Gift Rep Sandy

Archive for the ‘Sales Trips’ Category

One of the first questions a potential vendor will ask you when I are opening discussions on sales repping is “what territory do you cover?”   Just like choosing a category, you will need to look at what territorial region you would like to cover. Obviously, the first choice of territory would include the state and region where you live.  (And if you want to move, this is a good business to start, when you arrive at your new location!)

Selling to stores in your hometown, is a two-edged sword, especially in the beginning.  Because buyers often will already know you, the need for introductions etc. is unnecessary.  A familiar face can go a long way in helping to “break the ice” in recruiting a new customers.  HOWEVER, because they may already know you as THEIR customer, or a member of their church, or parent of one of their children’s friends, you may need time and hard work to portray yourself as their sales rep!  Which is another reason to move if you plan to start this type of business. (I’m kidding!)

As you widen your territory, servicing all the customers in your state or at least your part of the state is a good option.  Travel time, which cuts into sales time, along with the cost of fuel, vehicle wear and tear, and meals, means you should put plenty of thought into territory.  If you chose a territory that is too large, you may spend more time traveling to and from the sales region then you may actually spend on selling. (Actually, some of my routes, including profitable routes, are like this.)

Ideally, the best territory to service is less than a half day’s travel time, with some sales stops. That way, you can commute from home, and avoid the cost of overnight travel. Next best, is a territory within one full day’s travel time by car or van. So you might consider 300 miles as the maximum distance from home, if you sell in a rural area, and substantially less distance in urban areas.

Your travel model will often be a circuitous route, selling along one route to a town of some size. Stay overnight, sell around the more urban area the next day. Stay overnight. Then you can sell another day or two where you are at, but by the last day of the week, you will probably sell along a different highway route, back to home. Sometimes, you might stay in different towns every night during a week, but that is something to avoid if possible, unless the route is so lucrative, the logistics and expense are worth the effort. (And one of my routes is like that!)

Whether you are selling close by and returning home each night, or with overnight trips, you will typically need to plan routes that travel different highways to and from, whenever possible, to provide optimal coverage of your area.

Some reps specialize in a limited number of fairly exclusive lines, and sell to larger accounts, so will travel a lot further, even 1000 miles or more, making fewer stops, with longer presentation time at each stop. Each business model offers benefits and challenges, of course.

Despite the economic situation, gift items are still selling!!

Just got back from a short trip to north Idaho/Spokane/Wallace/St. Regis to deliver a bunch of huckleberry rake orders.  Believe it or not, gift store buyers are buying gift items for their stores!  Other than huckleberry rakes, I sold some gourmet foods, postcards and personal care products.

I love my trips up north — Folks there are so nice and friendly –  And the scenery is gorgeous!

I started out Thursday morning and headed up Idaho State Highway 95.  Made my first stop to deliver rakes in Coeur d Alene.  Drove another 40 or so miles to Wallace to visit with several accounts/friends there.  Because Wallace is a tourist town, some of the stores were just re-opening for the spring tourist season.  A few changes in Wallace as a couple stores moved and a few closed over the winter.

Delivered a large bunch of huckleberry rakes to my Montana group of customers.  Montana has some great gift shops and I enjoying checking out the many different products when I am in the state.

After my day of stops, I returned to Coeur d Alene and stayed with my friend Kris who owns the Greenbriar Inn and 315 Martinis and Tapas Bar and Restaurant.  Kris and I have been friends and business associates for several years.  Before my health issues, we would spend quiet evenings talking about the gourmet food industry over a glass of wine.  Now days, Kris’s restaurant and bar is hopping with great food and great atmosphere.  If you visit Coeur d Alene, I suggest you stop by the Greenbriar Inn!  Tell Kris Sandy sent you!!

On Friday, I made my last stops in Coeur d Alene and Spokane before heading to the freezer to pick up 20 gallons of frozen huckleberries –  for the local restaurant in Orofino where I live!

Came home just in time to help my husband through a very bad attack of gout!  No fun for him, but at least I got back before things got too far out of hand.

More on starting and working your sales rep business soon ….

After spending a week in southern Idaho and a week in northern Idaho, I am done with my fall sales trips.

Most of my customers/gift shops are buying very conservatively this fall — but most are still buying.  I have also noticed that the store in north Idaho (Riggins to Sandpoint) seem to be fairing the economic downturn better then their friends to the south (McCall to Boise to Twin Falls).  With all the foreclosure problems in Boise valley, it is no surprise that the gift shops are struggling too.

On a side note, while  I was in Boise, I was able to attend the Boise TweetUp meeting at the Berryhill Restaurant in downtown Boise.  While at the meeting, I was able to meet some of the folks I have as ‘friends’ on Facebook.  Very interesting group of people.  John Berryhill gave each of us a small gift card for the restaurant and I had a really interesting salad with lettuce and fruit!

While in Coeur d Alene, I was able to visit with my friend Kris at the Greenbriar Inn.  Me and Kris have been friends for several years, and I have sold her Wildbeary huckleberry products off and on for most of those years.  The Greenbriar Inn has undergone lots of changes since I first met Kris — and their restaurant and inn is totally different every time I visit her.

Over the next weeks, I will continue to process wholesale and retail holiday orders.  Will be a busy time for us, but hopefully, not too busy to ‘visit’ with you as well!

One of my very favorite sales trips (and you will probably hear this often because I have some many great gift store buyers!) is to Lochsa Lodge — in the north central mountains of Idaho.

The Lodge is located on Highway 12 — better known as the Lewis & Clark Trail Highway — about 10 miles from the Montana border.  The drive from my home in Orofino to the Lodge is about 2 1/2 hours.  The road is narrow and winds around the mountain side next to the Lochas River, but it is some of the most beautiful river scenery in the state of Idaho!

Calm day on the Lochsa River

I arrived at the Lodge later than  planned.  Road construction slowed me down during the last stretches of the road.  Between road painting  trucks, construction vehicles, and bumpy surface due to the dug up roadway, I arrived late — and right behind a tour bus stopping for lunch!  The Lodge was buzzing with people and activity.  Quite a change from the miles of isolated road between the forest and the white waters of the river!

Lochsa Lodge

My trip to the Lodge is an annual visit in the late spring.  Even though Lochsa Lodge boasts that it is open 365 days a year, the buyer places large orders only once in late spring — so I waited as the staff and the buyer serve lunch to the tour bus riders who had chosen the Lodge for their lunch destination that day.

On my way back down the mountain, I stop at a few other gift shops to take more re-orders.  There is a new buyer at one of my stops, so I spend time explaining who I am and what I gifts items I sell to their store.

Driving back through the construction on the way home is tiring, but all and all, it has been a good day for Gift Rep Sandy!