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Independent sales representatives and rep groups invest a great deal of time and money in developing new customers and creating value for the manufacturers whose lines they represent. It's ironic that the management of most of these manufacturers know nothing about their efforts. Why don't they know? Surprisingly, it's because most independent sales representatives never tell them.

These salespeople, who on a daily basis market aggressively to their customers, don't market themselves to the manufacturers who pay their commissions. If they did, they could increase their revenues, generate greater return on investment, and dramatically increase line retention.

Conversations with numerous sales managers and company owners reveal that too many think reps do little more than cash commission checks. They have no idea what their independent reps do for them. If they did, they'd find that most sales representatives spend a great deal of time and money developing value for their manufacturers.

As a result, a manager's only objective measure of a salesperson's efforts is the revenue they produce. Though revenue is certainly a key component in measuring success, it can be deceiving. After all, salespeople don't merely reap what they sow. They often reap much later than they sow, and, hopefully, more than they sow. This becomes doubly apparent when a line is being pioneered or resurrected—effort expended may not produce results for a year or more.

How then can sales reps get the message across that they're providing value, even when they're not yet providing sales? One way is to conduct an annual business review with every major manufacturer they represent.

The review should educate clients as to how much time and money reps are investing in developing the company's value, plus present a picture of who was seen, when, how often and at what cost.

If possible, the sales representative should present the business review to the manufacturer's president, the vice president of sales and the national sales manager.

Sales representatives, like many of us, fail not only to measure time invested, but also fail to assess a monetary value to that time. If they did, they and their manufacturers might be surprised at how much time, and therefore money, the rep spends on developing business.

First, the representative should calculate how many hours were spent directly on that manufacturer's business. Sales reps should follow the practice of lawyers and consultants by tracking their time. Calculate how many hours were spent on all manufacturers, and prorate those hours to each manufacturer. Adding the individual hours to the prorated hours will provide the overall time spent on a particular manufacturer.

Second, reps should determine how much his or her time is worth per hour. A simple way to do this is to calculate average revenue over the last three years divided by the average hours worked. For example, if a sales rep generated $120,000 by working 2,000 hours, his value is $60 per hour.

Third, the sales rep should take the number of hours invested in the client and multiply them by the per hour rate to find the total dollar value of the rep's time spent on that account.

Determine, and share with the client, how much money was spent for costs such as airfare, hotels, meals, office space, etc. If the expense is shared by several accounts, prorate the costs so they can be broken out for each account.

Tell the manufacturer the sales rep's total investment by adding time costs to operating costs. This will increase the manufacturer's appreciation for the rep's investment and provide both with a clearer picture of the rep's return on investment once expenses are subtracted from commissions. It may also caution the manufacturer as to what their true costs would be should they decide to bring the line in-house.

Let management know who was seen, when they were seen, what was presented, how it was presented and what the results were. Include whether the sales rep presented the items, programs and promotions that the manufacturer had targeted.

If the sales rep met with a customer's senior management, then the manufacturer's senior management needs to know. Ultimately, a rep's greatest asset is knowledge of the customer and relationships with buyers, senior management, accounts payable, etc. The more time the representative is in front of these people, the stronger their value to the manufacturer.

Finally, if the product presentations didn't generate the desired results, the question is why not? A rep should not be afraid to confront bad news. An evaluation of what went wrong may reveal flaws in the sales material, the nature of the program or promotion, or the perceived value of the item.

Manufacturers deserve to know the amount of time and dollars being invested in their product by the sales rep. More importantly, reps who invest in their manufacturers without letting them know the full value of that investment are running the risk of losing revenue, and possibly even valuable lines.