Tastes Good, Not Like a Mummy

After a recent sojourn in Death Valley, Ca. my wife Pamela and I were tooling the rental car through rural Nevada when we saw the large, hand-lettered sign:  ELK JERKY FREE SAMPLES.  Talk about four words you don’t expect to see together.

After about a half mile, there on the side of the road outside of Pahrump was a red pickup truck parked next to what looked like a plywood fruit-stand kind of display.  I pulled off the road onto the dusty, gravelly shoulder.  What can only be described as a geezer (not a galoot mind you) stirred in the cab of the pickup as his dog, an improbable tiny thing with a bow in its hair, yapped frantically at us.

He had a big grin as he slid out of the truck and strolled towards me as I approached the display.  He extended his hand and proclaimed, “I’m John.  I make jerky with my son Doug.  We call it John and Doug’s jerky.  What’s your name?”

We chatted for a while and I learned that he lived about 600 miles away in Utah, that he and Doug hunt and process what they sell, that he does this for fun, and would I like to try his wares.  He had all manner of jerky: beef, buffalo, deer, and elk in a wide variety of flavors.  He had some that was smoked, some with teriyaki flavoring, some with various peppers.  He sliced off chunks and as he handed them to me to try he’d pause so I could concentrate on the samples.  Then he’d quiz me about how each one tasted, how did it compare to the previous piece, was it better or worse than what I’d had in the past.

In between tastes I got the pitch: $12 for one pack, $11 if I bought two, and $10 for ten packs.  Assort them any way you please.  Also he had his phone number on the label, call if you want more and he’d ship it.

I’m no jerky expert, far from it.  But this stuff didn’t have the texture of leather.  And it was pliable and dare I say it, a little moist.  It was not like that stuff you find in a highway rest stop that makes you think you’re gnawing on a mummy.  It was quite good with  subtle flavors that were not overpowered by the spices.  I bought a few packs.

We said our goodbyes and off we went.  And as we drove towards civilization (Las Vegas?) it occurred to me that John had retail and salesmanship down cold:  He greeted his customers, engaged, them, described his products’ features and benefits, listened to his customers, was generous with samples, had adequate inventory, priced his merchandise reasonably, and had ample free parking.  And while I can’t say for sure, I will go out on a limb and bet you a pack of jerky that he did not have an MBA from Wharton.

The Nexus of Want and Need

She wanted to know how much molybdenum was used in the construction of the knife.  “It’s important that I know that,” she said, “along with the amount of carbon, chromium and nickel.”

I was helping out at one of my accounts during a sales event and had gotten cornered by a consumer.  I was there to help sell my line of gadgets.  I not only didn’t have a knife line to sell, but I didn’t even know that much about this particular manufacturer of knives.  I mentally reached back to my buyer days, trying to recall construction details, metal types, as well as features and benefits of various shaped blades.  I didn’t have an answer for her so I figured I’d stall for time.  “What is it that you are trying to do with a knife?” I asked.  “What are you cutting?  What are you cooking?  Do you have some special prep needs?”

She looked uncertain and replied, “I just need knives for general cutting.  You know, like cooking.  I heard that molybdenum is important.”

And there you have it: Cooking has gone from preparing nourishing food on a daily basis, to a part time hobby, and finally to the acquisition of food related hardware for no real purpose other than to “have the best.”

I wonder sometimes what our responsibility is in the manufacturing, wholesaling, and retailing of housewares.  Many of us in this business are here because of our love for food, its preparation, and all that is connected in sharing food and good times with families and friends.  Some of us slowly got dragged into that mindset after being part of the industry for a while.  And some of us (though I believe the smallest, probably most delusional group) are in this business for the amazing wealth, power, and fame it generates.  Is it our responsibility to tell someone that they don’t need a $200 plus chef’s knife for cutting their peanut butter sandwich in two?  Or should we play along and just load them up with whatever they can afford; skills or necessities be damned?

Sales has always been a challenging profession.  We walk a thin line that straddles selling what is needed and selling what is wanted.  Often those two sides don’t meet.  Sales, and its mirrored twin buying, are activities whose final decisions are dictated by emotions as well as concrete needs.  The best we sales folk can do is to know our products, freely offer the benefits of a purchase, openly address the negatives should they come up, and generally attempt to help that buyer make a good choice.

