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Retailers want and need your help! You hold the key to giving them a huge competitive edge. Become an indispensable trusted resource and partner and savvy retailers will reward you with incremental opportunities. Give your brand the edge you deserve!

How To Become A Trusted And Respected Retailer Partner - A Category Leader
Welcome to Day 15: How To Become A Trusted And Respected Retailer Partner - A Category Leader

The Retail solved Blueprint to teach you everything you need to know to confidently grow and scale your brand, build a connected community of loyal evangelists, and multiply your brands impact, sales, and profits.

If we are meeting for the first time, my name is Dan Lohman. I’ve had the privilege of mentoring and working with hundreds of brands from pre-revenue to multi billion dollars in sales. This a culmination of the best strategies that are working today. I’ve spent years testing and perfecting them to save you valuable time and money while giving you the edge you deserve.

If you haven’t done so yet, download the free 30 Days To Prosperity Workbook at RetailSolved.com/30DayWorkbook to help you get the most out of this brand-building series. Go back and listen to all of the episodes in this masterclass to that you don’t miss a thing. The strategies build upon each other in the order of the series. Please share these and help me raise the bar in natural.

I want to take a moment to recap the last episode - Identify Your Ideal Retail Partner, Including On-Line. In the last episode I talked about the importance of choosing the right retailer, including online. One of the biggest mistakes that brands make, especially small brands, is that the focus is on gaining distribution everywhere regardless whether it's a good fit or not. This may seem counterintuitive since you're told that all distributions good distribution but it's not. Trying to sell your product were your customers don't shop is a waste of time and money. Having distribution in a retailer that doesn't value your ability to help them grow sales can also be a challenge. Start to build distribution, including with new item innovation where it makes sense first and then expanded other retailers and other stores when you're completely able to give the brand and the retailer the support that they need and deserve. Remember it's all about the customer. How easy can you make it easy for customers to find and buy your products wherever they shop. Don’t allow yourself to get distracted - remain laser focused on your strategy.

That leads us to today's episode how to become a trusted and respected retail partner - a category leader. I spend a lot of time on the podcast and through out all my content talking about the value and the benefits of becoming a category leader. A category leader by my definition is any brand willing and able to step up and help guide their retail partner to grow sustainable sales by leveraging the strength of the unique customer that your brand attracts.

This is a radically different strategy than what you're taught in any business school or by any broker, agency, or distributor. I assure you that it works. In fact, leveraging some of the same strategies I share here is how I'm making an incredible impact for the brands I've worked with right now. It's fundamentally at the heart what it takes to be recognized as a trusted and respected indispensable retail partner - a category leader.

As a quick reminder there's a big difference between a category captain and a category leader. Committing to be a category captain can be extremely expensive requiring a commitment to provide dedicated tools and resources to that retailer. It's a good I'll deal to let the big brands assume the category captain roll. If you do this right, a category leader can even be more impactful and more influential in supporting your retail partner. This is where savvy retailers will sometimes reward you with incremental opportunities not available to other brands.

So what exactly do I mean by that. I've shared several examples throughout this 30 day to prosperity series. I also shared several real life examples on the Retail Solved podcast including as I give free advice to my guests and where I help solve their most pressing bottle next at the end of the episode.

To summit it up, continually scratching for more sales can be extremely draining especially as you're trying to hit your targets and sales objectives. Imagine having a retailer call you out of the blue and ask you if you can provide incremental displays and promotions. I've actually had retailers call me repeatedly and offer me a free end cap with less than a weeks notice. They reached out to me because I had proven myself as a trusted resource. Imagine what something like that would do toward hitting your sales objectives. This is what we're shooting for.

Being a category leader means first becoming an expert in your customer, The retailers customer, How they shop the category, and how your brand influencers their buying decisions. It's important that you understand how to get into the mind of your shopper. It's always a good idea to start with their needs state.

A need state is the purpose that drives the customer into your store. It’s the problem that they're trying to solve. For example someone with a runny nose is looking for cold and flu remedies. There needs state is cold and flu. For this customer, you want to group all of the cold and flu remedies in a convenient easy to fine location. Focus on the shoppers journey. What can you do to make it easy for them to find and buy all of the products that they need while in your store and will buying your brand.

When McDonald asked you if you want fries with your burger it's because they realize that they can make a lot more money selling the fries and a drink. What most people don't realize is that they hardly make any money selling the burger alone. There success and their ability to remain profitable comes from recommending complementary items. Doing this adds value to for their shoppers and differentiates them from their competition. You should do the same for your customers.

