Shownotes
Business Building Insights
- Differentiate yourself for maximum impact. Fine tune a recipe or add a unique element to draw attention.
- Think of a problem or failure as an opportunity to create something even better.
- When determining the investment to participate in a show, include not only the cost of your product but also your time or expense of hiring someone to work the show.
- Allow people to taste your product through sampling. This is what makes them receptive to paying a premium price.
- Collect emails as a way to stay in touch with people after the show. In this way, you’ll increase sales from that show through follow-up sales and repeat customers.
- It’s not just individual consumers who go to these local shows. The person you’re talking to may be the marketing director with a big company.
Resources Mentioned
Mail Chimp Mad MimiContact Links
Website Facebook Instagram Twitter LinkedInPast Guest Spotlight – Nina Nsilo-Swai of rahababy
Episode #105 – A Pee-Kaboo into New Product Development Parents Magazine – 30 Best Every Potty Training Tips Free 20 Minute Consult – Email nina@rahababy.com and reference the podcastGift Biz Resources
Join our FREE Gift Biz Breeze Facebook Community
If you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you.
Thanks! Sue
Transcripts
Gift biz unwrapped episode 238 I had been giving these caramels
Speaker:out as Christmas gifts and birthday gifts and things like that
Speaker:and people had been telling me you need to solve these
Speaker:caramels. Attention.
Speaker:Gifters, bakers,
Speaker:crafters and makers pursuing your dream can be fun whether you
Speaker:have an established business or looking to start one now you
Speaker:are in the right place.
Speaker:This is gift to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources and the support you need to grow your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Hi there,
Speaker:it's Sue and thanks For joining me here today.
Speaker:Just a couple of days before Halloween and all the scary
Speaker:antics. I used to do an annual Halloween party for my
Speaker:friends. It started when the kids were young and all of
Speaker:them would go off trick or treating as a group and
Speaker:the parents stayed back at the house and we had our
Speaker:own fun.
Speaker:I'd make my famous Chile and when the kids returned they'd
Speaker:have something to but only outside where it wouldn't matter if
Speaker:they were messy and they could compare their candy stashes and
Speaker:race around and it was just such great fun.
Speaker:I still do an annual party,
Speaker:but it's morphed into more of a fall celebration now that
Speaker:the kids are grown and out of the house,
Speaker:but my Joey still shows up.
Speaker:Some traditions just have to keep going.
Speaker:I wanted to share that with you because we're entering into
Speaker:the season filled with lots of traditions.
Speaker:After all,
Speaker:I've now started another tradition right here on the show.
Speaker:A couple of weeks ago I announced the new past guest
Speaker:spotlight where I share successes from previous guests.
Speaker:Today's spotlight is on Nina from Raha baby.
Speaker:You may remember her product peekaboo.
Speaker:These are potty training stickers.
Speaker:Her show was episode number one Oh seven way back in
Speaker:April of 2017 and a lot has happened to Nina since
Speaker:then. She's been featured in the March of 2018 edition of
Speaker:parents magazine and she saw sales skyrocket as a result of
Speaker:being in that publication.
Speaker:She's also added two business building extensions onto her initial core
Speaker:product of peekaboo.
Speaker:One was by attending a head start conference to introduce her
Speaker:brand to early childhood educators,
Speaker:so this is a totally new audience for her product,
Speaker:but completely aligned with what she offers and she also ramped
Speaker:up her potty training consulting services.
Speaker:Boy could I have used that years ago.
Speaker:Sadly, Nina also faced some serious issues in her life.
Speaker:Last summer her mom had a massive stroke and so she
Speaker:went back home to Tanzania for almost six months.
Speaker:Her business went on though to still have a successful year
Speaker:and this could only happen because she had solid systems in
Speaker:place. There are too many achievements to mention with Nina,
Speaker:but I bring these up as an example of how your
Speaker:business can grow and expand once you've set that initial traction
Speaker:and you'll note Nina started with one very specific product.
Speaker:She's also asked me to offer you a free 20 minute
Speaker:phone consult.
Speaker:If you're in the midst of potty training and you want
Speaker:some guidance for information on that and all links to what
Speaker:I just shared about Nina,
Speaker:please reference the show notes page along with this episode.
Speaker:Now, speaking of seasons and the fall,
Speaker:our guest today has a product that fits right in caramels.
Speaker:You're going to hear how an initial failure led to an
Speaker:even larger opportunity,
Speaker:and we also dig deep into participating in local shows.
Speaker:So this could be craft shows or farmer's markets.
Speaker:We get into lots of detail on how to get the
Speaker:most out of them as you possibly can.
Speaker:Are you ready?
Speaker:Today? It's my pleasure To introduce you to Sarah Smith.
Speaker:Sarah started Southern Carmel in 2013 as a way to stay
Speaker:home with her newborn daughter and as her daughter grew,
Speaker:so did the business.
Speaker:The caramels are made from scratch using pure ingredients.
Speaker:They're hand crafted,
Speaker:hand cut,
Speaker:and hand wrapped too.
Speaker:Making the caramels in small batches allows them to maintain a
Speaker:level of consistency resulting in a product that makes people say,
Speaker:Oh my goodness.
Speaker:And I have to say that's true because I tasted these
Speaker:caramels just a few weeks back so I can give total
Speaker:credit to that statement with a product that lends itself to
Speaker:giving and sharing in the community.
Speaker:Sarah considers it a joy to give back to many causes
Speaker:with her time,
Speaker:talents and financial support through the business.
Speaker:When she's not working on Southern Carmel,
Speaker:she's involved with various ministry opportunities focusing on leading and teaching
Speaker:women and children.
Speaker:She also loves to host events which stems from the same
Speaker:foundation of giving that Southern Carmel is founded on.
Speaker:Sarah, I am thrilled that you're here today on the gift
Speaker:biz on wrapped podcast.
Speaker:Thanks too.
Speaker:I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker:I really appreciate you inviting me on.
Speaker:I can't wait to talk about your story,
Speaker:but before we do,
Speaker:I'd like for you to share with our listeners a little
Speaker:different side of you and that is through what a motivational
Speaker:candle would look like if you were to create one of
Speaker:your own.
Speaker:So help us understand your motivational candle by color and then
Speaker:a quote or some type of saying that would be on
Speaker:that candle.
Speaker:Okay. I think the obvious choice for a caramel maker would
Speaker:be to say that it smelled like urban Carmel or sea
Speaker:salted caramel.
Speaker:But I think I'm going take it a different direction.
Speaker:I'm around those smells all day long and they certainly do
Speaker:energize me.
Speaker:But I love the color yellow.
Speaker:It's my favorite color and when I see it,
Speaker:it brings me joy.
Speaker:That color itself energizes me.
Speaker:So I think if I had a motivational candle and had
Speaker:a chance to create one,
Speaker:it would be yellow and it would probably have kind of
Speaker:a, because it's yellow,
Speaker:a citrus smell and scent that would energize me and get
Speaker:me going for the day.
Speaker:In terms of a quote,
Speaker:I thought about this and it's really more of a song.
Speaker:It's a kid's song,
Speaker:but it's something I say mentally to myself every day in
Speaker:the good times and in the bad times.
Speaker:And it's a song that goes,
Speaker:this is the day that the Lord has made.
Speaker:I will rejoice and be glad in it.
Speaker:And it's just a reminder to me when times are really
Speaker:good and it's easy to be joyful,
Speaker:to just celebrate those gifts that come through the business through
Speaker:life. And also,
Speaker:let's be honest,
Speaker:in a business,
Speaker:there's times when it's not always easy and you might have
Speaker:a challenging day.
Speaker:That's something that I tell myself,
Speaker:like, this is the day that the Lord has made.
Speaker:Just stop whatever's going on.
Speaker:It's not that bad.
Speaker:Rejoice, you're alive,
Speaker:you're doing the things that you're called to do.
Speaker:Be glad in that day.
Speaker:So that's definitely something I tell myself when I have a
Speaker:hard day is just that it's not that bad.
Speaker:It's certainly,
Speaker:it's tomorrow's going to be a new day and it's all
Speaker:good. It's just something I kind of sing in my head.
