Welcome to The Promo Playbook, the podcast where
suppliers come to win in the promotional products
industry. We're your hosts, Lisa Faustek and
Adrienne Barker, bringing you insider insights,
expert strategies, and no fluff advice to help
suppliers navigate the promo channel like pros.
From marketing to distributors to mastering software
onboarding, we cover it all. Whether you're new
to the industry or ready to scale up, this is
your playbook for success. Let's get started.
Well hello everybody and welcome back to the
promo playbook. Today I'm super excited to bring
it back to basics with our team of Adrian Barker
and Kim Ballerine. Today we're going to dive
into the foundational discussion of how do you
set your pricing? How do you manage the sales
process? And then how do you manage an order
through to delivery? So I think we'll dive right
in and talk about pricing. So pricing is a little
bit unique in the promotional product space.
Adrienne, can I invite you to share your view
of how pricing works in the promo space? So yes,
because as a supplier, you're pricing this not
just for your distributor, but they have to sell
it and maybe has to even sell again, right? So
pricing it to me is probably one of the most
difficult things. And I would say that you better
do your research. And that means looking at your
competition. So Lisa, I'm going to say to me,
one of the most important things is where is
the price? And if you're lucky enough, you'll
walk a show. and you'll grab the other suppliers'
prices if you're bringing something that someone
else has. If you are having a unique product
like a collars and company who has the things
that you stick in your collar, something very
unique and different that everyone may not have,
then you'll price to what the value is, what
you're bringing in, what makes sense. Nobody's
going to spend $10 on a piece that goes into
your collar to keep it straight. So it's got
to make sense too. But first thing to do is see
what other people are seeing. And the best way
to do that is grab their catalog. I feel bad
saying this, but you know what? We know it's
happened. So this is this is no fluff. This is
a truth. And because you not only have to look
at the price, you're going to have to look at
all the additional charges. So that's my thought.
OK, great. So excellent suggestion. I would wrap
that in the label of a competitive analysis.
Do your homework. See who's selling something
similar. See what they're selling it at. and
then go from there. And Kim, I'd like to ask
you from the brand side and the retail perspective,
what do you see from that perspective when a
brand is entering the promo market? Yeah, I mean,
there's definitely no shame in finding out what
the competition is doing. We all do it. You shop
online to find your best price from a world that's
no different. So that is key in setting your
pricing. You also have to give up a little bit
of the fact that... you know, you may think you're
premier and are worthy of a certain price point,
and you may get that at retail, but it doesn't
always jive the same way in promo. And then again,
depending on how you're going, you know, to Adrian's
point, if you're a brand selling to a supplier
who's then selling to a distributor and then
selling to an end user, those are a lot of layers.
So You've got to also figure out what does my
pricing structure look like for my supplier customers?
And then what does my pricing look like if you
are going to do both work with suppliers and
distributors? They can't be the same pricing
because they're selling. That's a whole other
layer. Right. So there's the different ways to
look at your strategy. How do you want to go
to market? Who is actually going to be purchasing
like just out of the gate your product? And then
you have to look at different pricing structures
for each of those audiences, which is different
than what you have on the retail side. Cool,
cool. So thank you for that insight. I'm picturing
it as a delicious layer cake, which could have
two layers, three layers, four layers. And then
how do you manage those layers? So I think the
interesting thing about promo is the first layer
is building in your profit margin for the distributor.
And I often work with suppliers on the idea of
key of key stoning against published retail pricing.
And then sort of the expected profit margin in
the industry is 40 percent. And then the distributor
can play around with that as they see fit. Then
we add a layer. If it's a supplier partnership,
what does the supplier expect to take? So then
you might want to have that layer built in where
you might have to give up maybe overall 50 to
60 percent margin total to sell through in the
promo space. And so I want to just unpack codes
a little bit. And we won't give away the industry
secrets, but Adrienne, give us a little insight
on the alphabet soup of the industry. The history
of the codes is so interesting. We're not going
to give the codes away, so suppliers, calm down,
it's all good. But the history of it's so interesting,
because the idea was for a catalog, that a catalog,
you may look at it as a catalog, but us, we look
at it as a tool. How else can a distributor sell
someone else's product unless they have a tool?
And back in the day, and I'll say it, I'm 63,
started, went right out of college. Back in the
day, that's all you had. That was your tool.
