About 50 companies comprised the initial survey group, and responses were received from more than two dozen rep firm owners as well as a small number of manufacturers. The rep firms are of varying sizes and cover more than 13 territories across the U.S., from California to New England, and from Florida and Texas to Minnesota and the Pacific Northwest. The responding manufacturers produce components, hardware, instrumentation, software, custom devices and assemblies for a diverse customer base.

Here are the four questions The Representor asked these members:

• How are you projecting your 2010 sales revenue will compare to 2009?
  
  
• Where are the opportunities you are seeing for 2010?
  
  
• How are you analyzing the value of these opportunities to your company?
  
  
• What are your company's growth strategies and implementation plans for this year?

Understandably, some respondents preferred their input to be anonymous, but others were willing to be quoted. Many thanks to all for their insights.

So are there conclusions to be drawn here? That's a tough one. There IS optimism reflected in the respondents' overall projections of growth, and that upbeat perspective does not appear to be limited to specific products, customers or territories. The linchpins, though, are where to find that growth and how to tap into it.

Where are the growth opportunities?
The survey group's answers to this question were, like the companies themselves, wide ranging, but there are definite "winners" in terms of the markets where they see the best opportunities in 2010.

The markets mentioned most often by the respondents as growth sectors this year are:

• energy, especially including any applications or products that conserve energy or power, use renewable sources and/or allow companies to move toward "greener" products and/or production systems;
  
  
• military, where new programs that have been delayed until this year are now going into production;
  
  
• medical and the biosciences, where new programs are emerging; and
  
  
• wireless, where the management of medical information and smart grids is becoming more critical.

Though not mentioned by as many respondents, the other targets on this group's growth radar are:

• corporate and other types of security equipment and audio-visual upgrades, including closed-circuit TV and mass notification/communication systems (e.g., for college campuses and other large complexes);
  
  
• goverment-funded programs for mass transit, capital construction and various forms of protection from terrorism;
  
  
• industrial OEMs;
  
  
• solar and LED lighting;
  
  
• "white goods," i.e, major appliances; and
  
  
• user interface.
  

Respondents also singled out trends they are seeing that, while perhaps not product or market specific, bode well for growth this year. For instance, a New England rep who sells power electronics, manufacturing services, electro-mechanical and passive components, summarizes, "Overall, we are seeing a pick-up in design activity and, more importantly, products that have been in development actually being released to production. In 2009, we had a notable number of products whose release was delayed due to economic conditions."

Another New Englander, ERA President Bob Walsh, CPMR, of Coakley, Boyd and Abbett, Inc., also predicts an upturn. For his firm, which sells interconnect, electro-mechanical and passive products, "All markets have improved since the fourth quarter of 2009. As long as we don't go into an allocation situation with our principals, our new business opportunities are at a very high level. New designs are also very strong."

A Midwestern rep who sells many types of components, adds that larger customers are reviewing new designs and placing orders, while smaller customers are again "seeking dual sourcing and more bid opportunities." Cary Klingner of Northport Engineering, a Minnesota-based firm selling components into a broad customer base, echoes a comment made by several respondents about customers' inventories. "With inventories depleted, we are seeing the base business return," he says, and, thanks to technological advances, "new programs are moving forward rapidly."

Analyzing the value of opportunities
Identifying where growth opportunities can be found is just one part of the strategizing that's occurring. The crucial next step is assessing the ultimate value of those opportunities and how they might fit in to a rep or manufacturer's plans and operations.

One common-sense answer to the analysis question comes from a rep in the mid-Atlantic states who sells passives and active board level components. He says, "If a large customer like Rockwell is forecasting growth and pulling in orders, we give it high confidence."

An upstate New York rep, selling passive and electro-mechanical components, replies that he looks for programs that "should remain steady for three to five years." ERA National Vice President Troy Gunnin, chair of the Materials, Assemblies, Production and Supply Group, notes that in his firm, Sun Rep of Florida, "As we see an opportunity, we look for parallels that can be approached and also look for synergistic [lines] that we can sell to that customer. By evaluating customers, we seem to be able to find other opportunities in the existing customer base."

Many reps study market trends and data, then confirm or refine what they read and hear by reviewing their customers' track records in prior years as well as how both customers and principals are forecasting for the coming year.

Still other reps cite their various new business opportunity (NBO) tracking methods as a means of analysis. Bob Walsh says his firm tracks opportunities into various categories. "If [a customer] has placed tooling or prototype orders," he explains, "then we put the opportunity into the highest bracket." Cary Klingner adds, "We track by customer and manufacturer, ultimately assigning a probability and expected first order and production date." Similar methods are used by a number of the responding reps.

ERA Senior Vice President Ted Curtin, CPMR, of Repworks, Inc., sells camera and intercom systems, card access and sounds systems in New England. He describes how his firm is gaining "access to the true pulse of our industry" for analysis purposes by "getting further upstream in the sales process – marketing directly to significant end-users and specifiers rather than waiting for a dealer or distributor to call."

