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Agency Sales or Direct Sales? – In 2019, the ASMC Foundation released a must-read, comprehensive industry White Paper, co-sponsored by the Foodservice Sales & Marketing Assocation and the FSMA Foundation, comparing the economic differences of Agency Sales and Direct Sales. The Study provides a unique calculation tool to answer the age-old question of which sales method is the best for a Manufacturer. For more than 100 years, Agencies have been the primary go-to-market selling source, chiefly because they are significantly more cost-efficient and effective than Direct Sales. The Study explains how Agencies are significantly more cost-efficient because they are able to spread the sales, marketing, and support costs across their numerous clients. Furthermore, Agencies are compellingly more effective than Direct Sales because they are closest to the customers in their markets, with long-standing relationships and intimate market knowledge with all customer segments. Click here for a direct link to the Agency or Direct White Paper. Click here for a direct link to the Customizable Sales Cost Analysis Tool (Excel format). To order printed copies of the White Paper, please click on the above order form.
Collaboration Dynamics When Outsourcing – In 2012, the Foundation and the Association of Sales & Marketing Companies sponsored a Study conducted by the Robinson College of Business, Department of Marketing, at Georgia State University. The Study examines the overall success of outsourcing when sales and marketing agencies (SMA's) and their consumer packaged goods manufacturing clients (CPG's) collaborate in headquarters selling, retail, and administrative services. It also analyzes the characteristics of strategic planning, dynamic capabilities, and relative performance of SMA's and their CPG clients. To view or download the 2012 Executive Summary, click here. To order printed copies of the 18-page Executive Summary, please click on the above order form.
Maximizing the Impact of Outsourcing – In 2009, the Foundation and the Grocery Manufacturers Association engaged industry consultants Bain & Company to study how CPGs can best utilize sales and marketing agencies in the changing environment. To review the full study's table of contents, click here. In 2010, a 20-page Executive Summary, Maximizing the Impact of Outsourcing, was created. To view or download the 2010 Executive Summary, click here. To order a copy of the 64-page full study or the 20-page Executive Summary, please click on the above order form.
Outsourcing Is In – In 2008, the Foundation refined and updated the 2006 Value of Outsourcing Study to reflect new information relative to size of CPG companies and the extent of their utilization of Sales and Marketing Agencies. The popular revised Study is titled Outsourcing Is In. To reveiw the full Study's Table of Contents, click here. To view or download the 2008 Study's Executive Summary, click here. (This is a large PDF file, and it may take several minutes to download.) To order a copy of the printed 155-page full Study or the 28-page Executive Summary, please click on the above order form.
Value of Outsourcing – In 2006, the Foundation commissioned a study on the Value of Outsourcing, authored by the Institute for Customer Relationship Management. To reveiw the full Study's Table of Contents, click here. To view or download the Study's Executive Summary, click here. To order a copy of the printed 166-page full study or bound and printed copies of the 24-page Executive Summary, please click on the above order form.
Retail Training Manual – The Retail Sales & Marketing Agency Training Manual is a supervisor's guide to basic training for new hires. Chapters include Training Techniques, Evaluation, Orientation, Trade Mathematics, Call Planning, Procedures, and Basic Selling and Merchandising.
ASMC Legal Manual – The Legal Manual contains the must-have industry standard contracts between agencies and their princiapls, with annotations and comments on each section, together with guidelines for handling conflicts, consolidations, and diverting. The Manual also includes various legal opinions on topical issues like unauthorized deductions, power buyers' requests to deal direct, and the legality of rebating commissions, among others. A chapter contains information on the state laws governing agency contracts, including damages due from manufacturers for failure to pay termination commissions. To view the Table of Contents, click here.
ASMC Legal Forms – The Legal Forms are an excellent complement to the Legal Manual. Sample forms of agreements used by agencies are included on disk for use with all word-processing programs in IBM compatible computers. The Legal Forms will save valuable management and administrative time in retyping and reproofing commonly used documents, as well as legal fees in preparing these agreements. To view the Table of Contents, click here.