A corporate client recently asked us if there was a way to engage with existing customers instead of using distributors who seem to only be interested in taking easy orders. He’s frustrated with paying commissions when he doesn’t believe these outside people are actually trying to generate sales. That’s a good question.

I had this same issue back when I had my last real job. When I first joined the company, we had our own sales team. On the surface it seems great to have people who just sold our product line. But it was also frustrating because we had to spend a lot of time managing them.

Just before I was promoted to head of sales and marketing, our president got rid of all the salespeople and tasked me to hire outside manufacturers reps. These worked out pretty well, but definitely brought an entirely different set of issues we didn’t see coming.

Watch this week’s Uncopyable Business video as I talk about the five primary ways we can engage with our customers. Which is best for you?