The role of a Territory Manager at an OEM varies by perspective, but ultimately, they embody the brand, serve as business advisors, and drive consistent revenue. Effective hiring and support are crucial to elevate these dynamic leaders and foster strong dealer partnerships.
What is the role of a Territory Manager at an OEM? The answer varies depending on who you ask. If you ask accounting, he’s the guy that eats at the fanciest restaurants and jet-sets around the country. If you ask marketing, he’s the rebel that won’t stick to brand message and always needs last-minute Power Point presentations. If you ask the product team, he is demanding and wants an impossible product that does it all and never breaks. Then the dealer will tell you he is a guy from corporate beating them up for orders, out of touch with their business but good for a steak dinner once a quarter!
Let’s dream for a minute…What can a territory manager be? This is the person that when they walk into a dealership, they walk in with hundreds or even thousands of teammates invisibly standing behind them. They are in a position to deliver your message and gather valuable market and product information. They are there to bring in the revenue that fuels it all. Let’s look at a few roles they can play.
Brand Ambassador
In a lot of cases, the rep and brand are synonymous. I can remember being announced by my brand name as often as my own name. And when announced, everyone knew it was me, even if it wasn’t my name announced. To the dealer, the territory manager is the brand, the brand is the territory manager. So when your territory manager visits and is professional, knowledgeable, optimistic and empathetic, your brand is respected. The territory manager needs to be chosen and equipped to properly represent your brand. They need access to up-to-date information and need to be invested in the company culture.
Business Advisor
The territory manager gets industry and market information on the national level from corporate and gets information from the local market from all their dealers. They can become the most knowledgeable people on trends, hurdles and best practices. They can be one of the best business advisers to the dealer. Anything the dealer is trying to tackle; the territory manager has valuable insight. The territory manager needs to be a peer to the dealer principal. They need to be able to sit in a room with the owner and speak in depth about business. Territory manager is not an order-taker, or an entry-level sales position. Make sure your territory managers can hold their own in the rooms they are walking into.
Voice of Customer
If marketing wants to know how the new campaign is landing, if product wants to know what needs to be included next model year or if accounting needs to know if the new procedures are too cumbersome, the territory manager knows. Every day they are getting feedback from their dealers and those dealers are your conduit to the true customer, the end user. Processes and culture need to be in place to extract this information from the territory manager and the territory manager needs to know they are valued and will be heard.
Rainmaker
The goal of a territory manager is to build, ignite and fuel an engine that will produce constant orders. A territory manager should not be transactional, jumping from deal to deal. They should be turning on a spigot that will have orders consistently flowing in. They do this by educating, equipping and motivating their dealers. Yes, you should talk to your territory managers about their 90-day pipeline. Often overlooked though, you should also be talking to your territory managers about the relationships in their territory and probability of long-term, profitable, low-labor partnerships. Don’t just ask your territory manager what they are doing for you today, ask them what they are building for the next 18 months, three years and beyond.
Territory manager is one of the most dynamic positions in the industry. They are the tiny little link between OEM and the whole world of dealers and end users. How an OEM hires, trains, supports and tasks the territory managers has enormous repercussions across the business. I recommend hiring the highest-level territory managers you can afford, then continuously dumping as many resources as you can into developing them better and better.
But maybe that’s just me…dreaming about territory managers.
