How to sell to Grocery Giants

How to sell to Grocery Giants (by entrepreneur.com)

How did a squeezable fruit pouch maker land its products on the shelves of 18,000 stores in just two years' time? Here's a hint: marketing was a key ingredient.

It all started in 2006 when Fabian Milon couldn't find squeezable fruit pouches -- a popular and healthy snack in his native France -- anywhere in the U.S. Voila! The Coral Gables, Fla.-based Buddy Fruits was born in 2009.

A restaurateur in France at the time of his inspiration, Milon used his culinary experience to create recipes. Meanwhile Buddy Fruits' co-founder and CEO, Jerome Lesur, handled marketing and business development. Here are seven steps they recommend taking to get your foot in the door of a major grocer like Whole Foods Market, Wal-Mart, Kroger and Publix:

Use and train your brokers: If a buyer is inaccessible or unresponsive, use brokers with access to the major stores. Brokers have something you don't: A pre-existing relationship with grocery-chain buyers. Convince them to carry your line, then train and equip them with everything from samples to press kits, which they can use to successfully tell your story.

Show the trend: Prove your product's significance in today's marketplace with both quantifiable and anecdotal information. For Buddy Fruits, their value proposition of "One Buddy Fruits a day keeps the doctor away" aligned with popular messages from Michelle Obama, Jamie Oliver and school boards across the U.S. Demonstrate that your product is right, not just "right now," for the store and its demographic. An industry leader such as Wal-Mart won't be interested in your product if it's a fad or a flash in the pan.

Don't go in cold: Show that you have loyal customers and tell the store buyer what you've already achieved in terms of success and distribution. This is where you trot out your business model complete with market research and sales figures.

Position the product: Lesur says that because their product contains 100 percent fruit, he wanted it positioned in the produce section near the fresh fruit -- despite the fact that it's packaged. The move made sense to the big grocers, as did the company's slogan: "Eating Fruits Made Easy!"

Stand out: Remember, your packaging is tailored for your retailers every bit as much as for your customers. Big brand grocers will yank your product off the shelves if customers aren't looking at it. Remember, if your product doesn't pop, everybody loses money.

Secure a distributor: Distribution deals are critical in the food and beverage industry. Whole Foods, Kroger and other national chains won't meet with you unless you have a distributor. But don't expect to lock up giants from the start. Secure a mid-sized distribution company and prove yourself first. Once you have the data, the charts, the proof, the graphs, a profit -- that's when you make your move on the industry leader.

Find an advantage: Every distribution company already has clients. Offer the one you want to work with something they don't have. Find the distributor that doesn't carry anything resembling what you offer, including your value proposition

Building a Business partnership that Lasts

Building a Business Partnership That Lasts:

Ever wonder why some partnerships last a lifetime while others crash and burn? Learn the secrets to success from these famous examples.
Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. What do these famous partnerships have in common? They lasted a long time -- and in some cases are still going strong. Why is it that some partnerships succeed while others crash and burn?

To find an answer, we asked a few experts to give us an inside look at what has made these partnerships thrive. Among them were Doug Conant, CEO of Campbell Soup Company, and Denise Morrison, Campbell's executive vice president and chief operating officer. The two have worked together for several years, most recently side by side as partners. All of the experts we consulted identified four key elements that define lasting business partnerships:

Trust
Not surprisingly, trust is the foundation for any successful partnership. But what exactly does that mean?

"Trust implies that both parties participate in the relationship with both ‘gives' and ‘gets,'" says Morrison, who on August 1, 2011, will take the helm as the first woman CEO in the 142-year history of Campbell Soup Company. "The attitude of giving a full commitment to the partnership will usually result in getting the same commitment in return," she says.

It's that very commitment that has kept Warren Buffett and his vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, Charlie Munger, working together for more than 30 years. Indeed, while they are known to be exact opposites in terms of personality, their deep trust in one another has allowed their partnership to be mutually beneficial despite their differences.

Mutual respect
If you look at these famous examples, you'll notice that each pair has complementary skill sets that allow the partners to respect each other's unique strengths. Each partner needs to "acknowledge that no matter who did what or how much, nothing could have been accomplished without the work and contribution of the other," says Lee H. Igel, Ph.D., assistant professor at New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies.

Keith Richards, for example, an expert musician, relies on Jagger's skills as a vocalist, lyricist and businessman. Similarly, though Bill Gates is no longer at Microsoft, his genius at software development, combined with Steve Ballmer's ability to drive ideas from inception to implementation, made them a successful pair. "Gates came to appreciate over time that Ballmer was able to operationalize his thinking abilities as opposed to trying to control everything," says Myron Beard, who has a Ph.D. in psychology and runs his own executive consulting firm.

Shared vision and values
That being said, it's important that partners aren't too different when it comes to goals. Hewlett and Packard, both Stanford University electrical engineering graduates, worked together on a fellowship. When they launched their business in Packard's garage near Palo Alto, California, in 1939, they shared the same mission and objective: to build an electronics company.

