Episode Transcript
Nina Huchthausen (00:07.726)
Okay, welcome everybody to the Makers Business Tribe. And I have with me today the wonderful, magical Hayleah, who is an MBT partner of ours, meaning she supports all of our tribe clients with her magic through training and education, as well as also offers some of her services direct. But who's Hayleah?
Who is Hayleah? Like I love them. I love the business name because I think your business name is Hey Hayleah, right? Absolutely. It's like Hey Google or Hey Siri. Exactly. Just tell me. Kind of thing. Absolutely. So I thought because I don't want to mess up the introduction, I would just hand over to Hayley straight away to introduce herself and her business. Beautiful. Well,
I'm Hayleah and my business is Hey Hayleah. And essentially we are your, we're a VA model, but we specialize in directly wholesale management, whether that's newly generation or nurturing your customer base. We are the team member that deals with all of your wholesale clients and all the strategy behind that.
And to be honest, it's just because we love people and that's what wholesale is about. So that's our business we coach through and we've got an online course. But generally we do the management side where we just take over. We wear the wholesale management hat and we take that off your hands so you don't have to worry about it. You can just strategize and do the fun bit and we will action that strategy for you.
and get you some great results. Exactly. So in today's episode, I would really like to tap into Hayley's brains because it is my opinion and the opinion of our makers business strategy is that once you're ready to scale your business and move it sort of from marketplace or market to the masses, you want to start with retail first.
Nina Huchthausen (02:30.349)
because I feel that is a very low cost of entry. You can really stay in touch with your customers and you can refine your positioning and everything that surrounds your product as you go. Number three, once you have grown and grown and grown your retail base, you can use that profit and then invest into your online setup because the technology,
and be selling beta C sales is normally a lot slower and more time consuming until you really figured out that online game. I want Haley to and I to have a conversation about that because this is my assumption and I don't want to press that opinion onto people. It's definitely super important that people recognize what avenue to go down because especially when you're a product based business,
business, there's so many different starting points that comes from, hey, I've got a really great idea and now it's a product and I've developed that and I've worked really hard on it. And to get it out there and get those sales happening and that brand recognition, there's so many avenues to go down and how that shapes first. And I think getting it into stores can be a really scary one that people sort of shy away from just because they don't know how to start with that.
Exactly. And so before we really delve into this topic, I would actually really like to know what got you into wholesale. Yeah, absolutely. So I started out in, I've got a bachelor in design arts majoring in fashion and graphic design. So I started off in the creative industry with lots of small brands and I was pretty much an all rounder, which I loved.
I did, but part of that all rounder position in a lot of different brands was their wholesale manager and customer service. And I really sort of found my, I want to say passion for wholesale and customer service there because I found that it was different to retail. Retail, you're connecting with the end user, but wholesale, you're really building a relationship. It's all, it's,
Nina Huchthausen (04:58.413)
really a friendship and a bond, I guess, because you want to help them sell the product as well. So working together. And I really liked the strategy behind working as a team that way and building that relationship to the point where they'd get on the phone and they'd go, oh, you know what I need. You know, my last order. Put that through. And you really felt that you knew.
You were helping them in their business, but you were also making a sale for the smaller brand. And so when I went from different brands doing the same role, I decided that there's a lot to learn in doing that. And there was lots of tips and tricks that I've learned along the way. And yeah, I've just found my calling because it is a really people person career. And yes, you've got to talk the talk, but you've got to mean it.
There's no point having this script that means nothing to that you saying the same thing to the person. You really want it to be more genuine. No one wants to be a car salesman. Like just be more genuine and you will have a better relationship built that way. Um, and yeah, I just loved having that individual relationship with each brand and the stockists that even to this day I've.
I've got stockists that I talk to about different brands that I started to when I was back selling clothing 10 years ago, which is nice to see them still around, but see how they've developed and they can see how I've developed as well. So yeah, it's just, I fell in love with building that relationship. Which is really interesting, right? Because.
Nina Huchthausen (06:46.701)
I feel nowadays like loneliness as a small business owner is a real thing. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And even like getting someone to help you that cares about the business as much as you do. Um, I think that's really hard. So I, that's also part of my job or, um, that I really enjoy is you feel a part of each brand that we work with.
