Ideal co-operation between manufactures and agencies V. – You don’t have to believe everything (part 2.)

This time, we are going to discuss certain aspects of merchandising activities in some detail, like equipment, supervision, remuneration. As we cannot expect merchandisers to send us an SMS at their own expense whenever they see that stocks are running low, it might be a good idea to provide merchandisers with PDA-s. However, we should be careful with numbers, as this can a very substantial investment in case of a big team. The list of merchandisers working on a specific assignment should always be accessible to clients, at the web site of the agency for example. Sometimes, clients want to have certain merchandisers replaced. In such cases, we should always explain our decision. The reliability of an agency can be enhanced by employing supervisors who check the work of merchandisers regularly. It is important to have the supervisory tasks actually performed, rather than just include them in a presentation, which means that a sufficient number of supervisors are needed. For clients, the ideal situation would be one where all merchandisers were full time employees of the agency. However, this is not feasible for agencies as the rates charged for merchandising activities are insufficient to cover the costs of full time employment. Most agencies claim that fluctuation in their staff is low. If this turn out to be true, it is a sign that merchandisers like to work for their agency which in turn is proof of the agency’s reliability.