And the buyer, whether a retailer or a consumer?  Read, learn, educate yourself, listen to other opinions, and don’t hesitate to question your own motives for making a purchase.

How ya been? How’s business? How long you staying?

Those questions repeated hundreds of times in rapid-fire mode can only mean one thing:  Show time!  Yes, it’s time for the summer edition of the New York International Gift Fair.
If you’re attending please swing by Sagaform (booth 3463), Pillivuyt, Marlux, Nogent, and Cornishware (booth 3440), and GreenSmart (booth 8249) and take a look at all the new merchandise that will be available for the fall.

Now that the formalities are out of the way I wanted to touch on the recent news about the dimwit who quit his job with a flourish by popping the slide on that JetBlue flight from Pittsburgh.  Yes he was (seemingly) disgruntled and his exit did have a certain panache, but calling him a hero?  Really?  I don’t know a lot about aviation but from where I sit Captain Sullenberger was a hero.  This guy just went batshit crazy.

So as you contemplate unending days in unending aisles, over-priced refreshments, crowds of buyers, lines for busses and cabs, and of course heat and humidity; think about the things that set you off.  What two or three thing just make you want to grab a beer and go down the slide?

Here’s a few that we’ve heard….

Folks who leisurely meander through the aisles (or a booth) while chatting away obliviously on their phone.

Buyers with no pens, no business cards, no references.

Salespeople glumly slumped in chairs who can’t get up to greet a buyer.

Annoying?  You bet!  But not worth dramatic lunacy.  When it all becomes too much just do what I do:  Look for a booth with a bowl of candy and make your move.

Tales from the Sales Prevention Department

I like barbeque.  I like eating it and I like cooking it.  I like to smoke turkey legs, briskets, and ribs.  When I got started about 10 years ago it was a bit of a chore to find a good smoker and an even bigger chore to find a consistent supply of wood to use for smoking.  Backyard smoking just wasn’t a big category here on Long Island and retailers were few and far between.

As the years have gone by there are smokers available at the big box home centers and, for a short period in the late spring and early summer, lots of choices of smoking wood.  But once you get past the Fourth of July, the big retailers don’t reorder merchandise.  If you need a quantity of hickory, well, good luck.  And that is the exact predicament I found myself in a few weeks ago as I started to lay in supplies for 30-guest, early August rib-fest.  We’re smoking 12 large racks of ribs over 2 days and I figured we’d need around 40 pounds of hickory for the 2 day smoking session.

I checked with the usual suspects and no stock was to be found.  What was left in the outdoor departments was a shabby assortment of grills, open boxes of grill covers, and assorted spatulas and tongs.  Hickory?  Long gone and they had to make way for the snow-blowers.  So off I went to a local specialty retailer of grills, grill parts, and propane.  The store also features rubs and marinades as well as a 10 foot long wall display of hickory, apple, mesquite, and other smoking woods.  All in 5 pound bags retailing for $9.95 each.  I asked if they carried larger bags and was told no, this was it.  I asked if I could get a better price if I bought 10 bags and was told no, that’s the price, take it or leave it.

Well, I’m not the kind of guy to drop nearly 100 bucks on wood only to set it on fire so I left the store and headed to the web.  A quick search of Ebay and I found someone in Vermont who offered to ship 50 pounds of hickory chunks for $55.00.  4 days later UPS dropped the box at my front door.

Here’s the point: There are still too many retailers who haven’t adapted to the fact that their local consumers have easy choices way beyond their zipcodes.  Just a slight shift in store policy would have closed the sale.  Working on a slightly lower margin for one sale could have turned dollars and kept a customer.

To Sell or to Use? That is the Question

It was the early 80’s and I was a buyer for a company that owned department stores all across the US.  I was in charge of the tabletop area, specifically  the china department, silver (flatware), and all the crystal and glassware.  Or as the Bronx-ite clerical in the office would answer the phone, “Chiner, Silvuh, and Glaaas.”

