How to sell products to john lewis
Getting a product into stores is hard. This is how I did it!
0:00 / 0:00
Timecodes:
this video is all about how i got my
product into john lewis so it is not an
easy process and people tell you all the
time that these retail buyers in big
multiple high street retailers are
really difficult to get hold of and it's
true and it is really hard to get your
product in but it is possible i used a
very different method to what most
people do
and i'm going to describe it in this
video so let's get stuck in
so basically i designed a push product
john lewis was a retailer i wanted to be
in
they are that premium high street
retailer for nursery products
so what i did through
trade shows and the contacts that i've
made with distributors and other people
within the nursery industry i found
someone who had recently retired who
used to deal with the john lewis buyer
for nursery and i appointed him having
met him and checked out there was a good
guy i was going to get on with him i
appointed him as a non-exec director of
the company and then not only did he
advise me from his 20 years experience
in the nursery industry but he also had
all those contacts in retail already and
he was friends actually with the john
lewis buyer and so he simply gave her a
call and she was very happy to to have a
meeting on his recommendation and then
off we went to john lewis headquarters
in victoria for that meeting the meeting
actually went very well and we ended up
with a john lewis listing
now you could say well that's luck but
it isn't luck and you could achieve the
same thing in the industry you're in so
let's just say that you've got a tool
product and that you want to be in the
likes of screwfix and you want a meeting
with the screwfix buyer but the thing to
do is to work out
what other companies are already in with
screwfix so the likes of makita and
bosch and all of the other power tool
manufacturers
and then from there you can do some
research whether that's online
through linkedin for example
or you could do more kind of personal
research talking to people in the
industry as i say going to shows trying
to meet the right people and again you
could try and find someone then who
maybe
used to work in a company
that was dealing with that buyer at
screw fix someone who's recently retired
uh maybe and then you could approach
them to see you know they don't have to
be a non-exec director maybe they could
just be a consultant for you for a bit
maybe you could just pay them for the
introduction
but that way you could get in then with
those buyers and get that meeting that
could be absolutely critical to the
future success of your business now the
final technique you could use if all
that fails is often there are sales
agents who have those contacts who are
already selling in or previously have
sold in different products to the buyers
that you want to speak to so it may be
that your best option actually is to
find a sales agent who again maybe
they're going to take a cut
if you do get a deal maybe you could
just pay them for the introductions
but that's another option if you cannot
find the right person to work with who
can get you that all-important meeting
with buyer
do check out this next video it's all
about how to create the perfect pitch
for your product to make sure that
retail buyer wants to do the deal and
wants to stock your product
