In fact, you are so powerful that our whole industry, its gross annual sales, its trends and its very presence in the public eye are dictated by YOU!
It is not the manufacturers, it is not the media, it is not the super conglomerate health food markets or even the national vitamin retailers that determine whether enough of a companies products get sold to justify its existence in the market place, IT IS YOU. Anyone can sell supplements, but only you can convey to the public whether or not a supplement is worth buying, only you receive feedback directly from your customers and can determine whether or not a product should take up space in your store. The health food store experience does not happen in a lecture hall with 150 people or in a stadium with you holding a microphone or a bull horn, NO! it occurs as an interaction between you and a customer, one on one.
If you have stood long enough in a mom and pop health food store, you know perfectly well that even the most knowledgeable customer will need directing to the product, which you as the supplement "advisor" deem worthy of their purchase.
Most of the time they look to you for confidence and expect you to give them the nod, what Is it going to be? Yay or nay? This makes you Powerful!!!
You would think that all the manufacturers in our industry would acknowledge these strengths and show their appreciation and loyalty, but that unfortunately is not the case.
Since becoming a member in our industry, I have seen companies grow as a result of our hard work, only to turn around and stab mom and pop in the back and sell their product to mass market.
It was not the mass market that put them where they are but us, the mom and pop stores, and when we stopped talking about their products they either pulled out of mass market or came back with their tail between their legs, humbly requesting back their space in our stores.
Those manufacturers that did not recognize mom and pop as the force behind their success went "belly up".
I am sure there are mom and pop health food store owners out there who have lost part of their revenue due to internet sales.
I am sure that others have lost revenue because manufacturers have sold their product to national super markets and other retail outlets that should not be carrying these products.
The loss of revenue happened because you did not possess the buying power these national stores possess.
Maybe you thought to yourself that you were powerless, and that there was nothing you could do to get this revenue back. Remember, it was we who created their success and it is we who can collectively take it away.
It is up to us to tell our manufacturers that enough is enough! We will no longer be under cut by internet sales or retailers who jumped on the band wagon in the 11th hour to try and cash in on our hard work, these manufacturers owe us that much.
We need to find out who these disloyal manufacturers are and push their feet from our stores, if the mass market and internet sales are so kind to them they should do just find without us, but I get the feeling that if we collectively limit their presence in our stores they will collectively limit their presence on the net and in the mass market. I am currently in the process of creating a "customer loyalty" contract, which you will be able to download from my web page.
The idea is that the next time you go to a trade show and wish to do business with a particular company, you will present them with this contract protecting you from mass market, if they refuse to sign, you reserve the right to go elsewhere and spend your money with a loyal company.
Can you imagine what statement could be made if 1000 mom and pop merchants show up at the TWIN LAB booth requesting their loyalty or no business today! We are indeed powerful.
In the coming months I will be contacting various manufacturers and presenting them with the idea of joining a "loyalty alliance" requesting of them to only sell their product to a "four walls" health food store.
I will be posting the results of these requests and will provide you with a loyal and disloyal list of manufacturers.
Do not lose another dime in revenues, there are manufacturers out there who are loyal and wish to sell their product to you.
Together we can indeed make a resounding difference in our industry, help each other and protect each other.