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Why You Need to Host a Food Broker Partner Summit
“Forget champagne and caviar – Taste the world instead!”
Importance of Samples for Your Food Broker:
- Tangible Experience: Samples allow brokers to experience your product firsthand, helping them understand its taste, texture, and quality. This personal encounter enables them to speak about the product more authentically to potential buyers.
- Product Familiarity: Brokers need to be well-versed in your product’s attributes. Sampling ensures they can answer questions, address concerns, and share the product’s unique selling points accurately.
- Effective Selling: Brokers armed with samples can conduct cuttings, demonstrations, and tastings that resonate with decision makers. A delicious sample can sway decisions in your favor.
- Confidence Boost: Providing samples builds your broker’s confidence in your product, enhancing their enthusiasm to represent it passionately.
- Networking Advantage: Samples can be used to create networking opportunities, whether at trade shows, events, or meetings. Sharing samples sparks conversations and engagement.
Navigating the process of delivering samples to your broker can be both costly and challenging if not executed correctly.
To streamline this, it’s imperative that all broker samples are accompanied by a duly completed Sample Request Form. By ensuring brokers furnish a comprehensive form, you maintain a meticulous record of all products and facilitate accurate shipping.
Feeling a bit unfamiliar with Sample Request Forms? No worries at all. To ease your way, we’ve included a sample form as an illustration within this lesson.
Once that Sample Request Form is submitted and approved, let’s look at ways to get the samples to your broker.
Best Way to Get Samples to Your Broker:
- National Couriers: Send your delectable food samples with confidence using trusted shipping services like UPS or FedEx. Careful as this could also be a costly solution.
- Regional Couriers: Utilizing a regional courier like GLS offers localized expertise and efficient delivery solutions within a specific geographic area. They can be more aggressive on cost, regardless of frozen or ambient delivery.
- Same Day Courier Service: Same-day courier services provide swift and immediate delivery, ensuring time-sensitive items reach their destinations promptly and efficiently. The downsides of a same-day courier service can include higher costs compared to standard shipping options and potential limitations in availability depending on the service area and time constraints.
- DOT Foods: For those that are stocked in DOT, utilizing DOT Foods for delivering your samples offers the advantage of a reliable and specialized distribution network, ensuring efficient and safe transportation of your products.
- Broker Pickup: While not feasible for all broker partners, those located in proximity to your production facility might have the option to personally drive and collect their samples.
- Distributor Will-Call: Depending on your distribution setup, your broker might have the opportunity to retrieve samples from distributors already purchasing your products. In some cases, distributors may even accommodate sample cases within broker orders for convenient pickup.
- Grocery Store Purchase: Brokers might find themselves in a time crunch and could conveniently purchase your products from local retailers for sampling. To facilitate this, consider providing them with coupons for complimentary product access.
- IBI Data by Ryan Group: This is a hands-on solution equipped to handle dry, frozen and refrigerated samples. They house your products in their AIB Superior Food Safety Rated facility and deliver them directly to your broker in a cost efficient way.
- Taste Specific: Introducing a tailor-made fulfillment and management program exclusively catering to food companies. They’ll craft well-organized sample kits, ensuring your brokers receive samples conveniently and with utmost ease.