"What cripples famous partnerships to a point of failure is when, after achieving success, the partners have the interest and opportunity to take on new projects," says Igel. "New projects can require new missions and objectives that take the partners in different directions, and so the elements of the relationship that made them successful end up frittering away."

Honest and open communication
Taking on a partner is like taking on a spouse. That means you need to have honest and open communication -- always, no matter how difficult the topic. This includes talking about money, mistakes and different management styles.

"It's extremely important that you let people know where you stand -- what motivates you, how you operate, what your expectations are, et cetera. I make it a practice to meet with everyone on my team very early on and tell them everything they need to know about me," says Conant, the CEO of Campbell Soup Company, who has an entire website dedicated to his leadership philosophies. "At the end of the meeting, I encourage them to tell me what I need to know about them. It makes for a more productive partnership."

Declaring yourself also includes telling the truth. Partnerships fail when one partner "does a little deal on the side or wants to break away and the second party finds out about it," says Dr. Karissa Thacker, adjunct faculty member at the University of Delaware's MBA program.

As you work to make your partnership thrive, "find a win-win solution that is fair to both parties, and establish clear metrics for success," says Morrison. Anyone who's been in a partnership can tell you that they aren't easy -- but they can also be extremely rewarding, and perhaps even essential to the success of your venture.

The Basics of Doing Market Research

How to Do Market Research--The Basics

Marketing research can give a business a picture of what kinds of new products and services may bring a profit. For products and services already available, marketing research can tell companies whether they are meeting their customers' needs and expectations. By researching the answers to specific questions, small-business owners can learn whether they need to change their package design or tweak their delivery methods--and even whether they should consider offering additional services.

"Failure to do market research before you begin a business venture or during its operation is like driving a car from Texas to New York without a map or street signs," says William Bill of Wealth Design Group LLC in Houston. "You have know which direction to travel and how fast to go. A good market research plan indicates where and who your customers are. It will also tell you when they are most likely and willing to purchase your goods or use your services."

When you conduct marketing research, you can use the results either to create a business and marketing plan or to measure the success of your current plan. That's why it's important to ask the right questions, in the right way, of the right people. Research, done poorly, can steer a business in the wrong direction. Here are some market-research basics that can help get you started and some mistakes to avoid.

Types of Market Research:

Primary Research: The goal of primary research is to gather data from analyzing current sales and the effectiveness of current practices. Primary research also takes competitors' plans into account, giving you information about your competition.

Collecting primary research can include:

Interviews (either by telephone or face-to-face)
Surveys (online or by mail)
Questionnaires (online or by mail)
Focus groups gathering a sampling of potential clients or customers and getting their direct feedback

Some important questions might include:

What factors do you consider when purchasing this product or service?
What do you like or dislike about current products or services currently on the market?
What areas would you suggest for improvement?
What is the appropriate price for a product or service?

Secondary Research: The goal of secondary research is to analyze data that has already been published. With secondary data, you can identify competitors, establish benchmarks and identify target segments. Your segments are the people who fall into your targeted demographic--people who live a certain lifestyle, exhibit particular behavioral patterns or fall into a predetermined age group.

Collecting Data
No small business can succeed without understanding its customers, its products and services, and the market in general. Competition is often fierce, and operating without conducting research may give your competitors an advantage over you.

There are two categories of data collection: quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative methods employ mathematical analysis and require a large sample size. The results of this data shed light on statistically significant differences. One place to find quantitative results if you have a website is in your web analytics (available in Google's suite of tools). This information can help you determine many things, such as where your leads are coming from, how long visitors are staying on your site and from which page they are exiting.

Qualitative methods help you develop and fine-tune your quantitative research methods. They can help business owners define problems and often use interview methods to learn about customers' opinions, values and beliefs. With qualitative research, the sample size is usually small.

Many new business owners, often strapped for time and money, may take shortcuts that can later backfire. Here are three pitfalls to avoid.

Common Marketing Mistakes

Using only secondary research. Relying on the published work of others doesn't give you the full picture. It can be a great place to start, of course, but the information you get from secondary research can be outdated. You can miss out on other factors relevant to your business.
Using only web resources. When you use common search engines to gather information, you get only data that are available to everyone and it may not be fully accurate. To perform deeper searches while staying within your budget, use the resources at your local library, college campus or small-business center.
Surveying only the people you know. Small-business owners sometimes interview only family members and close colleagues when conducting research, but friends and family are often not the best survey subjects. To get the most useful and accurate information, you need to talk to real customers about their needs, wants and expectations.

(entrepreneur.com)

Five Overlooked Legal Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make

Five Overlooked Legal Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make:

Starting a business can be fraught with potential legal issues that are often overlooked by first-time entrepreneurs. Many details that don’t seem pressing at the start can mean the difference between success and failure later on. But many common pitfalls can be avoided with the right planning and execution. Here are five mistakes small-business owners make -- and how to avoid them.


Mistake No. 1: Making handshake deals with clients and vendors.
Always put your business dealings in writing. Don't naively assume that everything will go according to plan. "This is often not the case, and when things go wrong, the entrepreneur and the client or vendor may have different ideas about what is supposed to happen," says Rachel Rodgers, principal attorney with Rachel Rodgers Law Office in Phoenix, Ariz.

How to avoid it: Keep a written for every relationship your business enters into to protect yourself from loss of time, money, and potential lawsuits.


Mistake No. 2: Choosing the wrong business structure.
Whether you choose sole proprietorship, S-Corp, or limited liability company (LLC), making a hasty choice can put your business at risk, and lead to painful tax bills at the end of the year. With a sole proprietorship you are not required to register your business with the state and it's often chosen by startups operating on a shoestring, but beware there's no wall between your business and personal assets. S-Corps and LLCs may cost more to set up and maintain but your business is kept legally separate from personal assets -- so it's less risky if your company goes under or is the target of a lawsuit.

How to avoid it: Rodgers recommends incorporation in most cases. Since it's a more complex structure, it shows customers, banks and investors that you're serious about being in business over the long haul. If you opt for the simpler route of sole proprietor, she suggests looking at business insurance to protect your personal assets in case your company is sued and loses. Of course, you'll want to consult with a lawyer or accountant to determine the best structure for your particular size and needs.

 Mistake No. 3: Bringing on partners without a detailed agreement. 

 Many entrepreneurs put this paperwork on the back burner in favor of "focusing on the business," but several problems can arise in the meantime. "One of the biggest boons to my startup practice has been the movie The Social Network, which revolves around the litigation surrounding the ownership of the ideas, code, et cetera, at the onset of Facebook," says Gregory Kratofil, an attorney and shareholder with the law firm Polsinelli Shughart in Kansas City, Missouri.  No matter how much you like and trust your business partners, you need a legally binding agreement -- not just detailing operations and responsibilities, but also what happens if you have opposite views of where to take the company.

How to avoid it:

Have the hard conversations now, when everybody's still in love, says lawyer William M. Moore, founder of the Moore Firm in San Diego, a law firm that serves entrepreneurs. That's when to put in writing important issues like who owns what shares, who has what power, as in the case of deciding a potential buyout.

Mistake No. 4: Establishing a 50-50 partnership. 

In theory, this sounds great, but ultimately when issues arise -- like whether to bring on new investors -- somebody has to be able to make an executive decision. If you deadlock on a major decision and nobody budges, the company is frozen in limbo unless one of you buys out the other. "It's very difficult for human beings to decide how to divide things up after there is something to divide up," Moore adds.

How to avoid it: Consider at least a 51-49 split instead, where one partner is at the helm with the power to make critical decisions in the event of a stalemate. "Remember, a business is not a democracy," Moore says.

Mistake No. 5: Filing a trademark without doing enough homework. 

If you think a quick Internet search or cursory look at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office database is all you need before filing for a trademark, think again. You don't want to invest in a brand only to learn someone else came up with it first, says lawyer Frank A. Natoli, founder of New York-based law firm Natoli-Lapin LLC. For example, Natoli had a client who lost most of his $100,000 investment in branded inventory after another company with the same name shut him down.

How to avoid it:

Do your research not only with the Patent and Trademark Office, but on the state level (each state has its own registry), in business directories like YellowPages.com, domain-name companies, and even the Canadian Intellectual Property Office.
(entrepreneur.com)

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The New Millionaire: Michael Gerber (part2)

The New Millionaire: Michael Gerber (part3)

Michael Gerber: The Four Mind-Sets of an Entrepreneur: Innovators Forum ...

What every young entrepreneur needs to keep in mind

How can a young entreprenueur find a good business partner?

What is the key to a successful business?

Based on my experience, the most valuable key to a successful business is the passion for it.  Passion gives me the energy to wake up excited to start my day as an entrepreneur.  I always look forward to a day at work, what my plans are, what is it going to be, what challenges will I encounter and how do I tackle those challenges.

Hard work, perseverance, creativity, and the belief that you are doing something worthwhile not just for the business, for your family, for the people & economy but using your potentials to live up to your dreams.

Then, as the previous vlog of Angela Jia Kim of Savor the Success - (our group for women entrepreneurs)she is talking about the right path--the passion to do the thing that makes the business flow easily.
Then let's talk about my passion--for crafts & creativity, promoting Eco-Friendly and organic products in the market, following the Fair Trade practices, Giving Back, cooking, food, travel, family and friends---That is the reason we are expanding our product line from crafts to natural and organic food.

It is probably a big step outside our comfort zone but we think positive--It will be a success!

 

 

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Inspiration in Business!

Being a member of Savor the Success, a premier network for women entrepreneurs, I get the chance to meet, share and get ideas from other successful women on how they deal with the daily life & business.

Angela Jia Kim, our founder is always been an inspiration to me.  Her enthusiasm, hard work, perseverance gives me courage to step up to the goal I want in the business.
It started from a vision and challenge in life--like the vision book Angela was discussing about in her previous vlog.  I set the vision, then the challenges and now how to grow and expand the business to a higher level.

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