Misstep #1: private label

You need capital so you provide your product to a retailer as their house, control, or own brand. Now you are a commodity supplier. Now you are no longer building your brand. Now they have you over the barrel since you can (and will!) be replaced for a few pennies less. But yes, it helps your cash flow …for a while.

Instead, build a brand. The reason retailers don’t like brands is because they have power outside their stores. If the brand is hot enough, the retailers have to keep them in stock because their customers are demanding them. And that’s what your acquirer wants.

To read the complete article, please visit The Business Journals 

Who We Are

Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey co-authored the New York Times bestselling business book, The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand. The book has been selected as recommended reading in the CEO Library for CEO Forum, the C-Suite Book Club, and numerous university classes on business and entrepreneurship. It chronicles their humble beginnings from the laundry room of a rented Sonoma County farmhouse to the board room of E&J Gallo, who ultimately acquired their brand and engaged them as brand consultants. Barefoot is now the world’s largest wine brand.

Beginning with virtually no money and no wine industry experience, they employed innovative ideas to overcome obstacles, create new markets and forge strategic alliances. They pioneered Worthy Cause Marketing and performance-based compensation. They built an internationally bestselling brand and received their industry’s “Hot Brand” award for several consecutive years.

They offer their Guiding Principles for Success (GPS) to help entrepreneurs become successful. Their book, The Entrepreneurial Culture: 23 Ways To Engage and Empower Your People, helps corporations maximize the value of their human resources.

Currently they travel the world leading workshops, trainings, & keynoting at business schools, corporations, conferences. They are regular media guests and contributors to international publications and professional journals. They are C-Suite Network Advisors & Contributing Editors. Visit their popular brand building site at www.consumerbrandbuilders.com.

To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.

The post 5 Missteps and Remedies for Building a Consumer Packaged Goods Brand from Ground Zero appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

We are often approached by young folks who ask us, “What business should I go into?” – as if there was the realm of all possibilities. We assume by this question that these folks have not decided to “follow their passion.” So we talk with them about how most business opportunities present themselves as solutions to problems they are personally experiencing.

“Why hasn’t anyone done this yet?” might be their first reaction. And this is where many wantrepreneurs stop. They don’t do the research to find out why. Perhaps someone else did think about it but was unable to make a profit or get it into circulation. Many great ideas are collecting dust in warehouses somewhere because they may have solved the problem, but they were unable to solve the distribution challenges.

Many young folks spend too much time perfecting their product while grossly underestimating what it will take to get it in the marketplace. They tend to take distribution management for granted. Their idea is so good, it will distribute itself! Not!

The Challenges of Selling Online

Many think that they can “just sell it online, avoid the middleman and go directly to the customer.” They might, but then they face several challenges that are generally overlooked:

First, they are making their idea and the market for it highly public before they have amassed even a small war chest to protect their idea. This opens the door to copycats who already enjoy a war chest and already have secured access to the bricks and mortar stores. They can achieve instant market penetration and outlast you in court.

Second, online sales are a race to the bottom price-wise. The first thing your customer will do is check for a lower price. Never mind that yours is the original, and never mind that yours is of high quality. They can’t physically feel it and compare it to others in a tactile way. They must buy on picture only and so price becomes the major differentiator.

Third, because you are selling onesies and twosies, direct to consumer, you will never get a big check for a massive volume from a major retailer. So you won’t be able to compete with competitors who will benefit from quantity discounts for substantial purchases.

The good news is that anybody can sell online. The bad news is that your risk of failure is much greater.

So, our answer to “What business should I go into?”

“Choose one that you can achieve distribution with.” We strongly advise a careful study of the distribution system for your great idea, even before you finish it. Why waste your time if you can’t get it to market?

We suggest you engage someone who has already successfully navigated the distribution system for your kind of product. You may be surprised to hear what they might have done differently, now that they know what was required.

A distribution advisor can save you tons of money, time, and anguish. They don’t cost, they pay!

As advisors ourselves in this critical area of business success, we caution against growing faster than you can support the cost of sales. We advise our clients to test out distribution for their great idea in a small area to discover what they really will be required to do in a larger area. That education will determine their strategy for success. And isn’t that the whole idea? Not just coming up with a great solution, but actually getting it out there and keeping it out there?

So, go into a business for which you understand the distribution. Then you can solve a problem, and we can all thank you by buying it!

Who We Are

Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey co-authored the New York Times bestselling business book, The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand. The book has been selected as recommended reading in the CEO Library for CEO Forum, the C-Suite Book Club, and numerous university classes on business and entrepreneurship. It chronicles their humble beginnings from the laundry room of a rented Sonoma County farmhouse to the board room of E&J Gallo, who ultimately acquired their brand and engaged them as brand consultants. Barefoot is now the world’s largest wine brand.

Beginning with virtually no money and no wine industry experience, they employed innovative ideas to overcome obstacles, create new markets and forge strategic alliances. They pioneered Worthy Cause Marketing and performance-based compensation. They built an internationally bestselling brand and received their industry’s “Hot Brand” award for several consecutive years.

They offer their Guiding Principles for Success (GPS) to help entrepreneurs become successful. Their book, The Entrepreneurial Culture: 23 Ways To Engage and Empower Your People, helps corporations maximize the value of their human resources.

Currently they travel the world leading workshops, trainings, & keynoting at business schools, corporations, conferences. They are regular media guests and contributors to international publications and professional journals. They are C-Suite Network Advisors & Contributing Editors. Visit their popular brand building site at www.consumerbrandbuilders.com.

To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.

