Have you ever thought, I know my product would fly off the shelves in that store, but how do I get in? If that’s you, this is the video definitely for you.
In five steps, I’m gonna show you how to identify stockists and resellers and how to approach, price, pitch and negotiate so that it feels like a partnership, not a hard sell.
So, first of all, it starts with you doing your homework on potential stockists.
Before you reach out to them, spend some time really getting to know and understand them. Look for alignment. Do their brand values and customers match yours? For example, if you’re all about sustainability, target stores that actually talk about eco-friendly products, right? Check their channels. Are they bricks and mortar, online, or both? Your offer and support might look different for each channel, so you need to prepare for each one.
Look at their current product lineup. Where would your product fit? Are there gaps that you can fill? Are there categories where you would add variety? Read reviews on socials, what are customers saying about their business? Use this information and even specific phrases from them in your pitch.
By doing your research and speaking their language, it shows that you understand their business and it moves you up from being a random supplier to a thoughtful partner.
Secondly, make your value obvious.
This is about showing differentiation and value. The chances are that your target will have heard lots of pictures, so yours needs to stand out. Talk about your USP, maybe it’s craftsmanship, eco-materials, unique formula or positive social impact. Ask yourself what makes you truly, truly different. Prove your quality and consistency and bring samples, great product photos, any press or testimonials because reliability matters to their reputation.
You don’t want your products or services to diminish their quality so show demand. Share the sales history if you have it or engagement on socials, lists, repeat customer stats. If you can prove that what you have is popular, they’re gonna be more likely to partner with you, right? Then connect to their customer. Spell out how your product solves a problem or elevates their current range.
It can be really powerful to be able to say, here is the gap that we see in your selection. Here is how we fill it and here’s proof that customers want it.
Now thirdly, pricing.
Pricing is where deals are made or lost so you’ve got to make sure you’re going prepared. Know your numbers, including production, packaging, shipping, overhead. Don’t be guessing, suggest retail and wholesale or trade prices and make sure they’re sustainable so that you can see how they can make a decent margin. Look at offered tiered pricing, incentivize larger orders with better pricing or free shipping thresholds and be really transparent. Explain what your price reflects and talk about quality materials, small batch, sustainable sourcing. It’s important to build value, but you can show that discounts are not the only sales lever. Keep some room to manoeuvre and plan a negotiation.
Start with an open offer or a first order incentive so that you can say yes without having to undercut yourself. And it’s also really important to decide your walk away points in advance so this might be a price, MOQ or specific payment terms. Remember volume is vanity, profit is sanity. You need to make sure you can afford to do this.
Fourthly, create sales partnerships.
So pitch for partnership, not just a PO. You want to make it easy for your prospect to say yes so talk about more than just products and price. It’s really important that you tell a quick brand story covering why you started, who you serve, what your business is trying to achieve, and then offer support to their business, whether it’s staff training on products, point of sale materials, samples and testers, a launch plan perhaps. Anything that’s going to help them sell more, which is good for you and good for them, right?
Be really clear on how the two-way relationship’s going to work. Talk about lead times, payment terms, reorder process, shipping costs, return policy. Give them the confidence in your logistics, because that’s going to build trust and then share what’s flexible. This might include things like packaging options, bundle prices, seasonal offers, anything that gives them a degree of flexibility can be really appealing.
And then finally, number five, smart negotiation.
You’ve put in the hard work, it’s now time to close the deal and start the partnership so treat negotiation like you’re trying to solve a problem. It’s not a tug of war so if it feels like one, you’re going about it wrong. So, start by boxing off the common questions and agree elements like payment terms, lead time, shipping costs. That will get them in the right mood to agree a deal and encourage them to visualise being a true partner, not just a customer.
Then next, handle any objections with options.
For example, if they say the price feels high, offer tiered pricing based on volume or a smaller opening order size. If they say things like, we’re not sure we do very well with this kind of product, propose a launch bundle or promotional support or offer them sale or return options. Next, do a summary of what you’ve agreed or suggested things like pricing, MOQs, payment terms, lead time, shipping, and then finally ask for the business.
A simple phrase like, if we’re both happy with what we’ve discussed, can I get the account set up? So that you can place your first order and we can arrange delivery. Don’t be frightened to ask to close that deal.
Now, I know that some of you are not keen on doing the sales bit, but believe me, if you’ve done everything up to this point, asking for the business will feel easy and natural so don’t worry about it.
I’ve also got some of my Six Minute Entrepreneur episodes on things like selling skills so, have a little look at them if you want more ideas.
If you want to make it happen straight away, make a list of 10 dream stockists whose customers really match yours, there’s your starting point. Then I want you to block 20 minutes to research every stockist, contact all of them with the objective of making a face-to-face appointment to introduce yourself in your business, and then follow that process through and through until you get new stockists, right?
And just keep repeating that. Getting onto the right shelves isn’t luck. It’s about following a process and being tenacious.
I hope that’s useful, thank you for watching and have a great week!