Page 43 - Entrepreneur-November 2018

Strategy

cannabis products.’” The strategy is working. By and likes Jones but cautions often walking into their very
Jones started working to early this year, LucidMood had that most effect-based products first dispensary.
get LucidMood vape pens into become the top-selling dis- are relying almost entirely on This serves two purposes,
the hands of those people. At posable vape pen in most of anecdotal evidence. as Jones sees it. There’s the
the Village Green Society dis- Colorado’s dispensaries where For a company like simple first-mover advan-
pensary in Boulder, for exam- it had been on sale for more LucidMood, though, that tage, where a brand locks in a
ple, the budtenders hated than three months. all means one thing: It has consumer by just being there
LucidMood, but one manager to make its own case to first. But more important,
had been trying unsuccess- TWO YEARS AFTER LucidMood consumers— and do it faster LucidMood is a good on-ramp
fully to get his mother to use launched in Colorado, John than its competitors. To accom- for these new consumers. If
cannabis for her pain and anx- Kagia, chief knowledge officer plish this, Jones has developed they buy something strong
iety. He agreed to give her a for the Washington, D.C.–based two valuable new strategies. from a dispensary, they may
LucidMood product. Less than cannabis research and analytics The first is to target dispen- feel overwhelmed and never
a week later, the shop placed an firm New Frontier Data, heard saries and delivery services return. But his light prod-
order. The budtenders finally some numbers that caught his that primarily serve tourists, uct may bring in repeat busi-
understood it. attention. One of the dispensa- women, seniors, and other ness. “Once people tried it, it
“It’s definitely for people who ries stocking LucidMood had groups that are less likely to be sold itself,” says Abigail Diehl,
want a very mild high, because reordered from the company regular cannabis users. These who is responsible for get-
it doesn’t get you stoned out five times in five weeks, each people often have no prior ting LucidMood on dispen-
of your mind,” says Rachel time thinking it was picking up experience with legal mari- sary shelves in Maryland.
Sukhovitsky, the current Village a month’s supply. juana, which means they’re “Everything else gets you
Green Society manager. “But “Customers don’t come back intimidated and perhaps a lit- super high. People don’t need
they sell really well. A lot of to buy a product that doesn’t tle put off—but open to find- to get that high. It’s the soccer
people like them.” work,” Kagia says. After that, he ing a brand they trust. Lauren mom pen.”
With this new strategy, started paying close attention Petersen, the general man- And Diehl now represents
LucidMood’s fortunes changed. to Jones’ work. “At a time when ager at Silverpeak Apothecary another, largely untapped cus-
At first, only about 12 percent so much of the industry and its in Aspen, says LucidMood has tomer base for LucidMood.
of shops Jones had contacted products were aimed at exist- become one of her go-to prod- She’s a regular cannabis user
would take the product; now ing, regular consumers, they ucts for out-of-towners. “It’s and enjoys being high—but, in
80 percent were. And the understood that there would more relatable to customers truth, wouldn’t mind dialing
approach began creating new
opportunities too. Whenever a
new dispensary ordered IF YOU HAVE ONE BRAND CHAMPION FOR YOUR
LucidMood, he required the
store to do an in-store demo, PRODUCT PER DISPENSARY, THINGS GO WELL,” SAYS
like the one where he asked the JONES. “YOU JUST NEED ONE PERSON WHO REALLY
guys with bloodshot eyes about
their girlfriends. That way, he GETS IT. AND IF THEY LEAVE, WE FIND SOMEONE ELSE.”
could show budtenders how
easy it was to sell the product,
even to frequent marijuana be very significant opportunity who come in and are newcom- back the experience when she
users, by bringing up the sub- to serve both new and infre- ers, and it’s not as intimidat- needs to be sharper. “You’re not
ject of people they knew who quent users.” ing as crazy strains like Green going to have that solid, THC
weren’t as into pot. But while LucidMood’s mar- Crack,” she says. head high where you’re intoxi-
Soon Jones figured out the ket strategy may be novel, The second strategy is to cated and messed up,” she says.
golden ticket: If he could get its actual product lives in an move very early into states That may be a harder sell
a store manager’s mom to use increasingly crowded field. where cannabis becomes legal. for the budtenders, but Jones
LucidMood, that store man- Jones isn’t the first guy to sell This past spring, for exam- isn’t intimidated. He’s sold the
ager would repeat the story to cannabis based on how indi- ple, LucidMood launched in seemingly unsellable before.
everyone. vidual strains will make a user Maryland just as the medi- And the industry is just getting
“If you have one brand cham- feel—sleepy, excited, and so on. cal market was beginning. The started.
pion for your product per dis- And at this point, there’s little number of registered medi-
pensary, things go well,” Jones science behind any of it, says cal cannabis patients there tri- Amanda Chicago Lewis
says. “You just need one person Jay Czarkowski, a prominent pled in the first half of 2018. is an investigative reporter
who really gets it. And if that cannabis investor and consul- And once the local budtenders covering the cannabis
person leaves the dispensary, tant and the founding partner understood the product, they’d industry and the war on drugs.
we find someone else.” at Canna Advisors. He knows introduce it to people who were She is based in Los Angeles.

76 / ENTREPRENEUR.COM / November 2018