I have a meeting with a Vice President of a very popular c store for my drink

[Keegan Thomas]

Basically we have an "in" with the Vice President of a popular c-store.
He has agreed to sit down and here about our energy drink which has tremendous marketing capability. I was hoping to get some guidance on where to start . I mean i have some pricing to get the drink made ,shipped etc. I was thinking of fulfilling the orders with a truck we bought ourselves that ties into the name of our drink. how good of an idea is this to do it yourself? right now it would be a southern chain but eventually could open more doors open into the future. I wanted to land some major accounts to get backing for $$$$. any thoughts would be much appreciated!

[sjowens]

Congratulations Keegan! I don't have much expertise to offer you, but getting a meeting with a C-store chain is incredible. Good luck

[Carlos Lopez]

Keegan,

A meeting like this is a great opportunity. You will have to use it wisely and it might be your one chance to make a presentation to this chain, if you have to hold off, hold off until you are ready. You have to be prepard like any other presenter. Selling directly to any chain will require direct support of the brand once you are in; price promotions, merchandising programs, special POS materials, racks, coolers, co-op in their mailers (if they have these), posters (if they allow this), etc. This can get very expensive but with big rewards. You also have to be funded, dont expect the sales from this account will be your funding. These accounts are high maintenance!

Once you get into a large chain it is also extremely important that you go out and knock on every single retailer door immediately. You don't know how long you will be in the chain so you eed to take advantage of the credibilty a big player adds to you and your brand.

Good luck!

Carlos Lopez
Liquid Brands Management, Inc.

[Keegan Thomas]

Thanks for the info. I meant to say that i am the creator of the drink and will be selling directly to the chain itself when the time is right. im not a distributor for another company. Hope this helps.

[Carlos Lopez]

Yes I understood that you are the brand owner. As the brand owner it becomes your responsibility to ensure the success of the brand once in the stores. Even if you do this thru a major distributor, you will still have to offer the right support to the distributor so he can get your brand into his established accounts.

There is a great (FREE) audio at www.LiquidBrandsManagement.com in the services section in the mentoring link. It talks about the support required from distributors and retailers these days.

The link http://www.liquidbrandsmanagement.com/beverage-mentor.html


Carlos Lopez