How do you recruit independent sales representatives?

Charlie, some thoughts:

1. Before you even begin the process of recruiting independent sales reps, make sure you develop a profile of the "ideal rep." In reality, finding sales reps is not difficult, but finding the "right" reps is critical. If you don't have a profile, you won't know what you are looking for.
2. Before recruiting sales reps, make sure you have a well defined sales process in place. Independent reps are, typically, not good in selling pioneering products, but they can be great in executing a well defined sales process that has been proven (by your own people) to be successful.
3. There are some industry associations potential candidates may belong to, look at those. For example, is there any industry organization for your type of products. Look there for candidates, or if they offer the ability to "post" opportunities, try there.
4. Look at companies that sell complementary products to yours. Independent reps make their money by offering a portfolio of products. Companies that sell through reps that are complementary to yours can be great sources of reps.
5. Related to 4, you may look at your competitors (though this has some challenges), you may be able to recruit some of their reps.
6. Consider looking at an organization like MANA, they may be able to point you to rep companies.
7. Consider posting opportunities in the appropriate groups in LinkedIn.
8. Once you have recruited the reps, make sure you have a strong "on-boarding" process. This shouldn't focus just on product training, but how they can be most successful in selling your products, how to work with your company, etc. Also, reps tend to look for great support (ie lead generations, samples, collateral, etc.) Make sure you have those programs in place.

We've done a lot in helping organizations recruit, on-board and manage independent reps to the highest levels of performance. Feel free to contact me for more information. Regards, Dave