The Hunt brothers were making a play to corner the international silver market (look it up, great story) and silver sales were through the roof.  One item you couldn’t get enough of were tea sets.  Yes, those ornate sets which included a tea pot, coffee pot, sugar bowl, creamer, and a serving tray.  Sterling, silverplate, baroque, plain, it didn’t matter.  The public wanted them.  Having never in my life ever seen one in actual use (except in the movies) I wondered aloud who on earth really used these things.  A grizzled buyer in the office simply said, “Those are to sell, not to use.”  A retail life-lesson learned.

Over the years we have had the chance to represent dozens and dozens of lines and items. The concept of items to sell versus items to use has always been part of the decision-making process that is utilized when evaluating new products.  Sometimes, carrying saleable but not necessarily useable items seems like a good idea:  They could be part of a fad, be wildly popular, and ultimately churn dollars.  The downside is often limited popularity and heavy markdowns for the unsold product.  Perhaps the biggest downside risk is your credibility with your customer.  Just as you are what you eat, you are often what you sell.  And that’s true for both the wholesaler and the retailer.

The Language of Commerce

Every industry has its jargon.  Whether it is abbreviations, short-hand, specialized technical terms, or simple agreements about usage, jargon often is used to get a message across in a quick and concise manner.
 
Sometimes jargon helps us decide whether someone is truly in the industry, has experience, or is completely new to the situation.  A long time back I entered this industry as an assistant buyer for A&S in Brooklyn.  One of the first meetings I sat in on was with a manufacturer of high-end dinnerware.  I referred to one of the new patterns being introduced as “really nice dishes.”  I was glared at by the manufacturer’s sales manager and told in no uncertain terms that this was DINNERWARE, not dishes.
 
Over the years I’ve learned that it’s cookware, not pots and pans; flatware, not forks and knives; and drinkware, not glasses.
 
I’ve learned, accepted, and used buzzwords like “fashion forward,” “impact statement,” “cross-merchandising,” and the one that just won’t die, “sales associate.”
 
Now I’m not a stodgy, old fashioned-guy who gets worked up by the inevitable evolution of jargon.  Language is a living and breathing thing.  Words come in and out of style, usage changes over time, and grammar often adapts to usage.  I get it.  But the one word that sets my teeth on edge, a word that seems to have come into fashion in the last year or two is….curate.  As in “We are curating our assortment of spatulas,” or “We are going to curate our fall selection of beer glasses so our associates can better aid our guests with their purchases.”
 
Sorry, but I just can’t keep quiet about this one.  As much as I like and respect our industry you simply cannot convince me that buying master cartons of gadgets, serving bowls, water bottles, or oval bakers is the same as curating an exhibit of 19th -century French impressionists at the Met.
 
Can’t we just bring back “buy”?  Please?  If someone would only drive a stake through this word and stop this pompous nonsense I’ll promise not to giggle every time I use the word “associate.”

Wherein Your Correspondent Attempts to Slap Around the Gray Lady (The NY Times)

So I’m home not even 24 hours when I pick up Wednesday’s NY Times to read a review of the Housewares Show.  I nearly choked on my Grape Nuts as I scanned the article focusing on the preponderance of small electrics with “fast food settings.”  It seems that microwaves with settings for store-bought cookie dough and frozen pizzas foretell the destruction of our civilization as we know it. “Expensive knives…and canning equipment” are “popular in some circles…But the big money is made selling appliances designed on the assumption that cooking skill matters less than shopping skill.”

Nary a mention of the rapidly growing range of green products and initiatives: cutting boards and accessories made of sustainable woods, more bamboo than ever before, water bottles and food-storage items made without BPA, insulating items made from recycled plastics, nonstick cookware made without PPFA or PFOA, improved manufacturing techniques that are cleaner and more energy efficient.

A lot of these trends weren’t around several years back but are now not only helping to increase sales but also positively impacting the manufacturing end as well. 

As a long time attendee of the Housewares Show, I see this broad change as the trend.  The fact is, small electrics have always thrived on wild gadgeteering and some unusual and even innovative developments.  If it’s got an electrical cord, the profit margin is minuscule, perhaps even  nonexistent.  A basic item such as a microwave or a toaster is often the same despite its manufacturer.  So segmentation is needed not only for the product but also for the mega-retailers that will be selling the nearly identical products to the consumer.  It’s really more about product differentiation than product development.  Hence the article’s featured toaster with built-in egg poacher.

