Health-Ade Founder Used Craigslist To Get Their Product Into 300 Stores In 2 Weeks
November 14, 2022
If you love a scrappy startup story, today’s case study is a true standout. I’m joined by Daina Trout, co-founder and Chief Mission Officer of Health-Ade, the fastest-selling Kombucha brand in America, currently carried in 60K stores across the country and doing an impressive $250 million in retail sales annually. Far from an overnight success story though, we’re taking a trip down memory lane to the brand’s early days in 2013, when they were quickly running out of money and only carried in 10 stores. With the three co-founders already at max capacity trying to keep the business alive and no funds available to hire traditional sales reps, Daina turned to Craigslist to recruit commission-based, independent sales reps to hit the pavement and open new accounts on their behalf. In just 2 weeks, Health-Ade’s products exploded into 300 stores. Daina gives us her full playbook today for exactly how she incentivized total strangers to sell her products with no guaranteed pay, the training process, compensation plan, and lessons learned from being in the field interacting with customers. Press play to apply her scrappy sales strategy to your own business!
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Connect with Daina:
Favorite Takeaways From This Episode:
- How Daina’s work at a pharmaceutical company lead to her work with Health-Ade
- “For me, starting Health-Ade was driven by wanting to build a company of people I could build a culture of performance, one of real positivity.”
- The scrappy strategy Daina and her co-founders utilized to hire sales reps when they had no money to pay them.
- What is an umbrella statement and how can it create an impact in your sales process?
- The training and management methods Daina used to create a high-functioning team and business.
- Why founders need to be able to sell their product.
- Pros and cons to having an Independent Sales Rep model
- “If you hire really good people, all you need to do is make sure they do their best.”
- As the CEO, you need to think of yourself as the foundation, not at the top of the pillar.
⚡Lightning Round⚡
- If you could sing one song on American Idol, what would it be?
- What’s your favorite way to spend a day off?
- If you could come back in your next life as an animal, what animal would you be?
What Did You Think?
Did you enjoy this episode or the insight shared? Let us know on Instagram @cubicletoceo!
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