This is a question I get often times.
You worked hard to get all the processes done. You got the perfect tequila factory partner, you waited a long time for all the legal brand permissions, certifications, and regulation compliance.
You created a very appealing name, astonishing bottle, nice packaging and high quality liquid, everything is ready to launch.
Big party with family, friends, and people involved in the tequila project, in a fancy restaurant. A big production party “to give birth” to your “little one” and to present it to the society.
And now what?…
OK, you need to sell your brand-new tequila, to make a business of it, (unless you have created your brand as an ego booster, then it is not necessary to sell it actively 😊).
Then, as you’re all set, you think, the next step is to enter a market, with a distributor. You knock on the door to one distributor, no reply, so you contact the second one, they don’t take your tequila in their portfolio… After knocking on the door of 10 distributors, you don’t understand what’s going on.
Later, you learn that they don’t want “another” brand, they want a story, they want a top-notch image, marketing, content, etc.
Finally, you get all in place, and start working with a distributor, they also require continuous support, to get your brand out there, and get in known.
The most complicated thing in the market is to make the brand known, so that the final consumer goes, chooses from the shelf and buys your brand of tequila, not the cheaper one next to it; that is one of the most complicated parts.
Every go-to-market strategy involves compromises. You have to design actions that reinforce the distributor as your ally, your partner in the market, in order to obtain results.
Tequila tastings, discounts, point of sale promotion, digital marketing, branded parties. The magic lies in creativity, to see how to provoke the sale of the product.
It is not a simple issue, it is a hard work, and a ton of money. Because one would think that once you have the importer, the distributor, now you are going to appear on the shelves.
The challenge is that, if the end consumer does not make the purchase, at some point that space will be occupied by another brand.
If you are in a point of sale, you have to do everything to make a product sell: adaptation and innovation, focusing efforts creatively, depending on segmentation, defining a proper market entry strategy.
We should not see the counterpart (importer, distributor) as someone we are going to sell our product to and that’s it, but as an ally, a business partner, with whom we are going to sell our product.
And not just a pallet or container, but a long-term business plan, to keep and increase your sales in the future.
In a nutshell, you need to be aware that a sales and go-to-market strategy, matter more than you think.
If you don’t have a know-how where to start with your sales strategies, fortunately, there are competent, experienced sales people, specialized in tequila and agave industry (like me) to help you with this endeavour.
Contact me for a free consultation, I’ll help you to successfully place your tequila brand in the right spot.
Responses