FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE         

LOCAL SALES REP EARNS COVETED CERTIFICATION

Bob Stephens, McCain Sales Co., Inc., Huntsville, AL, has been awarded the designation Certified Professional Manufacturers' Representative (CPMR), as a result of successfully completing a three-year executive education program. Stephens is one of over 1,500 professional sales people across the United States to have earned CPMR/FB certification.

The designation denotes a level of education and commitment beyond the ordinary, according to Dr. Daniel McQuiston, Director of Education for the Manufacturers' Representatives Educational Research Foundation (MRERF) located in Arvada Co.

The CPMR/FB program was created especially for manufacturers' representatives and brokers after nearly a decade of research and development, with the cooperation of a variety of representative's trade groups. Stephens is a member of AIM/R. To become a CPMR, Stephens attended three annual sessions of on-campus classes at Arizona State University totaling 24 classroom hours each year. Stephens also passed a rigorous examination at the conclusion of each year's classes,

"The CPMR training program creates a uniform understanding of the issues important to the development and success of a representative firm," said Dr. McQuiston. "By completing the training, each candidate is making a long-term individual commitment that increases his or her own professionalism as well as raises the standards of selling professionalism throughout business and industry."

Manufacturers' representatives are independent entrepreneurs who sell the products of several manufacturers in a given territory. By outsourcing the field sales function, manufacturers pay only for results and typically gain more expertise and continuity of coverage than a captive sales force would provide. "Reps are the very best in the sales profession," Dr. McQuiston states, "and those certified with CPMR / FB recognition are the elite among reps."