Speaker:So I think that would be the quote that would be
Speaker:on my candle because it is something I tell myself multiple
Speaker:times a day.
Speaker:Very positive,
Speaker:uplifting, and why not start your day in the best mood
Speaker:that you possibly can and reset if you need to along
Speaker:the way.
Speaker:I guess I would.
Speaker:Yeah. So Sarah,
Speaker:take us back a little bit and I know you were
Speaker:talking about,
Speaker:and we have in the intro that you started Southern Carmel
Speaker:as a way to stay home with your daughter,
Speaker:but where did the whole idea come from that this is
Speaker:what you were going to do to start a business?
Speaker:Yeah, great question.
Speaker:It stems from like your interest said from gifting,
Speaker:and I used to give these caramels as gifts.
Speaker:Now I did not have any background in the food industry.
Speaker:My background was in the aerospace industry and I,
Speaker:I worked on project management type work for the space industry
Speaker:here in Florida.
Speaker:That's a big thing,
Speaker:provides a lot of jobs and that was my background and
Speaker:I had a regular nine to five job,
Speaker:great benefits,
Speaker:and got to that stage in life where I wanted to
Speaker:start a family and I really wanted to be able to
Speaker:stay home with my child at the time.
Speaker:Didn't know if it was a boy or girl and had
Speaker:started thinking about ways to do that and I had been
Speaker:giving these caramels out as Christmas gifts and birthday gifts and
Speaker:things like that and people had been telling me you need
Speaker:to sell these caramels for about a year or two.
Speaker:And I always told him,
Speaker:I'm not going to my day job.
Speaker:I have a really good thing going here and entrepreneurship is
Speaker:not for me.
Speaker:I like the corporate world and the security that it provides
Speaker:me, but fast forward to desires changing and wanting to be
Speaker:home with my daughter and I got that idea in the
Speaker:back of my head on making the caramel and that's when
Speaker:I started the business.
Speaker:So I did work up until 2014 and I had a
Speaker:year or two to develop the recipe,
Speaker:craft a business plan.
Speaker:I had been selling them to different craft fairs and things
Speaker:like that before she was born.
Speaker:And then shortly after she was born,
Speaker:I put in my notice and stayed home with her.
Speaker:And I'd like to say the caramel business was my full
Speaker:time job at that point.
Speaker:But I was a little optimistic on what I could handle
Speaker:with being a first time mom.
Speaker:So it was very slow growth with the business that first
Speaker:year. And I started from my home kitchen.
Speaker:So I worked under the cottage food law here in the
Speaker:state of Florida.
Speaker:And when she was in bed I would make the Carmel
Speaker:and cut and wrap it at home.
Speaker:And at that point it was just myself and we had
Speaker:something once a month here called Friday best.
Speaker:And that was my first way to get out in the
Speaker:community and sell the caramels directly to the public.
Speaker:And people started telling me,
Speaker:you should sell these to grocery stores and things like that.
Speaker:And I started doing my research on what that would take.
Speaker:And in the state of Florida,
Speaker:that's not something that can be done from a home kitchen.
Speaker:Even if you were inspected,
Speaker:it needs to be a commercial kitchen and you needed to
Speaker:be state inspected.
Speaker:So in order to grow my business and have that wholesale
Speaker:option also be able to sell online,
Speaker:I would not be able to sell online in my home
Speaker:kitchen. That was a rule in Florida.
Speaker:So I started looking around to sublease kitchen space.
Speaker:Again, still really young child at home and I didn't want
Speaker:to take the overhead of my own full kitchen.
Speaker:Okay. I'm going to stop you here just for a second
Speaker:because I have a number of questions and I know there
Speaker:are so many people who are listening right now who can
Speaker:totally relate to what you just said.
Speaker:Your story up to this point maybe about having a daughter
Speaker:and that being the reason to change,
Speaker:but I'm specifically talking about they make something and people are
Speaker:saying to them,
Speaker:this is so beautiful.
Speaker:This is so delicious.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:depending on your product,
Speaker:you should sell it.
Speaker:At that time,
Speaker:did you believe them or did you think,
Speaker:Oh well they're just being nice.
Speaker:It's nice,
Speaker:it's complimentary.
Speaker:That's wonderful.
Speaker:But at what point did you really start seriously thinking,
Speaker:Hey, maybe this is something,
Speaker:I think it was the more that people tried it that
Speaker:didn't love me.
Speaker:So you really knew their comments weren't just because you were
Speaker:already friends or family,
Speaker:Right? You've got friends,
Speaker:you've got family,
Speaker:you already know they love you,
Speaker:they like you.
Speaker:Of course they'd be honest maybe.
Speaker:But when I started to sample the caramel in the community
Speaker:with complete strangers and people would say things like,
Speaker:this is the best caramel I've ever had,
Speaker:or these tastes just like my grandma used to make.
Speaker:I've tried her recipes so many times and I just can
Speaker:never figure it out.
Speaker:And that comment kept coming up over and over again of
Speaker:just this expression of,
Speaker:I've tried to make this before and I can't.
Speaker:I burn it.
Speaker:It's too soft.
Speaker:It turns back to sugar.
Speaker:All the things that I had experienced myself when fine tuning
Speaker:the recipe.
Speaker:But once I realized that this wasn't cookies and things like
Speaker:that, anybody could make a cookie.
Speaker:But you have to really differentiate yourself.
Speaker:And at once I realized that not everybody can make a
Speaker:Carmel or not everybody has the patience to hand wrap every
Speaker:single piece and package it up in a larger quantity.
Speaker:That really started to give me the thought of,
Speaker:okay, this is something outside of what people could expect.
Speaker:This is a viable business.
Speaker:Not everybody could do it,
Speaker:but also you had some type of a flavor or some
Speaker:type of a mystery method or secret or something that people
Speaker:were willing to strive for,
Speaker:like they really wanted it and weren't able to achieve it
Speaker:themselves. So you saw the need out there and the interest,
Speaker:I guess.
Speaker:Exactly right.
Speaker:I don't know if anyone needs Piramal,
Speaker:but I would kind of,
Speaker:I do.
Speaker:I'll go with that.
Speaker:It's one of those things.
Speaker:People sometimes come to us and say,
Speaker:Oh, can you make a sugar-free Carmel?
Speaker:And I'm sure there's a market for that.
Speaker:I know there's a lot of people that have health concerns,
Speaker:diabetes, and I always tell them,
Speaker:we're not a health brand.
Speaker:We do make everything with pure ingredients.
Speaker:We don't use corn syrup or anything like that.
Speaker:So we do strive to make the purest caramel you can
Speaker:get, but it's all about just bringing a little bit of
Speaker:joy into somebody's life.
Speaker:And I'm sure many of the listeners here with being in
Speaker:the gift industry,
Speaker:that's what it's about.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:that's really what this Carmel is.
Speaker:It's not saving lives.
Speaker:And your dietician is not going to say,
Speaker:Jason, you need more Carmel in your life.
Speaker:But it puts a smile on people's face when they bite
Speaker:into it.
Speaker:They haven't had anything like it and it's just a small
Speaker:indulgence in their day.
Speaker:Well, I would say a psychologist might say,
Speaker:yeah, you need more caramel cause it's gonna make you happier.
Speaker:I couldn't go with that.
Speaker:But you just brought up a really important business point here
Speaker:too, is that you're really staying in your lane.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you know what you're standing for.
Speaker:You're standing for traditionally made Carmel,
Speaker:not sugar-free.
Speaker:And I really,
Speaker:really appreciate and love that you're sharing that people have asked
Speaker:you for something else and it would be so easy just
Speaker:to sway,
Speaker:say, Oh,
Speaker:we need to have that to stay relevant because the market's
Speaker:going to more healthy,
Speaker:tight, Hooten free,
Speaker:all these crazy things.
Speaker:Right, but you've said,
Speaker:no, you've put your foot in the sand.
Speaker:What does it stick in the sand?
Speaker:I'm not sure what it is.
Speaker:Is your Mark in the sand,
Speaker:let's say that says,
Speaker:no, this is what we stand for.
Speaker:This is what we make,
Speaker:and I think you're going to be more successful for it
Speaker:as you're already seen because you're standing for a specific thing.
