Okay I hear you! You want to know creative ways you can find new wholesale accounts while doing it all yourself! This is still exciting for me because when I started my first handbag line 13 years ago…..there was no social media, no google and barely anyone had a website and stores were not on email yet. We had to snail mail all our catalogs – no zip it and email back then…….and this was not that long ago.
In my company we are always looking for new stores. It is something we (well my sales staff to be honest) do every day. Even if it’s only for an hour, we find at least 5 new stores a day to contact. They don’t all bite, but we make the effort……every day! To keep all this organized, we use Palm desktop. Just google it and you can find a free download. It’s a great program and keeps all our stores organized by prospective customer, current customer, website, etc….
1. So my favorite thing to do is to look at my competitor’s websites. You know by now that I don’t really see people as competitors, but rather as a minor challenge to overcome and surpass. Everyone likes to brag and show off how many stores they are selling to so the pickings are there for the taking. Just go visit a few and you will be jumpin’ for joy when you hit the jackpot. Just download the list and start calling to get the buyers name and be sure it is the right store for your product. YES – this takes time, but Rome was not built in a day and neither can your business flourish overnight. This is blood, sweat and sales baby!
2. Another fun one is to google google google. Give these a whirl and see what comes up. Get the picture? Try it with and w/o quotes around the phrase. You get different results.
Boutiques Atlanta (or whatever city)
Dog Boutiques Boulder
Lingerie shops Baltimore
Citysearch + city of your choice
City/shopping ex: Charleston/shopping
Chamber of commerce + city – some of them have a shopping tab
3. Check out magazines on the rack or other online resources. Magazines list retailers either on the page with the item or in the shopping guide in back…..really useful to check those out.
Here are two online resources we use:
http://www.luckymag.com/shopping/stores/index/store_directory
http://live.storeadore.com
4. One more recently discovered tip is to use Tweepsearch. Enter in specific search terms and see if anyone on twitter has boutiques that are right for you. You can also build your twitter followers this way and reach your target market faster.
Here are some examples of things we use to search for stores:
Clothing boutique
Baby boutique
Gift Boutique
Email me back with any suggestions you have or tips I can share with everyone!
Sarah, Once again your blog is awesome. I have been doing this with twitter, but the search engine you recommend is 120% better than the one I was using. Thanks again for some valuable information for a start up company like Lizzie Lou Shoes.
Thank you for all the amazing tips & suggestions. Going to try Palm desk right away! I agree with Sheena, this is wonderful information for start up companies. We do a lot of pavement pounding for sure!
Sarah,
Yep, I totally agree with you. Back when I was pitching wholesalers, Google was my best friend. Armed with websites and email addresses, I pitched to my heart’s content and landed most of my first stores that way.
I’ll check out Palm desk – I used to just create my own wholesale pitch tracking sheet using Excel.
Thanks for the tips! As always, you rock. ;D
Heather
One idea we use is to subscribe to some trade magazines (yeah, those funny things using paper that require only light to run). Many of them do review of stores in different regions or emerging stores. For example, Women’s World Daily. Also, the US Department of Commerce is a great resource if you want to expand internationally.
This was awesome! Thank you so much. I have been struggling with this as well as getting the re-orders from existing retailers.
I was also just thinking about the twitter thing and wondering how I could increase my tweet peeps.
Thanks,
Rhett
Want to express your opinion?
Leave a reply!
Your program is already helping me sooo much.. and I finally feel like there is a light at the end o… Read more
I’ve worked with Sarah for about 3 months now and my line has been picked up in 2 new stores with … Read more
I wanted to share the importance of persistence, as you always say! I pitched another item to this w… Read more
I’m already getting orders from the email with the updated pricing that I just sent to my current st… Read more
Sarah Shaw is like Google, the entire How To section of Barnes and Nobles, Consumer Report and Yoda … Read more
Sarah is exactly what I have been looking for to take my business to the next level. She brings a to… Read more
Everything’s coming together. I am so excited. Thank you"20px" /> the website looks great. I am so… Read more
I LOVE working with Sarah! The best business decision I’ve made recently is joining Sarah’s Retail R… Read more
Sarah has always been so knowledgeable and has helped me so much in growing my business and getting … Read more
We enrolled in Sarah Shaw’s program because we needed someone to kick us into shape! She did just … Read more
14 hours ago
2 days ago
4 days ago
6 days ago
7 days ago
© 2009-2023 Entreprenette LLC. Entreprenette® is a registered Trademark of Sarah Shaw
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |