Andrew Windsor, Senior Vice President of Sales with Watts Water Technologies, was honored with the 2024 AIM/R Golden Eagle Award today during the association's 52nd Annual Conference in Nashville, Tenn.

Each year, AIM/R membership nominates individuals from manufacturing for the Golden Eagle Award. These individuals are often executives who embody all the core values of supporting and taking their products to market through independent manufacturers' representatives. 

"We had another year of amazing candidates from which to select for Golden Eagle," said AIM/R Board Member and 2024 Conference Chair Jon Wiggs of Wiggs-Haun & Bohan. "Watts Water Technologies is a strong supporter of AIMR representatives and the core principles embodied by AIMR members. Andrew values the manufacturer representative's role in our supply chain and has been instrumental in making Watts' manufacturer representatives better at their business."

Windsor commented on what this honor means to him, "Honestly, it's pretty humbling. I have a tremendous amount of respect for what our reps do and, more importantly, how they do it. To be recognized by them in such a way is a huge honor."

With Watts' position in the market, Windsor has been a strong advocate for pushing reps to think about and plan for the long-term success of their business. These are foundational elements of the curriculum planned for the annual AIMR conference. In fact, Windsor hosted a Keynote at this year's conference along with Ryan Davenport from Davenport & Associates, titled "Navigating Industry Evolution – Unraveling Conflict Dynamics." 

Windsor shared his thoughts on how successful reps of the future will function, "The pace of change in our industry is at the fastest pace I've seen in my 25+ years of experience. Several macro trends are driving it; the first is rapid acceleration in consolidation at every level, including the contractor, distributor, rep, and manufacturer, and we believe this will only pick up momentum. The second is the blending of traditional paths to market with the proliferation of e-commerce, the increased focus on services combined with products, the relentless growth of private labels, and the trend towards connected products and more complex systems. The rules with which we've played this game for the last 40-50 years are no longer the rules. The simplest example I can give is our largest customer is one of our largest competitors and is also one of our largest vendors.  

If the rate of change is accelerating and the rules have changed, it's time to rethink how you will play the game. What does all that mean for reps? Are you thinking, or more importantly, planning, what happens when your largest two lines get acquired? Do I add more value to the end customer and my manufacturers by having start-up and service capabilities? How do I add value as my manufacturers move towards service and SaaS models in the world of IOT? How do I become the local digital marketing arm for my manufacturers? Am I set up to call on the right influencers (facility owners, A&E, contractors, and GCs)? Is my succession plan set up in a way that will allow the next generation to invest for growth? How are you supporting and funding training initiatives for your manufacturers?

Those are the questions we need to tackle in the coming days, weeks, months, and years. And the reality is each one of those questions requires investment and capital to answer them.   

I believe rep networks need to scale to keep pace with their customers and manufacturers, and they need to think very differently about their traditional value proposition to the channel."

These comments spotlight the perspectives that led to Windsor earning this year's Golden Eagle Award and are an example of the role he plays in the growth of each of his manufacturer representatives' businesses. A strong rep/manufacturer relationship can always be found behind every Golden Eagle winner, and Windsor shared his views on the necessary skills needed to build this relationship.

"Like almost any relationship, the rep/manufacturer relationship requires consistent communication, trust, and accountability from both parties. It's critical to have very clear and consistent communication of expectations, strategies, and where you are making investments for growth. The ability to trust one another to have honest and tough discussions around what's working and what's not. And maybe most importantly, the accountability to acknowledge and improve where there are issues. If both parties operate with constant communication, trust, and accountability, you can accelerate growth and work through almost any challenge," he shared. 

With a strong relationship in place, manufacturers can quickly gain market share when working with the right manufacturers' rep for their business. Windsor added, "In many ways, Watts thinks of our rep network as a competitive advantage for us in the marketplace. We're celebrating our 150th anniversary this year, and our reps have played a tremendously important role in that journey. I think our greatest success has been that almost all our reps are multi-generational, meaning that we have been able to navigate succession planning with our agents while maintaining a highly effective network that continues to invest in and deliver growth." 

Windsor has worked at Watts Water Technologies since 2014, following a 17-year stay at Kohler, where he held multiple senior-level roles. At Watts, Windsor has served as Vice President, Wholesale Sales and, more recently, as Sr. Vice President of Sales-Americas, responsible for developing and executing the company's sales strategy in the Wholesale, Retail, OEM, and Industrial channels. In 2016, he was named Senior Vice President, Sales and currently is responsible for Watts, Bradley, and Josam sales in the Americas.

His career experience provides a unique background, in which he has led sales teams going to market with factory direct representatives and manufacturers' representatives. 

When asked what advice he would give to any manufacturer not currently using manufacturers' reps, Windsor responded, "I worked for Kohler for seventeen years prior to coming to Watts, so I can understand the value of both a direct sales organization and relying on manufacturer reps. For Watts, we believe the manufacturer rep is a far superior option for us. And for us, it's not even a question of variable cost vs. fixed cost (candidly, I hate that argument); it's really about what gives us the best access to the market and the best opportunity to grow faster and more profitably. Most of our product is highly technical and requires real application and technical knowledge to solve problems for end users and differentiate from our competitors. We have application experts in our rep network who literally wrote the codes for our products 30 and 40 years ago, not to mention all the engineering specifications. They have relationships with distribution and contractors that are, literally, generational. You can't replicate that knowledge, longevity, and relationships with a direct sales team. As I said at the beginning of this interview, we believe our rep network is a competitive advantage for us, and we look forward to continuing to grow with them for the next 150 years of our journey."

When asked why Watts values participation in AIMR, Windsor said, "If we want to win, we need our reps to be world-class in how they go to market and run their businesses. AIM/R has been helping to modernize the Manufacturer's Rep Industry for years through sharing best practices and technologies and developing and delivering first-class training programs. When our reps are successful and profitable, we are usually successful and profitable."

The AIM/R board of directors and membership have a set of requirements that any Golden Eagle candidate must meet before consideration for the award, which includes the following:

• Working cooperatively to develop and maintain strong partnerships with manufacturers' representatives 
• Efficiently communicating information to their reps, keeping them up to date on the industry and the manufacturer's product lines 
• Supporting their reps' efforts through the prompt filling of orders, timely payment of commissions, backup support in the event of any issues, and closely working together to ensure customer satisfaction 
• Going to market through manufacturers' representatives, supporting AIM/R, promoting the industry, and actively participating in industry events.