Speaker:Absolutely, and to be honest,
Speaker:one of the things that sets our Carmel apart,
Speaker:like I said,
Speaker:sugar is the main ingredient,
Speaker:but we do use pure ingredients,
Speaker:many caramels on the shelf use corn syrup where we've gone
Speaker:out of our way to fine tune a recipe that doesn't
Speaker:use corn syrup.
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:the very first caramels I ever made had corn syrup in
Speaker:them. But as time went on and I could share a
Speaker:little bit more about that with you later,
Speaker:it became evident that that was not the best thing for
Speaker:us. That we really needed to find a way to make
Speaker:them without corn syrup.
Speaker:And it differentiated us from other caramel makers out there.
Speaker:And there's not many that don't use corn syrup.
Speaker:And if you look at the ingredient label on a lot
Speaker:of the caramels on the shelf,
Speaker:there's a much longer list than sugar cream and butter.
Speaker:So that is one thing that yes it is sugar,
Speaker:it is a sweet,
Speaker:but we've managed to make it without a bunch of additives
Speaker:and preservatives that also aren't good for you.
Speaker:Okay, so you said there's a story behind it.
Speaker:So let's go there because I don't want to forget about
Speaker:it later.
Speaker:Sure. So one of the,
Speaker:should I say roadblocks when starting the business and as time
Speaker:went on with the Carmel was our shelf life.
Speaker:So you make something at home and it doesn't matter what
Speaker:the shelf life is because you're going to sell it at
Speaker:a market and they're going to eat it right there and
Speaker:no big deal.
Speaker:But as we grew into a wholesale market,
Speaker:and I alluded to it earlier,
Speaker:but that was when I started a kitchen sharing situation.
Speaker:So that was kind of middle of our story was I
Speaker:went from a home kitchen to subleasing a bakery,
Speaker:a really sweet woman,
Speaker:let me use her bakery on Sunday and Monday when she
Speaker:was closed.
Speaker:So we had our state inspection.
Speaker:Now I was able to sell to local grocery markets and
Speaker:I was able to sell online and I made it the
Speaker:same way I always did.
Speaker:And it lasted for about six weeks.
Speaker:And I was putting them in the grocery stores and many
Speaker:of them looked at me and said,
Speaker:we can't do anything with six weeks and we can't sell
Speaker:a whole case worth in six weeks,
Speaker:but let's try it.
Speaker:And like I said earlier,
Speaker:we live in Florida,
Speaker:we live really close to the beach and a lot of
Speaker:our high end grocery markets are on the beach,
Speaker:which have really high humidity and our caramels who are sitting
Speaker:on the shelf and they were crystallizing within two to three
Speaker:weeks. Oh no.
Speaker:Yeah. So something that was always smooth and creamy and great.
Speaker:We're getting phone calls.
Speaker:I say it was me,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I was getting phone calls that the Carmel was turning back
Speaker:to sugar and they wanted their money back and they couldn't
Speaker:sell it.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:Oh, what do I do?
Speaker:I mean the whole reason it tastes the way it does
Speaker:is the recipe.
Speaker:And at that point you never used corn syrup,
Speaker:is that correct?
Speaker:No, I had been using cortex.
Speaker:So you had been using corn syrup.
Speaker:Okay. So this was your initial recipe,
Speaker:if you will.
Speaker:Right. Beginning stages.
Speaker:Yep. All right.
Speaker:So I could see people at this point saying,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I'm a failure.
Speaker:This isn't gonna work.
Speaker:I'm done.
Speaker:Exactly. It doesn't sound like that's what you did.
Speaker:No, not at all.
Speaker:It was hard.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:because it was in the course of a week that I
Speaker:had three or four different Mark.
Speaker:I mean it was happening to everybody and the people that
Speaker:were on the beach,
Speaker:it was happening much faster.
Speaker:So we went back to the drawing board and I was
Speaker:kind of tweaking and I have this little composition notebook that
Speaker:every recipe I test I would tweak it and change some
Speaker:things here and there.
Speaker:And that's when I started playing with making the caramels without
Speaker:corn syrup.
Speaker:And I'm not going to go into too much detail there
Speaker:because that is part of what sets us apart from our
Speaker:competitors. But we weren't able to make it without the corn
Speaker:syrup. And a happy byproduct of that was that people now
Speaker:liked the fact that it didn't have corn syrup.
Speaker:So the driving force was my shelf life.
Speaker:It had nothing to do with corn syrup versus non corn
Speaker:syrup. It had to do with the shelf life and not
Speaker:being able to have a recipe that would last for weeks.
Speaker:So once we made the tweak,
Speaker:our shelf life is now 16 weeks.
Speaker:So four months.
Speaker:Perfect. Oh my gosh,
Speaker:that's so great.
Speaker:So here's a perfect example though of turning a real problem,
Speaker:not only correcting it,
Speaker:but turning it in to your favor.
Speaker:Right? Absolutely.
Speaker:It was an act,
Speaker:I won't say it was an accident.
Speaker:It was a problem that needed to be solved for the
Speaker:shelf life reason,
Speaker:but it ended up putting us in even a better place
Speaker:because we're one of the few caramels out on the market
Speaker:that don't use corn syrup.
Speaker:And do you promote that in your marketing?
Speaker:Yes, we do.
Speaker:And are there health benefits to not using corn syrup or
Speaker:just makes for a different product or how do you promote
Speaker:it? What's the messaging?
Speaker:Many people,
Speaker:I won't say most,
Speaker:but many products out there that use corn syrup.
Speaker:They're using high fructose corn syrup and they really aren't putting
Speaker:any distinction versus corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup.
Speaker:And we all know that high fructose corn syrup is not
Speaker:the best for us.
Speaker:So people,
Speaker:even if it's not high fructose,
Speaker:even if it's just corn syrup,
Speaker:because there is a difference,
Speaker:people still have a negative connotation when they hear corn syrup
Speaker:now. So that is one thing to,
Speaker:as soon as we say,
Speaker:Oh, we don't use corn syrup for our caramels,
Speaker:people immediately,
Speaker:Oh really?
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:It's like,
Speaker:Oh, I'll buy it now.
Speaker:I'm guessing they also then want it Taste it like,
Speaker:Oh you not,
Speaker:then what are these caramels even tastes like?
Speaker:And then they get the,
Speaker:Oh my goodness reaction,
Speaker:right when they've tasted it and they're so delicious and one
Speaker:thing leads to another.
Speaker:So just the fact you don't use corn syrup,
Speaker:I would guess,
Speaker:peaks the curiosity when you're in a situation where you're sampling
Speaker:the product.
Speaker:Absolutely. And it helps to where it doesn't stick to your
Speaker:teeth. That's another thing with caramel,
Speaker:a lot of times you bite into a caramel and you've
Speaker:got to kind of pick at your dental work to make
Speaker:sure you're not pulling something out.
Speaker:Your dentist is angry with you.
Speaker:Right. But one of the best compliments we get is when
Speaker:people are hesitant to try it because they're like,
Speaker:Oh, I don't like caramel.
Speaker:It always sticks in my teeth.
Speaker:It's really not my thing.
Speaker:And maybe their friend next to them is like,
Speaker:no, really,
Speaker:you gotta try these.
Speaker:These are the best things ever.
Speaker:And so they'll hesitantly try one because they're expecting it to
Speaker:do what every other caramel does and stick to their teeth.
Speaker:And then their eyes just light up and they're like,
Speaker:Oh, this not only just tastes amazing,
Speaker:but it's just this smooth,
Speaker:creamy caramel that doesn't stick to my teeth.
Speaker:Yup. And delicious.
Speaker:I have to say,
Speaker:once again,
Speaker:I'm so glad you like them.
Speaker:Love them.
Speaker:Well, I like Carmel anyway,
Speaker:and so now I've just upped my game.
Speaker:I have a different level now when I'm analyzing Different appreciation.
Speaker:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker:And so with the absence of the corn syrup,
Speaker:then I'm guessing that you're able to get shelf placement where
Speaker:others can't.
Speaker:So you end up being kind of alone in the category,
Speaker:being able to be the caramel that wholesalers can stock specifically
Speaker:because of the warm environment,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:Exactly, and there are a few stockists that have requirements for
Speaker:their ingredient list.
