PPB April 2019

Michael Fields Vice President, K. C. Fields & Associates, Columbus, Ohio Nominators: Scot A. Schreiber and Chris Brooks, Logospeed Promotional Products; Christine Kleiler, Ironmark USA After graduating with a business degree from University of South Carolina, Fields went to work for Pepsi Bottling Group in a management training position. After a year there, his father, K.C., asked him to join the company in 2005. He says his dad was the best mentor he could have asked for. He started traveling with him and watched how he did everything. From packing his car with catalogs and samples to setting up sales meetings—he says preparation and attention to detail were some of the reasons why his dad is so successful. Fields says he continues to learn from his father today, and is grateful for the opportunity he was given to join his company. Secret to success: I think the key to developing quality relationships on both the distributor and supplier sides is to be honest and treat people with respect. It is a simple rule to follow but can go a long way in our business. When you create an environment of trust and responsibility, the measure for success really has no limits. How distributors can help. Communication is important. Let me know what I can do to help you promote my supplier lines to your clients. Reach out to me for product information, virtuals, samples and spec samples to start the process. My responsibility is to provide the distributor with the tools needed to secure the business, and I want to be involved every step of the way. Biggest challenge. The landscape of the industry is changing … and the announcement of several company mergers and acquisitions within the past year has been challenging and has impacted us as multi-line reps. Change can sometimes be uncomfortable. We need to remember that this is a business and some of these decisions are out of our control. What you can control is how hard you work and how you do your own job. If you do your job to the best of your ability, then you can be proud of who you are, and what you represent as a professional in this industry. What he wants distributors to know. We care about our distributors and will do anything to help them be successful. I like to think of it as a partnership. If both sides work together and communicate, the chances of overall success are much greater in the long run. As multi-line reps, we realize that without the accomplishments of our distributor partners, we are not able to succeed ourselves. It’s important that we clearly communicate our common goals and objectives, and support each other. Alternate career. Management job. I have always enjoyed the idea of putting a group of people together with different personalities and talents and providing then with leadership to achieve a common goal. About Michael. “ He is by far the most involved outside sales rep I have ever worked with over the past 10-plus years. That includes both multi-line reps and factory reps. He says ‘thank you’ for pretty much every order or sometimes even just a quote and is genuinely appreciative. Very few outside reps actually take the time to personally write you and thank you for an order. But Michael does—no matter how big or small. It is nice to hear and if it comes down to me choosing between two vendors with comparable products, I will go with one of his lines.” – Christine Kleiler FEATURE | Best Multi-Line Reps 2019 52 | APRIL 2019 |