Yeah, you feel part of each brand that you work with, but also as a small product based business. Recognizing and understanding, hey, if I build or scale my my product and go into retail first and and build out those relationships myself at the start, you're building relationships with people. Yeah, love your product that gets you.
Yeah. And that also want you to win because any like decent and kind retail store, because they want to make a profit and they want to sell, but they also want you to sell. So it's this, it's this, this, this really wholesome relationships that you get to build. Yeah. You want to build a community feel around your brand. Because.
At the end of the day, it will mean that you will sell more, but also it means that you've got so many people that believe in your brand and that you feel really supported and that you've got these relationships. Because otherwise it just feels like you're just showing this around and no one really cares. It's just another product that they've got. It's just nurturing those relationships that will make the difference. Yeah.
It's also, it's a wholesome thing to do for yourself, which I think really brings me into like, like, it's almost a subpoint of why retail first. But if you happen to work by yourself all day, and you're making and you're trying to sell at markets, and then you go back to making, but where's your community? Where the people, you know, where the people that get you,
Nina Huchthausen (09:07.309)
We're the people that appreciate what you do, but give you honest feedback. And if your product is good, they, they become your biggest champion to help you get it out. Yeah, absolutely. And if there needs to be a bit of a pivot or a change in that small product, who better to hear that from than the person who's selling that and getting that feedback. And then you can.
make those little tweaks if need be, or you hear another perspective. Because sometimes when you're working for yourself in your little box of productivity and that it's really nice to get a fresh set of eyes. Exactly. And it's like, I feel like it's just so wonderful because most retail store owners, right, they want to do good business, they want to serve their people, and they can also talk to their people, their customer's language. Yeah.
I get a lot of clients that they go, oh, people weren't interested in this product or that sort of thing, or we've tried this. And then I ask them, did you ask them why? And they say, no. And I go, then you missed out opportunity to find all of this information out of why they weren't interested. Maybe it's something that could be fixed, but.
that you haven't thought of and you can go, oh, that's really easy. And then they'll place an order for that because you've made that little bit of a pivot for them. Yeah, which just in summary, we already delved into almost two points, which is number one, first of all, getting into retail first will really help you to extend your community of like -minded people and build that connection. And number two is like the gentle feedback.
Yeah, more gentle feedback. I find that you get versus if you put your product on the internet and people because they feel like, yeah, there's anonymous, they aren't connected with you. They can blast all sorts of nasty things. Ah, without thinking how that can land or does land because I would say for the majority of people out there that goes straight in the heart or it could even be.
Nina Huchthausen (11:24.845)
which is just as harsh radio silence and you don't understand a radio silence at your launch when everyone else is thinking the same thing but no one's given you that gentle feedback to be able to make that change before your launch. Yeah. And there's no community there to ask what happened or and you can make up whatever you want to think what happened and it may not be right. Exactly. It's a, you know, it's...
Just from that perspective, it's a really, really great way to start to get your feelers out and place your product also into the hands of like -minded people who then take on how you pitch it, how you position it, and then take that force in your name to help you build your brand. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Because if you choose the retailers wisely,
and they are aligned with your vision, with your mission of where you want to get to, and they share the same values, they would just become part of your sales team of your extension. Well, you both, your end goal is the same for both of you. You're trying to sell a product and it's the same product. Exactly. If you can assist them to do that. A quote I found a long time ago, but I say it a lot to my clients is wholesale is not about making a sale.
It's about assisting someone else to sell your product. And to me, that's such a great way to frame your perspective on wholesale because it means that you can come up with creative ideas on how to assist someone. Is it giving them marketing to use? Is it asking them how the product's going, suggesting a different way to set it up?
or what is it that, how can you really support them to sell your brand rather than just focusing on the sale from you to them? Exactly, because what we kind of like called like the nurturing and growth part, that's really where the profit lies, where the real return on investment lies. It's not in the first sale and run, but it's in the creating the... It's the retention.
Nina Huchthausen (13:45.485)
Exactly for people to be like, I want to keep ordering from you and I want to order more from you. But that's not the car.
