Jan 14, 2020
Retail Food Buyer Pitch Meeting #3: Be A Good Partner
The Retail Perspective: The Retail Food Buyer Pitch Meeting
Recap: The more we know about what food buyers are looking for in a vendor partner, the better we are at helping our clients. We conducted over 25 in-depth retail food buyer interviews and surveyed several thousand more for my book: Moving Your Brand Up the Food Chain. The buyers were from all size stores, big chains to small independents.
Picking up from:
What is the number one thing buyers are looking for from suppliers?
What does the right partner look like? Good partners look for ways to help each other. Look at these answers. They speak to several facets of good 
partnerships.
As part of your selling story, can you talk about any partnerships you have with current customers? For instance, can you show (as in data) how you help consumers buy your product once it’s on the shelf? If you don’t have data yet, share your marketing plan or social media programming.
Additionally, how your product can help create a more competitive POG? Can you show a history of shipping or in stocks with current clients?
A Pro Tip: The right business partner knows the priorities of the other partner. The food buyer already knows you want to sell your product at the best price possible. Learn what you can about your buyer’s sales expectations, or other priorities and goals with their POG and make that a central talking point.
The Key Takeaway: Be a Good Partner
If you have any questions or would like to talk more about your retail food buyer pitch meeting or what it takes to be a good partner, please reach out to the NewPoint team. If you are interested in more food marketing topics, please visit our Food for Thought page or check out NewPoint’s Patrick Nycz’s book: Moving Your Brand Up the Food Chain.