This is a great way for you to show your leader ship and your ability to help your retail partner grow sales. Think of the products that complement your brand and think about how you can create promotions to be a win-win for both you and the other brand. Don't just think about things that are simple like putting ketchup and mustard together. This is where your creativity can make all the difference.

For example parents with infants will go out of the way to spend a premium on high-quality baby food. This customer might be an ideal shopper for a brand like once upon a farm. A lot of those same customers probably have older children at home that feel neglected now that mom and dad's time is focused on their new brother or sister. FoodStirs is a company that sells healthy baking kits like brownies, cookies, and more. This brand is ideal for parents wanting to create memories with their children while teaching them about healthy nutrition. Merchandising or promoting both of these brands together would be a great way to make a deeper connection with young families. This is also a great way to build a lasting relationship with future customers.

Think of creative things that you can do with your brand to help your retail partner compete more affectively in their market. Remember the three things retailers want, a competitive advantage in your market, a reasonable profit, and sustainable category growth.

Another great way to become an indispensable category partner is to provide actionable insights that other brands overlook or that retailers can't get on their own. This is why I spent so much time talking about the importance of your story and how your story needs to include deep level insights about the unique customer that your brand attracts.

Big brands real I heavily on what they call shopper insights. They can be expensive to purchase. Most companies that provide shopper insights that tend to commoditize shoppers causing them to overlook your unique customer. This is where you have a distinct competitive advantage.

If you haven't listen to every episode in this series, I encourage you to go back and listen to them in order. In fact listen to him as many times as you need as each episode build upon the previous one. Your ability to use these insights tips and tricks to grow sales will your brand giving you the sustainable competitive edge that you deserve - if you apply them correctly.

One of the questions I frequently get from listeners is how did I learn about the strategies. I created them by paying attention to the way customers shop and by focusing on what matters most to them. Now I know that sounds pretty generic so let me explain.

After college I held a wide variety of senior management positions in retail. At one point I was the grocery manager for Price club which is now Costco. I was responsible for all of the food items including frozen, refrigerated, perishable, produce, meat, bakery, convenient store and even the liquor store. It was a hard job with long hours as most grocery managers will tell you. I learned exactly how customer shop and what influence their buying decisions.

Every day my boss would walk the sales floor with me. I was expected to know in great detail how every product was performing in addition to my current inventory levels. I had to justify the products I put on the end caps and where I merchandised products. I completely re-merchandise the entire grocery department to make it easier to shop using what I learned. I grouped like products to address customer needs states. This is well before category management was invented.

I actually used a legal pad to create a schematic for the freezer section. The result was an instant increase in sales of over 252%. In fact, I almost quadruple the sales in my department to over $500,000 in Weekly sales back in the early 90s. That level volume was virtually unheard of.

One of the ways that I did this was by paying close attention to the way customers shop the store. Customers came in one door and went around what we called the race track. Every store has a flow the customers follow.

I continually experimented with different merchandising strategies. Price club was a club store where most of the items were sold right off of a pallet.

One of my experiments included moving the first can on the traffic facing corner of the pallet and place it on the far back corner. This made it look like the first row had already been sold and that shoppers were digging into the second row. Sales exploded.

Conversely, I also experimented with keeping the pallet cubbed. Sales dropped off dramatically as a result.

Consider this, if you have a full gallon of milk in the fridge, you're free to take as much as you want at anytime you want. But, when there's only a little bit of milk left you tend to save it for others or you drink less of it to conserve it and make it last longer. This is why stores like Price club are so affective because they can convince you to buy a larger quantities of products because they know you will consume them quicker if you have them at your fingertips. This is also why large count pack items are a great way to build incremental sales.

As you begin understand how your brand influences the shopper journey and how your strategies can impact sales, this will make your insights even more valuable to your retail partner.

Think about the example I just gave you and how you can make it easier for customers the find and buy your products wherever they shop. More importantly, what can you do to help ensure that they find everything on their list while they shop for your brand. Insights like these are priceless to a retailer. Also, this is how you get a significant and stainable competitive edge.

Remember that your competitors typically use a rinse and repeat strategy. What's the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. This is why most brands have lackluster results.

I've been capitalizing on these experiences throughout my entire career. Because I understood what the retailer really wanted and how to help them grow sales by leveraging the unique strengths of the shopper my brand attracted. I focused first on helping the retailer achieve their goals and they rewarded me for my efforts - the focus of the 30 days to prosperity series.

