B2B/Trade Probes
It is important to talk to your consumers as you develop your product or service. However, if you do not successfully sell your product to the trade, it does not matter how well consumers like it – they’ll never see it at retail!
Selling and marketing to the trade is one area in which I can leverage my channel, customer marketing, and sales experience. The outcome will be to help you better identify and understand issues important to your trade partners, to position your product to the trade for success
Why Trade Probes are Important
You may not be getting the full story. If your only source of feedback is your sales force, you may be hearing only parts of the story. Trade probes will help you get objective feedback about the reality of your total relationship with your trading partners.- The situation may appear to be good, but … No one likes surprises, and just when sales are strong, your largest retail customer decides to cut back on skus or replace some of your items with a competitor’s. Trade probes done on a regular basis can help identify potential land mines and prevent these types of costly surprises.
- Trade relations are complex Today’s terms of trade include price, allowances (bill-back, off-invoice, etc.), freight, spoils, returns, markdowns, co-op advertising, promotion allowances – the list goes on. A change in any of these variables can have a big effect on your success and bottom line.
My trade experience includes selling and marketing to these channels of trade, including:
- Grocery/food
- Drug
- Walmart
- Costco, Sam's Club
- Brokers
- Distributors
- Internet retailers
- Catalog retailers
- Specialty retailers