BRAND SECRETS AND STRATEGIES

PODCAST #14

Hello and thank you for joining us today. This is the Brand Secrets and Strategies Podcast #14

Welcome to the Brand Secrets and Strategies podcast where the focus is on empowering brands and raising the bar.

I’m your host Dan Lohman. This weekly show is dedicated to getting your brand on the shelf and keeping it there.

Get ready to learn actionable insights and strategic solutions to grow your brand and save you valuable time and money.

LETS ROLL UP OUR SLEEVES AND GET STARTED!

Dan: Welcome, today we're going to cover one of the biggest challenges that every young brand faces, how to build a sales team. More importantly, how to build an effective sales team that's going to help produce the results you're looking for and grow the mega brand that you've dreamed of. In a perfect world, we'd simply just replicate you or more specifically, we'd find a sales force that matches your passion, your drive, and your enthusiasm around the product. We'd find people that are dedicated to capitalizing on each and every opportunity that you have, to get in front of a retailer.

In that perfect world, each one of your sales people would be well educated and fully immersed in the product. Your success would be their success. Developing an effective sales team is one of the biggest challenges that every brand faces, even large brands. How do you do that effectively? Today, we're going to discuss how to maximize your sales efforts with an external sales team. Let me explain. An internal sales force is a sales force that is hired by you. They're all working for you. You pay them. Their results are your results. That's very expensive. A lot of brands turn to an external sales force. Particularly a broker. When used correctly, a broker can be a powerful addition to your sales team. They can help you get in front of retailers, help you manage your product on shelf, and help you drive sales.

The challenge is, how do you really maximize the broker's efforts on your behalf? That's exactly what we're going to discuss today.

Hi Bryan, thank you for joining me today. I'd like you to start by introducing yourself to our audience, where you started, what you learned along the way as you were progressing through your career, why you became a broker, left the brokerage and then went back into brokerage. As a little bit of context, I've known you for several years ago and one of the things that I've always been really impressed with you Bryan, is your ability to continually look toward ways to educate yourself and become more valuable, not only to the clients you represent but also to the community. Bryan, if you could share your thoughts.

Bryan: Oh thank you. I appreciate getting a chance to be on your podcast. I've listened to the first, I think it's 12 that are out and I think the 12th one just dropped, I'm listening to it. You've got a great group of folks that you've had on.

Dan: Thanks.

Bryan: I hopefully can add some value, but yes I'm now at the stage in my career where I can measure things in decades, which it happens a little faster than we anticipate. I started almost 25 years ago, now, in retail. Then, it was Sun Harvest, now it is part of the Sprouts family and I started in retail. Earlier, before the podcast began, we were talking a little about that. It really happened when I was in college. I had been working in fast food actually. I graduated high school, I was going to college and I had decided that fast food business, at that time, was not as exciting as I wanted, I happened to be in charge of frying chicken. You had to grab all these chicken parts out of the ice buckets. As I burnt my hands each day on the cold, the ice, I thought, "There's gotta be a better way."

A friend had shared that at Sun Harvest, you got a discount on your supplements and I thought, "You know what, I'm using these things, I could work here while I'm going to college and I could try to find a way to parlay that into part of my career down the road somehow." I distinctly remember going in to Sun Harvest, at the time, thinking I would be a cashier. I handed what amounted to my resume at the time to a gentleman named George. He and I are still connected in the industry today. George had asked he said, "Do you know anything about vitamins?" And this is what we were chatting about earlier. I distinctly remember that moment and then you know what, I read some Muscle and Fitness, they talk about supplements, I knew a little bit, so very quickly I said, "Yes, and I'm happy to learn more." That began, not only my journey there at Sun Harvest, but really in the industry and I haven't left it since.

That's a long introduction, but I started on the retail side and have been very fortunate to have a variety of roles from retail, just working my way around the supplement department, into department management, but had also, just after college, had a chance to be a grocery manager for, at that time, Sun Harvest. Had went from vitamins at store level to, for a short period of time, their corporate grocery buyer. Along that journey, I spent time on the brokering side, just as a rep at a regional level. Later on, had the chance to play a greater role at a smaller regional brokerage and then worked as a direct rep for Nutraceutical. Also, spent time back in the brokering side with Natural Specialty Sales, a national broker, where we spent time working together. As you know, and as your audience may be aware, part of Acosta, the largest food brokerage, if I'm not mistaken, probably in North America.