You want to show them that you care that they sell your product, not that, hey, I made the quick sale with you and done. Yes, OK. So in this really, and I just want to throw out the definition of when we are saying wholesale, it's really just instead of selling a single product at a time to myself, Nina, the end user or consumer, you are selling.
say 10, 15, 20 products at a time to Hayley who owns a retail shop. She buys 10 or 20, sets up those lines, and then the service that she has a retail store owner offers is to when a customer comes through the door and she has a certain problem or is looking for a solution, she puts that product in front of them. Yeah. And then sells it for you.
Yeah, you need to just empower your stockists, whether that's through education for the product or just key features. You overall just supporting them to enable them to sell your product in any way that you can will really show that you care in where they get to. Exactly, exactly. And remembering that their child went to a really important soccer game and things like that. Exactly. You know.
But it's all, I feel like, you know, yeah. But what it does is, you know, I remember the times pre -COVID when I used to walk into offices as a consultant and people would ask me, how was my weekend? What did you do? Or you would pick up on conversations and people would kind of know your story.
Nina Huchthausen (15:49.005)
Oh, absolutely. I sort of there's one thing that I do, which is a bit of a trick thing that I do on the phone, but it starts out and breaks the ice. Sometimes if I haven't called a stockist in a little while or we don't know each other very well, I'll start out the conversation about and asking how their Monday is, Tuesday is, and I'll deliberately get the day wrong. And then I'll just go, oh, sorry, that's just how my week's going. How are you going?
And it's so relatable because everyone knows that feeling of going, oh my God, I can't believe it's this day. And it gets me off in a real genuine way without telling a joke or anything. It's just really like, oh, I'm in the moment and I'm real. And everyone's really relatable. I think it's a good icebreaker. It's a clever way. I feel like.
The point here really is you cannot get these types of relationships and bucket filling conversations if you were to just move from market store to online. Because what I see very often happening is that people stick to the markets because they're like, but I need to stay in touch with my people. I don't want to lose that. Which when you decide to move your product into retail,
You get to keep it and you can scale. Absolutely. Absolutely. And your people become wider group of, a wider group of community because you're talking to stockists who have their, their usuals and their community. Exactly. So that was also like two big reasons, but I think the third one is, is, is, is like the low entry point because really,
If you can make enough stock that any retailer you approach that you could actually deliver those 10, 15 products, and you know how to position the product in terms of what it does and what its unique difference is, and you can still sell it to them at a profit with a wholesale price, and then they can create a retail price on top of that, you're good to go. Yeah.
Nina Huchthausen (18:16.941)
Absolutely. Absolutely. It's following that through and having confidence behind it that we'll just see that through and hopefully get a second daughter and keep building that relationship throughout. Exactly. But it's like the, I think that the magic is if you, if you just have these, these, these, these couple of things that I've just mentioned, you do not need any technology. You do not need any,
extensive training, you don't need SEO, you don't need a social media manager, you don't need all these fancy things that you name it in order to even just set yourself up online. You just need yourself, you need your product line, you need your pricing figured out, and you need to have figured out how you position this uniquely in the market so that a retailer can see it as an asset and something that they want in store. Yeah. And then you can go out pitching.
Absolutely. Because if you don't have that new start pitching, people aren't going to understand what you're trying to sell. And a lot of people don't have time for that. If you can be confident in your brand and what the purpose is and what need your meeting and have be so passionate and confident with that. Anyone will listen to it. It's when you don't have the confidence or you don't really know what to say or you're not really sure is they'll go, ah,
and they'll just chew down. Yeah. But here's the thing. If you don't know how to pitch it to a person, I can guarantee you, you're going to flop online. Yeah, absolutely. You will flop because it is much easier to pitch to someone using your voice and your energy and your full being behind it than just the written word and photos on the internet. Oh, absolutely. And
These days, there's so much noise online that it's really hard to be heard through that. Whereas if you can be heard through 10 different stockists first and then go, hey, we're launching online. Well, then there's 10 people shouting the same thing about your brand rather than you just standing in the corner going, hey, I've got this product. Does anyone want this? You know, you've got a group and other people looking at going, oh,
Nina Huchthausen (20:45.645)
They think it's cool. They like that brand. Oh, it's actually everywhere. That's interesting. And it'll just pop out of nowhere. Because which is, I mean, that's the almost point number four. If you go about launching your product in retail in many different retail stores strategically where you know your favorite customer is shopping, it's also advertisement because they keep seeing it and they will start. Very subtle.
