How can sales representatives and contract manufacturers put together meaningful business engagements to addresses specific objectives?
Newman: Servicing the account typically involves quality issues; delivery issues, changes in price, design changes, component sourcing and substitutions, and similar matters. The contract manufacturer must be held to specific standards in these areas which must be met as the project moves forward. On the other hand, the sales representative must be available to communicate the customers’ concerns to the contract manufacturer and vice-versa. If time commitments for servicing accounts exceeds the time available to the sales representative, the sales representative must consider increasing sales force efforts by hiring more sales personnel. Business agreements between the contract manufacturer and the sales representative must also include provisions for the sales representative to hire additional personnel, if necessary. The agreement should also place certain penalties on the contract manufacturer for failure-to-live-up-to understandings with the contract manufacturer’s customer, which