I've had the good fortune of having a variety of roles and since being at NS Sales, I've had the chance to manage sales for Himalaya Herbal Health Care, a supplement company and also spent some time with another small supplement company called Ultima Replenisher, it's an electrolyte product. Had the good fortune of being the President of that brand and the company and helping turning it around. It's continuing to grow in my absence and currently working with Many Nutura homeopathic medicine company. It's brought me full circle in the industry and with Many Nutura, actually happened to be using in as sales as our broker. Having worked there, now I get to work with them again. I haven't passed roles utilized the national broker to help with the process of growing a brand.

Dan: Interesting. I appreciate you sharing that. Let's back up a little bit Bryan. Let's talk about what is a broker? Why does it matter? Then, how would someone listening to this conversation choose the right broker for them?

Bryan: Great questions. A broker, especially this is important for start up brands, or someone maybe not familiar with the industry, but has a product that they want to bring to market. Your broker network can vary from small regional to national as we discuss with NS Sales or Natural Specialty Sales. A broker is really simply, your contract sales force. It can vary, some brokers specialize in the supplement side of things, or body care side, some in the grocery side of the business, whether it's the natural grocery side or the conventional grocery side. They're an extension of the brand. They represent multiple brands, it is an interesting opportunity as you work with brokers because sometimes, again this varies by brokerage, some end up exclusive, if you're their serial brand or their vitamin brand, you may be the only one.

Other brokers have numerous clients in a particular category and there are benefits to each of those. I found sometimes that if you're working with a large broker that has a number of brands in a particular category, they often can help manage that category so that if your story is strong, your brand story, your brand message is strong, you do really well because they're in essence, controlling that category with the retailer. If your story stands out, you actually do well within that group of competitive brands. That may seem a little contrary to what would be common sense thinking, "Well, how does that brokerage, they're your sales force, how does your sales force manage competing brands?" They'll usually have different people on the business so that there's no conflict of interest, but it can be an advantage of dealing with a brokerage that has expertise in your particular category. Again, there's national brokers and regional ones.

My experience has been, once you get your brand to multiple millions of dollars a year in sales, the national brokerages can be very beneficial because they help streamline communication. Often, in the early days of a brand, you may find that regional brokers are best because you may be focused in a smaller market, just in the beginning stages. It can be very, very helpful. But, each can play a distinct role. If that lays a foundation for further thought on it.

Dan: I appreciate that. About five or six years ago, I actually wrote an article about how to best manage your broker. That lead me to a lot of the content I've been developing in terms of what's been published in all the major trade make publications and getting me on stages in a speaking role. This is a very complicated and difficult topic for a lot brands to get their arms around. You've done a phenomenal job framing it. Let me ask you a few questions. If I'm a brand, and I'm not going through a broker, how does that impact me when I'm going up against a broker?

Bryan: That's a great question. In the beginning, it may not matter. I say in the beginning you have a finished good of some sort, whether it's a shampoo, a supplement, a new snack food. In the beginning it may not, yet it very well may, even from day one. If you and I got together and made a better snack item, all natural, non-GMO, USDA organic, we tested it out with our friends and family and 100 of the first strangers we could find and they said they love this. We got a package and it's ready to go. If you and I weren't already part of this industry, we may not know who at Whole Foods to connect with or Sprouts. For discussion sake, say we're relatively clever and we run across their contact info on a website, but they don't know us, so why would they respond to Daniel or Bryan, if they've never seen our name before, they don't know who we are, and we're one of potentially hundreds wanting to pitch a product.

It really can be advantageous from day one, if you and I and our fictitious snack brand connect with a broker that has good relationships with the retailers. One of the things that a good brokerage offers, is a reliable relationship with the particular retailers in their market, whether it's a regional market or a national market. Because they represent a number of brands, usually within a category, whether it's a grocery category, or a supplement, when they're dealing with these buyers on a regular basis, often, they may be seeing the Sprouts buyer or the Whole Foods national team once a month, sometimes more. If they're in there on a regular basis and we can begin a relationship with that brokerage, they're at least gonna be able to open the door for us to tell our story. That obviously is one of the first hurdles. We could have a great story, a great product, but if we can't get it in front of the buyer, that is a real challenge.

