You can’t help but love a blog that starts out with “In the world of retail, stores are serviced by two separate yet connected groups: the manufacturers who supply the merchandise and the sales force that represents them. I am a rep. These are my stories.”    Can the hit TV series be far behind?

The author of the rep blog Road Rage is Meryl Hooker, who describes herself as a “Sales Rockstar.” She offers us a candid, and somewhat irreverent,  glimpse into the life of a sales rep — as well as tips for retailer success — through her fascinating blog  entries.

Meryl Hooker is not your run-of-the-mill manufacturer’s representative.  She is also a writer, speaker, and sales coach, as well as the co-author of the forthcoming book, Pushing The Envelope: The Small Greeting Card Manufacturer’s Guide to Working with Sales Reps (Center Aisle Press, May 2010).   As one of her vendors, Blue Q, wrote in their blog, “A resident of Washington DC, Meryl also covers Maryland, Delaware and Virginia  for Blue Q as well as other (less notable) lines.  Though a full time sales rockstar, she occasionally moonlights as a garden gnome.”

Meryl maintains her own web site, www.merylhookersales.com, which lists the many fun lines that she carries. They include some of the most humorous lines in our industry, from Anne Taintor and Accoutrements to Blue Q, the Massachusetts-based company that named Meryl Hooker their Rep of the Year for 2009.

A look at “Road Rage” will give you a good idea of why she deserved that title, as well as the tiara and cash reward that accompanied it.  Meryl’s enthusiasm for retailing is contagious. As she says, “Working with independently-owned card and gift stores is my specialty. Helping them survive and thrive with unique, reasonably priced merchandise is the mission behind the madness.”

Her latest blog entries talk about using social networking media creatively, and also writing unusual ad copy.  She occasionally writes about the challenges of being a road rep, such as the recent excessive snowfall (she should talk to a rep in Wisconsin!), and her entries almost always include photos or video.  If you are doing a blog for your store, you could get some great ideas from Meryl.

But the most important “takeaway” that I get from reading Road Rage is Meryl Hooker’s pride in what she does.  Sales reps perform such an important role in our industry, bridging the gap between vendors and retailers. They bring us new merchandise, share ideas that have been successful in other stores, and help us handle the challenges that come with owning an independent business.  Make sure that your reps get credit for every order you write, because reps rock — and as retailers we need to keep the rep system rolling along.

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder