As you guys know by now, I don’t claim to know much about what I’m doing.? I’m not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, I’m just winging it the best I can.? Having said that, I want to share with you my experience in getting into retail stores.? This is not a how to manual; this is just what I have done and continue to do.? I don’t so much have infinite knowledge on the subject, but I do have experience and sometimes having experience in how to do something is worth ten times having knowledge of how to do something, so for what it’s worth, here is my “experience”.? ?

Right now I am focusing primarily on independently owned stores.? It is a good way to build your brand and from what I have found, these people you talk to (usually the owners of the stores) are receptive to at least talk with you because they too have been bitten by the entrepreneurial bug (hence them owning their own piece of the American Dream).? I get store information from people that write in from my website and say “I know this great store here in
XYZ, USA, it’s called Wonderful Store, and here is the phone number”.? I also get information about stores from friends all over the
US. ?(I ask people all the time if they know of a great Gourmet Gift store in their town) ?Once I have a store location I try to “Google” as much as I can about that store to see if I think it truly would be a good fit before I pick up the phone.? I don’t want to waste the store’s owner or buyers time,? (or mine) on a store that is truly not my target market.? There are plenty of stores out there that fit the bill 100%.? (Know your target market)? ?

I then pick up the phone, introduce myself and ask who to speak with regarding a potential vendor inquiry.? Sometimes it’s the person who answered the phone!? I LOVE that!!!? As I said, these are people for the most part that feel your passion because they are living their own passion.? I then tell them BRIEFLY about my product and ask if I may email them some information about my product.? (I like doing things electronically.? Maybe I’ll save a tree or two)? Again, they are usually pretty receptive to just seeing what I have to offer.? I then VERY PROMPTLY email them a letter thanking them for their time, explaining my product, embedding a few small photos in the email (not so much “attaching big files, a lot of people won’t open files for fear of viruses) and saying “If Grill Charms is a product that you would consider for your store, please call or email and I will happily send you a wholesale information sheet.?

If they come back and say they are interested, I then email them my wholesale information sheet (or sell sheet) which outlines wholesale pricing, minimum orders, credit terms, information on how it’s packaged, (IE 1 case contains 12 units) and MSRP.? I also send them a wholesale account form which asks for all of their information including license number so I may set them up as a customer. ?

After I have sent them the initial letter, I put all of their information on my “sales and marketing to do list”.? This is where I keep track of all my sales and marketing activities arranged in alphabetically order by potential customer name.? It is here that I keep notes of all of my efforts.? It looks something like this….?

“ABC company www.abc.com? 866-462-XXX 2/4 talked to Roger and he said to send an email to Ronny XXX at ??XXX@XXX.com 2/4? ??ABC address XXXX?? Ronny replied 2/6 and asked more questions about product, I told him, follow up on 2/8.? 2/8? Not interested

BCD Company : Address, Phone, website email:?
Sandy is go to person at sandy@XXX.com? emailed info 2/9, call to follow up 2/13?

CDE Company Address, phone website: ?call Betsy M-F she is the buyer for gift shop email buyer@hotmail.com? Emailed her wholesale info 2/11 follow up 2/15”?

Now if you notice, 2 are in bold and 1 is not.? The ones in bold are “unfinished business” so to speak.? Every day when I sit down, I scan my document and look for bolded “unfinished business” and make the follow-up calls on the days I have specified.? This probably isn’t the best, most efficient way as I am sure there is wonderfully fancy software that can do all this for you… (Again, this is not “how to” but “what I do”) but this is how I keep my sales and marketing efforts straight.? Once a retailer becomes a customer, they go off this list and into QuickBooks.? Once they tell me “thanks but no thanks” they are “unbolded” and I move on.? ?

I always follow up an initial wholesale order with a personally handwritten heartfelt Grill Charms thank you card.? I am never pushy, I always LISTEN to every word they say and try to be the best vendor or potential vendor I can be.? Even though I am the best sales person this company has… (Okay… ONLY sales person… but shhhhhh) I don’t ever want to be “THAT” sales person that does all the talking and no listening, takes assertive to the level of pushy, or just doesn’t know when to say when.? ?

If you are simply sincere, nice, genuine, friendly and truly enthusiastic (and you can‘t fake the funk… people can tell!) then you will just LOVE making wholesale calls.? I really do love calling on new accounts.? My daily goal is to do at least 5 sales and marketing calls a day, whether it is follow ups or new customer calls.? 5 might now sound like a lot, but in-between going to the children’s museum, talking with my sourcing agent, assessing inventory, working with the graphic designer on new designs for the next collection and keeping a tiny bit of sanity,.… 5 is REALLY GOOD!!?

Leslie Haywood, Founder and President of Charmed Life Products, Inventor of Grill Charmsâ„¢? www.grillcharms.com