Exactly. More curiosity about it. Yeah. And they might buy it in store first, then they might check you out online. Maybe they keep buying it in store because of it, but you're placing it in their point of vision in where they hang out. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think there's a lot to be said when you're pitching to stockists to be able to say that you are not yet launched online because
then you're also not competing with them. They don't see you as, oh, they've also got an e -commerce website or they already sell this way. They're not looking at you as a retail competitor. If you're only selling wholesale to start with, then the only way you can make money is through them. And they understand that rather than going, yeah.
It's great that I'm happy to have the product in the store, but I'm worried that you're going to undercut me online or do a sale or do all of that. It complicates the relationship a lot. Whereas if you can just make it really simple. I'm selling this to you and supporting the sale through you. There's no competitor there. Which brings me like this is another great point because I I've heard from a lot of.
product businesses starting out of like, I don't think I'm ready for retail yet because I don't have my website yet. And I always say like, that's good. Yeah, absolutely. Number one, you don't need it because a retailer is not buying from your website. Yeah. And number two, it's a selling point to not have a website. Yeah. You can almost shape it as that you're creating a community before your own launch.
Nina Huchthausen (23:07.853)
and they get to be a part of that. Yeah. Yeah. Because what a retailer wants is for you to help drive traffic in store. And you can do that through email marketing and you can do that through social media very easily. Yeah, absolutely. You don't need to have a full -fledged e -commerce store. Right? I think it muddies the water when there's an e -commerce store straight up.
It also means that you see it a lot when people start with e -commerce rather than stockists and wholesale is they've looked at their pricing at an end user recommended retail pricing, and then they try and incorporate their wholesale price, which is so hard because you haven't worked in the margin. You've got no profit in there for the different levels. Whereas if you start selling wholesale and have start that with your marketing first,
you've got your wholesale pricing and you can build on that for your recommended retail rather than trying to do it the other way. Love it. Which I think brings us to what do you need to kind of get ready for in order to start selling successfully in retail? Right? Yeah, I think, I mean, we mentioned this before, but an awareness of your own brand, what the need is that you're fulfilling,
and just have a really great understanding of your brand product and where it's placed within the market. I think that is number one. And what your why is, be able to explain that to someone really confidently. That's number one, which a lot of people already have because it comes with making, having the idea of the product. But I have to say is,
Um, there are also a lot of people out there who start making a product because they love the product and they're turning a hobby into a business. Yes, absolutely. And I think for those people who didn't start with, Oh my goodness, I'm so upset that something doesn't exist. I'm here to solve a problem type thing. But if you're starting with, I love cacao, so I'm going to start making the best cacao.
Nina Huchthausen (25:32.717)
And then you're kind of like, but how do I position this? Because there's already... What's my point of difference? Exactly. Because I guarantee you it will be a first question that a stockist to say they already stock it, they'll ask what's the difference? What's your point of difference? What makes you better? And you want it to be incorporated in something of the product. You don't want to be your point of difference is just price.
because there's always going to be someone who's beating you on price or at some point they will. You want there to be a purpose behind that product as well. Exactly. Purpose and value driven, I think is the most powerful way for you to elevate yourself into premium perception. And by having all of that, it will then flow on to everything else you need, your pitch, your marketing materials.
Um, just the products themselves, all of that, that you need before you start selling to wholesale stockists will all be a flow on effect for your branding and understanding and positioning. Meaning. So number one, when you, so the first thing you really want to unpack once you have your product ready is why, what's his uniqueness and the uniqueness can either be like the unique way it solves a problem.
or the unique way it helps people to live a better life, really. Exactly. Why are people choosing this product over something similar, if not the same? Exactly. So that's the first thing. And once you have built with clarity and confidence what I call the bridge from what's the key problem you're solving to what's the uniqueness and magic it really creates, then based on that, together with the key values and the key things that really
Substantiate your brand such as highest quality ingredients, no nasties, made in Australia, has these like, you know, unique gold flakes that stop aging, whatever it is in there. Then the second most important thing before you want to get into retail is get your branding and your packaging really dialed in and differentiated with anything else that's out there in the market. So when...
