Manufacturers’ Agents National Association (MANA) is a good resource for manufacturers that sell (or are considering selling) through independent rep agencies. I got the following message from Jerry Leth, the organization's General Manager, spelling out their services to "principals", the companies that employ agents:

FIND REPS:

We help manufacturers find prospective professional manufacturers' reps through the RepFinder, an online directory of our manufacturers' representative members. We suggest you try our “Test Drive” to get an indication of the potential number of MANA representative members that might be prospects for your company. Before you actually try the test drive, watch the “Tips for Successful Search Results” tutorial. Alternatively, you can advertise for representatives either in Agency Sales magazine or through our new MANA Online “Rep Wanted” Advertising Platform.

WORK WITH REPS

We also provide a number of resources to help manufacturers learn how to get the most from their manufacturers' representative relationships. We recently created our Steps to Being a Quality Principal program that enhances the learning process and we conduct our “Best Practices With Reps, Planning With Intent” manufacturers’ seminar twice a year.

We publish Agency Sales, the premier monthly magazine that provides relevant information on the representative business.

The annual membership includes all the educational resources other than the ““Best Practices With Reps, Planning With Intent” seminar. If you decide to purchase any of the ads, those are extra as well.

Read the MANA “Analyzing the Manufacturers' Rep-Principal Relationship” special report to learn more about the right way to work with representatives.

Advancing the professionalism and utilization of independent manufacturers' representatives.