and inventory issues with prompt, effective attention. He continued to receive commission on all sales to the store, whether he actually wrote the order or it was placed online or by phone. My jeweler friend made sure of that. Had it been otherwise he would have always called him to place an order. Very thoughtful and very nice---the way a partnership should be: thoughtful and nice....and mutually profitable.

So the company may lose an account over this? The jeweler told me he is now beginning to look for someone to replace them, but wonders who he can find that will provide the kind of support and service to which he is accustomed and provide the kind of product he knows he can sell.

So big deal right? On the surface it may seem it has always been that way, but as I see it, the industry paradigm is now shifting daily. For years vendors have relied on reps to build their business and that is where the relationships with jewelers have been cemented. For the most part relationships have NOT been nurtured, maintained, and enhanced by the vendor home office, though they should be. Reps have had no incentive to caress the jeweler closer to the company than to themselves. Why do you think it has been so important to vendors to know the kind of account list a rep has before hiring or contracting? Because traditionally they are the ones with the relationships.

While technology exists to streamline the process, reps are not yet a thing of the past. If there is to be an effort by some companies to eliminate them I might suggest a well thought out strategy to make certain accounts are ready. Maybe even include and provide the rep an incentive for transitioning and cementing the vendor/retailer realtionship before a series of unintended consequences kicks in...like the jeweler beginning to search for a new business partner.

As Ricky Nelson sang in Garden Party, "You can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself." But that's no way to run a business, is it?