Speaker:Some grocery stores,
Speaker:canes, that they have a list.
Speaker:Any of our products have this ingredient in it,
Speaker:we cannot sell it.
Speaker:And there's a few that we've made it into their stores.
Speaker:That corn syrup is one of them.
Speaker:So I guess one that over some others vendors because they
Speaker:would have that ingredient.
Speaker:Yeah, taking advantage of an opportunity that you have in the
Speaker:market in that way.
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:So question for you on the stores that came back to
Speaker:you and said,
Speaker:we can't sell this,
Speaker:we need to take it off the shelf.
Speaker:You went back,
Speaker:adjusted the recipe,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:Did you re approach those stores then saying I've got a
Speaker:different product now.
Speaker:I did.
Speaker:And there was one that did not want to continue their
Speaker:relationship, but to be honest,
Speaker:everybody else was willing to give us a second try.
Speaker:And we did a lot of samplings,
Speaker:a lot of demos where we would come in with that
Speaker:new product and sample it and once they saw that they
Speaker:could keep it on their shelf for four months now and
Speaker:that they were moving the product within that time,
Speaker:they were happy.
Speaker:We were happy,
Speaker:we were seeing reorders.
Speaker:So you know,
Speaker:like I said,
Speaker:there was one,
Speaker:and I understand that right when you're starting out,
Speaker:sometimes something like that happens and it's a sign that you're
Speaker:still very much a starter business.
Speaker:You're not ready for this.
Speaker:There's things you haven't considered.
Speaker:We don't want to mess with this product right now.
Speaker:And I could understand that at that time and grown a
Speaker:lot since then with our inspections and labeling,
Speaker:we've continued to grow out of that.
Speaker:But looking back at that point,
Speaker:we were very bare bones and it was a risk for
Speaker:some people to try us.
Speaker:And when they had that negative experience,
Speaker:we didn't pick up that one store.
Speaker:But like I said,
Speaker:everybody else,
Speaker:we live in a great local community and everybody was willing
Speaker:to give us a second shot.
Speaker:And really that was so early on.
Speaker:Many of our accounts,
Speaker:don't know.
Speaker:That's part of our history.
Speaker:They just know that we have an amazing Carmel without corn
Speaker:syrup that lasts on their shelf for four months.
Speaker:Right? But I'll tell you,
Speaker:I mean every single company has something,
Speaker:some barrier that they come up against,
Speaker:and then it's up to you as the business owner.
Speaker:Am I going to work through it?
Speaker:How am I going to work through it?
Speaker:And you get smarter as you go,
Speaker:right? So if someone looks at you now they see your
Speaker:product on the shelf,
Speaker:or like I did,
Speaker:I saw you at a show.
Speaker:It's not like you jumped from nothing to all of a
Speaker:sudden where you are now.
Speaker:It's an evolution.
Speaker:You get smarter,
Speaker:you get wiser.
Speaker:You get more sophisticated,
Speaker:perhaps in your marketing,
Speaker:your packaging,
Speaker:et cetera,
Speaker:to journey.
Speaker:Absolutely. We're going to hear more from Sarah,
Speaker:right after a word from our sponsor.
Speaker:This podcast is made possible thanks to the support of the
Speaker:ribbon print company.
Speaker:Create custom ribbons right in your store or craft studio.
Speaker:In seconds.
Speaker:Visit the ribbon.
Speaker:Print company.com
Speaker:for more information.
Speaker:Let's talk A little bit more about sampling.
Speaker:I be curious in your expert opinion here,
Speaker:and let me lay some groundwork regardless of the product that
Speaker:a lot of our listeners have because it ranges all over
Speaker:the board.
Speaker:Right? One of the things that a lot of people will
Speaker:do is test their product through craft shows.
Speaker:Okay. And I guess I'm just,
Speaker:it doesn't necessarily need to apply to consumable businesses only at
Speaker:this point,
Speaker:but I've actually been to some shows where people have an
Speaker:edible product,
Speaker:cookies or something like that.
Speaker:They're selling at craft shows,
Speaker:but they're not giving away samples at all,
Speaker:which to me is like crazy.
Speaker:That would seem to be the obvious thing.
Speaker:But in your experience at shows and or sampling in stores,
Speaker:is there any advice that you'd have any extra benefits about
Speaker:sampling? Let's just talk a little bit about that.
Speaker:Maybe to give our listeners some ideas of things that they
Speaker:could be doing and applying when they're in a sampling situation.
Speaker:Absolutely. And to be honest,
Speaker:we've kind of been all over the map on this one
Speaker:with our lessons learned on when it's worth it and when
Speaker:it's not,
Speaker:because it's an added cost,
Speaker:right? Sometimes it's not just the cost of your product,
Speaker:but it's the time to be there during the holiday season.
Speaker:I'm the owner.
Speaker:So if I'm there sampling,
Speaker:it's no big deal.
Speaker:But if I send somebody else now I have the labor
Speaker:to pay them for however many hours of being there and
Speaker:the cost of the product.
Speaker:So cost is always something to consider.
Speaker:And I think that's something that people don't look when they're
Speaker:starting out.
Speaker:When you've got a hobby business,
Speaker:you're starting out at a craft show,
Speaker:they don't think of all the expense that goes into sampling.
Speaker:So say you're doing a craft show and you're doing a
Speaker:demo or sample,
Speaker:you've got cookies,
Speaker:whatever it is,
Speaker:you've got the costs to make those,
Speaker:you've got your labor to be there.
Speaker:So figure out what the going rate is in your area
Speaker:of the country.
Speaker:If you were to pay someone to market your product,
Speaker:and I did that and tested central Florida with what other
Speaker:demonstrators were making.
Speaker:Wine demonstrations are always out in different marketplaces and so I'd
Speaker:ask them what do you get?
Speaker:And I understand that wine is different from some other things,
Speaker:but it gave me a gauge for,
Speaker:for labor specifically,
Speaker:you're talking for labor specifically and then you've got the cost
Speaker:of the event.
Speaker:So if it's a craft show,
Speaker:maybe you paid $40 for your table or whatever it is,
Speaker:and then how much did you sell that day as a
Speaker:result of your sampling?
Speaker:In the beginning for what we had a consumable,
Speaker:we're claiming it's the best Carmel ever.
Speaker:Nobody in the world had ever heard of us.
Speaker:We had to sample.
Speaker:It's a premium product,
Speaker:it's a premium priced product.
Speaker:So people weren't going to pay that premium price and take
Speaker:a risk on it if they didn't know how good it
Speaker:was. So it definitely was beneficial in the beginning,
Speaker:especially for our product because if they were going to pay
Speaker:that much,
Speaker:they needed to know it was worth that much.
Speaker:It was,
Speaker:I mean many people would try one and immediately say,
Speaker:I want one for every employee in my office.
Speaker:I'm going to take 10 home and give them to everybody
Speaker:on Monday just to let them know that they're doing a
Speaker:great job.
Speaker:So once they tried it,
Speaker:I would sell it.
Speaker:And then you keep track of that in the beginning.
Speaker:So whatever you're demonstrating or selling at that particular event,
Speaker:try to figure out what your cost was to be there
Speaker:to demonstrate and then what's your return on that?
Speaker:Are you actually selling or getting orders or it can be
Speaker:gauged differently.
Speaker:I understand that for certain things,
Speaker:you're not going to make a sale right there on the
Speaker:spot, but maybe you made a really good contact and they
Speaker:want to order from you around Thanksgiving.
Speaker:And once that comes through you can see that there was
Speaker:value in that sampling.
Speaker:I will say as we grew,
Speaker:everybody in the world wants you to sample.
Speaker:If you're in the grocery market,
Speaker:specialty food type thing,
Speaker:they want you to be there every weekend sampling.
Speaker:And when we were first getting into stores,
Speaker:we did a lot of that and then we were spending
Speaker:so much money sampling that we were still getting returned.
Speaker:I mean we were still getting reorders from those stores,
Speaker:but it got to a point that it was like,
Speaker:Oh my goodness,
Speaker:we are spending so much money doing these demonstrations.
Speaker:How can we reevaluate this?
