What's the best way to find new business in the field?

I'm an SDE in Field Sales for confectionery. Think of it like something along the lines of a rep from a company in the likes of Mars, visiting convenience stores and petrol stations getting them to order confectionery-biscuits-mints.


I have my own callfile of ~120 stores. I know them all by now.


As a general requirement, the company would want all reps to find new business in order to advance for a promotion.


So I've been thinking, what's the best way to qualify some local chains of sandwich shops or leisure centres to see if they can stock confectionery? ๐Ÿค”


I've done cold calling in the past, maybe I should get some dialling in to speak to the best person?


Any advice?

๐Ÿ”Ž Prospecting
๐Ÿ‘‘ Sales Strategy
โ˜‘๏ธ Qualification Calls
10
hh456
Celebrated Contributor
7
sales
Do you have any friends? Do you want to pimp them out for like a BigMac meal?

1 - Have your friends go to new stores you want business in. Have them ask for your specific product by name. Have maybe 3-4 ask over the course of a week. Make sure you identify the decision maker and they ask him/her when they're working the register.

2 - Do your drop in a couple days after offering to sell your product with previously said brand name. Say how you guys just started a marketing campaign in the area and are seeing some demand, want to see if you could schedule a meeting to see if their display allows the stocking of confectionery.

3 - ?????

4 - Profit.
UrAssIsSaaS
Arsonist
4
SaaS Eater
Just start pounding the pavement. Find areas where there is a high concentration of your target marketing and start knocking on doors and see what you come up with.ย 
emerge.life
Valued Contributor
1
Field Sales Development Executive
I might have to deal with the old "who's the dm here and when's the best time to speak to them" situation ๐Ÿค”ย 
UrAssIsSaaS
Arsonist
2
SaaS Eater
Isn't that part of being an effective salesperson?ย 

My old team sold in person to restaurants and had to deal with this as well, get good at making nice with gatekeepers and its a non issue.ย 
SaaSguy
Tycoon
3
Account Executive
Ask for referral's from your 120 stores. Even if 1 or 2 of the 120 can make an introduction or point you in the right direction it can lead to some new business.ย 
emerge.life
Valued Contributor
1
Field Sales Development Executive
Maybe they'd know someone around town and might introduce me, I'll keep that in mind, thank you
Justatitle
Big Shot
2
Account Executive
As much as walking into stores cold and trying to sell something sucks It seems like the route to go here. Additionally similar to the way drug dealers work can you give stores their first box for free and let them sell it to see if there is a demand and therefore be willing to order from you?ย 
emerge.life
Valued Contributor
1
Field Sales Development Executive
The first box free sounds like a good deal, however I wouldn't have the allowance to do this. Unless I pay out of pocket, which might work out maybe for a few stores...
Justatitle
Big Shot
1
Account Executive
If you have to pay for it then itโ€™s a no. Old school walk ins are probably the way to go IMO
cw95
Politicker
1
Sales Development Lead
Cold call the parent group of said stores - lots of service stations will be owned by a big group - call them and see what they suggest and you also may be able to bag a bigger slice than an individual visit. If youโ€™re in the UK I can give you a very vague parent company to try (Iโ€™ll give you a clue so itโ€™s not going against the rules on here in response haha)
emerge.life
Valued Contributor
2
Field Sales Development Executive
Yes I'm in the UK, that sounds good ๐Ÿ‘ ๐Ÿ˜€ย 
cw95
Politicker
1
Sales Development Lead
Donโ€™t know if Iโ€™ll get told off for this but it rhymes with Pluro Marraiges
Diablo
Politicker
1
Sr. AE
Hey man when I was in CPG (not in N.America), I use to ask my rep to meet the prospects in person and stock their shop. Pay as you sell approach when we were penetrating with good margin. As we started to pick up, we changed terms slowly and they accepted it because demand for created.
justatopproducer
Politicker
1
VP OF SALES -US
Check out reference USA. Itโ€™s free with a library card in most counties. You can sort/filter companies by sic or naics codes, size, date of Inc. etc. Also, you may already know this but the friends i know that own similar type of businesses that usually is a family business. You may hit up your current clients for referrals to others that own/run the same business. Just a thought, hope this helps!
emerge.life
Valued Contributor
1
Field Sales Development Executive
That sounds good, I will give it a try. We might have something similar in the UK
Flippinghubs
Opinionated
1
Account Executive
sadly, linkedinย 
emerge.life
Valued Contributor
1
Field Sales Development Executive
Ouch
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