291. Stop Treating Retailers Like Vending Machines

0:00Welcome to day 19. How to become an expert in your retail partner. If we're honest most brands treat retailers like vending machines. I want this, I need that, put me on an end cap, run this promotion. Everything is framed and here's what I need from you. And then we wonder why buyers dodge your emails, cut meetings short, and default to the biggest brands with the deepest pockets. Let me flip that for you. No two retailers are the same. They deserve to be respected and valued. Their success is your success. When you become an expert in your retail partners, how they operate, what they care about, how they win in their markets, you gain a real durable edge.

0:41This is how you stop being just another brand asking for favors and start becoming a trusted, respected, indispensable category leader. Let me explain. What it feels like on the other side of the desk. Let me take you behind the curtain for a moment. Back when I was the grocery manager at Price Club, now Costco, I had an unusual amount of autonomy. This was before centralized schematics and corporate planograms and even corporate managed product assortments. I was responsible for what items we carried, how much we carried, where they were merchandised, and how they were merchandised. Choosing new items.

1:17Every day, brands would come to me and say some version of, I need an end cap. You should bring in my new SKU. I need more space. Me, me, me. Very few walked in asking, what's working for your shoppers? What gaps are you seeing in the category? Where do you need help beating your competition? Here's why that matters. When you have a parade of brands focused only on their objectives, you quickly get conditioned to tune them out. You become skeptical. You protect your time. So when someone shows up different, focused on your shopper, your store, your challenges, that person stands out immediately.

1:53This is my first big lesson. If you want retailers to care about your brand, Start caring deeply about their business. This is the advice I use to dominate my competitors throughout my career and with my clients. From vendor to trusted partner. Fast forward to when I moved over to the manufacturing side. Knowing how it felt to sit in the retailer's chair, I decided to try something different. Instead of showing up with, here's our deck, here's our promotion calendar, here's what corporate wants. I started with, help me understand what your goals are this quarter. Where are you underperforming?

2:26What does a big win look like for you in this category? Then I framed everything around the three things retailers really want. More traffic in their store, a competitive advantage in their market, and a reasonable profit. Here's how we can help you get more of those three things by leveraging the strength of a unique shopper. This is the opportunity. When you consistently show up that way, retailers begin to trust your motives, value your insights, invite you to more strategic conversations. I even got to the point where retailers would call me first when they needed. Last-minute displays, extra support on a key week, a quick read on what was happening in the category.

3:05That's not because my brands were the biggest. It's because I had proven to them that I was there to help them win. They eventually asked me to validate my competitor's deck and assortment recommendations. Imagine having that level of influence. The rewards were great. I was given preferential merchandising, promotion support, plus a lot more. The Law of Reciprocity, Retail Version You've probably heard of the Law of Reciprocity. If I do something generally helpful for you, you're naturally inclined to want to do something helpful for me. That applies to retailers too. When you, bring them insights no one else is sharing.

3:39Help them fix problems that aren't your fault. Show them opportunities that go beyond your brand. Are you willing to sacrifice a weak skew for the good of the category? You are in a different level of respect. Here's why this matters. Category management done right is about being an unpaid consultant for the retailer. A true category leader advocates for what's best for the category, thinks beyond their own brand, is willing to recommend cutting their own underperformers if it grows the retailer's business long term. And here's the irony. When you're willing to recommend cutting one of your own items to protect category performance, retailers often reward you by protecting other items or bringing in your other innovation quicker.

4:21You prove that you're in it for the long game, not just for the quick win. Category Captain vs. Category Leader Revisited We talked earlier in this series about the difference between a category captain and a category leader. Category captain equals big brand, expensive rule, lots of tools, and formal obligations. Category leader equals any brand of any size willing to lead with insight, integrity, and category-first thinking. When you become a category leader, savvy retailers will ask you to validate recommendations from other brands, bring you into category reset discussions, give you early visibility into upcoming opportunities, offer incremental opportunity placements others never see.

5:03That's not theory, I've lived it. I've been invited to fact check the recommendations of much bigger brands simply because the retailer trusted my objectivity along with the depth and breadth of my experience. That's the power of becoming an expert in your retail partner. Account penetration. Get to know the whole team. Let's get practical. Most brands only know one person at a retailer, the buyer or category manager. That's it. That's a huge mistake. Consider this. People prefer doing business with people they know, like, and trust. Inside a retailer, discussions and influences aren't limited to that one person.

5:41So you want to build broad, authentic relationships across the account. category manager or buyer, assistant buyer or analyst, space planning or schematics, marketing or promotions team, store operations or regional merchandising leads, even office staff and coordinators. Let me share a story. When I joined a new manufacturer, we were struggling with the largest retailer in the country. Our relationship was weak, our influence was almost zero. So I made a point of learning birthdays, remembering small details, spending time with the number two person and support staff, asking for their opinions on my ideas before presenting to the main decision maker.

6:21Over time, something powerful happened. The number two person started helping me shape my presentations. They gave me feedback on what would resonate and what wouldn't. They effectively pre-sold my recommendations internally. By the time I walked into the big meeting with the actual decision maker, the hardest part of the work was already done. I even brought recommended schematics on a floppy disk. Yes, I'm dating myself. So that all they had to do was plug it in and go. That was account penetration. That's personalization. That's what it looks like to become an expert in your retail partner.

6:55How to start becoming an expert in each retailer. Here's a simple framework you can start using today. Number one, learn their business model. Ask yourself, are they competing primarily on price, service, experience, or assortment? Who is their core shopper? How are they positioned against their nearby competitors? Now, back to the retailer's perspective. How does your brand help them win the game more effectively? Number two, learn their language. Every retailer has their own terms, KPIs, and priorities. What do they call their key programs? How do they measure success in your category? What internal initiatives are they focused on this year?

