The business trend for as long as you can remember has been online. Gone are the days of brick and mortar—you thought. It’s okay, no judgment here. Your idea about how our society does business is normal. Spending trends are changing and studies show that people are spending more in shops. Have no fear. With a little research and five top tips for getting your product in the shops, the expansion will be well underway.
Polish your online presence: To be clear, you need to sell yourself to a buyer or owner of a chain or shop. This means you can’t just shun an online presence altogether. You could keep an online shop or you could just set up your social media targeted to who you want to sell to. It all depends on how large your business is and how much product you can handle producing. They will check you out to gauge your social proof. Next, you can think of how you want to display the product. You might want to consider using cardboard displays or cases to showcase your items for sale.
Have a story people want to engage with: This is one way to use an online presence for your offline sales. Today, the buying public wants to connect with a product or service. Does your product have a story behind it? Think about this for a while. Everyone has a story about their product creation.
Funnel down your target: After you’ve got the story down and the product takes on its own persona, you should be funneling down your target retailer. Make sure the shop and their shoppers want to buy your product. It’s easier if they can identify with your story.
Start small and local: You may have heard about the corporate red-tape you’d have to navigate. The good news and the best advice is, you don’t have to and you shouldn’t go corporate first. Approach the lower to mid-managers. There are plenty of chains that allow discretionary buying. This will benefit you in several ways. First, it will allow you to get your feet wet and get comfortable with the process. Second, you’ll be building relationships with the retailers you’re interested in. Third, you can see how well your product performs and build stats that will help you knock out the bugs and ready you for the corporate process.
Don’t underestimate trade shows: If you have a product that’s the next hot thing in a particular industry, make sure your product fits the trade show. Be prepared to spend some good money on the show and don’t skimp on the visual presentation. This could be your ticket. Managers, owners, and buyers are heavy on the trail on what’s new that will fly off the shelves. Put your best foot forward and take a trusted friend or partner so you can speak to people when they approach you. Have promotional giveaways and an in-print media kit that tells all about your product. Showcase that story!
Be creative with this process and it can be a lot of fun. We are so into posting every day online that we lose the personal touch in product sales. The sense of accomplishment and community will be as great as the product you put your all into.
We also need to make you aware of the legal end of it all. Make sure you have a copyright on your product. You don’t want the product getting into the wrong hands. Learn all that you can to protect your work. Regardless of how friendly they are, don’t make the mistake of being unaware. It takes all kinds in business and you want a professional relationship. You may be new to the game but having your documents in order is your responsibility.
When you meet with them, make sure you take a day or so to discuss what they’ve offered with a business attorney. Don’t sign anything too quickly for fear of losing a deal. If they’re interested, then others will be too. Once it all goes to the drawing table and it’s time for an agreement, that’s the time to ask as many questions as possible. Know what rights the shop has to your product along with how they’ll handle reordering and how long your contract will be. Do some research on good negotiation skills and you’ve done all you can do. The rest you’ll learn in the process.