Speaker:And depending the setup of the customer,
Speaker:we have tweaked that over the years where maybe now if
Speaker:we set up a new wholesale account,
Speaker:we can include complimentary product for the first opening order and
Speaker:we'll send some nice marketing material,
Speaker:printed flyers that they can put up in their store on
Speaker:their shelf and let people know that it's a new product
Speaker:if it's in Florida,
Speaker:that it's locally need and then they are doing the sampling
Speaker:and we're not sending someone out because sometimes as we're growing,
Speaker:these places are,
Speaker:are a four hour drive away.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it's not like they're in our County anymore.
Speaker:So as you grow it definitely reaches a point where the
Speaker:expectation is that you sample and it's kind of like we
Speaker:could go broke trying to sample everywhere and then you might
Speaker:need to tweak it.
Speaker:That was probably more than you wanted to know.
Speaker:That was a long answer Was a great answer.
Speaker:And I think particularly for your situation,
Speaker:because your ingredients are different,
Speaker:you want people,
Speaker:I mean it's to your benefit that people are sampling and
Speaker:trying it because they have an assumed taste that they're going
Speaker:to have when they put your caramel in their mouth and
Speaker:then it's different,
Speaker:right? We were just talking about how it could stick to
Speaker:your teeth,
Speaker:it's whatever.
Speaker:And all of a sudden people see,
Speaker:no, this is different,
Speaker:this is something special,
Speaker:and they're not going to know that unless you sample.
Speaker:So I think in a way,
Speaker:depending on your product,
Speaker:you have to do that.
Speaker:If you're new to the market,
Speaker:at least to start getting some footing going.
Speaker:I'm also thinking,
Speaker:and I don't know if you did this,
Speaker:Sarah, and you might not have had to,
Speaker:I don't know the cost structure that you have,
Speaker:but apart from the labor,
Speaker:your product,
Speaker:if your product is really expensive,
Speaker:maybe you make pieces that are smaller so you're not giving
Speaker:a whole Carmel,
Speaker:maybe you're giving a half a caramel,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:just to cut down on product costs.
Speaker:Again, Sarah,
Speaker:that might not apply to you.
Speaker:It's just an idea for some of our listeners.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:Let's say you make big huge Mongo cookies,
Speaker:right? Like that's your thing.
Speaker:Maybe you're going to break those cookies up.
Speaker:Absolutely. Just to taste.
Speaker:Yeah. Just to taste so,
Speaker:and I really like what you're talking about here too,
Speaker:in terms of as you move forward,
Speaker:you're still providing the opportunity to sample,
Speaker:but you're pulling out the labor portion for yourself,
Speaker:right? Yeah.
Speaker:So really smart move.
Speaker:I also would suggest,
Speaker:tell me if this was your experience,
Speaker:that in the very beginning when you're sampling,
Speaker:you also want to see customers' reactions,
Speaker:how they're talking about it,
Speaker:because you can get a lot of product information from your
Speaker:customers, just observing how they're interacting and tasting your product.
Speaker:Absolutely. If you start seeing,
Speaker:like you say,
Speaker:people were saying,
Speaker:Oh my goodness,
Speaker:right? That could even be something.
Speaker:Then that carries on into promotional lines,
Speaker:social media lines,
Speaker:all that type of thing.
Speaker:So, and it's not coming from you,
Speaker:it's coming from your customers.
Speaker:Absolutely. Some of the best testimonials come just that way.
Speaker:You're standing across from that customer,
Speaker:you're gauging their reaction.
Speaker:They say something that is just said so succinctly,
Speaker:and sometimes I'll say,
Speaker:do you mind if I use that as a testimonial for
Speaker:marketing purposes?
Speaker:And they're like,
Speaker:no, and I'll just take out my phone and write down
Speaker:what they said and then use that for Instagram or something
Speaker:else. But absolutely.
Speaker:To just use that feedback for marketing purposes.
Speaker:Yeah. And so how do you,
Speaker:when you're sampling,
Speaker:you talk about the fact that people aren't necessarily going to
Speaker:buy right then and there.
Speaker:They might,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:if they're at a small show,
Speaker:they might buy for their consumption right at the show,
Speaker:but you're really getting the potential for larger orders later.
Speaker:Right. How are you capturing contact information so that you can
Speaker:stay in touch with them?
Speaker:Great question.
Speaker:So typically any time that we sample an event,
Speaker:like a craft show or during the holidays,
Speaker:there's always a lot of craft shows.
Speaker:We always have an email signup out.
Speaker:Now, one of the things that can be a little touchy
Speaker:depending on the type of event that you're sampling at,
Speaker:is if somebody else is hosting it and they've invited you
Speaker:to come in,
Speaker:or maybe it's a paid event,
Speaker:it's a ticketed event where we've been part of just where
Speaker:people can come and taste different foods of the area,
Speaker:whether it's from a local community or even central Florida.
Speaker:But people get a wristband and they get to come and
Speaker:try all the different products.
Speaker:We had something like that in our community.
Speaker:Just this past weekend there was a big art festival,
Speaker:but along with it was taste of Highland park,
Speaker:so vendors would come in,
Speaker:you could buy product,
Speaker:but I think there was also sampling,
Speaker:so like taste of the town type thing.
Speaker:Something like that you mean?
Speaker:Yeah, and like a food and wine festival.
Speaker:We've been part of food and wine festivals where people pay
Speaker:a decent amount of money to come in and get unlimited
Speaker:food and wine and they have that wristband and you've got
Speaker:to learn your different events.
Speaker:Sometimes the expectation for the host of that event is,
Speaker:look, these people have paid to be here.
Speaker:They just want to eat,
Speaker:drink, and be married.
Speaker:We don't want you marketing.
Speaker:We don't want you trying to get email addresses and you
Speaker:basically you being here is your marketing,
Speaker:Which means then it's the consumer's responsibility to get back in
Speaker:touch with you.
Speaker:You have no way of getting to them.
Speaker:Right, Absolutely.
Speaker:And to be honest,
Speaker:you've got to gauge on whether those are worth it,
Speaker:right? Because if you're just giving out product to people,
Speaker:it's on them to come seek you out and find you.
Speaker:Maybe that's not the best event,
Speaker:but I have found as time has gone on the way
Speaker:events are structured with sampling and kind of,
Speaker:I know email sign up is typical at events like that
Speaker:where either you have an iPad out where they can sign
Speaker:up or just a printed sheet where they give your email
Speaker:address. There's definitely events that are structured in a way where
Speaker:that is frowned upon and sometimes that's okay.
Speaker:Sometimes maybe the host of the event would give an email
Speaker:list afterwards,
Speaker:which is very generous and always appreciated and then you don't
Speaker:have to worry about email capture during the event.
Speaker:And then there's other times that maybe it's a really upscale,
Speaker:high-end event.
Speaker:It is good to be there even though you're not permitted
Speaker:to do email capture or things like that.
Speaker:Even sometimes just getting business cards for those,
Speaker:like we have one event here in town.
Speaker:It's really,
Speaker:really high end and there's just a lot of business owners
Speaker:in the community,
Speaker:a lot of doctors and lawyers and different people that put
Speaker:on Gallas and as many of the listeners here in the
Speaker:gift industry and come Christmas time,
Speaker:you're looking for those corporate people to connect with.
Speaker:A lot of times,
Speaker:even if I can't get an email capture,
Speaker:it's, Oh,
Speaker:you love these and you own XYZ business.
Speaker:Can I have a business card?
Speaker:I would love to follow up with you after this event
Speaker:and just see if we can help you out with your
Speaker:holiday gifts this year and then that way it's a really
Speaker:nonthreatening way to where you're making connection through that event,
Speaker:but it's not as gimmicky as signed here.
Speaker:Right. What do you think of doing some type of a
Speaker:raffle at your table booth,
Speaker:whatever it is,
Speaker:or including your business contact information with the product?
Speaker:Raffles are great.
Speaker:I love raffles.
Speaker:And that's something I usually ask if I'm doing an event,
Speaker:if they haven't advertised that we're allowed to do them,
Speaker:I'll ask like,
Speaker:can you,
Speaker:do you mind if I do a raffle for,
Speaker:we have a sampler box where people can try four different
Speaker:flavors of caramel and then people could drop in their card,
Speaker:either a business card,
Speaker:if it's that type of event,
Speaker:or they can fill out a card with email address,
Speaker:phone number,
Speaker:name, things like that.
