Many Sales Agencies across MarketTime manage Manufacturer data (e.g., Item Details, Item Images, Catalogs, Order Minimums, and Payment Terms) on behalf of their Manufacturers.
As a Manufacturer, you have the ability to receive orders through MarketTime from one or multiple Sales Agencies, while still allowing your Sales Agencies to manage your data. If this is the setup you desire - utilizing MarketTime to receive aggregated orders from your Sales Agencies, while your Sales Agencies manage data on your behalf - this article is for you.
When you first log into MarketTime, if there are “un-linked” agency-managed copies of your company in the MarketTime ecosystem, you will see a pop-up with these Sales Agencies listed:
These are suggested based on matching Company Name, Address, Phone Number, and/or Email Address to help you find any orders you wish to aggregate.
Use the checkbox to the left of the company you wish to link with, then click Submit Request to do so.
Link requests are usually approved within 24-48hrs. Once complete, your company will have access to orders written by the newly “linked” Sales Agencies, based on the orders written for your company on the agency-managed version of your account.
Note that this process will not impact the management of your Manufacturer data; your linked agencies will continue to be able to manage your products, promotions, and catalogs/documents on their own unless you choose to "take control" of this data for them.
How do I know Who is Linked Because they are Managing My Data & Sending Orders vs. Just Sending Orders & We're Managing the Data?
Once you've linked with your Sales Agencies, they will appear in a list in the "Sales Agencies" section of the left-hand navigation of your account. You should be receiving orders from all Agencies on this list.
The "Linked MFR" column on this list shows who manages the data for your Brand.
(1) If you manage your company's data, you will see your company's M ID in this column. In this scenario, you pass data (images, product feeds, catalogs, etc) to the Agency and the Agency passes orders to you.
(2) Where the Agency manages the data on your behalf (they request updates from you but are ultimately responsible for updating your information for their reps and on their B2B site), the number in the "Linked MFR" column will be their M ID, not yours. In this scenario, the Brand is only linked to the Agency for order-receiving purposes. Data updates are sent outside of this linkage.
Is Your Agency Missing from the List?
If you have reviewed the process above and you are missing an Agency from your list, please use the form, HERE to submit a research request. Please note the information needed is very particular. Please work with your Agency(ies) to obtain the correct information for your account.
MarketTime ID Numbers You Will Need to Gather:
- Your Manufacturer MarketTime ID (begins with the letter "M")
- Your Missing Sales Agency's MarketTime ID (begins with the letter "R")
- Your Missing Sales Agency's Manufacturer MarketTime ID (begins with the letter "M") for YOUR company