Page 179 - 597 Business Ideas You can Start from Home - doing what you LOVE! (Beginner Internet Marketing Series)

1 72 You r Idea, I nc.

orders will add up and can last years or even decades. Small
accounts are also loyal customers. Typically, if your product sells
well for them, they will want to bring in more of your brand. Mom­
and-pop accounts also provide security, especially when you have
built up hundreds of these smaller accounts . If one (or a few) closes,
you still have many others buying from you. When you have a big
chain buyer, yes, the account is huge and the checks are big, but the
chain can change direction or find a competing source and can end
the relationship at any minute, devastatingly affecting your bottom
line. So treasure the small accounts too!

Test Products There

You can also use mom-and-pop stores as a market research
testing field. Market testing is also useful after you've established
a good relationship and sales history. You can bring in a few final
versions of a new product, offer it at a very low discount if they are
reluctant to buy it at first, and see how they sell. You may learn
valuable feedback (mom-and-pop owners are usually very knowl­
edgeable about what their customers like) before taking the product
to larger chains.

Big Chain S tores

Dealing with large chain stores is a vastly different experience. It
can be very difficult to even find out who the buyer is for a specific
department.

How to Approach Them

If you have a new kitchen accessory and you think it should
be sold in Williams-Sonoma, call its corporate buying office and
ask for the name of the buyer for your product. Unfortunately, you
will probably not get the name of the buyer. That is pretty much
standard operating procedure with the big chains. They simply