Speaker:And that's a great way to entice people to give their
Speaker:contact information.
Speaker:So I'm a big fan of that.
Speaker:Right. And some people won't because they know exactly what's going
Speaker:to happen.
Speaker:You know that they're going to be followed up with an
Speaker:email. Yeah,
Speaker:yeah, they can unsubscribe.
Speaker:Exactly. So I think the lesson here might be just keep
Speaker:this top of mind and for any event that you're doing,
Speaker:find out what the rules are for an event.
Speaker:And sometimes you're not going to be able to do anything.
Speaker:That's fine,
Speaker:but you don't want to be in a position where later
Speaker:you say,
Speaker:dang, I could have gotten an email addresses and I didn't.
Speaker:Right. That's not as great.
Speaker:And then analyzing afterwards how valuable the event was in terms
Speaker:of what's happened,
Speaker:new customers,
Speaker:new prospects in the case of potential corporate client.
Speaker:Right. Cause you only need one huge corporate client or even
Speaker:medium size for an event to have been completely worthwhile.
Speaker:Absolutely. One other thing I like to do after an event,
Speaker:so whatever email address is I captured from that event,
Speaker:I'll go back the next day or if it was on
Speaker:a Friday,
Speaker:I might wait until the following Monday and I will just
Speaker:send an email through my marketing hub that I use and
Speaker:I typically do not discount,
Speaker:I'm not a discount brand,
Speaker:but I like to track if those people will be spending
Speaker:with us.
Speaker:So that is an example where I might give a discount
Speaker:code for just those people that just subscribed and I'll have
Speaker:a code specific to that event and they might get 15%
Speaker:off and it's only good for three or four days.
Speaker:Like they have to use it right away.
Speaker:But it's enough that I can track like,
Speaker:Oh, not only did I pick up email addresses,
Speaker:but I just picked up new customers that will consistently keep
Speaker:buying from me.
Speaker:Right. Okay.
Speaker:So this is going to be an interesting question.
Speaker:Okay. Hundred percent agree with you.
Speaker:I agree with you also on discounts,
Speaker:but coding the discount so you can see who's coming back
Speaker:as a great way to track what events are working.
Speaker:So every event has a different code.
Speaker:Exactly. Okay,
Speaker:so let's say you just did an event last weekend,
Speaker:you come back,
Speaker:you have emails from people who however you attracted those emails,
Speaker:you send them out a promotion.
Speaker:Thanks for sampling our product,
Speaker:whatever you're going to say,
Speaker:and you give them a code.
Speaker:Some people take the code and buy a product,
Speaker:at which point they've turned into a customer,
Speaker:so now they can be on your customer list,
Speaker:you can promote to them as a customer.
Speaker:What do you do then with those people who did not
Speaker:take advantage of the discount Up till now?
Speaker:They do stay on my distribution list,
Speaker:but I personally don't send out like a followup blast if
Speaker:you will.
Speaker:I know of some that do that,
Speaker:like they'll track who made a purchase and who didn't and
Speaker:they'll send up a followup blast to like,
Speaker:Hey, we missed you.
Speaker:I never get rid of email addresses.
Speaker:I think I've heard of one person that actually does most,
Speaker:don't never get rid of any email address,
Speaker:but I still keep them on my distribution list and again,
Speaker:if they're not interested then they don't have to subscribe.
Speaker:Okay, so you'll continue emailing them and then they can always
Speaker:unsubscribe, which legally you have to do just in case.
Speaker:Some of our listeners don't know that if you're ever sending
Speaker:out something to customers,
Speaker:you have to have a way.
Speaker:Usually it's an unsubscribed button at the bottom that most email
Speaker:providers really easily just integrated with their systems.
Speaker:So, but you have to absolutely do that.
Speaker:Some people who aren't going through a true email provider,
Speaker:you're just sending out an email,
Speaker:let's say through a list of emails,
Speaker:like you're still using just Gmail to send out just a
Speaker:random list.
Speaker:Then what people will do is they'll stay,
Speaker:if you're not interested in receiving these emails,
Speaker:reply with unsubscribe in the subject line or something like that.
Speaker:But just an aside.
Speaker:Yeah, that's a great comment for people that might still just
Speaker:be using their email to do that.
Speaker:But another wonderful reason on why,
Speaker:even if you only have a hundred names,
Speaker:it's great to switch to an email marketing service and there's
Speaker:MailChimp. They're free.
Speaker:And I know a lot of people use that one.
Speaker:It's MailChimp to start and then we've since switched.
Speaker:And what are you using now?
Speaker:We are using mad Mimi.
Speaker:What is mad Mimi?
Speaker:M I M I Mad Mimi.
Speaker:Yeah. That's interesting.
Speaker:I've not heard of that one.
Speaker:I have to go check them out.
Speaker:Yeah, we like it.
Speaker:And one of the reasons,
Speaker:again, you kind of learn your demographic and where you're at
Speaker:because a lot of our email,
Speaker:well, a lot of our emails are captured through our website
Speaker:now, which those are coming nationally.
Speaker:Those are coming from all over the country,
Speaker:but specifically if we're doing an event,
Speaker:a local event,
Speaker:we know that in our County that MailChimp does not deliver
Speaker:to aol.com
Speaker:or a CFL done our.com
Speaker:it will get kicked back.
Speaker:So personally,
Speaker:because working with our web developer,
Speaker:we know where we live and we know where the bulk
Speaker:of our subscribers are coming from and the fact that goes
Speaker:emails do not get delivered.
Speaker:That was why we switched to MadMimi,
Speaker:but again,
Speaker:that wouldn't necessarily apply to everybody everywhere they lived it just
Speaker:for whatever reason in central Florida,
Speaker:that's how it works.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Well, an email is a topic unto itself,
Speaker:but I think the real point here is you should be
Speaker:using an email provider,
Speaker:MailChimp, constant contact MadMimi now I'm going to add to my
Speaker:list. Yeah,
Speaker:it's a little cheaper.
Speaker:There are a number of them out there.
Speaker:They're not expensive.
Speaker:Many of them will allow you to use their systems for
Speaker:a list up to a certain number of contacts.
Speaker:Maybe it's 500 maybe it's a hundred I don't know.
Speaker:They're different for different people,
Speaker:so we've definitely something to check out if you're still doing
Speaker:it, just yourself.
Speaker:There are a lot of reasons to be doing it that
Speaker:way, so.
Speaker:Okay, wonderful.
Speaker:Taking you back to your kitchen,
Speaker:when you landed the recipe,
Speaker:that is your golden secret claim to Southern caramel fame.
Speaker:How'd you like that?
Speaker:That was great.
Speaker:I liked that a lot.
Speaker:Okay. What types of things do you have in place to
Speaker:protect the recipe?
Speaker:Well, right now I'm the only one that makes it,
Speaker:so that's a big one.
Speaker:That's intentional.
Speaker:The knowledge lies only with you,
Speaker:but Sarah,
Speaker:what happens if you get sick or something happens?
Speaker:Do you have it written down somewhere and put under lock
Speaker:and key or something like that?
Speaker:Yes. This has changed a little bit in the last year.
Speaker:So when I first got the recipe to where it was
Speaker:and we were still in the kitchen sharing situation,
Speaker:I was the only one that made it and I was
Speaker:the only one that knew how to make it.
Speaker:So if anything happened,
Speaker:then there went the recipe,
Speaker:You're out of luck.
Speaker:I will say at that stage in the game,
Speaker:we were still very,
Speaker:very small.
Speaker:We were selling to stores,
Speaker:but it was still,
Speaker:I hate the term hobby business.
Speaker:I feel like it's so belittling when you're trying to grow
Speaker:something. I had a lot of coaches say,
Speaker:Oh, it's just a hobby.
Speaker:It's just a hobby business.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:well, I really am trying to grow this.
Speaker:This doesn't feel like a hobby to me.
Speaker:This is feels like I'm growing a business.
Speaker:But I do understand that there are other people that for
Speaker:them it is a hobby business for me.
