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Clarity

Scott Sanders

Boston, MA

CPG/food industry strategy and analytics advisor. Former Director of Business Intelligence at Carbone Fine Food. I help consumer brands tackle growth, pricing, revenue management, consumer insights, category strategy, forecasting, and messy-data problems -- especially when the answer is not obvious and the decision matters.

$6.67/min

Scott donates to http://jbbbs.org ($787.81)

19 Calls

10 Reviews

31 minutes
Avg. call

Strategy Analytics Brand development Marketing Research Business Analytics Pricing Strategy FMCG CPG Industry Food Industry

Answers 7
Reviews 10

Answers

Scott Sanders answered

Does something like this already exist and if not, why not?

@Stuart Briscar is right: RangeMe handles this function well. Its parent company, ECRM, also hosts what they call EPPS (Efficient Program Planning Sessions) trade shows, but which are really speed dating sessions with retail buyers.

There have been some others who have tried similar concepts, but the big impediment for a new player is getting a large enough audience on both the buying and selling sides. ECRM has been doing this long enough that they have a significant head start in amassing an audience.

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B2B

eCommerce

Online Marketplace

Scott Sanders answered

How does one go about targeting a consumer audience with a specific health condition for customer discovery interviews?

There are survey research firms with consumer panels that target medical conditions. There are many such companies, and I'd suggest reaching out to several to get competitive bids -- both on price and quality of respondents. You might even want to ask them to launch a test survey to understand the incidence rate in their panel, even after they deploy to a targeted group of panelists. It will be expensive, though.

I've had good experiences working with Survey Sampling (SSI) and Harris Interactive in the past. There are dozens if not hundreds of others. Some are listed here: https://www.greenbook.org/market-research-firms/online-surveys

I'd be happy to talk about the process - or create an RFP to send to research firms and evaluate the responses.

Good luck!

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Lean Startups

Customer Discovery

Scott Sanders answered

How do I correctly bottle my new food product? It's a startup venture. I am bottling a type of syrup into 8oz bottles.

My family and I own a fourth-generation syrup manufacturing business, and I can directly help you with this question if you'd like to move to a more industrial process. Glad to discuss further if I can be helpful.

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Food

Food Industry

Food Safety

Scott Sanders answered

We are redoing our marketing budget and are wondering if the Yellow Pages are still an essential part of a marketing strategy for a small hotel?

You may want to talk to a Certified Marketing Representative (CMR), which is an agency or broker authorized to place yellow page advertising across many directories. I used such a service many years ago (pre-Internet) and found the advice to be valuable and rates to be lower. They should be able to offer some good advice -- but will definitely be biased toward actually selling you ads. A conversation may offer you some good points of information one way or the other.

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Marketing Strategy

Social Media Marketing

Scott Sanders answered

Where to find health-conscious food manufacturer/brand executives to better understand their pain points related to customer reach and interactions?

To start, it sounds like you are seeking a few people to validate your product concept and provide feedback on your direction. If that's the case, you may want to browse LinkedIn and reach out directly to the founders of some brands you know and personally use. Mentioning that personal connection will go a long way to getting a response.

Once you get beyond that initial phase and you want to start scaling, that's another story. Are you targeting DTC, grocery, or foodservice (restaurant) brands? There are trade associations that could get you a good start, depending on which segment you're aiming to target.

In terms of an email format that works, trial and error -- along with careful measurement -- might be your best approach. Try some different formats and see what resonates with your audience. Keep in mind that you're likely reaching out to people who hear a LOT of sales pitches, so keep in mind the abbreviation WIIFM (What's In It For Me, where me=your prospective client) -- and shorter is almost always better. Your goal in sending an email is to schedule a meeting, not tell the entire story of your offering.

I'd be happy to talk in more detail if you'd like to schedule a call.

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Food

Food Industry

SaaS

Scott Sanders answered

What are the top 3 sales training/books you have ever consumed?