Nina Huchthausen (28:00.461)
you take the actual product and put it into the shelf, it looks like nothing else that's already there. Yeah, exactly. And I think that is the most important thing that we always look out for the makers business tribe is, is it different? Is it unique? Because if it's not different, if it's not unique and your product looks like three products that are already stocked in store,
no matter how good your pitch is. You'll be dropping your tracks right there. Exactly, because even if you are saying your product is different, if it looks the same, how do we choose that? As an end consumer, I look for all, I look which product speaks to me. If your product looks like your competitor's product, but I already know the competitor's product, why would it take yours? Exactly right. Because with
building that relationship, you'll be building trust. So when you're pitching really quickly off the excitement of having a new product and you don't haven't worked out where your positioning is or your point of difference, that pitch conversation to the stockists will stop really quickly because they'll go, so what makes you different? And you'll stop and you'll start and you'll go, ah, and they will go, well, wasting my time is where you're different.
lie. They just won't give you that time and you have one chance, one chance with these people and if they, it's really easy to make a core first impression because they get frustrated or that sort of thing. If you make a positive first impression, you could pitch to them a couple of times. That's okay if they've said no the first time, but if you make a negative one straight off the bat, don't go back there. They won't.
I won't give it the time of day. So important before you before you start approaching a retailer is of course your unique selling points, your differentiator of what makes you difference. And and then having that translated into unique and different branding. And I would always go for as premium as you can because it helps you.
Nina Huchthausen (30:21.293)
to establish a wholesome price and to also set really good wholesale prices and margins for you because it costs you money to make it. So just for anyone who's new to this is number one, you need to figure out your cost of goods, meaning what does it cost you to make the thing? Let's say that's $3, yeah? Then a retailer wants to have a wholesale price.
but then the end consumer are also only willing to pay a certain price. So you have to make sure that your product, the more premium it gets, the more a consumer is willing to pay for it. But if your price is $3 and a consumer is willing to, based on your branding, willing to pay $15 for it, you can place it. You can put a really healthy wholesale margin in there.
and you'll make a profit. But if you, if you skip on the branding and the packaging and people think maybe it's $4, there's no money in it. Absolutely. You only have once to really write the narrative and what your product's worth in terms of pricing. So having a really good strategy and thought behind it, even though we all want to get the product out there as quickly as possible.
If you're going to spend a lot of time on something, spend it on figuring out the pricing and what it's worth and where it sits in the market would be a really great one to spend some time thinking about because you can only tell people what the product's worth once. Unless it's counting it and then that's a whole different kettle of fish. Exactly. But you don't want to do that. No. Especially if you are health...
or earth conscious or both of it. You have something really good to give to people. So set the brand tone high, set the pricing high so that you as a business can grow, so that you as a business owner can pay yourself so that you can have profit set aside to grow your product and brand in a wholesome way. If you start under pricing yourself,
Nina Huchthausen (32:43.661)
or not doing the brand right and going in too low, it is really hard for your business to go anywhere. Absolutely. Absolutely. Totally agree. And don't use it as a reason for them to purchase your product is because it's cheap. Go for buy my product because it's quality and it fits the end user and it is fits the purpose rather than it's really cheap. You should buy it. Exactly.
So that's, I think, the key things to get right. Once you get the pricing right, then all you really need to do is have those prices written down somewhere. Yeah. So one page a sheet, photo, price. That's all you need at the very start because it's you going into the store. And if you can pitch your product as unique and different, if you have a wholesale.
price figured out that puts money into your pocket and that fits, sits right with your retailer and the recommended retail price that sits right with your consumer, you can start having the conversations. And the beautiful thing is if any of these things are wrong and you approach a retailer that is very close to you, maybe it's someone that...
you have been buying from for the past five years and you've told them that you're developing that product, if anything is wrong, they will just tell you. So you can go back to the drawing board and I will do that first. I would go to the lowest hanging fruit, meaning the one that are the kindest to you, right? Where you like, it's not the icy person. It's someone who's like, come on in. What do you have my friend? Absolutely. Absolutely. Because,
They will also be the ones to be truthful about your product. And then recommend you. Yes, anyone who's already a fan of you as a human, right? Of course, they're going to give you a chance. Number one, they give you honest feedback. If you messed up any of these steps that we just outlined, they'll let you know. Right. So you can you can you can you can go back to the drawing board, change it. But they will also call.
