Part of ABARTA Beverage
East plan for 2013 was an emphasis on growing our very profitable IC (immediate
consumption) business. This
volume is not affected by competitive pricing but rather is affected more by
increasing space, improving distribution and correct product and brand
mix. It brings consistent
dividends and always pays us back for our efforts.
Our tactic to improve our
IC business was somewhat basic. We
wanted to increase our space within existing accounts which we called our Plus
+1 program (increasing our space by 1 more door to whatever we have) and get
new outlets to sell our brands.
A success story we have to
tell was with our OPAM (On Premise Account Manager) representative, Jeremy
Neill. While Jeremy
was prospecting in Kennett Square, PA, he walked into an account called Enzo’s
Pizza and made a discovery. This particular account has been with “Brand X” for
over 21 years and has 3 locations. Two
of them are in CCR’s territory and the other in ours. On his call, he
discovered the “Brand X” cooler was empty. As
many of you can imagine, for a Sales rep, this is a beautiful situation to walk
into if handled correctly!
Jeremy immediately went
into “discover mode” with the account, and during his conversations with the
manager, realized this was an on going problem.
Jeremy was then given the
number to the owner who was at another store. Jeremy explained that he would be
happy to fill up the cooler for him if “Brand X” was not. The owner gave the ok
and we sent product in the next day for cash. This went on for about 3 weeks
until the owner finally agreed to switch.
Estimated sales for the
account will be roughly 500 to 600 cases with over 3k in gross profit.
If you’re on the street
sourcing new accounts, good things happen even with “Brand X’s” help. See
pictures, it tells the full story.
John Iafolla,
Sales Director
Chester County
Chester County
