Samples & Brochures

Re: [spiers] Samples & Brochures

Packaging is the most critical factor in moving products off the shelf in
the GIFT industry (I can't speak for other industries). And not just nice
packaging, but innovative packaging (compete on design, ala John Spiers)...
don't do what the competitor is doing, try and do a different shape, label
color etc. Equally important is product quality. Packaging gets the first
sale, product quality builds the re-orders and the reputation with both the
retailer and the consumer base, for your brand.

A good way to think about product development is the same way you attract
romance. The packaging/presentation (dress and grooming) is critical to
attracting a potential partner. But if the product is lousy or turns off the
customer some way, it turns into a one night stand, perhaps even Coyote Ugly
(as they say in the US) and does not lead to a meaningful long term
relationship, as when the character of the product inside the person is
good. Money is made in the long run by building quality long term
relationships throughout your marketing channels.

Again, ala John Spiers, scope out the competition. If most products in your
category package their products in 4-packs or 6-packs, I would not stray too
far, unless you think you can convince the retailer and/or consumer that
your difference is innovative (note that competing on design, and being
stupid, are not the same thing). Which is why John always says pre-sell the
product. Talk to your retailers and see what they will buy, or what they get
consumer requests for.

I can say that the gift industry in most of the US has two seasons. While a
great percentage of the gifts are relevant to either season, products with a
souvenir bent (e.g. a sense of place, regionally speaking) are mostly for
the summer sales season, and should be ready to roll out by January 1 in the
bigger markets (most of the people on this list) or March 1 in the smaller,
rural markets (e.g. Idaho where I live). Gift packs, gift baskets, gift
boxes, sell mostly in the holiday season, so must be ready for sales in the
larger markets by August 1, and smaller markets by late September. When I
say gift packs or boxes, I am not referring to products that normally come
grouped in 4s or 6s or more, but products that are normally sold as
one-seys, and would benefit during the holiday season from combinations with
complementary merchandise, attractively displayed. Note that if you ONLY
offer products in the gift basket scenario, then you will lose some sales,
as many people want to do their own presentation and the baskets do not sell
well outside the holidays.

Bottom line is that presentation is not everything, but you are dead in the
water without great packaging. For some products like clothing, the product
IS the packaging, but the product can still be augmented with attractive
hang tags, labeling, etc. Not a place to scrimp. Spending an extra 50 cents
on better packaging or presentation than your competition might result in a
successful $1 or $2 higher wholesale price with no other factor involved.

Also be aware of niches and who buys, and who your ultimate consumer is,
which are often different. We started a very successful line of Idaho
Redneck gourmet food and personal care products when we saw what we
perceived to be a void in the marketplace. Most (probably 90%) of gift
buyers are women, and most (probably 90%) of products in a gift store are
gifts FOR women. We wanted a product a women would buy for a man, because
women often complain about having a hard time finding quality stuff for the
men in their life, without going to the sporting goods store (which is where
all the men shop). So the strategy here would be to find a product that a
man would like to receive, but a woman would enjoy buying and giving to him.
In other words, masculating (is that a word?) the product, while making the
presentation palatable to a women buyer. Does that make sense? There are
dozens of micro-niches like that out there, but I just want to illustrate
how to approach the issue. You have gifts for seniors, teenagers, kids, red
hat society friends, etc that could be marketed with the same strategy, and
with packaging that still must appeal at some level to the female buyer
while obviously targeting another niche.

Malcolm

PS I do want to emphasize from my earlier post that there is no specific
layout of rep sales materials that work for every rep and every product and
every industry. I described the process we use, because we found that is
what worked over several years of iterative efforts IN OUR TARGET MARKET.
The same principles apply however, to any materials, only IF sales materials
are better than samples (for any reason) for your sales process:

What is the product?
What is the presentation?
What is the price?
What are the terms?

