How to sell my products to stores?

Question

I make gel candles, homemade soap and bath-n-body products. I'm not sure of how I should go about approaching stores. What kind of steps should I take? Should I do it in person or by phone? Any ideas would be appreciated.

Answer 1

be real, and speak fluently

Answer 2

Make an appointment to see person who is charge of buying stocks for big shops then bring your own sample to show and also make sure you know what price you will be selling your products.

Alternatively just take samples with you and just walk-in to shops you think will be interested in your candles and sell straight on.

Answer 3

It depends on how many you manufacture in a days time.  If you are a very very small manufacturerer then only one way to do it and that is take your best products and SHOW them to the dealers.  DO NOT DO COLD CALLING~~UNLESS you are great at rejection.  Call to make an appointment and speak fluently and distinctly and sell yourself on the phone.  Your best bet is to become much larger than to contact a sales organization to sell your product.  You will find sales organizations when you go to Markets for such things as you manufacture.  HOPE this helps.  Be Truthful, work hard!

Answer 4

My suggestion is to have samples of your "key" items, the ones you feel will be your best sellers. Start with local small businesses that have other related items (gifty type places). Make an appointment to drop off the samples and be ready to talk pricing. Also, being a small business, have a plan in place to offer to put your items in their store on consignment. You would give them a percentage or flat fee per item sold, but you wouldn't receive that money up front. You would probably have to make weekly contact or visits to take care of your stock, but it is lower risk to the owners so they might be more willing to give you shelf space. I would suggest you pick just a couple small places first to build your customer base. You don't want everything on consignment, but it will help you develop a fan base. Once you get your sales up, you will be more successful going bigger. Good Luck!

Answer 5

The best thing is take your products to stores and show them what you have and ask for advice. You might  be lucky. Ask and receive??

Answer 6

You cannot sell to chain stores unless you go through their wholesalers. Your option would be to look for small single proprietorship stores that specialize in hand made items. You can also sell on the web... It think the hand made items go on ETSY. Get the link here: http://newfreebooks.com/#websites