Say No to Kid Meal Bullies

Today, I received a call from a small chain of restaurants in South America. They were complaining about their current kids meal toy provider and how their prices continued to escalate. I asked them if they had tried to contact the manager or owner of the company to negotiate better rates, considering they had been with that company for many years.

“Yes” she responded “and, they told me to increase my order sizes by 50% so that I can get a 5% discount. I told them I could not do that because our volume was not high enough. They told me there was nothing they could do”

It puzzles me how some companies push small restaurant concepts into ordering beyond their needs, only to get them stuck with product that will in turn reduce their sales considerably. How do you cultivate small businesses to increase their sales and order sizes? You first LISTEN to their needs. You LEARN about their business and most importantly you SHARE alternatives that can make them more competitive in their marketplace. It is that simple.

If a company sells an average of 1,000 kids meal toys a week, they should not be sold anymore than 6,000 – 8,000 toys of a given promotion. Beyond that, the promotion becomes dull and boring…NO KID wants to visit a location to get the same freakin’ thing over and over again.... STAY AWAY from companies that try to sell you more than what you need. If that is what they are offering and that is what they do best, they are simply trying to make a quick profit and could care less if you order from them again. There is a HUGE difference between up-sell and over-sell.

This is what you need to know:

1. Small volumes: If you have programs that are less than 10,000 pieces…or less than 5,000 pieces, YOU CAN STILL HAVE A CUSTOM promotion…don’t let ANYONE tell you otherwise.
2. Pricing: Yes it is higher but it is NOT PROHIBITIVE. If you are dealing with a company that KNOWS what they are doing, they will offer alternatives to accommodate your needs. They can tag your order on to another larger one to offer better pricing and to offer that collection that you would not be able to have otherwise. You have to be a bit flexible on the delivery dates though.
3. Tooling: You are probably familiar with this term, but if you are not, tooling is expensive but it is required to make NEW toys (for example, your character’s shape)…but tooling can be shared. Don’t be afraid of asking how much is tooling so that you can compare prices of that portion of the cost. Tooling also varies depending on the plastic to be used (ABS vs. PVC vs. PP etc…)
4. Consolidation: While it is very expensive to ship directly from Hong Kong to your location, there are ways to diminish these costs. You can consolidate cargo with other companies and if you allow enough time, sometimes it is less expensive to route the cargo through the US with other goods before it is shipped to your location.

So, shop around…deal with someone that listens and is eager to learn about your business. Don’t deal with someone that talks only about theirs. Trust me, there are PLENTY of alternatives out there.