A small group of men get together for coffee several times a week at an RV resort we stay in Florida. One morning my wife, Jackie, introduced me to a man who was in the “hot sauce” business. He developed a premium line of products that are all -natural and quite frankly unique in terms of how they enhance the flavor of food without overpowering it.
As a SCORE advisor and sales coach, I always enjoy hearing success stories. I’m a firm believer that we can all learn something new every day and to that point I try and take advantage of learning opportunities as they present themselves.
My background is not in retail, and certainly not in food products and distribution. However, what I do know is that it is very difficult for a small food manufacturer to gain shelf space in a major grocery chain. So when I learned that he had his product in 1500 stores in the southeastern part of the United States I was anxious to hear his story.
The gentleman asked me not to mention the name of the grocery chain or use his name in this article so I will certainly respect his request. I will call him Bud in this newsletter. The name of the hot sauce is “SCOTTER”, no relation so if you get the opportunity to try it I am confident you will not be disappointed.
Bud knew SCOTTER was an excellent hot sauce and was confident that if he could get the buyer of this grocery chain to personally taste it, he would have an excellent chance of getting an order. Buyers see numerous sales people per day, all claiming to have the “best’ product. In particular, there are numerous hot sauce manufactures so this is a very crowded and competitive market.
Bud had 2 options. He could send a bottle over to the buyer and ask him to taste it or he could schedule a face-to-face meeting with the buyer. He knew a personal meeting would best, however getting on the buyer’s schedule would not easy. In fact it took Bud three months to get on the buyer’s calendar.
After being patient for three months Bud’s appointment with the buyer finally arrived. The buyer welcomed Bud and his business partner at the corporate headquarters main entrance and escorted them to his office. After being seated for literally 30 seconds, Bud made the following statement: “ I believe that the only way for you to evaluate my hot sauce is to taste it. If you are not willing to try it today then I’m afraid this meeting is over” Bud’s business partner was somewhat in shock at this statement but kept quiet and waited for the buyer’s response. The buyer said that he would certainly try it. With that Bud opened up his briefcase and handed the buyer a fresh box of crackers with the stores label on them. He then handed the buyer a package of plastic spoons for him to open. Once the buyer had the crackers and spoon prepared he handed him a bottle of SCOTTER. The buyer then sprinkled a little hot sauce on the cracker and tasted it. Bud and his partner carefully watched for the buyers’ reaction to the taste test. It was very favorable. In fact the buyer said that he never tasted anything like it before.
As the buyer was enjoying the taste test, a Vice President of the grocery chain walked by the office. The buyer called him in and asked him to taste SCOTTER. The VP put some on a fresh cracker and tasted it. He then asked the buyer if we currently had the product on our shelves. To which the buyer responded NO. The VP then said; “ well we should”
The entire meeting took less than twenty minutes. Shortly thereafter the product was in 1500 stores packaged in a box right next to other popular hot sauces.
You might say that Bud was a bit aggressive with his approach. However, he knew that the only way to truly get the buyers attention was for him to sample the product. So Bud was patient, waiting 90 days for a meeting, then assertive and confident with his sales approach.
A sales call does not have to be long to be effective. Content is what matters most and remember once you have the order; there is no need to continue the meeting. You might say something to discourage the buyer!
Universal Sales Truth #4
Work your land
Proverbs 20:4
A farmer too lazy to plant in the spring,
has nothing to harvest in the fall