It wasn't even a catalog, Vic. They were flyers,
let's be honest. They were sales sheets. But
that was the thing. So you had to know. So when
you're on the road and my client's looking at
a price, I would be able to say, oh, I could
do a little better for you. Or maybe you don't
show the sale price. Maybe the sale price is
$4. But you are such a great salesperson, you
were selling it for even over. Nobody ever said
you had to stick to these prices and plenty of
fantastic. distributors that offer value outside
of the product itself, not just selling commodity,
but whole like kind of like package with their
ideas. Sure, they should sell the $4 item for
$8, but it's a tool and those codes came out
to make it easier. And the codes have, you sometimes
have changed a little bit with how they do it.
So that because at one point, you know, maybe
you can Google it, maybe you can find it out,
not telling you to do it. You'll get a virus
if you do it, so don't do it actually. But it
is something, and you may not even understand
it either because it's more than just the numbers,
but the only thing I can say, I'll stop right
now and just say, it is an important tool for
a distributor and a supplier has to recognize
it. They have to understand their own numbers.
Excellent, excellent input. Kim, do you have
anything to add from the retail side? Took me
a very long time to figure out those numbers.
And even now, I still have to go back to my notes
because there's two sets. And so you go from
A to B to Z, like crazy. And you're like, wait,
where am I again in the process? So it is, again,
it's something that's different than if you are
used to selling direct to a consumer or direct
into the retail world. you're not used to those.
But they are important. And that's really what
drives it. Because that letter, certain distributors
are focused on the letter. If they're not going
to make a certain profit margin, game over. So
it's critical for you to understand them, know
how it can impact your sales, and just understanding
the business overall. Yeah so great insight i
think one of the things i've struggled with as
i work with retail brands because my brain is
so focused on promo is the difference between
markup. In the retail world and margin in the
promo world you know margin is a discount off
the published price how would you describe markup.
I live in both worlds. So I like, how do I do
the different formulas? You know, for us, you
know, for retail, when I'm looking at, when I'm
looking at margin, really, it's your buy costs
divided by your cost, you know, and so you figure
out your margin. But when you're doing like mark
up, it's just So you might sell something, you
might buy something for $10 and sell it for $12.
And so that's a 20 % mark up, but that doesn't
necessarily mean that's 20 % margin, right? I
mean, there may be some formulas you work that,
hey, it's the same, like one divided by one is
the same as one plus, it's one times one, but
they're often different. You can get picked up
in that depending on how you're looking at things.
Yeah. So thank you. And I think part of what
we provide as the team of the promo playbook
is unpacking that for retail brands. Like, how
do you translate your retail pricing into pricing
that works in promo? And Adrienne mentioned also
that there's ancillary charges in promo. There's
other charges that go along with your pricing
structure. So that might be a setup charge. That
might be a PMS color match charge. That might
be a drop ship charge. That could be an extra
location charge. And those are often at a lower
discount or margin because they're usually a
one time fee and So the industry looks at that
a little differently too. And as we coach and
develop brands and suppliers who want to grow
their footprint, we take a look at that. What
is your competitive advantage there? And is there
a marketing message that we can use around those
ancillary charges? So pricing, a little tricky,
interesting, multi -layered. There's codes involved.
There's different ways of looking at the margin
and markup. So just realize as a new supplier,
you want to be educated on all those nuances.
So you show up in the industry in a way that
makes sense to your distributors and agencies
that will be selling your product. Adrienne?
So I just wanted to add a little pro tip here.
Because I remember when it started with me, I
actually had, you know, there were days I had
like, I like, I had a little brain fart, like,
Oh my God, where's, where's the numbers. This
is obviously you can use computers right now,
but for sale for the suppliers, you really need
to train. your customer service, they should
be on top of it. And, you know, they should have
like the net prices. So there's not really a
confusion because I know often sometimes that's
a big problem. You know, you're a distributor,
you're you're assuming that you're going to buy
something for two and a half dollars and you're
selling it for five dollars. You're not realizing
by sides all the ancillary charges that you're
actually wrong. The price that was it was two
and a half dollars that you like. So there's
so much. So when you are as a distributor getting
a price of a supplier. Pro tip is have a copy
of it, save the copy of it. You want that in
writing. And suppliers, make sure your customer
service people are really empowered to be able
to have the prices there and even sometimes to
make a discount when needed. That's my thoughts.
That's an awesome point, Adrienne. Make sure
your team's well trained. They understand the
language. They're able to show up and empower
them to give discounts if needed or coaching.
around pricing. A couple other things you've
touched on, AI is a great tool for your competitive
analysis. So don't be afraid to use that tool
to research other people in the space selling
a similar product, both in promo and in retail.
