> Chuck Tanzola Named Recipient of Ray Hall Spirit of ERA Award
Jan. 23, 2018
Source: Electronics Representatives Association
The Electronics Representatives Association (ERA) has announced that Chuck Tanzola, CPMR, vice president of business development of the Fusion Sourcing Group, a northeastern U.S. rep firm covering multiple territories, is the 12th recipient of the Ray Hall Spirit of ERA Award. Tanzola, a 37-year veteran of the electronics industry rep profession, has been a member of the ERA Executive Committee since 2015 and currently serves as senior vice president / fiscal and legal. He has held many offices in the Empire State Chapter of ERA and was the 2008 recipient of the Jess Spoonts – ERA White Pin Scholarship Award. He is also now serving on the 2018 ERA Conference Breakouts Sub-Committee and will moderate a breakout seminar at the conference on the topic of “Global Principals and Suppliers: Addressing Cultural Differences and Diversity.”
The Ray Hall Spirit of ERA Award was established in 2004 to honor the now-retired CEO who had served ERA for more than 40 years. Hall asked that the award recognize individuals who exemplify the spirit of ERA through their commitment to serving and advancing the professional field sales (manufacturers’ representative) function.
Tanzola was nominated for the award by the Empire State ERA Chapter. The entry, submitted by Jim Gleason, the chapter president, noted: “Chuck has been a mentor and strong advocate for field sales for several decades. He is particularly fond of the rep business model and as such dedicates his time and talents whenever he can in support of local and national initiatives … [He] is accessible and available to help anyone who may be in need with regard to being and operating as a manufacturers’ representative. His approach and passion for the rep business are pervasive in his ubiquitous presence in the local and national communities.”
When notified of the award, Tanzola described himself as speechless. After taking time to reflect on the award, he said, “I am honored to receive the Ray Hall Spirit of ERA Award. I’ve always known Ray to be a tireless advocate for the rep function in general and for ERA specifically. To be recognized with an award in his name is truly humbling.
“I am thankful for the support of my Fusion Sourcing Group partners and colleagues who allow me the opportunity to serve our association. I appreciate the camaraderie of my cohorts in the Empire State Chapter, on the national executive committee of ERA, and within the ERA staff, all of whom continually give generously of themselves. And I am fortunate to have forged so many tremendous relationships throughout our industry. I consider it a privilege to be part of this association, where the spirit of community — the spirit of ERA — transcends traditional business conventions.”
The Ray Hall Spirit of ERA Award will be presented at the association’s 49th Management and Marketing Conference, running Feb. 25 – 27, 2018, at the AT&T Conference Center in Austin, Texas. As the award recipient, Tanzola receives a full conference attendance package covering his airfare, registration fee and hotel costs.
The 11 previous recipients of the award, who served as judges of the 2017 entries, are:
Dan Parks, CPMR, West Electronic Solutions, Inc., Costa Mesa, Calif. (2016);
Tom Shanahan, ERA’s retired CEO (2015);
Bob Evans, CPMR, EK Micro, Rolling Meadows, Ill. (2014);
Bob Walsh, CPMR, Coakley, Boyd and Abbett, Inc., Framingham, Mass. (2013);
Bill Herold, Conquest Technical Sales, Thousand Oaks, Calif. (2012);
Carol Cohen, CC Electro Sales, Inc., Indianapolis, Ind. (2011);
Kathie Cahill, CPMR, of Net Sales Company, Victor, N.Y. (2009);
Paul Nielsen, CPMR, of Brainard-Nielsen Marketing, Elk Grove Village, Ill. (2008);
Bruce Scoggin, CPMR, of Electro-Rep Associates, Charlotte, N.C. (2007);
Mark Conley of O’Donnell Associates North, San Jose, Calif. (2006); and
Mark Motsinger, CPMR, of Wallace Electronic Sales, Kernersville, N.C. (2005).
About ERA
The 83-year-old Electronics Representatives Association (ERA) is the international trade organization for professional field sales companies in the global electronics industries, manufacturers who go to market through representative firms and global distributors. It is the mission of ERA to support the professional field sales function through programs and activities that educate, inform and advocate for manufacturers’ representatives, the principals they represent and the distributors who are reps’ partners in local territories. ERA member representative firms (often called “reps”) provide field sales services on an exclusive basis to manufacturers of related (but non-competing) products in a defined territory. For more information about ERA, visit era.org.
ERA NEWS INDUSTRY NEWS COMMENTARIES
The Electronics Representatives Association (ERA) announced that it will host an inaugural event on Feb. 21, 2018, at the World Trade Center Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, from 5 – 8 p.m., to showcase its many membership benefits to manufacturers’ reps, distributors and manufacturers.
The Manufacturers’ Representatives Educational Resource Foundation (MRERF) reports that the Certified Professional Manufacturers’ Representative (CPMR) first-year course for 2018 is sold out. The session runs in January at the University of Texas in Austin. Other 2018 programs available from MRERF are: the Certified Sales Professional (CSP) courses that will run March 5-9 in Atlanta, April 2-6 in Dallas, Sept. 10-14 in Denver and Oct. 8-12 in Chicago; plus the Manufacturers Best Practices courses that are slated March 20-21 in Atlanta, May 22-23 in Denver and Sept. 25-26 in Chicago. For details and registration information, go to 
The Winter issue of The Representor will be mailed shortly and is now available to preview online, 
The Carolinas Chapter of the Electronics Representatives Association (ERA) elected new chapter officers for the 2018-2019 term.
The Electronics Representatives Association (ERA) announces the 2018 schedule for its long-standing Teleforum program. 2018 marks the 10th year anniversary of ERA’s educational Teleforum program offered to members.
> Connect the selling strategy dots to engage and reward the sales team
January 15, 2018
Source: Electronics Representatives Association
by Brian Flynn
Vice President of Sales
Sager Electronics
As vice president of sales at Sager Electronics, Brian Flynn leads an organization of 175 inside and outside sales representatives and is responsible for driving his team to achieve Sager’s sales goals. With more than 20 years of experience at Sager, Flynn is well-versed in all areas of the business, from distribution to sales. Many of his years at Sager were spent in sales operations where he is credited with refining and implementing many of the company’s sales processes and reporting. Upon joining sales, he led a number of Sager’s service centers in multiple regions before returning to corporate to join the company’s executive leadership team. Flynn is a current member of ERA’s 2018 Conference Breakouts Sub-Committee.
You can reach Brian Flynn at bflynn@sager.com.
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If distributors can work with reps to supply information that results in reps getting their deserved credit, they emerge as more advantageous partners.
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In our industry today, suppliers want increased value from their distributors, value beyond traditional fulfillment. When that value is delivered in the form of improved design efforts, suppliers have responded by rewarding those efforts with design registrations programs that have largely been successful. This works especially well where the opportunities are discovered, designed and delivered to a customer in a single location.
But how does one motivate and compensate both distributor and manufacturers’ rep salespeople for business that is outsourced or moved outside of their primary sales regions? The answer has primarily been a split commission program, but not enough progress has been made toward a system that rewards opportunity development that leads to a design registration and compensates everyone appropriately.
Distributors may eventually see the quote opportunities emerge from wherever the purchase is taking place, but for reps, if they don’t get the sales in their territory or spend an inordinate amount of time chasing down information, they lose. If distributors can work with reps to supply information that results in reps getting their deserved credit, they emerge as more advantageous partners.
A quality program starts by addressing the sales process from inception to production. The market today is demanding more specialization and specialization costs money. A comprehensive splits program allows for more specialization within the sales team, working backroom engineering while addressing the customer’s point of purchase. Plans should be commensurate with the contributions of each member with design efforts receiving the majority of the reward, but plans should also recognize the service levels required for fulfillment.
Detailed reporting becomes the next pillar of an effective program. The process must allow for early communication, from the team working the design end to the team that will eventually service the business. This is critical in creating customer engagement and future supply chain programs.
The ability to track and reward this design effort without burdening the salesperson with over-documentation allows for more selling time and, therefore, more engaged salespeople. As a distributor, the demand creation aspect of the business often times is a team effort with manufacturers’ representative partners. Manufacturers’ representatives value distributors who cover OEMs where design work is done. The ability of a distributor to provide detailed reporting to a manufacturers’ rep ensures that partners can track business they’ve participated in creating as POS reporting generally lags real time shipments to the customer.
A robust CRM is a critical tool in a split commission program, offering functionality to follow and communicate the work throughout the design process and track book to win business. This is especially so given that organizations may have multiple sales representation involved in a program. With field and inside sales representatives, sales specialists and manufacturers’ representatives all potentially involved in the design to fulfillment process, a distributor’s CRM needs to provide detailed reporting and the necessary tracking to properly compensate all contributors to the win. All of these people involved in the design must be part of the communication flow, and all must be in position to update the opportunity as it develops. To facilitate this, the distributor CRM must contain a base of data of assigned personnel, including the rep in the territory, and the specific folks, both at the rep and distributor, assigned to the OEM and CEM. Also included must be any specialized sales team such as sales engineering or field application engineering, the inside sales team and the managers of all those assigned. When this is done properly and the data are maintained, information flows easily and is inclusive to all the key parties. It also sets up the next evolution, where ideally this information can be provided on distributors POS reports to suppliers.
The sales process can be complex. Take the time to connect the selling strategy dots to engage and reward the sales team. It will definitely pay off in the end.
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