Speaker:The term has always had negative connotations,
Speaker:but that's another thing for me,
Speaker:it makes me look back and say,
Speaker:Oh, just you,
Speaker:wait, I'll be back to you.
Speaker:Yeah, and that's kind of where we're at,
Speaker:to be honest.
Speaker:Yeah. I feel like there's some people I would love to
Speaker:go back to now and say,
Speaker:does it look like a hobby now?
Speaker:But now I got lost on the question now that we
Speaker:got on the side.
Speaker:We were talking about the recipe like that is your golden
Speaker:gem of the business,
Speaker:right? That's the heartbeat of the business.
Speaker:So we were talking about protection,
Speaker:keeping it safe,
Speaker:and I bring it up only because I think specially when
Speaker:you're starting a business and you're starting to have people help
Speaker:you because you're getting the bigger orders and you need help,
Speaker:people may not pay attention to the fact that that needs
Speaker:some protection and safety around it.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:So now that we're in a different situation,
Speaker:a little over a year ago was a huge growth point
Speaker:for Southern Carmel.
Speaker:My dad joined me as a business partner.
Speaker:Yay dad.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:Yay. Dad Knight in shining armor.
Speaker:It was a huge pivotal moment for Southern caramel because I
Speaker:had a recipe,
Speaker:I had a small base of accounts and I really needed
Speaker:that business knowledge.
Speaker:I mean I'm fairly young and I will fully recognize that
Speaker:there's just a lot of things in life that I haven't
Speaker:experienced yet.
Speaker:Give it time.
Speaker:I will.
Speaker:But there's other people that have a lot of experience and
Speaker:have gone through a lot of different businesses,
Speaker:worked a lot of different aspects of different businesses.
Speaker:And my dad is one of those Jack of all trades
Speaker:who's done a lot of things and brought a lot of
Speaker:knowledge to the table.
Speaker:So I had kind of been teasing them for about a
Speaker:year on like,
Speaker:Oh, you need to quit your job and come help me
Speaker:grow Southern Carmel.
Speaker:And everything kind of worked out a little over a year
Speaker:ago for,
Speaker:he was at a point when he said,
Speaker:okay, I will come and help you grow Southern Carmel.
Speaker:And so now that he is on board,
Speaker:I have shared the recipe with him.
Speaker:So if I win the lottery tomorrow and walk away,
Speaker:which I wouldn't,
Speaker:he knows the recipe and he can make that and when
Speaker:we moved into the kitchen than we're in now,
Speaker:we stood side by side and he can make it if
Speaker:I wasn't there.
Speaker:And then we do have everything written down.
Speaker:But it's kind of funny.
Speaker:I purposefully,
Speaker:not everything is written like all in one place,
Speaker:if that makes sense.
Speaker:Oh, I like that.
Speaker:It's like a puzzle you got to know it is.
Speaker:It's kind of all in one notebook.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:I've kind of written it in a way that sometimes there's
Speaker:measurements but not words because I know what the ingredients are.
Speaker:So you might see like two and a half cups of
Speaker:something, but you're like,
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:two and a half cups of what.
Speaker:So if anybody found it and wanted to sell it for
Speaker:a billion dollars,
Speaker:they'd have to decipher it.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Important. Just to recognize that that is the most important part
Speaker:of your business.
Speaker:It is the recipe and you want to protect,
Speaker:especially as you grow,
Speaker:as you get bigger and bigger.
Speaker:And bigger,
Speaker:you have employees who are coming in,
Speaker:et cetera,
Speaker:nondisclosure agreements,
Speaker:noncompete, you know,
Speaker:all that type of thing.
Speaker:But that's not necessarily for today.
Speaker:So. Alright.
Speaker:How are you working towards the holidays now this,
Speaker:I'm imagining it as a big season for you.
Speaker:So what types of things do you start thinking about to
Speaker:make the most of that opportunity as possible?
Speaker:Yeah, great question.
Speaker:Especially in this gifting industry as a whole.
Speaker:I think many listeners can recognize that that started a couple
Speaker:months ago,
Speaker:right? Like we all kind of start planning for the holidays
Speaker:in the summer.
Speaker:I know the summer is slower for many businesses,
Speaker:but for candy it's really slow.
Speaker:So we've tried to structure our business in a way that
Speaker:we have some form of revenue coming 12 months out of
Speaker:the year,
Speaker:even though we blow fourth quarter out of the water because
Speaker:that is caramel season.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:everybody's got a brain,
Speaker:but because summer is a little bit slower,
Speaker:that always gives us an opportunity to really get ready for
Speaker:the holidays and figure out which flavors we're going to offer.
Speaker:Last year,
Speaker:one of our holiday flavors was coffee,
Speaker:which we ended up keeping year round.
Speaker:Yeah. And there's a couple of flavors that were,
Speaker:we made a decision on whether we were going to offer
Speaker:those or not.
Speaker:So fine tuning our holiday lineup on what we're going to
Speaker:do for flavors and then starting to plan for packaging materials.
Speaker:So for us,
Speaker:our raw goods,
Speaker:so we can only order as fast as we go through
Speaker:them. We were a smaller setup so we don't have a
Speaker:huge amount of storage plus the fact that half of our
Speaker:ingredients are cream and butter,
Speaker:you can't like store those forever.
Speaker:Right. So for raw materials,
Speaker:in terms of the ingredients,
Speaker:we can consistently stay on top of ordering that through our
Speaker:supplier during the holidays.
Speaker:But like our boxes or packaging boxes that we use.
Speaker:Not shippers,
Speaker:not like something you'd send ups,
Speaker:but like the actual packaging.
Speaker:That's something that we've started planning for in ordering now,
Speaker:and this is where it gets hard for a small business
Speaker:because every year is better than the year before and fourth
Speaker:quarter, every year is way better than the year before and
Speaker:it's really hard to predict what we're going to sell because
Speaker:we're picking up new customers every single year and not only
Speaker:we're picking up new customers,
Speaker:but new volume because as we're growing,
Speaker:we're able to produce more than we ever have.
Speaker:We just actually last week got a cutting machine and a
Speaker:wrapping machine,
Speaker:so something that's always been done by hand.
Speaker:It's now automated to the fact that we can do more
Speaker:volume than we have ever done before by light years and
Speaker:it really opens up a lot of possibilities,
Speaker:but we're trying to figure it out.
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:we're still kind of having this conversation of what do we
Speaker:need be ordering for the holidays for fourth quarter?
Speaker:Because you're talking about specific holiday themed packaging.
Speaker:Well, I see ours is a little bit different than many
Speaker:other companies out there.
Speaker:I think many listeners probably have holidays specific packaging that whoever
Speaker:your supplier is,
Speaker:you need to start ordering.
Speaker:Our packaging has a lot of personal touches with stamping,
Speaker:like hand stamping,
Speaker:the flavor.
Speaker:We hand tie all the string on our boxes and then
Speaker:we have logo stickers.
Speaker:So the way we differentiate our holiday packaging is simply with
Speaker:a red string instead of a blue string that we normally
Speaker:use and people adore it.
Speaker:They love our packaging.
Speaker:It's a just a Brown box with the red and white
Speaker:candy cane string and it's really,
Speaker:really simple.
Speaker:But it's also something that our customers love.
Speaker:So it's a little bit easier for us because it's not
Speaker:like a printed candy Cade box or you know something was
Speaker:Santa on it or something like that.
Speaker:It's something that we differentiate with the color of the string.
Speaker:So for us,
Speaker:for planning purposes,
Speaker:it's a matter of all of our boxes.
Speaker:Like I already ordered our string for the holidays and I
Speaker:just ordered like twice as much as we went through last
Speaker:year. And then around October,
Speaker:November, I might have more of a feel for what our
Speaker:orders are going to look like and I might need to
Speaker:place a second order.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:But again,
Speaker:you got plan for that.
Speaker:And to be honest,
Speaker:last year,
Speaker:again, a huge growth year for us.
Speaker:It felt like we were constantly running out of stuff.