The layout should offer this information in relative order and importance,
with the photos (if you do not sell exclusively with samples) being THE most
important element. While we have one system, we know a competing rep that
just offers a multi-page order form, and if you want to see the presentation
she pulls out a photo book or a sample. We like them all on one page, to
shorten the sales process. However, every rep, like every company is
successful approaching the market in ways that optimize their own selling
style and strengths.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Inna Zatulovsky"
To:
Sent: Sunday, February 13, 2005 5:22 PM
Subject: Re: [spiers] Samples & Brochures


>
> Hi Malcome,
>
> Thank you very much for your comments. They are very comprehensive and
> useful for the beginners like me. I am wondering what is your observation
> about packaging. I heard the expression that Packaging cells the product.
> Is
> this true? I import handmade ceramic from Russia and I am wondering if I
> should put my effort in finding boxes or other packaging to make a product
> more complete as a gift.
>
> InnaZ
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Malcolm D"
> To:
> Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 12:51 PM
> Subject: Re: [spiers] Samples & Brochures
>
>
>>
>>
>> > In a message dated 2/9/05 10:57:29 AM, ds_tradingpartners@prodigy.net
>> > writes:
>> >
>> > <>> > and
>> > the
>> > suppliers pictures or provide the sample and brochure (w/o pricing)
>> > sent
>> > by
>> > the supplier to the reps?>>
>> >
>> > I'd recommend no brochures whatsoever... perhaps pictures can be
>> > mounted
>> > on a
>> > password protected "customer only" website but at out level brochures
> adn
>> > catalogs are a waste of time and money.
>> >
>>
>> Whether to use photos or samples depends a little bit on a variety of
>> factors, including the industry, the number and value and complexity of
>> products sold, the size of the retail organization making the purchase,
> and
>> whether there is value in actually touching the merchandise (e.g.
>> clothing
>> and produce are different in this regard than BBQ sauce and souvenir
>> spoons -- however, for BBQ sauce and other gourmet foods, taste may be a
>> factor, so leaving a sample for EACH screened customer can be important.)
>>
>> In my wife's rep business, she sells 40 lines, which range from five
>> products (specialty foods) to over 1000 products (souvenir company).
>> Since
>> she lives out of her car from March through October, it would not be
>> practical to have a sample of more than one to a few of the more
>> important
>> or complex items for each line. The next best alternative to samples is
>> GREAT pictures. For our industry, we use what could be called 'catalog
>> sheets' (color, 2-sided, 8 1/2 x 11", three hole punched), which go into
>> a
>> three ring binder, in sections for different categories of customers.
>> When
>> gift retailers are buying, they want to know, in order:
>>
>> A) What is the product? (mustard, t-shirts, glassware, jewelry, etc)
>> B) What is the presentation? (probably most important) -- This is where
>> photos come in
>> C) What is the price?
>> D) What are the terms (credit cards, minimums, case lots, re-orders,
> first
>> order incentives, net 30, COD, etc)?
>>
>> A purchasing decision or objection are typical at this point. Smart
>> retailers (fewer than you might think) will want to know what the best
>> sellers are, and what kinds of stores the line has done well in.
>>
>> When using catalog sheets (8 1/2 x 11 format) in what we call our 3-ring
>> "pitch" book (which allows the rep and buyer to flip through the lines
>> quickly, together), we generally design our own sheets, with MS
>> Publisher,
>> for a couple reasons. First, most of the smaller companies we rep for do
> not
>> have sales materials of any kind, so our alternative is to not represent
>> their products. If we like the products, we are loathe to do that.
>> Second,
>> most companies, regardless of size, are clueless about how to design and
>> present a flyer that is effective for wholesale sales (they tend to use
>> retail/consumer style of copy and layout -- and too much fluffy
>> information -- which is very different than the needs for wholesale
> buyers).
>> If a company has a catalog which meets our needs, we will use it, and
> label
>> our contact information on the appropriate spot. Most important is that
> the
>> information be presented clearly (along with good, appropriate photos),
> but
>> fancy is not necessary, as you are selling with information more than
> image,
>> unlike consumer/retail sales where image is paramount.
>>
>> We do expect any company we represent to supply good quality photos,
>> which
>> are the backbone of the sales process for our industry. We usually ask
> them
>> to mail us a digital copy, or if in the (increasingly) rare case where
> they
>> have prints, we scan and use them. (PS We sell mostly to independent gift
>> retailers, and a couple small chains up to 5-10 stores, as well as
>> occasional museum shops, C-stores, florist shops, and tourist
>> businesses.)
>>
>> We print our flyers on a color laser printer for use in the "pitch" book
> and
>> offer b/w photocopies tucked in behind each sheet if the customer would