The brokers can open those doors. Even from the beginning, a broker relationship can be really helpful in just getting your story heard.

Dan: You're talking about what I'd call a sales accelerator. I think that would be probably the best way to put it. Where you're maximizing your ability to get in front of retailers and get on the shelf. That sounds like a fantastic way to go. What about the fact that going back to our fictitious brand, which by the way is really tasty, everyone should buy some, just kidding. Buy mine! Or as I used to say, "Just cause your mom likes it doesn't mean everyone else will." Anyhow, I digress. If you go back to that brand, and let's be honest, this is your brand, you're the one who built it with your blood, sweat, and tears, you're the passion and advocate for the brand. It's your face, your voice, your messaging in terms of selling it and getting it into stores, getting customers in front of it. How does a broker communicate your passionate shelf and what are the risks of your brand or your messaging being lost throughout all the other brands that a broker may carry? What strategies, Bryan would you recommend a brand use to not lose their identity on shelf, to keep their broker working on your behalf speaking very consistently in terms of what your brand is, what your messaging is, so that you get your best sales opportunity every time they go to a retailer?

Bryan: Great question. I think one of the challenges is to realize what the broker is going to be really good at, in which they should take the lead on, and in the parts that I'm responsible for. Conveying the passion, as you mentioned, that I'm responsible for, as the brand owner. If I'm working well with my broker, I realize the question is how do we ensure they share that passion? That's, utilize them to get the meeting. I realize, having been in the industry, but if you're am entrepreneur out there and you're hearing this podcast, realize that broker, because they have that relationship, use them to get that meeting and know that it may only be ten minutes. They may get an hour with that buyer, but they may have to go through ten brands. This is not an exaggeration.

We've had these meetings where that's pretty realistic. Knowing that, I try to be conscious of that as I've been on the brand side to say, "Okay, I know," in this case, say Hilarie at NS Sales, who works with me, she's one of my business managers, "that the meetings that you're going to secure, I have ten minutes. I am okay with that. I'll fly in, we'll spend the money so that I have that ten minutes, I'll honor the time, come well prepared, so that in that brief window of time, it's my responsibility to come prepared enough to share the excitement to share the story of the brand to leave the information behind." But, hopefully to walk away with something to execute. If it's a new item presentation, to effectively present the new items, to get their, at least, verbal commitment, then the appropriate follow up after that meeting.

I've had those type of meetings. Actually, one, not too long ago, just in the last couple weeks with Natural Grocers. Had a brief meeting, but it was well worth flying in to spend time with their buyer and our broker secured the meeting and it was brief, we had 30 minutes, but it was well worth it. It's going to result in a future placement. Knowing that, that you're responsible, or in this case, I'm responsible for communicating the brand message, utilize the broker to get the meeting. Be aware they may have a very short window of time for your portion of the meeting. Be willing to accept that, because you get, even if it's five minutes, five or ten or 15 minutes to get in, share your message with the buyer, using again, the relationship of the broker, leveraging that, but you deliver the message.

When it comes to the at shelf portion, my experience has been if you set up ... make it as easy as possible for your broker and their team to be successful. If it's a product that requires education, provide them the samples, the materials, as many tools as possible to make that education process simple. Just as an example, one of the things I look at putting together for brands that I've worked with, for the brokers, we call them, "Did you know," bags. It's little goody bags because we want the broker to have something to take into the store so that we help create the excitement for that rep who's going in. If they're calling on you Daniel, you're excited that Bryan the rep is coming in because he typically has something exciting to share. In order to extend that as a brand through the broker, we put together, on a quarterly basis, mailings would go out to the brokers, it would be art of their projects. They get a bag of goodies, live samples, full-size samples and really a postcard sized piece of information inside that tells the benefits of that product. That way, even if that rep is really busy and limited on time, if they have a goodie bag and they're going in to see the retailer, handing of that simple sample pack, makes for a pause.