For example, when I was a DSD driver selling potato chips for a small regional company I used some of these strategies to become a trusted and valued partner for retailers. As a result, when a brand new superstore had a grand opening I was given a 4,900 bag and display in the front lobby in addition to several end caps that I did not have to pay for while the number one brand nationally could not get a single display in the store.

This is why the strategies are so important to your success. This is how you level the playing field with the most sophisticated brands in your category including those brands with really deep pockets. Keep thinking back to the three things at retailers really want and how you can deliver results beyond your competitors.

I have millions of stores that I could share. The main point that I want to make here is that you have an opportunity to control your destiny and that begins with your commitment to becoming an invaluable resource to your retail partners. This will open doors and create opportunities typically only available to the biggest brands. This is even more important when you consider the impact of Covid on our industry.

Retailers are struggling to remain relevant meaning. They are striving to keep customers coming in again and again especially with all the online threats. In addition, a lot of brands are struggling just to keep their doors open. You have a unique opportunity to leverage these strategies and give yourself I huge edge.

I was supposed to give and the keynote address for the Canadian organic trade association had expo west. The presentation was titled How To Get Your Brand On Store Shelves And Into The Hands Of Shoppers. When it Expo was canceled I volunteered to give it on the free weekly webinar series I launched. The strategies I've been talking about on this episode are the primary focus on that webinar. You can watch the replay at retailsolve.com/otacanada.

That free webinar complemented the: How Do You Future Proof Your Store In Uncertain Times webinar. It was a collaboration with Whole Foods magazine and it was really well attended. In this webinar I talk a lot about how brands can become an indispensable partner to the retailers and how brands can help future proof retailers especially during uncertain times. You can watch the webinar replay at RetailSolved.com/FutureProofYourStore.

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For additional inspiration listen to podcast episodes:
SECRETS 43 Ben Friedland With Lucky's Market, Retail Done Right, Success = Retailers + Brands Partnering To Satisfy Shoppers. At the time I recorded this podcast episode luckys was a thriving retailer. They were doing everything right in my opinion. They were partnering with brands to help make it easier for customers to come in fine and buy all the products I wanted. You can learn a lot from this podcast episode. Since recording that episode luckys unfortunately went bankrupt but I had little to do with her strategy it had more to do in my opinion with them trying to aggressively open new stores in markets thousands of miles away from where they were having success. The stores were clean well merchandise extremely well organized and their staff are some of the friendliest people you'd ever want to meet. They went out of their way to offer incredible customer service. The original store still holds true those values. Secrets 43 luckys market retail done right, Success Eagles retailers Plus brands pertinent to satisfy shoppers.

Next to recommend you listen to SECRETS 41 Robbie Vitrano With Good Spread & NatchCom, Understanding What Drives The Beating Heart Of Natural. Robbie's background is working with agencies so he understands branding and the importance of aligning your brand where is your court consumer. Robbie is a wealth of information. On this podcast episode he sure is a lot of examples about how to connect your brand with a community. Rob is one of the nicest people I've ever met and he's also one of the most committed influencers in our industry. His passion and his commitment to raising the barn or industry is what makes the story so impactful. Secrets 41 with Robbie Vitrano was good spread understanding what drives the beating heart of natural.

Next to recommend you listen to SECRETS 77 Leigh & Bill Keith With Perfect Bar, The Perfect Recipe For Growth, Knowing Your Numbers + Authentic Love For Your Hive. Lee and Bill are brother and sister and together with her family they built a brand empire Focus on delivering incredible products that their customers love. They call their loyal enthusiastic customers their hive. They're authentic love for their hive translates and a huge opportunities to innovate and dominator category. They also talked about the importance of knowing your numbers and how to leverage your numbers at retail and your selling story - exactly what we've been talking about through this entire series. Secret 77 Lee and Bill Keith was perfect bar the perfect recipe for growth knowing your numbers and authentic love for your hive.

Tip of the day: Retailers want and need your help! You hold the key to giving them a huge competitive edge. Become an indispensable trusted resource and partner and savvy retailers will reward you with incremental opportunities

I’ve recorded the video which has illustrations and additional information I can’t share on an audio podcast. You can watch the accompanying video on on the podcast webpage and you can get there by going to RetailSolved.com/Session241. In tomorrows show we’ll talk about How To Use Data Analytics - The Roadmap To Future Sales And Profits.

This episode will build on today’s conversation. Thanks for listening and I look forward to seeing you in the next show.