It's Wednesday At Market, Where were You?

It’s Wednesday of market and I am flying home on the late flight out of Greensboro. I left Omaha the previous Tuesday so I am anxious to get home. But what amazed me about today is how many customers are still shopping on Wednesday of market and how many reps went home early. Today my father and I had a total of five presentations of which only one was an appointment. If we would have left early, we would have missed seeing merchandisers from two Top 30 retailers in two spaces.I heard from an associate about a showroom in a major building that closed at 5 PM on Monday because they wanted to go to a barbeque. This rep was in a space across the hall and watched as several retailers tried the door, found it locked and left probably not to return. In one of my spaces, the receptionist called for the rep because he had a customer come in and the rep said he was getting ready to board a plane and could someone else help the customer.

Another rep called his dealers and told them he would really like to have them come in by Monday so he could go home early. I work with major buyers later in the market and their phones started aggressively ringing from reps begging the buyer to come in before the rep has to catch his early flight.

These are a few examples, but it begs an important question: “How much is one day at market worth to you?” For us it could be up to $1,000,000 in sales if I get any one of the programs started. If I weren’t there, the chances are less likely to have that immediate potential. More importantly, if I miss major appointments on a regular basis I also will be looking for a new line.

If you have customers wandering around at market and they are looking for ideas about a new product line, why wouldn’t you want to be there to service them? Do you really think it will be easier to talk them into buying your product off of pictures versus seeing the product in living color? If your factory only shows in High Point or your customer only goes to the North Carolina market, you will not get another chance to make a face to face presentation for 6 months.

As I write this post in the airport waiting for a connecting flight, I am visiting with a major line rep who also stayed for the whole market. He says what he does is he calls his buyers and asks when they are going home. He then plans his departure accordingly. That’s a much better way than guessing or worse yet missing them altogether.

I saw many reps who I know to be real pros were still at market on Wednesday. That might be why they are real pros because they know one extra day at market could be the difference between making a major breakthrough with a retailer and a day off. I may take Saturday off, but not Wednesday at market.

Let me know your thoughts…