If you hand something to someone, they're generally, likely going to accept it, you've got a few moments to talk to them about what you just stuck in their hands. We've made it simple for both the rep and the retailer. There's a card, they can cheat and read from the card the benefits, stick the card back in the bag, so that if the buyer doesn't remember it all, when they walk away later and have some time to sit down with the goodie bag you gave them, they have all the key benefits right there with them.

Not to be labored, but try to put together ... a new brand does well if they try and make it as simple as possible for that broker network, whether it's an account manager or store level person to make it easy for them to be successful.

Dan: I really like how you framed that, thank you. One of the struggles that I hear from a lot of different brands is when they effectively hand the keys over to the broker, the distributor, the whomever and expect them to be successful and yet they don't have clear expectations as to what they are hoping to gain out of that relationship. The fact that you spelled all that out nicely, that's great. I think it's important to go back and reiterate that point, that you're taking ownership. Your success, rather, is that you're taking ownership of the brand, not only the brand in terms of the way it's presented to the retailer, but you're also leveraging that relationship with the broker and helping them become successful on your behalf. That's the win-win situation.

One of the challenges that I hear about all the time that brands have is, how do you develop that rapport, that relationship with the retailer and with the broker so that the broker is putting your best foot forward? Again, you've got an in because you have a relationship with NSS prior to where you're at today. How would another brand that doesn't have that unique relationship, that unique trust, if you will, with that broker, how would another brand grow that? How would they create that?

Bryan: That's a great question. If I were working with a different brokerage, had I come into a brand and they had some of the other reputable brokers out there, an advantage sales and marketing presence, one of those where I hadn't worked with directly before. I think one of the keys, whether it's a new brand to start up, an entrepreneurial brand, or maybe someone that's shifting from a regional brokerage to a national network as their brand has grown or as their career has changed, is to genuinely sit down with your ... we call them business managers, whoever is handling your brand for that brokerage and get to understand, from their perspective, where their real strengths are, what they're capable of doing and what they're not. My experience has been anyways, I believe this would apply to these brokerages that I haven't worked with, if you're asking that sincerely, they'll genuinely tell you what their strengths are, what their weaknesses may be. What they could do or could not do.

If you really hear that and understand it, it will help you develop a way of working with them that maximizes their strengths and that understands the, I'll say the weakness, but just the things they may not be good at or it's just not ... it would be inappropriate to assume they will, if that makes sense. For instance, I know as a brand, that to assume that every visit, on a 30 day call cycle, or if it's a 60-day call cycle, depending on the geography, to expect that every single visit that broker, that rep that goes into detail a store, is going to discuss my brand. It's unlikely, not only do they have a number of brands, but they tend to be project driven. You're going to be focus driven and knowing that, then I'm not disappointed if, every single time, they're not trying to educate on my brand.

That's just one aspect of it, but knowing that, that's one of the reasons that I've tried to put together projects that are quarterly in nature, so that it's frequent enough that the retailer, if there's turnover or if there's a number of people in the department that you need to cycle through all the team members. If it's quarterly, it's not so frequent as to be ignored, if you will, the samples and the education wouldn't become common place. It's also timed well enough so that the people at the store level are excited. Not so frequent that it becomes common place and ignored, but not so infrequent that they forget about your brand.

For the current brand that I work with, with Many Nutura, they have products that need testers, that means on a couple times a year we're going to be very specific in replacing those testers. Not every visit, but periodically. Knowing that it's not going to be something, it would be out of the realm of realistic to assume that's touched every visit. It makes the whole process better. If I were working with a brand of snack foods or chips, you may need to check the shelf far more frequently. You probably don't have as much education on, but there may be different aspects of it. You learn to work with the broker and the pieces that are going to make sense and be realistic in terms of the expectation.

I think one of the greatest challenges that brands face is having an unrealistic expectation of their broker, whether that's conveying the ultimate passion that a brand has, or an unrealistic expectation that they would be identical to a direct rep only working one brand in a store. It is just different. That's not to say that any brokerage is bad, that's just not the reality of where their strength is going to be. They may be there all the time, but they have more than one brand to manage.

