Inland Sales Group was founded Sept. 7, 2002, by Brian Yelton, president and CEO. The rep agency employs 12 people: six in outside sales and six in inside sales. Its territory covers Illinois to eastern Iowa, along with northwest Indiana. 

The company has two Illinois offices based out of Peoria and Willowbrook (Chicago), with warehouses for each office. The warehouse is 5,000 square feet in Peoria and 7,500 square feet in Willowbrook. Both warehouses stock six to seven manufacturing lines, housing a mixture of consignment and buy/sell stock. Moreover, 65 to 70 percent of the Inland Sales Group is commercially driven, focusing on hospitals, schools and facilities. 

Inland Sales Group prides itself on spending a vast amount of its time training and providing CEUs to its contractor customers, averaging about 4,000 to 5,000 contractors trained per year. It has even trademarked a waterborne pathogen cartoon character named “Leegie” to represent its passion for combating Legionella.

Jennifer Rodriguez: When did you join AIM/R and what or who motivated you to do so?

Brian Yelton: We have been in AIM/R since the company’s inception; the previous agency I worked with also was an AIM/R member. The first AIM/R meeting I went to was at Amelia Island in 1998. We have always made it a point to attend the conference every year; as of late, we have not broken that.

JR: What components of AIM/R have you most valued and used?

Stephanie Yelton: We have learned a great deal from AIM/R. I would say learning from other reps has bolstered our confidence in stepping into new territories, whether growing our social media presence or building up our warehouses to meet demand. The fellowship has helped us build confidence to step into those realms.

BY: I’d also like to give a shoutout to AIM/R on Tap; it has been a prominent learning source we try to listen to. Conferences have played a big part in what we gain out of AIM/R, too. I look forward to the camaraderie with the other agencies across the nation that we work with or have known for many years. Those things work together and build that support of what we do as a manufacturers’ rep. 

JR: What is one thing your company could not be successful without?

SY: Our team makes our agency successful, from marketing behind the scenes to literature, social media coverage, and something as simple as answering the phones with a smile. Our outside sales team is also invaluable in the field, supporting a project, product or customer. We could not function without the whole picture of our team because that is what it means to be a full-service manufacturers’ rep.

BY: I look at success differently in all parts of our agency. What our quote department looks for in success is timely and accurate quotes, whereas customer service is answering questions and taking care of what the customer needs. I look at everybody in our company, and everyone has a different definition of success. If it came down to one answer, I’d tell you that we try to be different, and we are different than most in the market.

JR: How do you see our industry and the rep’s place in it over the next five to 10 years? What does Inland Sales Group look like?

SY: We see the rep’s place as it is now, even if it looks different — as a source of information, especially for the plumbing industry in our case. For us, it means building brands with trusted manufacturers with products we want to stand behind, staying up to date on code, working to protect the public, and aiding engineers and contractors to build up our infrastructure as we move forward.

JR: Has the traditional rep job description changed much since you have been at the helm, contractually or functionally?

BY: One hundred percent of it has changed; it changes every day. The word contractually is always an interesting thing. The job is much larger than a contract will ever say; most people don’t understand that. 

They don’t tell you what to do when you are tasked to grow a territory. When you look at our list of who we need to be in contact with, you have architects, engineers, contractors, builders, wholesalers and beyond. You have all these different people, and they’re all our customers. Trying to explain what we do as a rep agency is almost impossible because so many aspects range from start to finish. 

In many cases, we don’t actually finish the sales process because we don’t contractually do the sale. I’ve always said that we’re lobbyists, which is the best way to describe what a rep does. You are just trying to build demand.

SY: I think for many reps during COVID-19, there was a ramp-up in reporting and becoming nimbler with our numbers — explaining what our territory looks like and why the numbers look the way they do. As Brian said, none of that is in the contract, but it is vital for us to be successful. If we’re not giving that info to the manufacturer, no one has a clear picture of the market, which is our responsibility.

JR: What is something you are most proud of?

SY: I am most proud of being involved with a family business that is truly who it says it is. We have a reputation for being honest and direct; we will not jeopardize this. I am also proud to see women and younger people getting involved in the industry: going through CPMR, following Brian’s footsteps, and having that camaraderie. Being in the American Supply Association’s women’s group has been pivotal for me and very exciting. 

From a company perspective, we are proud of our certifications, such as ASSE 12080. Brian, Chase Sharp and Josh Bartolazzi are certified and can help with water testing and solutions. As a business, we have received awards for being teachers in the industry, and we highly value that.

BY: I’d have to say the same. Awards come and go, but saving people’s lives and working with people to create a safer environment in a hospital or nursing home — to me, that is the most success anybody could ever have. When you get called into a terrible situation and help solve that problem, it is hard to beat. 

Every time I do a CEU class on Legionella, I can tell everybody in the audience listens. I tell them: “You have the opportunity to change the world with waterborne pathogens if you just pay attention.  There is no reason that I should be talking about this any further if we all do our jobs.” 

 Jennifer Rodriguez, CPMR, is executive vice president of Marsh & Moore; Jessica Kolaitis, CPMR, is vice president of operations at Tim Morales & Associates; and Tom Schulte.