The post What Business Should I Go Into? appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

Every week there’s a new story about another successful entrepreneur who has disrupted their industry and made a billion. But that’s not even half the story. The tabloids are quick to pander to your desire to see all things new and reward the game changers. It sells magazines!

The fact is that behind every one of those disrupting game-changers is a story of pushback from the buyers, tons of missionary work, and years of not being taken seriously.

And, why should they take you seriously?

Your ideas have never been tested in the marketplace. No one wants to be the first retailer to take a chance on an unproven idea. Besides, they have their tried and true products that have been regularly producing profits for them. Why should they risk losing their go-to brands, the ones they know, the ones that are already in demand?

To read the complete article, please visit The Business Journals 

Who We Are

Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey co-authored the New York Times bestselling business book, The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand. The book has been selected as recommended reading in the CEO Library for CEO Forum, the C-Suite Book Club, and numerous university classes on business and entrepreneurship. It chronicles their humble beginnings from the laundry room of a rented Sonoma County farmhouse to the board room of E&J Gallo, who ultimately acquired their brand and engaged them as brand consultants. Barefoot is now the world’s largest wine brand.

Beginning with virtually no money and no wine industry experience, they employed innovative ideas to overcome obstacles, create new markets and forge strategic alliances. They pioneered Worthy Cause Marketing and performance-based compensation. They built an internationally bestselling brand and received their industry’s “Hot Brand” award for several consecutive years.

They offer their Guiding Principles for Success (GPS) to help entrepreneurs become successful. Their book, The Entrepreneurial Culture: 23 Ways To Engage and Empower Your People, helps corporations maximize the value of their human resources.

Currently they travel the world leading workshops, trainings, & keynoting at business schools, corporations, conferences. They are regular media guests and contributors to international publications and professional journals. They are C-Suite Network Advisors & Contributing Editors. Visit their popular brand building site at www.consumerbrandbuilders.com.

To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.

The post The Trouble with Disruption appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

Transparency is what the brand stands for, its authenticity, its identification with higher values, and the actions it takes to demonstrate those values.

When companies subscribe to a higher order of value, beyond the products they sell, they have an advantage in today’s marketplace. Employees excel, and tend to stay with these companies, providing long-term relationships with retail buyers, customers and complementary organizations.

 The Culture of Customer Service

At the time Barefoot Wine was founded, the business model was considered radical. The founders viewed it as more of a “service” rather than merely a product. At Barefoot’s price point, which we termed the “velocity price point”, it was clear that it could not survive without becoming “America’s Personal House Wine”. From the beginning, it was understood that it had to sell massive quantities to stay in business.

“Personal House Wine” was defined as the wine one serves in one’s own house as a staple: “Tuesday night wine, picnic wine, beach wine”. It was the wine to always keep on hand. It was the brand you discovered that consistently delivered the quality and value you had come to expect from your own “personal house wine”.

The company knew that customers (“foot fans”) would be loyal to the brand as long as the price remained stable (at the velocity price point), the taste profile was consistent (delicious), and it was available and easy to buy (in stock).

The original Barefoot culture wa based on the most comprehensive definition of customer service. Imagine a company that, through worthy cause promotions, encouraged customers to go into specific retail establishments to buy their brand. Imagine a company that viewed its displays as retail entertainment, adding color, fun, and theme sets for the enjoyment of its customers! This is the ultimate in customer service to your retailer, your end-user, and to your community.

The Culture of Acknowledgement

People are motivated by goal achievement, but also by public recognition. It not only validates their creativity, but it send a message to the rest of the troops that this type of behavior is not only appreciated, but also identified and exemplified.

Appreciation goes a long way toward building team spirit and encouraging everyone on the team to be creative in a productive and fun way. They know that top management and their teammates will recognize their achievement and are not afraid to speak up about it. They are encouraged to create imaginative promotions and fun events.

Public acknowledgement, especially in written form, circulated to all staff, is validation. Employees want to know that they are contributing, and that their efforts are being appreciated. Third party validation from managers, peers, customers, associates and non-profits builds confidence to go out and do more of the same, or better! It also give your people an appreciation of what their team mates are doing to improve everybody’s circumstances.

Positive company culture is the foundation of company success. It reduces turnover, improves morale, cooperation and overall team spirit, all of which result in increased imagination and productivity.  Next time we will examine the culture of Common Causes.

Who We Are

Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey co-authored the New York Times bestselling business book, The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand. The book has been selected as recommended reading in the CEO Library for CEO Forum, the C-Suite Book Club, and numerous university classes on business and entrepreneurship. It chronicles their humble beginnings from the laundry room of a rented Sonoma County farmhouse to the board room of E&J Gallo, who ultimately acquired their brand and engaged them as brand consultants. Barefoot is now the world’s largest wine brand.

Beginning with virtually no money and no wine industry experience, they employed innovative ideas to overcome obstacles, create new markets and forge strategic alliances. They pioneered Worthy Cause Marketing and performance-based compensation. They built an internationally bestselling brand and received their industry’s “Hot Brand” award for several consecutive years.

They offer their Guiding Principles for Success (GPS) to help entrepreneurs become successful. Their book, The Entrepreneurial Culture: 23 Ways To Engage and Empower Your People, helps corporations maximize the value of their human resources.

Currently they travel the world leading workshops, trainings, & keynoting at business schools, corporations, conferences. They are regular media guests and contributors to international publications and professional journals. They are C-Suite Network Advisors & Contributing Editors. Visit their popular brand building site at www.consumerbrandbuilders.com.

To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.

The post Positive Company Culture is critical to Growth and Survival – Part 2 appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.