Dan: I like how you put that, a unrealistic expectation, I think that's the key. Again, that's why we're doing what we're doing, that's why I do what I do, is to try to educate brands about that. Let me impact that somewhat you had a lot of great information in there. A direct sales force would be a brand owning or hiring their entire sales team. If I work for that brand, I'm getting paid for that brand, my success is reflected back to the brand and my bonuses, my pay is contingent on how well I do, versus an internal sales force, which would be a broker. The point that you made about an unrealistic expectation, it's critical, we walk about this a lot. You and I do, even outside of this, about how it's so important, so relevant for a brand to not walk into the door and expect the broker to do everything. But, like you said, have all of those tools available to help the broker help you be successful, more importantly, to help keep the frequency up, keep the relationship up, and continuing nurturing that relationship so that you don't fall through the cracks, so that you're relevant. More importantly, that you're leveraging each and every sales opportunity to maximize the impact for your brand. Thank you for sharing that.

Also, really liked the idea that you talk about how everything is project driven. I think that's one of the biggest, if you will, failings, that a lot of brands have when working with a broker. As I understand it, you're talking about once a quarter, going back into the retailer to maximize some aspect of your sales funnel. Could you go back into that a little more in detail? What suggestions, Bryan would you have for a brand that's new working with a broker to maximize those opportunities to continue working toward helping the retailer support their brand?

Bryan: Absolutely. This would apply across the board, in my mind anyway, whether you have a frozen item or a snack item, or supplements, or body care. For instance, one of the key pieces that I've tried to do in the past, maybe that the sampling events, let's say it's January at the first quarter of the year and the first event is in January. For discussion sake, let's say February was the month that you had a specific promotion, doing that sampling, that detail, that project in January can be opportune. Making the project prior to a key promotion month. I come in January and I go, "Daniel, hey, I want to let you know, in February, our brand is going to be running a promotion. We know it's on end cap, I just wanted to remind you. Inside here I brought you some of the product to try. I know you like the chocolate version the best, so there's the chocolate, but also the brand new vanilla. It's also gonna be on end cap, just wanted to let you have some product to try out and to remind you about that."

Something just real simple, the sampling project that's going on, that the broker rep is doing could be tied to reminding about an upcoming promotion, so that you're educating, you're touching the brand, and you're letting that retailer know. Their ordering may be automatic, it may be planned out. They may be putting an order together, not something that I, as the broker, can write as a turn over order. I would use that opportunity to remind you. When you're thinking, as a new brand, if you're working with your broker, keep those things in mind. If it's a key season, maybe you have a seasonal item, again, plan those projects around either key promotions, key seasons, so that prior to the event happening, the team has been in, they've made the retailer aware, if it's sampling or education or shelf placement, you had a chance to do all that in advance.

Understanding what that broker is really capable of doing, not only from the broker perspective, just from their team's ability, what is that retailer going to allow them to do? In the past, some retailers, you can adjust the product position on a shelf. At this point, most of the retailers are plan-o-grammed. At Whole Foods, you could do that a little bit, up until probably recently. If I assume that the team is going to address shelf placement, that may be unrealistic. I need to know that. I need to be okay with it. If I assume that broker is going to be able to accomplish something that is outside the realm of even possibility, then I'm frustrated and disappointed and it's not really their fault. Planning those projects out in advance, it could be around a key promotion, a key season, a new item launch that may be happening with the retailer.

Just taking time to plan out and, again, with your broker, knowing the timelines they work on. They're usually going to be well organized and working to meet a retailer deadline. They may be working 30 or 60 days out prior to that retailer's deadline. Just being well aware of how your broker operates, how that retailer operates and then planning out the project or projects well in advance so that it can go as smoothly as possible and it's easy to execute for that broker. Doing the proper follow up, making sure your team is sending the appropriate product or samples to the most current rep addresses, making sure it does get there and continuing that good follow up process so that if something were to go awry, and it can happen, that you get a chance to correct it before the expected execution.

Dan: I love how you talked about being proactive. I think that's one of the places, one of the areas that brands fall down a lot. What I mean by that, thank you again Bryan for bringing that up, is that a lot of times, brands don't properly plan for promotions. Then, they have out of stocks, the challenges it really dilutes what you're trying to do, what you're trying to accomplish. It can be death to your brand, don't mean to be really harsh. My point being is that you've spent a lot of time and energy trying to develop a relationship with your customer and when they show up to the store and your product's not on the shelf, it's your brand, your name, if you will, that's on that product. You've missed that sale, you've also put the retailer in an awkward position because now the retailer has a hole in their shelf and they can't support that promotion. It's a huge mistake.

