I have a $15M business that sells novelty gift products (large wine glasses, selfie remotes etc.) to independent retailers and large retailers like Target and the MoMA Store. I'm looking for advice to enhance sales or think about this more holistically to better sell to independent stores.
Based on the details mentioned by you it seems that you want to break the status-quo of your business. I would advise you to revisit your business model than just looking at enhancing sales. That means, you should pen-down your top 3 business problems/challenges, analyze modern technology and platforms that could be leveraged, and map your business with appropriate solution (s).
Larger part of above exercise will be to develop an "Integrated Growth Plan" with monetization enhancement as the hub. Do ensure not to just look at "Sales" number as the problem as well as solution. That may end you up with burning too much capital for too many things with too little solutioning potential.
In my decade of experience working with entrepreneurs I've seen people often confusing symptom to a disease, only to cure the symptom and let disease prevail.
Hope above helps!! All the best!! Need to discuss anything further? I am just a clarity away.
Firstly, congratulations on running such a successful business!
There is no silver bullet here. Back to basics. Sales = understanding your customer's needs and then meeting/exceeding them. If you are targeting independent stores, they will all have different needs, based on their existing strategy and constraints.
In my humble opinion, you have the option to either look for a communication channel that can reach a broad spectrum of independent store owners, or pound the pavement and try to create deep relationships with a smaller number of high potential clients.
The strategy will depend on your available resources, and whether you are looking to build new sales channels for independent products, or your entire line. Otherwise, a lower margin alternative may be to sell through a distributor to gain volume.
You need to develop and implement a thorough marketing plan then implement, test, revise. Creating a good program takes a lot of time and should be done with the help of a sales or marketing consultant. I have tons of B2B selling and marketing experience and would love to connect.
I believe in a multi faceted marketing approach that hits and TESTS all medians for effectiveness. First you need to develop a very specific target market based on your product sales and current experience selling to different types of businesses.
I would be happy to hop on a short free call to discuss further and help you expand on the ideas.
For SMB, I would look at Radiant. It has a very deep database that you can filter for the type of stores you are looking for. Then you should reach out to the owner or buyer.
