We are gonna take a little time this week to shout out to some of the team members that make Marlo’s Bakeshop run like a well-oiled machine (er, sometimes). Since the company started, we have evolved to a staff of four from a lonely one at the beginning. It may seem counterintuitive to hire people when cash is tight but what I’ve learned is that sometimes you just have to expand the team and get people to help you out, even if you know you could learn to do something yourself; there just simply isn’t enough time in the day or days in the week to accomplish everything you need to do for a small business. And more hands means more free time for me to focus on the revenue driving side of the business i.e. sales!
One example is hiring people to help me conduct in-store demonstrations (i.e. demos). These are 3-4 hours windows in which we will setup shop in one of our customers’ stores and hand out product samples in the hopes that people like what they’ve tasted and decide to buy it. This is one of the most effective sales drivers and so it’s critical that we have the manpower to demo in as many stores as possible within the first month to two months of sales there.
In southern CA we use a marketing company that has a whole roster of demo professionals that help us out but up here in northern CA we like to keep it a bit more personal since it’s our own backyard. Via another industry food professional (always look for good folks within your network!)I was introduced to and started working with Justin. He is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable brand ambassador for Marlo’s Bakeshop who works hard on both weeknights and weekends to get our cookies in the hands of customers all over the Bay Area. Justin has traveled up to two hours in every direction from San Francisco to conduct in-store demos and does a phenomenal job telling people the brand’s story, about our various flavor profiles and encouraging them to take a box of biscotti home with them.
Justin is an invaluable team member of Marlo’s Bakeshop and is a demo pro! Thanks, Justin for all that you do and keep up the great work!
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