One of the challenges that I find is that, again, going back to what we were talking about earlier, is that a lot of brands try to simply hand the keys to someone else and say, "Here, you run this." The way you've talked about leveraging the relationship with the broker and identifying what they're good at and what they're not good at and capitalizing on their strengths to help drive sales for your brand in their store is the key.

One of the things I talk about a lot, Bryan is you've commented on several times, is knowing your numbers. You've got to be an expert in your category. Don't rely on the broker, don't rely on the distributor, don't rely on anyone else. This is your brand, your name is on that brand, know your numbers. This is why this is important. If you've got a promotion and you're thinking very proactively as you suggested, which I think is great. Tell the retailer how much extra additional product they need to have in their store, during the promotion and before the promotion to support it to avoid out of stocks. Help the broker and help the retailer understand that when someone buys your products, what are the items that they're going to buy in addition to that? That's how you build category leadership within that broker.

One of the things you touched on, is that retailers have a set way of doing things. What I would challenge any brand listening to this podcast and reading any of my content, to do, is to go beyond that. You know your consumer far better than the retailer could begin to know your consumer. There's no way they could be an expert in every category of every item they sell. Leverage that relationship with your consumer to help educate the retailer, your broker, your distributor, etc., to help drive sales within their store. That is your unique selling proposition, that is how you extend your brand beyond the four corners of your package, so to speak.

Bryan, what are your thoughts, in regards to this? And how would a brand best take advantage of these strategies to drive sales within their brand and again, help the retailer compete more effectively?

Bryan: I'm glad you brought that up. With the general theme of your expertise and category management in the planning part, I think that if the brand just slightly established, as a brand that's new, if you have no sales history that may be a little different. Yet, the same time you can[inaudible 00:34:31] for the category you are in and to be able to look at how much is sold when on promotion. Yes, part, if you're really maximizing your opportunities, if you're in a Sprouts or a Whole Foods where you can access their data of your brand. But, if you learn how your brand or the category does on promotion, but especially your own data. If you know that on a typical month, and it's a supplement, and you normally move six units, but on a promotional period, you move 24 of the particular sku that's on promotion, part of that store sampling planning can be making sure that broker rep knows that you normally move 24 units during a promotional period, so it may be good to have 28 or 32 or to be prepared for those numbers.

If you can share that. If I come in and I say, "Daniel, I'm so excited that our product is on sale next month. You have these four sku's are being promoted and you may know this already, but on promotion, you typically sell 24 during the four week period, of each of those four sku's. I want to make sure, I wrote this down here, it's on the card. Just remember that, so when the promotion starts, you're well stocked and your customers can stick as much in their basket as they would like. You and I will both do better." Just a little pre-planning helps. If you back up a step and you're taking that knowledge to the account level, when you're planning promotions, and this is where, when you ask, "Where does the broker have a responsibility? Where does the brand have a responsibility?" This clearly falls back on the brand, but whether you can attend the meeting personally or not, if you're planning promotions and you're providing that level of data and saying, "Oh, you know what, here's the January promotion, we suggest and the March promotion, etc," and you're also able to suggest order quantities or quantities that would move during that period, how much better for that? Especially when you quantify and you clarify where that came from, whether it's particular data that can be backed up, you're helping them be successful, they're going to appreciate it.

As you know, much better than I, few brands provide that level of information, whether it's at store level, helping that individual department manager be successful, or at the regional level. I know the retailers are trying to be more thoughtful in this direction. But, until they're mastering it without our input as a brand, we would want to do it. I would say, even if that retailer is quite successful with the data and the category management with the promotional management, providing additional information to either bolster that, or, if they thought 24 units was what was typically selling, as you've looked back, historically or maybe the last quarter's promotion that you're seeing that movement increase and you can share that to help them be more successful and to help your distributor have the product on hand. You're going to be establishing a relationship both with the retailer and your broker team of really adding value to that relationship.

