Steve Lamer: Interview

A Key Question: “What Now Big Shot?”

The following is an interview of Steve Lamer by Jack Foster of Agency Sales Magazine from December 2020. The magazine is published by MANA.

When asked to recount recollections of his first day as an independent manufacturers’ rep several years ago, Steve Lamer good-naturedly responds: “I just sat there looking at my phone and asked myself ‘What now, big shot?’”

Thankfully, he can now look back on that day with a great deal of satisfaction as, today, he heads North Central Manufacturing Solutions, LLC, Madison, Wisconsin. In part answer to that “What now?” question, Lamer recalls that among the first steps he wisely took as a rep was to contact business friends and acquaintances to let them know what he was doing and to seek their advice. “Many of the people I contacted had moved on to senior positions at various companies since I first met them. They were unbelievable in going out of their way to help, and put me in contact with any number of automation principals. With that as a beginning, I was able to move on to other principals and successfully start my agency.”

Today, Lamer, armed with BS and MS degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin, has more than 25 years of experience specifying, implementing, and selling manufacturing solutions in Europe and North America. His as well as North Central Manufacturing Solutions’ focus remains on robotics and automation. The agency focuses on providing material handling, assembly, fabricated systems, test systems, and machined components solutions for manufacturers across the transportation, agriculture, consumer products, life science, and energy industrial sectors.

Time Spent in Germany

In describing his journey to where he is today, Lamer followed a bit of a circuitous route to heading his own agency in Wisconsin. “I began my career working for a company that manufactured industrial robots for precision assembly, packaging, and automation. I moved out to San Jose, California, as an applications engineer. The company I worked for had staff in Germany and, following a successful product demonstration that I prepared and executed, I was asked to go there full-time to establish an applications engineering function in Europe. That position would entail hiring and training engineers from multiple countries in Western Europe.

Since I was young and single at the time, it seemed like a great idea. It was! Initially, I was to stay two years but that turned into five years.” After that tenure in Europe, Lamer returned to the United States with the goal of going into sales. His first opportunity was with a competitor in the upper Midwest. As the manufacturer’s product marketing manager, he introduced a state-of-the-art controls-based robotics line. He later sold large-scale automation systems for more than 10 years, selling solutions across all of the traditional automation chassis to Fortune 500 manufacturers in multiple industry sectors. “I did well and decided to make the move into full-factory systems where the orders were bigger and there were more opportunities to help customers beyond just making the first sale.”

After three years in a sales management position that took him to Europe for two weeks a month, eventually he got burned out with all the travel that was involved. Lamer gravitated to the idea of becoming an independent manufacturers’ rep. “I had thought of becoming a rep earlier, but never followed through. Following some conversations with a friend who was a rep, I decided to make the move. I liked the idea of not being tied to just one company, and the thought that I’d have more flexibility with what I wanted to do. Plus, I was at a point where my wife was employed, our house was paid for, and I was going into this with my eyes wide open.”

Locating Principals

As with any agency startup, Lamer was faced with the prospect of lining up principals. With persistence, and the assistance of business contacts, he was able to get his start. As he looks back to his beginnings as a rep, he notes, “While I wouldn’t want to repeat what the first two years were like, I’m convinced I did the right thing.” He adds, “One of the biggest resources for me, when it came to finding prospective principals, was MANA. When I first started the agency, I called other reps in the greater Midwest area to get their ideas. One very established rep encouraged me to join MANA.

Thankfully, I listened to him. Several principals found me via my profile with the association. To this day I still get one or two inquiries per week from prospective principals.” He adds that in addition to the value that his agency profile with MANA provides him, “The association website contains a great deal of valuable information, including guidance on putting together a rep-principal agreement. I also find Agency Sales magazine to be very valuable, as it publishes plenty of examples of what other agencies are doing.” Lamer explains that among the prospective principals that contact him, “I always make it a point to respond to their inquiries, whether or not I believe we’ll have a future together.

Obviously, not all of them are a good fit. If their products don’t align with my customer base, or if they’re a commodity offering, I’ll let them know. Another consideration I have is that my preference is to take on a line that’s something different and exciting. Plus, I’d like to have some existing business in the territory, something that I can build on. When it comes to a company that might not have any existing business, I don’t really like the idea of requiring a shared territorial development fee. My preference is to take on a good principal that is committed to the rep business model and has a different and exciting line of products. I’d much rather take that route. I’ll add, however, that with some products, such as those involved with automation, the sales cycles can be extremely long and you just can’t go into a relationship that long without some investment on the part of the principal.”

Relying on One Principal

And continuing to speak of principals, one important thing Lamer says he’s learned over the years is not to get too involved with, or dependent upon, one principal. “I made that mistake and paid for it. There was one major principal that went direct in my territory. That greatly affected my business. While I had thought that might happen one day, I can’t say I was really prepared for it. The message here is never have one principal represent more than 30 percent of your business.

On the flip side, the advantage of being diversified is that sales activity with one principal, in a synergistic product line, contributes to success for other principals.” Another consideration for Lamer, when taking on new lines, is the fact that “when I first started my agency, I had the goal of having a European component, based on my experience of working and living in Europe. Dealing with European principals isn’t a challenge for me, since I easily assimilated into the European culture and speak fluent German. A positive for me is that I’m viewed as having a European personality. I have been able to attract two European lines through MANA, and am looking forward to adding to that.”

Something else he’s looking forward to is for business in this country to rebound from its recent setbacks. “I’m confident that we’ll come out of it. There’s going to be a pent-up factory demand that will need to be met, and an accompanying movement to re-shore our manufacturing efforts. This whole period of crisis that we’re moving through will simply accelerate that activity.” All the while Lamer adopts an optimistic view for the short- and long-term future of his agency, he does note that he — just as so many of his rep peers — faces similar challenges. “The rep today is much different from when I started selling. Obviously, it’s much more digital, with communication being completed via web conferencing, email and texting.

It’s tougher to get those face-to-face meetings, especially with my customers, who are manufacturing and project engineers. They, and their staffs, are stretched so thin, it’s difficult to get to them, because they simply don’t have the time. To overcome that challenge, you’ve simply got to be persistent. A lot of times you’ll start your relationship electronically before you can see them face to face. Thankfully, I’m fairly ‘tech-savvy,’ and am comfortable communicating that way.” When asked if there is anything that keeps him up at night — “I’m actually sleeping quite well, and am not going to question it.” He does note, however, that “After seven years with a single-man agency, I’ve noticed that there are some principals who are new to working with reps, expect to sign them, and simply wait for the money to start flowing in.

On the other hand, most manufacturers understand the need for constant communication between manufacturer and rep. Both the manufacturer and the rep have a responsibility to educate each other and learn from the experience of working together.”

North Central Manufacturing Solutions File

MANA welcomes your comments on this article. Write to us at mana@manaonline.org.

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Jack Foster Jack Foster, president of Foster Communications, Fairfield, Connecticut, has been the editor of Agency Sales magazine for the past 23 years. Over the course of a more than 53-year career in journalism he has covered the communications’ spectrum from public relations to education, daily newspapers and trade publications. In addition to his work with MANA, he also has served as the editor of TED Magazine (NAED’s monthly publication), Electrical Advocate magazine, provided editorial services to NEMRA and MRERF as well as contributing to numerous publications including Electrical Wholesaling magazine and Electrical Marketing newsletter.