Distributors and manufacturers are divided in their perception of the quality of product training support manufacturers provide distributors and in the quality of manufacturer reps. But neither side is overly excited.

Asked to rate the quality of product training manufacturers provide to distributor salespeople, distributors gave it a 4.4 on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 is low, 10 is high). Manufacturers labeled it 5.6.

The channel partners are even farther apart on the subject of manufacturer reps. Only 22 percent of distributors agreed with the statement, “Most manufacturers have high-quality reps in the field.” And while manufacturers weren’t as negative about their reps, less than half of the manufacturers responding to the survey agreed with the same statement.

The results point to the continuing need for the industry to develop effective product training material for use by distributors, and illustrate how difficult it is to keep good people in the field.

One company addressing the training dilemma is Gates Rubber Company, which is putting the finishing touches on a comprehensive training program for its field sales group and for distributor salespeople. The program will provide basic, intermediate and advanced product and application training, and include competency testing to measure results.

Distributor salespeople would be required to complete the basic level training before going into the field and complete intermediate training within a year, says Dan Weitzel, hose and connector marketing manager for Gates.

“We want our own people classified at the intermediate level virtually immediately when they’re hired,” he says. “We want them at that status probably before they start making calls. We envision our people getting to the advanced level sometime within the first year to year-and-a-half with Gates.”

He says it is critical to get salespeople trained quickly, especially considering the amount of turnover some companies experience.

“If you only have someone for three to five years, you don’t want to lose two years just getting them trained,” he says.

One executive from a major hose manufacturer said he had five years of experience with his company before he was allowed to go out in the field in the early 1980s. Today, several of the company’s field salespeople have only one or two years’ experience.

Low unemployment rates for most of the country during recent years have made it difficult for distributors and manufacturers to attract people to an industry perceived as low tech. The problem is exacerbated when distributors hire people away from manufacturers.

“Distributors complain about us having rookies in the field,” the executive says. “But it seems like every time we turn around, one of our people is leaving to go to work for a distributor. It’s pretty frustrating.”

NAHAD Survey. Click here to compare how distributor perception of manufacturer product training has changed since our last survey in 1999.

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