And you also touched on something else, Adrienne,
that you've mentioned in an earlier podcast,
which I love, which is around accounting and
management of invoicing. So where the pricing
becomes important, and we won't do a deep dive
into this today because this could be a whole
nother segment on how to manage your business
from the accounting perspective. But oftentimes
as a distributor, you might receive an invoice
from a supplier that differs from what you expected
the pricing to be, which Adrienne was touching
on a couple minutes ago. So part of our coaching
and what you'll learn through the podcast is
making sure that your invoices match up. And
that you're not being overcharged or sometimes
you might unexpectedly be undercharged. Maybe
the supplier gives you the distributor EQP unexpectedly.
And we haven't even really started talking about
this aspect of pricing. So it's a great lead
in to the sort of expected idea in the industry
that you might offer quantity price breaks. So
you would have your minimum order quantity and
maybe one or two quantities above that where
you offer a discount to your distributor as an
incentive for them to push their client to the
next price level. And EQP stands for end quality
pricing. Again, that alphabet soup comes into
play. So EQP will come up many times in our podcasts
related to different ways of growing your business
in the industry. So this is just a foundational
concept of EQP and quantity pricing for the moment.
But that's part of your pricing strategy. so
that you don't give up too much margin at the
end when you're at your end quantity price. So
what else can we add to pricing you guys before
we move on to the more, I guess, fun part of
the discussion, which is how do you make a sale?
So I'll go, I'll go. I think it's really important.
First of all, I just want to be clear when you're
matching up your invoices, besides yours of the
supply, you want to make sure that you're charging
your clients and at least have an idea. You may
have a salesperson out there that is consistently
not charging and not amortizing. So when you
amortize a price, which honestly, I was the amortizer.
I really could have get Adrian the amatizer because
I always thought if you amortize the pricing
so you roll in the setup charge of the first
color running charges and all of that and let's
also have as a one time setup charge like how
lovely is it every time I get a reorder I'm actually
making more money because I've already paid those
charges off and so you want to really make sure
that you have someone in your company your accounting
department should be your most important. department,
you know, and like we all have to think that
way accounting comes first, or thank you to Gloria
Barker, who taught me that mom that always said
accounting is the most important part, because
you got to get the invoicing out. Because another
thing is clients do not want to wait for their
invoice. But with that said, another thing Lisa
that I don't want to miss, and we should probably
do a deeper dive into this at a later date, but
know who your clients are, because what are you
doing? Are you giving everyone open account?
Are you giving a net 30? How are you going to
be charging them? And how are they going to be
paying? So if you're looking at some of these
larger companies, aka like a like a halo or any
anyone, they're going to have different pricing
structures and how you're how you're going to
get paid. So you've got to know all of this.
So when we start doing these deep dives, it really
gets to deep. So it's not like, oh, I'm going
to just put a price out there too. That price
may have to hold you. So then you have to look
at everything else, right? But I just wanted
to share that. That's great, Adrienne. Go ahead,
Ken. I'm sorry, Lisa. Oh, sorry. Yeah. And I
was going to build on that too with the sort
of hidden charges. They're not really hidden
because they're pretty much out there with suppliers.
But it is as the brand too, it's not just the
cost of your product, right? So you do have to
take in mind that supplier, just whomever, if
you're doing it, you're adding those, right?
You're pricing it on your own as sort of the
brand. But if you're working with a supplier,
you have to add on it's one color charge, the
setup charge, all these different layers. So
I remember when we first jumped in, I was surprised
when I was like, Hey, our mug is only $30 retail.
Why is it 35? Like that's, that seems crazy.
You're going to price this out of the market,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? All the
things that you freak out about. And then you
have to remember, Oh, but they're adding this,
all these different components on that end up
bringing that price up. So even when you see
that and that pricing, that sort of public, on
supplier sides, it can be scary as a brand because
you're not thinking about all the extras that
are going into it. That's a great, great point.
And Adrienne, I see your hands up. My hand is
up because I love hands up. But no, my hand is
up because I want to remind people. So like for
the suppliers, you may think to yourself, it's
a price. I'm going to give the price and that's
it. I don't have to worry about it. because,
you know, it's called customer service, too.