7:34Use their language in your presentation. It shows them that you've done your homework and that you are making them the priority. Number three, learn the people. Make a contact map. Who are the decision makers? Who influences them behind the scenes? Who's handling data? Who runs resets? Build relationships at all levels. Be genuine, be respectful, be consistent. Number four, use every touch point to add value. Every time you interact, ask yourself, what can I teach them or show them today that will help them grow their business? That might be a quick shopper insight, a small data nugget, a trend they haven't seen yet, a success story from another account, a missed opportunity in the market.

8:18Over time, this positions you as the go-to resource, not just of another vendor. Day 19 action item. Choose one retailer and go deep. Pick one key retailer and make a list of everything you know about their business model, shopper, and priorities. Highlight the gaps. What you don't know yet. Plan at least one conversation or piece of outreach where your only goal is to learn and add value, not to get something. This is how you start shifting from transactional to strategic. In closing, their success is your success. When you become an expert in your retail partners, you stop begging for space.

8:54You start being invited into bigger conversations. You earn trust, influence, and opportunity. Retailers remember the brands that help them win. And when they win more often with you at their side, your brand wins too, with more runway, better placement, and a real equal seat at the table. This is how you launch new innovation with precision and how you ensure your next innovation succeeds on shelf and online. Tomorrow in episode 292, we're going to build on this and start talking about how to turn retailer meetings into strategic work sessions instead of check the box updates. so you never walk out of review wondering if anything's actually changed.

9:34Make sure you're subscribed. Share this episode with a founder who's frustrated with retail. Grab the free New Item Essentials system I created to help you implement what we're talking about at a much deeper level. It's a free downloadable guide. Download the free series guide to help you go deeper into these strategies. You don't have to be the biggest brand to be the most valuable partner. You just have to care enough to become an expert in the people you're asking to bet on you. For additional inspiration, listen to the following podcast episodes. Episode 62, Proven Strategies to Level the Playing Field with Todd with Lundberg Farms.

10:09Explore proven strategies to level the playing field and win at retail. Learn how small brands can compete with industry giants. Lundberg Farms, a family-owned organic rice and quinoa company, prioritize community involvement, sustainable practices, and employee well-being. They utilize data analysis to inform business planning, product creation, and consumer communication, ensuring product availability, and meeting promotional demand. I had the privilege of doing a project for Lundberg Farms years ago, and what was unique about them is that they used fact-based insights to grow and scale their brand.

10:44More importantly, as a small natural brand, small meaning compared to bigger brands, they were leveraging insights at retail that most brands overlook. We talk about the strategies that you can use today to level the playing field, even with your most sophisticated counterparts. This is how you win at retail. And then listen to episode 99, Sales Management Success Strategies That Build Brands, with Bob Burke with Natural Products Consulting. Unlock your potential with sales management success strategies. Learn how expert guidance can drive your brand's growth. Bob, a natural products consultant, shares his journey from Stonyfield to founding natural products consulting.

11:21He emphasizes the importance of a direct sales force, brand retailer relationships, and his field manual, which is a comprehensive resource for the natural products industry. In this podcast episode, Bob shares in stark terms exactly what's expected of every brand out there, the things that we're talking about here, Then overlay that with the strategies highlighted in this series. Remember, you've got to know how the game is played, and you've got to know exactly what's expected of you before you can get creative. More importantly, if you understand exactly what your retail partner is looking for, then you can help deliver at an extremely high level.

11:57This is how you become a category leader. And then listen to episode 123, In-Store Marketing Strategies That Every Brand Should Use, with Andrew with Sampler. Unlock the potential of your brand with effective in-store marketing strategies that boost sales and gain new customers. In-store product sampling is a highly effective strategy for introducing new products to potential customers. Brands should prioritize retailers as strategic partners. Invest in in-store marketing and collaborate with retailers on cross-selling opportunities. Proper playing and execution are critical to maximize results and ensure profitability.

12:32Andrew's a master salesman, and what's great about Andrew's insights is he talks about how you can leverage your in-store marketing strategy to gain a significant and sustainable competitive advantage for both you and your retail partners. Tip of the day, no two retailers are the same. They deserve to be respected and valued. Their success is your success. Personalizing your relationship will pay huge dividends and give you the edge you deserve. Thank you for listening. This episode has a company video with illustrations and additional information that I can't share in an audio podcast. You can watch it at RetailSolve.com slash 30-day challenge.

13:08You can get the show notes for this episode by going to RetailSolve.com slash session 291. Tomorrow's episode is Knowledge is Power and How to Win at Retail Effectively. This episode will build on today's conversation. Want more sales? How to profitably scale a food business today, tomorrow, and beyond. Here's this week's free downloadable guide. The 30-Day to Prosperity Workbook is a companion to the 30-Day Challenge. This retail-solve blueprint will teach you what you need to know to confidently grow and scale your brand, build a connected community of loyal evangelists, and multiply your brand's impact, sales, and profits.

13:42Every slight improvement means more runway for sales growth, higher brand evaluations, better terms when negotiating with investors, fuel for more innovation, greater support for mission-based causes, and much more. Thanks for joining us today. Please reach out and share your most pressing questions and I'll do my best to get you the answers that you need on future episodes, including expert advice from CEOs and industry thought leaders. Comment, leave your questions and get this week's free downloadable guide and the show notes at retailsolved.com session 291.