Speaker:And we're in Florida,
Speaker:one of our suppliers is in California,
Speaker:one's in Ohio,
Speaker:we've got stuff coming from all over the country and it's
Speaker:not just the shipping time to get here,
Speaker:but the lead time on some of those items and one
Speaker:of our boxes,
Speaker:it was on back order,
Speaker:like the whole country,
Speaker:what did this box and it just was on back order
Speaker:over and over and over again.
Speaker:So we kept ordering ahead of what we thought we would
Speaker:need and we kept running out and we'd placed an order
Speaker:in what we thought was enough time.
Speaker:And then they're like,
Speaker:Oh well this is on four week back order or six
Speaker:week back order.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:well, I'm sitting on a couple of thousand of these,
Speaker:but we're going to run out.
Speaker:We need more.
Speaker:Did you have a contingency plan,
Speaker:like a second option box?
Speaker:What do you do?
Speaker:Have a contingency plan.
Speaker:Fortunately, we never had to tap into our supplier was amazing
Speaker:to work with and they actually were able to limit the
Speaker:lead time on one of the line items like they worked
Speaker:with us to where they cut two weeks off and we
Speaker:did work with one of our customers that was ordering thousands
Speaker:a lot.
Speaker:We were able to push it out like a week and
Speaker:that combined with the supplier working with us,
Speaker:we were able to meet the demand,
Speaker:but it was close and everybody was getting rolled.
Speaker:They're nervous and sweating.
Speaker:Gotcha. Okay,
Speaker:so it sounds like you're not having trouble getting customers,
Speaker:that's for sure.
Speaker:Especially with this whole Story around the holidays,
Speaker:but what are you doing then promotionally or with brochures or
Speaker:how are you getting the word out about your holiday line
Speaker:to customers and also prospects?
Speaker:This is one of those things I feel like we're probably
Speaker:a little different from most companies that I'm talking to because
Speaker:we are not putting a lot of money into promotional materials
Speaker:and digital marketing and all of the things that it seems
Speaker:like a lot of companies are investing in to get the
Speaker:word out primarily because they cost a lot of money.
Speaker:It depends on the product and the industry,
Speaker:but we're still like really old school.
Speaker:Just making a prospect list and picking up the phone and
Speaker:calling or following up with emails and it's working.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:like I said,
Speaker:in the age that we're in the digital age,
Speaker:I kind of feel like it's almost stone age prospecting at
Speaker:times because things are just done so differently now,
Speaker:but to be honest,
Speaker:we haven't had a ton of success when we try to
Speaker:switch to,
Speaker:Oh, we're going to put a ton of focus on Instagram
Speaker:or Facebook or whatever it happens to be,
Speaker:we're going to pay for all these ads and what we
Speaker:end up having is a lot of ad dollars with not
Speaker:a lot of customers.
Speaker:I think it's still that personal touch,
Speaker:but still the one on one and for a company to
Speaker:reach out specifically sets you apart,
Speaker:number one and shows that you really care.
Speaker:And I'm guessing that you're prioritizing,
Speaker:like you're starting with the biggest clients and getting them covered.
Speaker:Make sure they're set and then just going down the list.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:Whether it's find a specific industry that pairs well with your
Speaker:product and you've had success with one,
Speaker:whether it's a hotel,
Speaker:it's like,
Speaker:okay, let's go after every hotel in the world.
Speaker:Not really.
Speaker:But if we have had success with hotels,
Speaker:we just start calling sales managers at hotels and saying,
Speaker:Hey, would you use our product for your sales team?
Speaker:Would you put us in your sundry shop at the hotel?
Speaker:And that's just one example of,
Speaker:okay, we've found success here.
Speaker:Let's continue going after more of these.
Speaker:And who's doing that?
Speaker:Is it you or it dad?
Speaker:It's me and my dad.
Speaker:The two of you.
Speaker:Okay. And where we're at the point that we need a
Speaker:sales team.
Speaker:So we've kind of dabbled with a couple of things.
Speaker:We did have a sales person that we had on contract
Speaker:and didn't work out.
Speaker:It was no harm,
Speaker:no foul kind of thing.
Speaker:They just didn't sell anything.
Speaker:Well, you learn,
Speaker:you learn how you're going to set it up and how
Speaker:it's going to work.
Speaker:Right? Right.
Speaker:And I'm not trying to toot my own horn or anything,
Speaker:but we sell really well because this is our baby,
Speaker:this is our product,
Speaker:and we can sell it better than somebody else.
Speaker:But at the same point in the day,
Speaker:we're also cooking and we're also wrapping it and we're boxing
Speaker:it. We're the accounting and we're doing the events.
Speaker:And I mean,
Speaker:I know this is nothing new for everybody listening.
Speaker:I mean you get to the point that you can't do
Speaker:it all.
Speaker:Yeah. So that'll be a new step in the future.
Speaker:Absolutely. Wonderful.
Speaker:Well, it's really exciting to catch you at this point,
Speaker:at this stage in your development because you clearly have traction.
Speaker:You're seeing success,
Speaker:you have a product.
Speaker:Absolutely. That has a unique market.
Speaker:Your messaging is right on and it's exciting and there's so
Speaker:much more growth opportunity moving forward.
Speaker:So that's very exciting.
Speaker:At this point,
Speaker:let me offer you a virtual gift.
Speaker:So this is a magical box of unlimited possibilities for you
Speaker:with Southern Carmel or for you just personally,
Speaker:it doesn't matter.
Speaker:So it's your dream or your goal of almost unreachable Heights
Speaker:that you'd wished to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it right here on this
Speaker:show. What's inside your box?
Speaker:Okay, you're going to laugh,
Speaker:but it's the person I'm ready key.
Speaker:It's something that we'd love really,
Speaker:really bad.
Speaker:It is a buyer for Cracker barrel who will bring us
Speaker:into the gift shops at Cracker barrel.
Speaker:Ooh, love that.
Speaker:I love first off,
Speaker:Sarah, how specific it is because you're going to be able
Speaker:to know,
Speaker:yes, no,
Speaker:this is happening or it isn't.
Speaker:Right. Love it.
Speaker:Love it.
Speaker:Okay. We're putting it out into the universe.
Speaker:This is a law of attraction.
Speaker:Question in disguise.
Speaker:Yeah. If anybody knows someone in Cracker barrel,
Speaker:we're ready.
Speaker:We're ready for you right Then.
Speaker:And how can people connect with you online because they know
Speaker:somebody at Cracker barrel,
Speaker:they need to get in touch with you.
Speaker:How are they going to do that?
Speaker:The best way is probably email,
Speaker:which is,
Speaker:I'm sure you'll,
Speaker:you'll link to it here in the podcast,
Speaker:but it's Sarah with an h@southerncaramel.com
Speaker:Wonderful. And that will be on the show notes page as
Speaker:well as your website,
Speaker:social media links,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:So give biz listeners,
Speaker:you know that you can always go there and resource for
Speaker:every show and this is no different.
Speaker:And your website is Southern caramel.com
Speaker:correct? That is correct.
Speaker:Wonderful. Well thank you so,
Speaker:so much Sarah.
Speaker:This has been absolutely fabulous.
Speaker:As I was just mentioning a second ago,
Speaker:just watching your journey scene where you are seeing how much
Speaker:you've progressed is fabulous and your product is spectacular.
Speaker:So I wish you continued success.
Speaker:Oh, I think so much.
Speaker:So I really appreciate your time today.
Speaker:I really enjoyed this discussion with Sarah and the two big
Speaker:lessons that we covered.
Speaker:First, that initial problems with your product can lead to identifying
Speaker:even more potential.
Speaker:So if this happens to you,
Speaker:adjust your product,
Speaker:don't give up on your big goal.
Speaker:Second is the opportunity.
Speaker:Sarah dives into with local shows in the season.
Speaker:There are craft shows and bazaars all around.
Speaker:No matter where you live.
Speaker:Take advantage of this and if you've never done one before,
Speaker:I challenge you to jump in because if not now when
Speaker:up next week we're switching gears.
Speaker:We're talking to a maker who has a business like no
Speaker:other. I know you're going to enjoy hearing her story and
Speaker:it might just spark some brand new ideas for you,
Speaker:a product we've never covered here before and a journey to
Speaker:get her there like no other tune in next Monday to
Speaker:hear what it's all about and until then make it a
Speaker:great week.
Speaker:Bye for now.
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