Today, properly armed with the latest means of communication, cell phones, computers, CRM, etc., Riordan Materials Corporation has nine employees, five of whom toil on the sales side. Janson explains that he’ s been in the enviable position of not having any difficulty in growing the agency and having to fill too many vacant employee slots over the years. Likewise with finding prospective principals, he explains that“ Basically we’ ve been able to find principals via word of mouth from other principals and customers. When one of our customers is alerted to the fact their manufacturer is looking for new representation, they’ ll recommend us. In addition, we attend industry trade shows both here and in Europe.” When it comes to representing overseas manufacturers, he explains,“ While some of their expectations are different from domestic principals, overall the experience has been positive. Since Europe is a much more condensed geographical area than the United States and they are much more used to selling direct, they can sometimes have different expectations when it comes to working with reps. Language has certainly never been a problem since Swedish, German and Japanese companies we’ ve dealt with are all fluent in English.”
Recognizing Concerns
If there are no pressing concerns when it comes to finding new personnel or dealing with principals, that doesn’ t mean there aren’ t some things that get his attention. Janson explains,“ Cash flow is always a concern, since not all contractors pay quickly. On top of that, we’ ve got to make sure the pipeline is constantly filled with projects. Then, just as any other rep firm, we have to contend with the possibility of losing a line or having a new principal acquire one of our lines, thereby creating a conflict. On a more
One project that Riordan Materials personal note, it’ s always important to us to make Corporation worked long and hard on was sure we recognize the contributions of our staff and the Gloucester County Utilities Authority, NJ CB & I / McDermott Egg Shaped make sure the public is aware of the importance of Digester project. According to Janson,“ At water and wastewater treatment.”
$ 17.5-million, this is the largest order to
date that our company has ever received. I On that last point, he notes that“ This is especially secured the order after working more than
important. I’ m not sure I ever thought I’ d be paying three years on this project.” $ 1.50 for a bottle of water without even thinking about it. But, when the public complains when they receive a water bill of $ 150, they’ ve got to understand how important water and wastewater treatment is in their lives.”
Finally, as a 44-year member of MANA, Janson noted how important association membership has been for his agency.“ The agency’ s previous president was a major proponent of MANA membership. After I joined the company, I got involved in its Philadelphia chapter, served on the MANA advisory council and participated in seminars over the years. In addition, I’ ve regularly made it a habit to distribute articles to our sales staff that appear in Agency Sales.”