folks,

if we could get tina aldatz to stop by this forum and talk about some of her strategies and key moves a little more, would you be up for that?

rich

Hello Rich,

It's Tina ...as mentioned ,I have received calls from your listeners and since my time in the office is limited, I thought is would be great to join you online and offr any advice that I can.  

tina!!! fabulous!!! thanks so much for stopping by StartupNation.

one thing we all might want to learn more about is your "bonus insight" mentioned at the bottom of our Key Move feature on you.

how do you know when it's the right time to break out and apply your brand to other products or product categories? we all know how important focus is, but at some point, like you're doing, expansion through adding new opportunities makes a lot of sense...

rich

O.K. this is critical, and I certainly learned this lesson the hard way. Take it slow!

Visit your retailers, ask them what they think and look at the way they have your products displayed - make it as easy for them as possible. 

When I introduced my second product, Heavenly Heelz, I created a "shipper display" carton- this took the guesswork out of how to display the product & guaranteed that Foot Petals would be displayed exactly the same everywhere...making it easy for the consumer to recognize.     

Also when you get feedback from your customers and buyers -LISTEN

 I always keep a place on my website for comments or questions...my customers created our newest product, Haute Heelz.   

Tina, That's a great tip! I noticed that when I started offering a display rack with my dip mixes the store owners would purchase more to fill it up. I offered it at a discount when store owners bought all of my flavors. I actually was selling the display for under my cost but it insured that my products would be displayed prominently and therefore sell better. I would have never imagined that offering a display could be so important. It was a win-win situation!

I'm thrilled you are here by the way. Thanks for taking the time to chat with us!

You're very welcome!

Another move that helped build my business was to set up a "store locator" on my website - this directs consumers to the retailers that sell my products.

When a customer comes in asking for a product by name, the retailer is happy to order more products from you. It really shows that you support their business and value your relationship.