How Do Reps Decide What Lines to Sell?

Lately I get calls almost daily asking me to rep a line. Most often, my answer is “No Thanks,” followed by a genuine “Good Luck!” This response leaves a lot of frustrated designer/manufacturers out there who often hang up the phone maybe feeling a little bitter at yet another refusal.

Sales reps — especially the really good ones — are often inundated with requests to rep lines. Most reps don’t have the time, sample storage space or appropriate contacts to successfully rep every line they’re offered. Most reps also have a product focus or philosophy that helps guide what lines they sell. It is primarily a business decision and not a personal one when a rep elects not to sell your products.

These are some of the things I evaluate when I look at a new line:

• Is this a mom sewing products at home or a full-fledged, multi-tiered business with marketing support for its independent sales reps?
I always have a few super-small businesses where I do a lot of marketing and networking to grow the brand, but the products have to be super-special and very unique for me to take on the brand and nurture it like it’s my own company.

• Does the company produce everything from its own tees to its own exclusive fabrics?
Or,
• Does the company use fabrics and tee shirt blanks that are generally available to other similar designer/manufacturers?

Most boutiques want exclusive-looking products. It becomes a problem, for example, if every graphic printed tee-shirt line a boutique buys is printed on the same blanks — like those made by American Apparel. Many new tee shirt companies use American Apparel blanks instead of manufacturing their own. These tee-shirt lines often have great graphic designs, but they don’t have the “exclusive” look boutiques constantly seek.

If a designer/manufacturer uses the same fabrics as everyone else — like Amy Butler — the line loses the uniqueness that makes its bibs, burp cloths and blankets desirable.

• Many small mom-owned companies’ products are more expensive, but around the same quality, as a bigger company’s similar product.

Imagine we’re taking about that bib and burp line that uses the Amy Butler fabrics. A mom — or local co-op — may be cutting and sewing that line essentially by hand. Small batch, one-at-a-time production like this generally has higher costs than a similar factory-made product and thus the wholesale/retail prices are naturally higher too. In general, boutiques don’t want expensive product that has a different brand name but looks similar to dozens of other brands.

In a nutshell, generic products are hard to sell, especially when they are expensive!

• Is the line TOO big?
If a company manufactures a ton of different products, it’s difficult to get a good feel for what is special about that line. Sales reps need quick, effective sales pitches to successfully sell their brands. If I say to one of my buyers: XYZ Company makes this and this and this and this and this and this, the buyer gets bored with me and ultimately stops listening. And they usually don’t buy the line after they hit the boredom point.

A really large line can also feel unfocused. Often mom-made bib and burp lines are very large. These products tend to be very simple and easy-to-sew. They often don’t have a succinct list of features and benefits that make them superior to the next mom-made bib and burp line.

Brands that focus on designing and manufacturing ultra-special bibs are an easier sell—and command a higher price too.

•Most sales reps don’t want excessive crossover with their other lines.
Many entrepreneurs ask me to rep tee-shirt lines, bib and burp lines, stroller “soft accessory” lines and blanket lines. I already rep most of those product categories so, unless it’s a very special product, I won’t take on another line in the same category. My buyers come to me for new, different and special things. It’s important that I can meet their needs. I can’t do that if all I rep are tee-shirt lines.

• A brand has to have that “It” factor.
If I look at your products and think Wow!, I know my accounts will buy your line. It’s as simple as that.

The lines that I choose to rep all have these qualities:
• Good marketing support; Great branding
• Exclusivity
• Appropriate price points
• Focus
• “It” factor

There are many other important factors that are key to assessing whether a brand and a rep are a good fit. More to come next week …

Lara owns and is the primary sales rep for LJBryn&Co., a Midwest-based, independent rep group specializing in children’s gift, toys, gear and apparel. www.LJBrynAndCo.com