Nina Huchthausen (34:59.981)
other store owners that they know because everybody people know each other. Yeah, absolutely. And they might refer you and they give you reviews because that's a really important thing in the retail game is having reviews from other store owners that the product is selling well. Yeah, that brand trust and knowing knowing the how your brand is doing in those other retailers will help a lot with your pitch.
because it also shows the relationships that you build with your stockists and how much you care that way. Because if someone asks you, how well is it selling for other stockists and you don't know, it really shows true that you've made that quick sale and haven't checked in. And they will probably more likely assume that because you haven't heard anything from that store, it hasn't sold well because they haven't reordered or you haven't heard from them.
If you can show the support you've given over to that other stockists and, oh, this has been a best seller for them, or they did this, they put this in their Mother's Day hamper that they do every year and it sold really well. If you have that sort of feedback and communication with a different store, use that in the pitch because it shows what your personality as a brand is and how you approach your stockists. Yeah.
It's a really important point. And I think what I would want to add to that is most retailers don't have a million dollars in cash laying around. OK, so they are always thinking about, well, if I haven't stocked this product before, well, how big is my risk? Yeah, this would flop. So if you come in and say, yeah, of course, I'm not stocked in a thousand stockers yet, but I'm stocked at these five. Yeah. Yeah. And here they are results.
or here's their feedback. Yeah. Or more than happy for you to call Mary from Mary's Corner Store. She can tell you. Absolutely. Cool. That fills me with great confidence. And if then they can hear, okay, that you have checked in, given them marketing materials, supported them, maybe did an in -store demo, all of these wonderful things that actually helps them make a sale. Yeah. Piece of cake. Absolutely. They feel more confident selling your product.
Nina Huchthausen (37:25.837)
in that they feel more confident in you as well. So I think at the end of the day, it's just building that confidence through yourself into them and showing that you may not be in 100s jockeys, but you definitely are building that brand recognition. And it gives them an opportunity to be framing as they're going to be a part of something. They get to be the part of a start of a really good big brand that will be.
Yeah, and they have it first. Exactly. So and I mean, ultimately, if if you're thinking about it from a numbers perspective, right, the more retailers you bring on board and you take the time to nurture them, meaning you do the hard work upfront, but then they keep reordering from you and they keep getting your brand out and they keep selling for you and they keep placing your product.
in front of many, many people. So there's both that almost that the cash flow will become easier and easier the more you nurture those people. 100%. It just becomes second nature and you're just having a conversation with a friend. Exactly like one of our strategists, Georgie, she's the founder of Mindful Foods. She said like after a few years of her building out her retail network,
90 % of her time was just checking in. Yeah, right. Checking in, seeing how are you doing? How can we support you? Do you want to place another order? Do you want to hear about more of our range or, hey, maybe I should come over and help you with some placements, whatever that is. But then it's just nurture, nurture and grow. And when you are, as soon as you're getting to that stage, it's a highly scalable stage because you can have a whole team that does the nurture for you.
You can keep growing your retail network or you don't, right? But you know, you have consistent orders. You have a growth of orders in there. But if you, if you're trying to replicate that online, that is really, really hard because you can almost have predictability in your cashflow at, you know, wholesale. If you're willing to put in the legwork that it takes to get to that point, you will then have predictability and in a product based business to have a little bit of cashflow.
Nina Huchthausen (39:54.125)
cashflow predictability? Well, that's fantastic because it's really hard to get that in e -commerce if that's where you start.
