Giving Buyers Better Information; What's In Store: Hired-gun reps spread the word about new products.(MANAGING FOR SUCCESS)

Byline: KEN SPENCER BROWN

If you want something done right, the old saying goes, do it yourself.

That's why tech manufacturers, competing with a sea of rivals on retail shelves, often send their own representatives to stores to push their wares.

These on-site ambassadors answer customer questions, give demos and train the store staff on how to better sell the product. The aim is to persuade sales clerks to steer customers away from rival products and toward their own.

Fuji Photo Film USA Inc., better know as Fujifilm, wanted to do the same thing this winter to promote its new line of digital cameras for the holiday shopping season.

But Tony Sorice, who's in charge of the firm's hardware sales, knew he didn't have the budget to hire and train a brand new field sales team. So he put a new twist on the do-it-yourself approach: He outsourced it.

Sorice turned to sales and marketing company Campaigners Inc.