And I just did an hour long customer service
workshop on chatter because at the end of the
day, it is so important because there is nothing
worse than a distributor that has already given
their price to their client and now is coming
back and say, I didn't know about that. And so
just don't think, oh, I have it in my catalog
or, you know, I have it on the web that they'll
know. So I think it's really important as a supplier
that you acknowledge and make sure that that
the distributors actually reading all the different
prices and distributors don't just look at the
acknowledgement and look at the artwork like
oh i'm going to go to the second page and approve
it look at all that's what the time that you
pull your order out and you make sure everything
is matching and all because i've seen this on
both ends people are doing that that will be
definitely a profit loss thank you lisa Yeah,
yeah. So, you know, I want to spin this out to
a little bit if we have any end users or buyers
who stumble across our podcast. Hopefully what
you're hearing is how much work, effort, time,
due diligence, labor goes into the pricing of
the products that you see when you purchase from
a distributor. You know, we're only touching
on some of the efforts that go into it. We haven't
even touched on some of the other costs like
the cost of money, borrowing money, processing
credit cards, all that good stuff. So as we talk
about pricing, it's a very mindful process to
show up for the end user and the purchaser in
a way that brings them value and a great buyer
experience. So all of that gets wrapped up into
it too. So I think that's a great overview for
our audience in terms of the complexities of
pricing. And we may unpack different aspects
of that more as we build on the podcast. So if
folks have specific questions, ideas, new ways
of thinking that they want to share with us,
please reach out to us on the promo playbook
on LinkedIn. through comments on the podcast,
we're all available to chat. So I thought we
might segue from pricing into the sales process.
Is there anything either of you wanna add to
pricing before we move on or you feel like we're
good? I just wanted to say, I think that even
if I was a distributor and I was listening, to
this I would love it because often we don't have
those insights that we're sharing it's kind of
like hidden you're kind of curious like how is
the supplier we're not giving away any crazy
secret sauce we're all going to you know be like
flown up in the sky and drop down on a drone
but what we're doing is really providing information
that we know because we put on the distributor
hat that's the supplier hat that you would want
to use so I just wanted to share that I'm glad
you brought that up. In the customer end user
hat for six years of my career, I bought promotional
products for the British beer company. So I lived
the life of an end user and thought about the
pricing of the items that I was buying. I had
a pretty hefty budget for apparel through that
job. So I can see it from all angles, which is
really fun too. Segwaying onto the sales process.
So once you have your pricing set, now you can
start thinking about going to market. How are
you going to get your products out to the world
of the promotional products distributor? And
there are several ways to do that. You can be
on some of the search engine platforms like Sage,
ASI, Distributor Central, but those aren't the
only ways. I think I'm going to leapfrog that
discussion for another day and just talk about
the sales process from a high level. So you have
your products on one of the search engines. Adrienne,
I'm going to toss this ball to you. What do you
think the process is for a new supplier in terms
of selling their new product to a distributor?
I can't wait to go to a high level. How would
they do that? You're on mute right now. Oh, I'm
sorry. Can you hear me? Here we go. Okay. I have
to see this. That is so funny because, you know,
I just want to say good luck to all the suppliers
because it is so much work. So hopefully you've
got someone that can turn everything into like
an Excel and upload. It's that easy. It's a lot
of work. I just have to put that out there, Lisa,
because using any of those programs are really
tough and even having your own site. People want
to know inventory. They want freight. They want
to know packaging. Woo. I always thought my parents
should have just opened a blockbuster store and
just made it like the end of the day. So first
of all, how are you going to get out there? So
with one of my clients, that was one of the big
things. Once we had everything set up, what was
that sales process going to look like? Because
first of all, sales are great, but you know what
you need to have happen before sales? You need
to have quotes. I always say that that's the
most important thing. If there's no quotes in
the funnel, there's not going to be many sales
that doesn't like very rare that someone's going
to call up. and have no idea who you are and
just like place the order though that can that
does work sometimes a distributor is much harder
for you but what i'm trying to say right now
is that you really want to make sure that with
the sale that how you're going to sell i'm going
to go with the end of like how are you going
to get out there how are you let's just say you
feel that you have the most incredible mug or
incredible bottle and this is like the best one
oh my gosh i would say i i love this one but
my husband so My husband has the other one, so
it's so funny. Kim, the name just escaped me.
I had a brain fart. The corksicle? Yeah, so he's
got the corksicle. I can grab that in a second.
He's got the corksicle. Don't even ask. It's
just weird the way that came. So he likes a screw,
and I like to sip like a baby. But I think that
what I'm seeing the hardest is getting in the
hands. It actually, sales process, I'm not sure
if we're talking about, so we already talked
about pricing. So getting your merchandise out
there. Getting a multi -line rep is not easy.
