MANUFACTURERS' REPRESENTATIVES FOR SMALL FIRMS.

This article aims to help small businessmen make critical decision concerning their representatives and provides guidelines for managing the sales function. Many times, the owners of small businesses face the problem of securing adequate sales coverage for their product line on a regional or national basis. When the business is just starting out, managing the sales function is easy. As business increases, small businessmen find that more and more of their time and energy has to be devoted to managing an increasing complex business, leaving less and less time for selling the product. At some point in time, expansion forces the manager to face the decision of adding specialized sales personnel. In most cases, this decision becomes a question whether to hire a direct sales force or to contract out the sales function to one or more manufacturers' representatives.