I am new to the game of selling products and am trying to properly prepare myself so I don’t come off as rude or as a dummy (as well as trying not to immediately traumatize myself). Technically it will be B2B sales. Most stores I want to sell at are small and independent, not big chains.
I have already registered the company, made the product, labeled it appropriatly, created the website, had a certified lab analysis done, gotten the product samples ready, and I have written down both the production cost as well as the sale price (on the website).
What should I roughly expect when I go to physical stores to sell my product to them? Do I simply walk in and ask for a manager? Am I missing something in my preparation (physical or mental)? Are products generally on consignment to stores or are they bought outright? Should I bring enough stock to the first meeting or is it normal to drop off products on a separate/later date?
All advice welcome! I am in the Mid/Southern USA. This is not an ad. I will not name my product/brand/website.
This is some sort of health/beauty product? It’s not a product I have a lot of familiarity with, but it sounds like you’re on the right path starting with smaller shops, especially if you can position it as artisanal.
With smaller shops they likely won’t have a dedicated buyer position, so you will probably want to speak with a manager or owner. Normally these are busy people so they won’t want you dropping in without an appointment. Try to schedule something in advance by phone or email. If you do walk in lead with asking for an appointment, but be ready to sell yourself and your product on the spot. Practice your “elevator pitch” to try to spark interest right away.
I’d suggest you should try calling places and setting yourself up some sales trips, making appointments to see people that are at least relatively near each other. Don’t schedule too many so that you aren’t rushed to get from one to the next. You don’t want to be late, but you also don’t want to rush a visit that’s going well and end it early to get to your next one; your customers should feel that you value them and that they’re not less important than someone else. It could mean a lot of down time between calls, but you can use that to find more customers, take care of correspondence, etc.
Definitely bring lots of samples, both for the buyers and potentially that they could offer to clients. If your product won’t deteriorate when sitting in a vehicle you could bring stock with you but I don’t think most stores would expect you to supply them immediately. It might look sketchy or less professional if you’re pulling retail product out of your car’s trunk, but maybe not if this is artisanal, or it’s just a small supply for them to trial you as a product line.
Is your suggested retail price high enough that you can sell to them at a wholesale discount and still make a sustainable profit yourself? My background is electronics, and the rule of thumb I’ve typically seen for consumer electronics is the product needs to cost 3 or 4 times the bill of materials (BOM). The BOM should include your labor costs to actually make the product, but the markup lets you cover the rest of your costs like R&D, marketing, shipping, administration, etc. When I was at a consumer electronics company we would typically sell to our retail channel at a 20-30% discount off our MSRP, depending on volume. Rarely we’d sell at 40% to large customers, but below that we’d start to risk profitability except on high volume products. When you’re meeting with retailers, they’re going to want to know what profit they can make, and they’ll have an idea of what they think they can sell your product for, which might not be your MSRP.
Good luck!