Exactly. And for customers to be returned customers online all the time consistently, also very hard to build. And I think the last point that I want to make is why I think it's just a really serious business to consider apart from the cash flow is also you the packing time. And not many people consider this, but packing orders.
is so not to underestimate how hard and draining and exhausting it is for any business owner and you cannot do anything else. And if you pack 100 single orders a day versus 250 unit orders a day is a huge difference. Yeah. And you only have to deal with two people. Yeah. Versus 100 parcels. I mean, just imagine packing 100 parcels and be like,
Like shoot me now. I don't want to do that. But at the start of your business journey, you might not be able to afford someone to help you pack the orders. Yeah. And you can also use e -commerce marketing strategies in your wholesale. So if you were to, I don't know, give away a free product or a free gift for every order, if you had a hundred retail orders, that's a hundred of those small gifts or samples that you've got to put in.
If you've got two stockists that you're giving out, you can put a free sample in there of something else. And it hasn't really cost you a lot. You've used the same marketing strategy, but it's only two. You're not trying to do this whole hundred worth of stuff. That's okay. Like, so I think we could go on and on and on on the magic and the benefits that I would like to wrap up this call with just like,
Nina Huchthausen (42:02.029)
maybe you have one point and I got one point on the things where you need to be careful about because always there's always two sides of the coin. Yeah. Right. And I mean, I'm hoping that that we've been able to paint a really good picture because this is a very wholesome way to start your business. And I don't want to sell you anything. You do your own research. And I think just having heard it from us, but I also want to leave you with a with a bit of a
Watch out for this one. What's your thing, Hailey? My thing is, I would say undercutting, but not by price. Undercutting your product and yourself by value, and then coming into a conversation with a stockist and a pitch that's really unsure of itself and showing that nervousness behind it. I think be really careful with that. And I guess,
fake it until you make it and just pretend to be that confident and instead of asking them to do you like my product? Do you want it in your stores? Tell them why they need it and convince them that way. Go in with confidence rather than being nervous and going with that. I love it. And I can so testify this because one of our clients, they've
for a long time, had a really hard time to get the deals across the line. Anto, we really spoke about the most important mindset. And for her, what her mindset used to be was like, oh, this is, you know, I'm such and such from this company and I have to be very polite and I have to be very formal and very much stick to my script versus, hey, I'm your friend.
Absolutely. And I'm so excited to have a chat with you today because I really think what I got is what you need. Exactly right. And I know you've just been waiting for it tongue in cheek. Yeah, that's it. You know, because man, business can be so fun, right? Because this is the magical thing in this space, like business owners like to make decisions fast.
Nina Huchthausen (44:26.893)
We like to roll with the energy, right? They have these pictures every single day. Exactly. So if you come in with that energy to be like, I got something you wanted, you've already bought it. You just don't know it yet. And I was like, Oh, okay. Well, I just assume that it's a hell yes until they say no. Just assume that they've said yes until they say no and just keep going with that. Exactly. Because if your product is something that you know,
in this health food store, all your customers come all day every day, show up that way and say, my product belongs into your shelves. I don't even know why you don't stock me yet. I mean, like, what's happening? Yeah. You want to go in with that attitude because they're like, okay, well, you show me, you come to the table, you show me what you got. Yeah, exactly. It's that confidence. Exactly. And that's what the energy that's happening. So that's why it's my
most important point to consider. Talk to people on the phone and face to face. Do not hide behind emails and think because you've sent one email and one follow up email and because they don't respond that that's it. Because like honestly, when was the last time you went to a retail store and you saw the store owner or the manager or staff member behind their laptops checking emails?
Yeah. All successful retail store owner does that. They are on the floor. They're talking to people. Absolutely. They don't check the emails. Yeah, absolutely. And it's one of those things that I hear it a lot that, oh, I reached out to a hundred stockists and no one got back to me. And it's like, but did you call them or you just sent the same email to a hundred people? Well, you may be on their to do list, but you didn't follow them up. So it's like,
It's asking a hundred questions and then not waiting for the answer at all or persisting and calling them and really getting in front of them. It's just sort of like, are you actually wanting to approach these people or do you want to say that you approached these people? Exactly. Exactly. Because you wanna, when you start working with retailers, you need to be in front of them.
