Amelia Rengo Product solicitations to your distributor aren’t difficult or even particularly complex. But they are a critical communication it pays to do right! Luckily, a simple checklist can simplify your process and amplify your sales.
A distributor solicitation is an email or other mailing announcing a future release of a new product to a company that distributes your product to retail stores. Its primary purpose is to supply all the information your distributor needs to list your product for sale to their customers. It also serves to remind your buyer to order product and train their sales reps on your offering before they offer it for sale to their retailer customers.
Nailing your distributor solicitation makes your company stand out, strengthens a critical business relationship, and earns you more money in the long run. Today, we’re sharing a boilerplate punch list you can customize and use for your own industry. (Quick tip: check with your buyer to ensure your list is complete before soliciting your first product.)
Distributor Solicitation Checklist
Your solicitation should include:
- The product’s name
- Two sets of sales copy: one oriented to the distributor’s customers and one to the end user (Consider writing end-user-facing copy with business-to-business selling points the distributor can use to market to their customer.). This can be pulled directly from your sell sheet if your sell sheet includes that text already.
- Package contents and materials or ingredients
- Your company’s stock number for this product
- The product’s ISBN or UPC, plus the barcode in image format
- MSRP (“manufacturer’s suggested retail price,” likely the number your negotiated wholesale price is based on)
- Individual product dimensions, case count, and weight if applicable
- Age rating, safety considerations, testing/certification results, etc.
- Your company’s contact information and website URL
- A link to your product’s sell sheet/spec sheet/line sheet
- A link to relevant photos and images, perhaps hosted in the cloud, which includes:
- A white-background package shot (for detailed packaging, consider both the front and the back)
- A white-background components/contents shot (or multiple)
- The product logo
- Your company logo
- A barcode without price attached (that is, UPC or ISBN only, since some of your distributor’s customers will want to set their own price to suit their store’s customer base, pricing conventions, etc.)
- Any other industry- or distributor-specific information your buyer suggests to you!
Submitting a timely and complete distributor solicitation can mean the difference between easy, recurring sales and years of low-return headaches. As such, it’s crucial to get it right the first time. Remember, your buyer contact is managing hundreds (if not thousands!) of SKUs, and often won’t have time to clarify, correct, or seek out information about your product. Make their job easier, and you’ll be well on your way to selling more wholesale product with less work overall.
Ready to put the best foot forward with your distributor marketing? Whisk and Blend is happy to help with sell sheet copy and design, product photography, and more. Browse our list of services or reach out to discuss your plans.