I hope you all are having a wonderful 4th of July weekend! Before I get on topic, I want to share a little story. I received an email Thursday from my friend and Mompreneur co-founder Ellen Parlapiano saying “I opened my local paper today, and there was Grill Charms on the front page of Life & Style section!!!” It was so awesome to see my little product all the way up there in a NY local paper. The paper was doing a story on products for the summer that local stores carry and this store chose to feature Grill Charms! http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008807030321 Okay, on to the topic at hand. This was a discussion we had had on the Mompreneurs forum about what we as manufactures and suppliers do to help our retailers. Just getting the initial sale or the first PO isn’t enough. Retailers are your customers but you also need to view them as your best sales reps. You wouldn’t hire a sales rep, then give him no supplies, support or materials would you? You making the sale to the store is only winning half the battle. Go ahead and pat yourself on the back for a second BUT then quickly get to work on doing what you can to help that retailer sell your product to the customer. Initial sales are good, but reorders are GREAT! There are many ways you can offer your store’s support. Some can be pretty pricy like full color point of purchase displays, but if you are creative, they don’t have to be. You can do some inexpensive things to help sell your product, after you’ve sold it. Whenever I get a new store/wholesale account, I make sure to get them added to the “store locator” page of my website as quickly as possible. This way people can find them easily. I also send a “thank you” packet. This includes a letter from me with my sincerest thanks for being a customer and my business card for them to keep on file. I also include a full color bi-fold brochure with great color photos of all the collections, an explanation of how to use the product, as well as suggestions on the various occasions people can buy my product for. I also affix a loose sample charm with a piece of twine to the brochure so people don’t have to disturb the packaging to see and feel exactly what the product is. It stands nicely next to the display or can be laid down in a basket or whatever reciprocal they use. The twine gives it a kinda outdoors/grilling/camping touch. Then throughout the year, whenever I do a press release to my local media, there is usually a quote from and a plug for a store here in Charleston. I usually email that press release to my other stores throughout the country and give them permission to use my press release and let them change the quote to one of their own, and change all the store information to promote their own store in their area to their local media. The bottom line is to always be mindful that even though you might not “officially” have a sales force, in essence, you do. Every store owner and every store clerk is your sales rep. When you provide them with the right support, they can do a great job for you… and maybe even choose to feature your product in a local newspaper! Leslie Haywood, Founder and President of Charmed Life Products, Inventor of Grill Charmsâ„¢ www.grillcharms.com

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