Dan: Absolutely. In fact, one of the things that I've built my career on, my biggest areas of success has been able to develop a relationship of trust with the retailers where the retailers will actually give me their store data. What I mean by this is that savvy retailers they're hungry for knowledge about how to grow their categories. They don't have the skills, the tools, usually even the ability to support a category at that level. Remember, they're trying to compete against their competitors. Your ability to help them as a brand or apply resources to support the retailer at that level, opens up an entirely new opportunity for a brand to leverage that level of support to really drive sales in the category. There are a lot of benefits to that as well.

I appreciate you bringing that out and mentioning that. Bryan, is there anything else that you'd like to touch on that you think we may have missed that brands would appreciate?

Bryan: One of the pieces that ties into this when you're talking about how to work with your broker, is do good follow up. I've had the pleasure of working with NS Sales and being part of that team. But, I realize even though there's really many great people on the team, and this would be true of probably any of the national or regional brokers, if they're managing many brands, it is my responsibility on the brand side of the desk, to ensure that I'm following up. That doesn't mean in an irritating way but just in a responsible way.

I try to take the lead on recaps after a meeting with a retailer, try to indicate in that who is responsible for what. Even then, it's really my responsibility to be sure that all the pieces that needed to be handled, are. Even if some of that follow up is related to the broker, I want to make sure I've given them the tools so they can. After that, just make sure I'm following up on a reliable schedule to make sure that they're doing their part as well. Whether they're busy or just need a reminder, I don't want to miss a deadline and try to blame them, if you will. It's really my responsibility.

If you're a start up brand, and you're working with one of the brokers, whether it's national or regional, just be sure to own those pieces, follow up on a regular basis so that the process moves forward smoothly. Most of the team that I've worked with in the past is very good at that and may need little reminding. At the same time, if they were to miss a step, it's really my responsibility to ensure that I'm staying alongside them in that process, if that makes sense.

Dan: Absolutely, and you cannot stress that enough. If it's your name on the package, your brand, the company that you work for, it's not the night stock men's person for not putting the product on the shelf, it's not the retailer's problem if there's an out of stock, it's not the broker's fault if you cannot support a promotion. From the consumer point of view, it's the brand that failed. I love the way you put that, follow up, follow up, follow up. This is a very integral part of what you're trying to do. You spend a lot of time and energy developing a product in your garage, your kitchen, or wherever, don't stop there. You're not finished selling the product until after the consumer takes it home, tries it, loves it, likes it, and hopefully shares it with their friends.

Bryan, you've done an amazing job of sharing a lot of great insights about how to leverage your relationship with a broker, the difference between a direct versus an indirect sales team, and more importantly, what you need to do in terms of following up, not only with the broker, but also how you continue to maintain that relationship and that momentum at store level. I cannot thank you enough for being here today and for sharing your thoughts. Everyone is going to get a lot from this show I know it. Thank you.

Bryan: Thank you, I appreciate it.

Dan: I'd like to thank Bryan for coming on the show today. Bryan has been a staunch supporter of the content I put out, all dedicated to helping brands sell more, to compete more effectively, and to get their products in the hands of more consumers. I believe it's a small brands that are driving sales across every category and that eventually small brands will become more important than the larger brands. When it comes to effective retailer strategies, this episode we talked a lot about how brands can leverage their relationships with external sales forces to do just that. I'll put a link to Bryan's website in the show notes and on my webpage.

In addition to that, I've created a resource to help you work better and more effectively with retailers, brokers, and even your internal sales team. This weeks freebie is my retail store card. You can text “RetailScoreCard” to 44222, or download it on the show's webpage. The show's webpage is brandsecretsandstrategies.com/session14. I look forward to seeing you in the next episode.

If you have topics you would like me to cover, please let me know. Please drop me a note and recommend the thought leaders that you'd like me to bring on the show. As always, this show is about you and for you. Thank you again for listening.

This episode's FREE downloadable guide

Scorecards are powerful goal setting tools. You’ve probably heard that “what gets measured gets done”. Scorecards map out objectives in bite-size manageable chunks that keep you on-track and focused. They're what you need to succeed.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE STRATEGIC GUIDE: Retail Scorecard

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I appreciate all the positive feedback. Keep your suggestions coming.

Until next time, this is Dan Lohman with Brand Secrets and Strategies where the focus is on empowering brands and raising the bar.