A Midwest rep is taking yet another path, analyzing her firm's staff to see if new personnel should be added. She is also working with principals' factories "to be sure they can support the estimated needs."

On the manufacturing side, Liz Sponseller, managing director of Abatek (Americas), Inc., which produces human machine interface (HMI) custom input/output devices and sub-assemblies, says, "Looking beyond a strong P and L, organic growth and long-term sustainability are being driven by innovations, growth platforms and business concepts within our manufacturing and sales organizations."

Another manufacturer adds that his company relies on a "closer analysis of the total cost to produce and support production based on the total opportunity, while further implementing lean manufacturing principles and processes that bring value."

Implementing plans for growth
The final question in this mini-survey pertained to respondents' strategies and implementation plans for growth, i.e., where reps and manufacturers must tackle the hard-core reality of how to turn opportunities into bottom-line revenue. Again, the responses to this question were widely varied, but they should also be valuable to fellow reps and manufacturers contemplating their own tactics.

Ted Curtin reports, "We have partnered with non-competing reps in our territory to form a focus group, sharing leads and relationships. We are [also] doing joint ventures on local vertical trade shows, teaching seminars and conducting lunch and learn events for consultants."

ERA past president Mike Kunz, CPMR, of R. W. Kunz & Associates, Inc. in St. Louis, says his company's plans for 2010 include "trying to recoup 2009 losses, working smarter when it comes to expenses, attempting to cut back on travel, trying to bring insurance costs down, and selling more to our existing customer base."

Joel Schwartz adds, "We are focusing on the best verticals for our products. We're upgrading our CRM system for better customer communication and placing more emphasis on end-user and consultant activities."

Bill Schaer, of Temper Technical Marketing in the Pacific Northwest, is zeroing in on product lines that he can sell into the new solar power companies that are moving into his region. At the opposite corner of the country, a Florida rep who works heavily with distribution intends to use those partnerships to develop new accounts and sell more into existing accounts. He also plans to improve "the profiling of military and major customers to assure proper penetration" and to employ "better procedures in tracking follow-up activities for leads, quotes and targets."

An Indiana rep firm has implemented weekly communications with principals, is "tweaking forecasts on a regular basis" and updating its IT systems. A New England rep adds, "Because we expect most of our growth to come from highly engineered lines and manufacturing services, we are working more than ever on targeting specific accounts, qualifying them and then moving on, as opposed to more of a shotgun approach that is inherent in broad-based component lines."

A Carolinas rep in the RF/microwave sector notes that his 2010 plans include forging a sub-rep agreement to share lines with another rep firm, and a New York rep owner is looking at the possibility of purchasing a competing rep firm or forming an alliance with an out-of-territory partner.

A western U.S. rep firm has added two major lines but is also streamlining its line card and focusing on growth with the lines that are synergistic to its top five principals. In a similar vein, another New York rep owner says, "Our plan is to do more with fewer lines. The value of the principals ... that are generating the majority of the revenue will get additional mind share ..."

A similar approach with customers is being implemented by a Washington State rep. He says, "We are meeting with our customers and having business planning sessions. The companies that have their act together are obvious, and we plan on working closely with a select group to focus on our product lines."

Among the manufacturers, one executive, whose company sells primarily in the military and industrial OEM marketplace, says his strategizing includes enhancing communications with both customers and reps about internal processes, capability changes and improvements, along with holding the line on costs.

Abatek's Liz Sponseller adds, "We've looked at our competitive positioning, prioritized and determined our key capabilities. Abatek has made considerable investments in additional support and engineering personnel locally and globally. 2009 was a great year to look at operational excellence, but 2010 will be more about innovative flow from products and services."

Randy Johnson, a former ERA rep who is now a regional sales manager for Teseq USA, concurs with Bob Walsh about the importance of having stayed close to customers during the 2009 downturn. He says his company believes the key to future success has been to continue contacting and visiting customers "even though they were not spending money ... By taking care of their existing issues and working with them last year, they are now picking us over companies they had little contact with."

At General Devices Company, Inc., an electronic hardware manufacturer, Director of Sales and Marketing Dan McCauley comments that expanding on successes in up markets and targeting non-traditional markets are both on his firm's 2010 agenda. He adds a lengthy list of requests being made of his company's distributors and reps, including: pursuing "missing in action" accounts; investigating opportunities with contract manufacturers and value-added resellers; exploring alternative energy source manufacturers for opportunities with hybrid or electric battery vehicles and/or charging stations, wind energy farms, solar power grids and electric energy grid applications; and searching for new business in telecommunications, utilities, remote oil and soil sampling applications.

McCauley adds that reps and distributors are being urged to make more sales calls with factory personnel and to visit the factory more often to "gain a better understanding of our newest equipment, technologies and capabilities ..."

If these reps and manufacturers accurately reflect the attitudes of their peers, it appears 2010 has begun with a "bang" of genuine enthusiasm for pursuing new possibilities. There are growth opportunities out there. Seizing them will not be easy, but is ignoring them even an option?

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This article was written by Tess Hill, editor of The Representor.