It’s always been this way in small electrics and probably won’t change.  From where I sit, it’s a nonstory. 
Writing about tricked-out toasters, making snarky remarks about “the farm-to-table ethos,” and quoting Good Housekeeping and ConAgra is lazy journalism.  Looking into the nonelectric categories that are definitely growing in this economy requires hard research and lots of questions.  I submit that much of today’s preference for green products has been a bottom-to-top movement.  One where consumers and independent store owners have made purchasing decisions that have pushed suppliers to make some real and significant changes.  And if you walked the South building at McCormick it was all there to see.

Where You’ll Find Us

The reality for the manufacturer’s representative at a trade show is this:  Some accounts don’t want to be locked in to an appointment and choose to drop in to your booths as they pass by.  Others want to adhere to a strict schedule and prefer to meet you at a specific place and time.  Working out all the details so you can see everyone in a few short days becomes just a little less complicated than juggling chainsaws:  If everything goes right you look like a real hero…if you slip up, chaos and messiness is sure to ensue.

That being said, here’s a list of our manufacturer’s booths, all in the south building.  Swing by and there’s a reasonable chance that you’ll bump into me as I’m coming or going.

Sagaform 1460

Out of the Woods of Oregon 1469

Thermos 2443

Marinex 3225

GreenSmart 3649

Pillivuyt 3851

Chef’s Planet 4410

Buzz: Real or Imagined?

In a few short days the Chicago Housewares Show will be opening.  I’ve been attending this extravaganza for, GASP, about thirty years.  Yes there have been a lot of changes and no I’m not going to go on a rant about them.  There was one change however that made a difference for me: It was when the Housewares gods moved the show from January to March.  The stress of hoping one’s travel plans would not be wrecked by blizzards and sub-zero temperatures was certainly ratcheted down a few notches.
 
The “good show” phenomenon still exists.  As in, “Do you think it’ll be a good show?” “Are you having a good show?”  Did you have a good show?”  This year I’m hearing from a lot of folk that they think this WILL be a good show.  And that’s from both manufacturers and retailers.  The cynics believe that the show will be a success because retailers have finally run out of merchandise.  The rational thinkers believe that nothing could be as bad as last year.  And a startlingly large segment of participants speak of a vague “positive vibe that seems to be in the air.”
 
There’s about a million reasons why a sunny outlook in these troubled times can be dismissed.  So when our manufacturers and accounts decide to be gutsy and buck the trends, it’s time to sit up and take notice. I’ll take the optimism wherever it comes from. 

An Introduction....

When I was a kid growing up in Queens, NY, I had a buddy Steve down the street whose dad was a cookie rep.  Yes, a cookie rep.  Steve’s old man represented different bakeries around the city and sold their baked goods to restaurants, delis, whatever.
 
After school we would be playing stoop ball or box ball on the sidewalk in front of his house and Steve’s dad would come walking home from the bus stop, lugging this big, black wheeled case.  He’d wearily enter the house, remove his coat, glance at us and say, “If you guys want a snack, I got some cookies inside the sample case.”  And then he’d turn, go to the kitchen, and grab a can of Rheingold Beer.  And as Steve and I rummaged about inside the sample case, opening boxes, pawing through crumbs, we’d hear his dad cursing in the kitchen as he looked for a can opener.
 
I thought Steve’s dad had one of the coolest jobs around.  And no, that did not set me on a course to be a rep.  I wanted to be an astronaut.  When that didn’t work out I became a rep.
 
My current sample case can take the form of a briefcase, a duffel bag, or a backpack.  It’s often jammed with notes, catalogs, porcelain bakers, cooking gadgets, water bottles, and all manner of kitchen and tabletop items.  (There are often cookie crumbs in there as well.) 
 
When I meet with an account I like to bring more than samples:  creative ideas, special offers, insight, industry news, a bit of fun, and perhaps some cookies.  And that is exactly what this blog will try to bring to you.  Except for the cookies…unless you have one of those new USB cookie dispensers plugged in.