Questions

I would like to sell my homemade cookies for the holiday season. Will this strategy for customer acquisition be a viable option?

Planning on dropping off a cookie platter to a few local business to pass out to the employees and leaving a note that I will be back tomorrow to take orders. Was also going to include a link to a youtube video that introduces the cooking staff and our kitchen so people feel comfortable with the product. Which if any of this idea is good business practice and what should be adjusted.

4answers

1. First you need to establish who you are. Your identity. Then you need to create identity for cookies that you are making. What makes them so special? Is there something really different about them? Is it your grandmothers recipe that uses X and Y ingredients?
2. People need to know who you are so you can build that connection to your product.
3. YouTube videos are great to build awareness long as they are not cheesey.
4. I assume you have a website where people could order your cookie?
5. Since you have a Youtube video go down the KickStarter route and acquire customers that way.

The idea of going to local businesses is great but people need to know who is behind the cookies. That connection must be there to make it compelling.

We have cookies ordered to the office for meetings every week. The cookies are good. Do I know who makes them? No, but would I if I knew where it was coming from? Sure.


Answered 9 years ago

I LOVE your entrepreneurial spirit! And your choice to integrate online and offline venues is particularly insightful and refreshing to see.

Your question seems to have 2 parts:
1. Will my current approach work (i.e. be viable)?
and
2. If not what should I change to help make it viable?

For part 1 - will it work? - The answer is... You're going to have to try it and find out.

The reality of ANY business plan is that there is no way to predict with absolute certainty what the outcome will be.

If there was a way to predict outcomes - there would be no "failures".

Consider that over 80% of all product launches fail (within the first several months of launch). This includes companies with resources that have very large financial resources backing them and very smart and experienced people in their marketing department.

That said there are definitely strategies that you can build that may be able to improve your probability of success.

Which leads us to part 2 - what can you adjust?

And the answer is... It depends on what you are trying to accomplish.

Specifically what are your business goals?

There is no way anyone can develop a strategy without knowing what your goals are.

Here are some things to consider:

1. What are your big picture Business Goals?
How much revenue do you need to generate to create an acceptable profit? In other words - how many platters do you have to sell and at what target price per platter to cover all of your costs and generate a collective profit such that the effort is worth taking?

2. For how long will you be doing this? Is this a short term (i.e. holiday season only) business? Or are you launching a year-round cookie platter business? Your goal might be to launch an all out 16+ hour per day 7 days per week effort for several weeks... In which case the strategy would be built on these criteria. For long term goals the strategy might be completely different (i.e. you may wish to build a list so you can make ongoing offers to your customers).

Once you have a better understanding of what you are trying to accomplish - you'll have a much easier time developing a high-probability-of-success strategy.

If you'd like some assistance developing your plan - let's talk.

In any case I wish you massive success!!
Cheers,
David


Answered 9 years ago

I like your direct approach to targeting your first customers. That said, dropping off food is dangerous if you don't have a really good relationship with the businesses already, for obvious reasons.

What would you say is particularly "special" about your cookies? I ask because maybe I can help you come up with some ways to get some more traction out of your efforts.


Answered 9 years ago

I would begin with a question: Why did you choose local businesses as the target market for your cookies? The best tactical approaches to marketing and sales will fail if there is no problem to solve.
Have you spoken with some of the employees to find out if they find that they need a snack to power through the day and experience some difficulty in filling that need? What are they doing now to fill that need? Is it difficult, inconvenient unhealthy or costly? Would they rather take a break and walk 5 minutes to buy one or have it delivered.......
Questions like this might help you identify if there really is a problem worth solving. If there isn't, they won't buy your product even if they like it.


Answered 9 years ago

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