Are you able to afford salespeople that are going
to be out there? What is that going to look like?
Are you planning on joining regional associations
and going out locally? That to me, when I look
at it, there's so many pieces that are difficult.
That's why you need to go to the promo playbook
because you really just don't jump in here. If
you can't swim, don't jump. Get lessons right
away from the coaches because otherwise I don't
know how you do it. That is the first thought
is what is that process going to look like? How
are you going to get in the hands? Because I'm
going to email and I'm going to email all day
long. They're going to get three emails a day,
the distributors, and they're going to order
from me. No, they're probably going to, you're
not going to be on the list anymore. You're junk
mail. So that's not going to work for you. I'm
going to go on LinkedIn and I'm going to go,
which LinkedIn can work if you do it the right
way. I'm going to go on social media. I'm going
to go Facebook and I'm going to promote it. That's
not going to work because your buyers are probably
not really on Facebook. And if they are, they
may not understand what you're trying to do or
the connections. So I don't even have the answer,
Lisa, because it really has to look at. I love
the thought process of how do you go to market?
I was thinking more about mechanical like the
process, but I do think that we have agreed as
a team that we need to have a podcast or. several
podcasts on go to market strategy. Adrian just
demonstrated there's so many ways to bring your
product to market. But I sort of want to refocus
our talk today on mechanics, like thinking about,
you know, OK, we've got our pricing out there.
We've gone to market. Let's jump ahead. We've
gone to market. We have some customers, distributors
interested in our products. what other steps
that we need to go through to show up for the
distributor so they can pitch our product. So
Adrian touched on some of those. Kim, let's hear
your perspective on that. Yeah, I sort of feel
like it's that you have some interest now what,
right? So you got your pricing in place, you're
on all the platforms and oh my God, someone actually
called. And now what do I do? What do I do next
step? And there are a lot of steps in that process.
So first, you have to someone dedicated to answering
that phone call who knows that you're in the
promo market and can actually answer a question.
So once you've got your nice pricing in front,
you've got your fantastic salesperson who's welcoming
them to the company and super excited for their
interest. They've given pricing verbally, but
did they give the setup fee? Did they give the
art charge? Did they give all that? So you have
this great conversation, exchange email, send
out a quote. So you need to now send out a quote.
Like, what? Send out a quote? Do I even have
that? What does that look like? Do I have a process?
Is that in my current system? How is it tied
to my sales order? So you send out your quote.
And they're like, hey, customer really loves
it. They really want your product. Here, I want
100 of your mugs. I want them with this logo
on it. And they want a color logo. OK, well,
then what do you do with it? Oh, now you have
to put together a mock -up and send it back to
them. Do you have the artwork? Do you know what
a mock -up is? Do you know what your sizing is?
All those things. How do you spit that back to
the distributor? in a way that they can then
take it and easily give it to the customer for
them to approve, to then send it back. Now you
finally hit the sales order where you'll get
an official order from the distributor. Then
to everybody's point earlier, you need to make
sure that the PO that you get back actually matched
the quote. and has all the things, the setup
charge, the printing charge, anything that you
are going to put in there so that you can actually
process the order. And PS, by the way, make sure
you look at the hand date to make sure you can
actually deliver it on time. Love that. And then
once you get it through the process and ship
it, gosh, how am I going to get that? Do I have
a way of getting that shipping information back
to the customer? So there are a ton of steps
in it. that you don't always think of until you've
sort of got that first order, right? And it's
going to be trial by fire. So there are going
to be hiccups. I mean, let's just be honest.
Your first couple orders, there are going to
be some hiccups. How you respond to those hiccups
will really sort of set the tone of how you're
going to be in the market as a supplier. That's
great. Adrian? So Kim brought up a great point
about the hiccups. I kind of think of first orders
are kind of like pancakes, right? You're going
to throw out the first few until you get the
best pancakes. So in a way, I would say that's
where you want to start slow. You're going to
do the virtuals and the samples, and you're going
to do smaller orders. So you almost have to test
the waters because you've got to test every piece
of it, right? Where's your quality control in
this? So just a little pro tip for all the things
that Kim was saying. No matter where you are
in your supplier life right now, have you called
your own company and acted as a distributor and
seen how the prices are? Are you getting that
quote right after? Are you using a good CRM product?