> like
>> to review the information later on a particular product or line. If the
>> buyer wants to see a sample (not usually the case, as they are quite
> busy),
>> Sandy will go out to the car and bring out the product, or more often, a
>> representative product in that category or brand. Occasionally, she will
>> have a sample shipped direct from the manufacturer or distributor (or
>> importer). As we grow, we are considering a newsprint catalog, which we
> can
>> print 1000 for about $500 up to 48 pages (8 pages color, rest b/w). The
>> downside of a catalog is that lines and prices change very often, and we
>> have found that buyers want photos and prices on the same page so they
>> can
>> make a quick purchase decision. Separate price sheets can work, but they
>> really slow down the purchasing process in the gift industry, where the
>> visual presentation must be weighed against the cost. Anything that slows
>> the sales process or sales decision, reduces sales. We are also
>> investigating PDF catalogs which can be updated almost instantaneously,
> and
>> sent as an email attachment.
>>
>> Remember that the sales process is quick and dirty. Reps offer multiple
>> lines, and buyers are busy and always short of time, so you must supply
>> materials which provide the correct information as succinctly and easily
> as
>> possible. (8 1/2 x 11" pages, portrait orientation work best... avoid the
>> traditional tri-fold brochure -- much harder to make a good presentation
>> with those, and retailers tend to toss them more quickly in our
>> experience
>> as they are not standard notebook size.)
>>
>> I will also say that gift reps do not generally use samples (or
>> brochures)
>> to the extent that most manufacturers (or importers) think they do.
> Samples
>> are often sent, but for a lot of practical reasons (e.g. the size of a
>> car
>> to travel in), simply cannot be taken along. A good photo is a much
>> better
>> investment for us. We have an entire room of samples from various lines,
>> which we often ask them NOT to send... but they do anyway. Samples are
>> effective for new products, for educating new reps, and where touching
>> the
>> product is critical to the purchase decision. However, buyers learn to
> trust
>> good reps, and if the rep says "For your store, this is a line (or
> product)
>> you should try", that is how reps tend to be effective, by looking out
>> for
>> the retailers interest (i.e. recommending products that sell well). While
>> the rep may be contracting with you, their long-term success is dependent
>> upon how well they build the retailer's business (and trust), not on how
>> much of your products they push down a retailers throat.
>>
>> We have probably worked at one time or another with nearly 100 companies
>> over our five years (of learning) in this business, and I can say that
> only
>> one company truly understood our needs. They printed color catalog sheets
>> with outstanding product photos, features and options in tabular form,
> terms
>> clearly stated, and a line about an inch from the bottom of the back page
>> that said "Represented in your area by:" and then left the bottom of the
>> page blank, for us to put in our contact information label. If everyone
> did
>> that, our lives as reps would be much simpler. (They also sent samples,
> but
>> for our market and because of the great photos on the sales materials,
> this
>> was a waste of their money and time.) Note that you can cost-effectively
>> include the prices right on the sheets with a system like this, only if
> your
>> pricing is fairly stable (e.g. subject to annual changes only). If prices
>> are included -- always best in our industry -- you would want to reprint
>> this type of sheet annually or whenever you were adding new products, or
>> changing the pricing structure. If each flyer is a new product or line,
> this
>> could also be a good system.
>>
>> Last recommendation I can make is... ask your reps what they need from
>> you
>> to be successful with your line BEFORE you start sending out samples OR
>> brochures willy nilly. This will reduce your costs, and may alter your
> sales
>> material development process. Reps are just another category of customer
> in
>> addition to being a business partner, so asking them what they really
> need,
>> is a key to your success if this is a market channel you intend to take
> full
>> advantage of.
>>
>> Also, make sure you are using the appropriate type of rep. Reps differ
>> widely in the size and type of retailers we call on, the categories or
> lines
>> we are successful or specialize in, and our geographic saturation. ASK
>> THE
>> HARD QUESTIONS! Note that our rep business sells mostly 'made in Idaho'
>> gourmet foods and fine gifts, and Idaho souvenirs (imported by a souvenir
>> distributor in South Dakota) to small accounts. We would probably not be
>> successful selling products developed under a business system emphasizing
>> the John Spiers model of innovation and design of new products in large
>> amounts. You would need to find reps (and there are lots of them) that
>> specialize in that type of repping, and work in more populated areas, and
>> call on larger and/or multi-store accounts.
>>
>> Happy repping!
>>
>> Malcolm Dell

Bookmark this post --- Email this post