17 Year Industry Veteran Wants to Connect Sales Reps with Factories Looking for Representation
Rob Ash spent 17 years of his professional sales career with Lane and Broyhill before he joined those of us on the multi-line rep side of the industry. It was in that transformation from a single line rep to building a package of factories that Rob had an idea that has turned into RepFurniture.com. He noticed that many multi line Sales Reps are continuously looking for new lines to add to their bag, or maybe they’re not actively looking for new lines but they’re always interested in knowing which lines in their territory are open. He also noticed that when manufacturer Sales Managers have open territories, especially at the small to mid sized manufacturers, these managers spend a great deal of time and effort in developing a pool of Sales Rep candidates in that territory to interview. Rob realized that there could be an online forum that connects the Sales Reps in each territory throughout the country, and the Sales Managers looking for representation.This was the beginning of a 12 month journey for a company Rob founded called RepFurniture.com. The site is a directory of furniture industry Sales Reps and each Rep’s profile information. To date the directory consists of 280 Reps that are willing to have factories contact them if the factory is seeking representation in their territory. Reps can join anonymously if desired. Sales Managers with open territories can search the directory by state, read Sales Rep profiles who cover that state, and send a Lines Offered job posting message to each Rep. So far Rob has had 94 factories use the site and send their message. The service is free for both Sales Reps and the factories. Rob anticipates revenue will come from selling advertising space to businesses that want to be seen by Reps and factories that use his website.
Rob says this is an excellent way for a Sales Rep to expose his credentials to factories looking for representation in his territory, and the service informs member Sales Reps when lines are open in their territory. If you would like to correspond with Rob directly, send him an email at info@repfurniture.com.
Because Rob has stepped out and is trying to make a difference for our industry by matching Reps and factories together, he is this week’s Innovative Rep. If you would like to be featured in this column, please send me an email at meroot@mikeroot.com. Tell me a little bit about what you are doing that is innovative outside of your daily sales rep career. After I get this information, I’ll set up a phone call to discuss.