Stephan Schiffman's Cold Calling Techniques is one of the most practical sales books I've read. He has written many others, too.

Dan Pink's To Sell is Human is excellent, too. It takes a non-traditional look at selling and helps understand some of its psychology.

Beyond that, I don't have a lot of specifics. There are many sales methodologies out there, and you should use one. It's not important which one you use -- just that you do adopt one.

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Sales

Selling

Sales Process

Scott Sanders answered

A new Marketing Director has started at our snacks company and we are taking a strategic shift to aligning all marketing activities.

I want to answer your questions, but the truth is that I don't know -- nor should anyone else who sees these questions.

Without knowing your product more specifically, it's impossible to give you good answers. And even if I knew what your specific product is, I would be highly reluctant to give you answers without research on what consumers think.

Several years ago, I conducted research for a $1B+ snacking brand. Their team was sure they understood answers to questions very similar to yours. (After all, they are good questions.) My team and I set out to understand their consumers from the ground up, assuming that we didn't know anything. And the results shattered their understanding of how consumers actually used their products, leading to dramatic shifts in their positioning and product development.

You're smart to think about aligning your marketing efforts to your consumers' usage. To do that, it's worth investing in research to understand exactly how your consumers do interact with your products.

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Marketing Strategy

Reviews

Great guy, lots of good anecdotes and insights, understands brand/store trade relations really well!

Tom Leung Source: Clarity

Great advice! Thanks

Robert Armstrong Source: Clarity

Scott is very approachable and shared valuable insights from his diverse experience.

Amrit Singh Source: Clarity

Scott provided a great service to the Quorn Foods team. He is highly analytical with a great eye for detail, yet also is able to communicate the bigger picture. He is personable, reliable and effective in the work place.

David Wilson Source: LinkedIn

I worked with Scott in the Marketing/Analytical Services Department at Acosta. He always met deadlines, and when working with Scott on numerous projects at Acosta, I found that his knowledge of the CPG industry and technology always allowed us to find the answers when they weren't always visible to the naked eye or readily avaialable through Nielsen or IRI. Scott is easily approachable and will challenge one to search out the answer when training instead of spoon feeding the answers to those he is training. This allows those being trained to fully grasp the concepts of their work. I would highly recommend Scott as he is a class individual, a consumate professional, and a great asset to an organization.

Terry Wade Source: LinkedIn

I had the pleasure of being a colleague of Scott Sanders at Acosta Sales & Marketing. Scott is very reliable and has demonstrated a high understanding of the CPG industry. He is knowledgeable of the category management arts

Gerardo Fernández Source: LinkedIn

Scott and I were both on-site vendors at Stop & Shop. We worked on similar Category Management and Shopper Data projects. Scott has a comprehensive understanding of the CPG and Retail , which, combined with his excellent communication skills, make him a real asset and a valuable contributor.

Sameer Thakkar Source: LinkedIn

Scott is creative, industrious and hard working. He is a team player who goes beyond the obvious to help make the whole team successful. Scott has the great combination of being able to focus on a task and maintain an attitude that is both pleasant and friendly. I enjoyed working with Scott and recommend him highly.

Dan Gabree Source: LinkedIn

Scott was a great asset that helped me develop and refine the core marketing messages for my client development proposals. He has great clarity of thought, understands a company's value proposition well and is a great team player. I would work with him again any day.

private private Source: LinkedIn

Scott Sanders was a bright and enthusiatic colleague with a lot of ambition on his horizon when we both worked together several years ago at Perot Systems. He was very committed to the job -- which was right out of undergrad school at the time. He has since gone on to graduate school and help several pivotal roles in technology and manufacturing services where he's gained solid knowledge of research, marketing, business development and operations. I recommend Scott for any opportunity that engages his skill base entirely along with his polished interpersonal aptitude. Pete Dorogoff

Pete Dorogoff Source: LinkedIn

Member since February 2014