Like what? What? Like all of that makes so much
sense. But at the end of it, Kim, I have seen
suppliers. I've asked that question. I'll get.
Oh, I never thought about calling my company.
Yes, you really need to do that. So just a little
pro tip there is great. Great, great, great.
idea, Adrienne. I've not done that either. So
that's really a cool idea. So I think what we
should do is break this into a couple segments.
So the way I think of it is there's the pre -sale
process and what are those steps. And then there's
the post -sale process and one of those steps.
And then there's how do you interface with your
production team? And then how do you follow up
with the distributor to build loyalty? So today,
to sort of focus on the pre -sale part, we establish
our pricing, we figure out how we're going to
deliver quotes to distributors, and then other
parts of that process include sending out samples.
So you want to be thinking as a supplier, what
types of samples am I going to have available
to send out readily? And we do recommend that
you send samples out same day or within 24 hours.
And will those be randomly printed samples, blank
samples? So we can unpack that. Do you want to
have a sample kit? That's phase two. How do you
grow your business and sophistication after you
hit different milestones? And then what the heck
is a spec sample? Somebody sends you a note or
an email. I'm like, hey, I need a spec sample.
Well, that means you actually fire up your production
facility and you print one of something. So what
are strategies and pricing for that? And then,
virtuals, which are digital mockups, really are
the backbone of the industry. So making sure
that with us, the supplier playbook, or with
somebody else in your organization or other mentors
that you have, make sure you understand what
virtuals are, how they work, We recommend you
get those back same day or within 24 hours as
well. And sometimes you can have hundreds of
virtual sample requests in your queue. That's
a good thing. That means you have things cooking,
things happening. So those are just some of the
steps to prepare for an order or what it takes
to capture orders in the industry. So I think
we're getting to the end of our time frame today.
So I'll just invite Kim and Adrienne to add any
last comments. And then our next segment will
unpack one of the topics we touched on today,
which is pre -sale, post -sale, and how do you
interface with your production team? So Kim,
any last comments? Yeah. I mean, first of all,
you do such an amazing job, Lisa. Keeping us
on, I know I can definitely go off topic because
I'm so passionate about it. So thank you for
your expertise in corralling us cats and keeping
us focused. It's fantastic. But I think we hit
some really good points. I think pricing, I think,
is one area where people sort of pause. At least
brands, as they step in, they pause for a second.
um till they figure out that strategy right because
you may be able to make pricing work one way
but you can't make it work another um and so
i think understanding not only your own pricing
to whom you're selling it to but really understanding
where your end pricing is among your competition
is also very critical because you don't you don't
want to be the top or the bottom or maybe you
do in which case that's great too, but you need
to know that. And so I think really understanding
where your starting point is and where your ending
point is, is critical to help you figure out
all that stuff in between too. Yeah, yeah. Thank
you for that, Kim. Adrienne? Kim, you're brilliant.
Okay, so I actually think, and I'm gonna talk
to the suppliers right now, this is a huge responsibility.
When you think about it, you are responsible
for helping a distributor. You are the vendor.
That is why distributors have usually a dedication
of at least a minimum of one person to be a vendor
relations because it is going to be about relations.
So just know that and also know that as a distributor.
How can I buy 500 or something unless I have
a sample? This is not like Tmoo or Shine, where
I'm just buying one necklace. And you know what?
For the $3, if it doesn't look good, I'm OK.
Because believe me, we know if you're buying
something from Shine, Sheen, or Tmoo, you know
it's so cheap, you're probably going to throw
it away. But you have to think to yourself, these
distributors need a sample. The fact that if
you even charging I you know some I didn't understand
that Lisa was always weird to me as a distributor
Why are you making me buy the sample when i'm
going to sell it? So I would definitely look
forward to our talking about that and doing a
deeper dive The elephants in the room guys were
doing it Thanks. Yeah Great stuff, and I think
adrian touches on something i'd like to wrap
up with which is Suppliers do have a responsibility
Our distributor partners, this is how they make
their living. This is how they pay their mortgage,
feed their families. This is serious business.
So us as suppliers really need to show up in
a way that distributors can trust and depend
on us to not let them down. And sampling is a
huge part of that because once your customer
approves a sample, then we're all in on the same
page. And that's a beautiful thing. So thank
you, Adrian and Kim. This was a great conversation
around pricing. I hope our audience got some
nuggets from it and we'll see you next time with
a deeper dive into the pre -sale process. Talk
soon. Thanks for tuning into the promo playbook.
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