Your sales strategy should guide your decisions

Any shelf is not the right shelf

Each week when we do the newsletter, we try to create some content that will deliver value to the people in the SKUFood community. It has been great to get the feedback about sales. We have had several people reach out to let us know that they find this worthwhile and something that will really help their business. Great to hear we are helping you in your business.

This week we are going to talk strategy. You do need to think about where your product will have the best chance of success. There are enough challenges in this business for producers and processors, so you don’t need to add any more. Putting your product on the right shelf avoids the challenges of the wrong shelf.

Once you determine where your product should be you need to develop the strategy to sell it. We will share some insights into the components of your strategy this week.

How you find the right shelf

For us it starts with the definition of your target market. When you know who you are trying to reach then you can figure out where they shop. If you are looking for price conscious consumers you focus more on discount, dollar stores and perhaps mass or club. If you are trying to get your product in front of foodies, then you probably need to be on the shelf in specialty stores and the higher end conventional stores.

We hear people who have a great product and their cousin manages a discount store, so they try to sell there. These are not your people. It will cost you more money to generate sales in this environment and you will probably get frustrated with the sales you do generate.

Consider channels and the competitors within the channel. You also need to determine how you will get your product into the stores. In other words, do you have access to distribution into these stores? This is expensive and you need to find the right partners.

When you are trying to determine the right shelf, you also need to think about the potential volume you will generate. Specialty stores usually sell fewer units, but they might be able to pay a bit more. Large stores have a lot of consumers and sales should be higher per store. You need to think about the volume you want to or need to sell, divide by the units per store per week and that will tell you how many stores you need to be in.

Prioritize the customers after you have determined the right shelves for your products. You might not always get into the stores you want. If you feel you have exhausted your efforts with your top store move onto the next one. You can always circle back when you have some proof of concept.

How you will sell

Key components of your strategy should be how you will sell. What role in your business ‘owns’ each customer. In other words, who will be the key point of contact in your business for the retailers? As you scale your business this might evolve from one person dealing with all retailers to several people, each responsible for their own customers. Someone in your business must be the key point of contact and they need to manage the relationships with that retailer.

Included in your strategy should be how often you want to meet with them and how you will accomplish this. The face-to-face time is very valuable, and your sales people should have a plan for how they will make this happen and what they will accomplish.

Your strategy should also include all the tactics they will use outside of the face-to-face meetings. Correspondence, trade shows, social media and all of the other touchpoints we have shared with you in 2025. Your sales people need to plan for this and make it happen.

You need to know how much you have to invest in your products. We will focus on budgets in a future edition. From a strategic perspective you need to decide if you will invest a lot in price or other sales driving initiatives like demos or coupons. When you have a strategy, you will be able to manage the spend and ensure it goes where you believe it will have the best return. If you do not have a strategy you will have to react every time your customer puts an opportunity in front of you or even worse, there are no opportunities at all.

Plan for challenges

Food and beverage is not easy. It is likely you will have some challenges along the way. Your sales people need to be ready to work through issues with your customers. You never want to plan to fail, but if you do have issues you need to be ready to manage through them. Shorting inventory, a food safety issue such as a recall and compliance fines are all examples of issues you might have to deal with.

Determine in advance who will do what and how you will manage the situation. Your customers will appreciate if you are well prepared. Nobody wants problems but if you can minimize the impact on consumers and customers because you anticipated the issue everyone will be in a better mood.

Revisit your strategy often. It is too easy to get into the mode of doing things and get away from the strategy you have developed to sell effectively. Challenge your sales people to keep you updated on how they are selling, not just what they are selling. Ask them questions about your customers. They should know what is happening out there.

During my time at Loblaw Richard Currie was the president for many years. I will always remember him saying "the grocery industry is 5% strategy and 95% execution. You need to get out there and get it done." That philosophy should guide you with regards to sales. You do need a strategy but you also need to get out there and get it done. 

 If you will be at CHFA in Toronto this weekend let me know!  Looking forward to connecting with many people this weekend.

Peter