Nina Huchthausen (46:51.917)
And they love that because think about it like all they got to do is have a couple minutes chat with you. You start, you build the relationship, then you move into business. They can do the deal fast. If they have to, number one, open up their email, read the email, have no connection to you, then they probably need to open up an attachment, zoom in. Yeah. Then they still have no connection to the product. They haven't tasted it. They haven't tried it. You want them to jump through all these hoops.
to then order a product that they don't know about? Bullshit. Who does that? It's not gonna happen. I wouldn't do that. And like, no, if you sent me as an individual person an email and say, hey, do you want to buy my product? No, I don't. Yeah. Who are you? Like I want to experience it. I want to taste it. I want to bath in it. Something. Absolutely. Even if you're having the conversation over the phone, I can bath in your energy.
I can agree with it. It's a three -dimensional relationship building in an email. You don't. So I think that's my word of caution. If you want to get good at the retail game, it's very important that you have not just mapped out the key things that we mentioned, the price, the branding, and how you position your product.
But most importantly, having your pitch ready and allowing yourself to go and have the conversation. Talk to them, follow up on the phone, like be old school. Yeah. Yeah. And have a genuine conversation. Don't go in there with these, a whole page worth of script that you want to talk at someone with. Have a conversation. Don't just talk at someone and here's my product.
Exactly. And don't dress like a salesman. No, no, don't be bad. Dress like them, be like them. Pretend you're their long lost friend. Yeah. And be genuine. You just happen to drop in and you've had this bright idea while you're standing there. Exactly. So it's like, and that's, that's, that's when really the magic happens. And honestly,
Nina Huchthausen (49:18.477)
From a money perspective, it costs you so little. What we've pointed out, you can get that done within a couple of weeks. Then you can get going and you can sign up. If you are diligent about it, three to five retailers a week in no time. And if you calculate up what your minimum order is, and you do this diligently over three to six months, your business can skyrocket so fast.
without any technology, without much of a tech or website investment, without any advertising, it's just you building out that network. And if you price it right, you can take that profit and then you can reinvest it into an online presence, into marketing, into, and then, you know, working with Haley's team and help you grow and scale further. Yeah, the potential is just...
grows and grows with it's that diligence and getting in front of people. That's definitely worth it. That's the only thing. And I think if you allow yourself to lean into it, then you will win. Absolutely. Key actions that I want to leave everyone with who is listening to this is number one, have a look at your product and see,
Could it be ready? Number two, if something's missing, right? Do a bit of research with retailers and see, hey, anything that would hold you back from stocking it, just have that having that conversation can be super powerful and use anyone that you kind of know from shopping with them. They will give you the most honest answer. Yeah. And then fill those gaps. And it's mostly, most of the time,
It's good branding because if you've created it yourself, your canvas skills, unless you're a really awesome graphic designer, will only take you this far. Same as mine, you know, I have professionals to make my stuff look real good. Yeah. And through really good packaging and branding, that's how you get the price up. And then my friends, once you have that, find your uniqueness and start pitching away and you will not believe how far you can get.
Nina Huchthausen (51:44.045)
in a few months' time. Absolutely. Absolutely. So yeah, thank you so much for the conversation, Hayley. Before we close off, how can people get in touch if they want to, if they are already busy with wholesale and need support either with the outreach or nurturing or other parts of this? Yeah, sure. So my website, heyhayley .com,
Hey, Hayley on Instagram, we do a lot of tips and different insights for the industry over on our Instagram. Just book a, but if you want to work with this, book a discovery call from our website and let's have a chat. Just let's get started and see, I want to know where you're at and what you need help with. And let's get that strategy really pumping for you. Awesome. And.
Of course, the Makeus business tribe, I mean, we work with so many different product based businesses who want to get into wholesale and really would like that support from beginning to end and be taught because we teach you, right? We teach you how to get pitch ready, how to close and how to nurture to do it yourself and cover all of the magic that we just covered. And we work very closely with Haley because nobody can do this as a one man band.
And to me, that's where the power of the team comes in, because it can help you scale your hands and brains and conversations. Super -fast. Yeah. And yeah, I put our link on the show notes. Thank you so much, everybody, for listening. Thank you so much, Hayley. It was a wonderful conversation. And I hope everybody got a lot of value out of it and sends it on to their people, right? Because I think everybody needs to know.
The money, the magic, the power and the cool stuff that lies behind Holesale. Beautiful.
