December 20, 2022 • 31 mins
The Month End provides emerging inventory-based brands real life knowledge in the accounting, finance, and operational world. Our guests are not only similar brand founders and owners, but key stakeholders and contributors to the industry. Each episode provides a glimpse into the vast experience and insight from its guest’s unique background in a casual, conversational tone.
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In episode twenty eight, Accountfully's CEO and Partner, Brad Ebenhoeh, sits down with Juli Lassow from JHL Solutions, a consultancy dedicated to helping build phenomenal private-label partnerships. Juli gives us a glimpse into how brands can prepare themselves to establish lucrative and collaborative retail relationships. This episode is a must for those seeking to step into the wholesale space.
SHOW NOTES and VIDEO RECORDING: www.accountfully.com/podcasts/episode-28-juli-lassow-jhl-solutions
The JHL Solutions Website: www.jhlsolutions.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brad Ebenhoeh (00:01):
Welcome to The Month End CPG community chat,
The Month End will provideemerging CPG brands real life
knowledge into the accounting,finance and operational worlds.
Our guests will be keystakeholders from those same
brands as well as other keycontributors to the industry.
Welcome to Episode 28 of TheMonth End today, we have Julie
lasso from jhL solutions. Howyou doing today, Julie?
Juli Lassow (00:23):
So Well, Brad, thanks for having me today.
Yeah, we're really excited tohave you as we keep trying to
have a diversity of guests onour CPG podcast brand owners,
people in the finance andaccounting space, people with
supply chain operationalexpertise, I think he fit that
bucket. And I think ourlisteners are really excited for
today's chat. So let's getstarted on just your background,
(00:45):
who you are and where you'vecome from. And then what jhL
solutions is today.
Yeah, happy to share. Well, Ihave only professionally had a
career in retail coming rightout of college, I went to work
for hometown team at TargetCorporation. And I was there for
17 years and worked in a varietyof merchandising and merchant
I'll call it adjacent spaces. Sostart up my careers many do at
(01:09):
Target in inventory planning,spent several years there,
worked in the finance team didsome buying and then worked
about half of my time insourcing and negotiations. And
at Target sourcing is all aboutfinding the right partners. In
my case, it was specifically ownbrand partners to bring those
amazing products to the shelves.
So finding, vetting, onboarding,and then negotiating with those
(01:29):
teams to come to agreements thatwere really building more value
for target for the guest, andthen the the suppliers and
vendor partners as well.
Awesome. And what does JHLsolutions do?
So I stepped out of Target alittle over five years ago now
and launched a business that wasstayed very centrally focused on
(01:50):
that retailer and supplierpartnerships. So I do a fair
amount of work and own brands,but some branded work as well.
And I help retailers find thebest partners for themselves.
And then also make sure they'reworking with those partners
effectively to build and developnew products. So this is
certainly the Process Princessside of me has a an approach to
building products and helpingensure that retailers are being
(02:12):
really clear on theirperspective and what their needs
are. And then also working tobuild really collaborative and
impactful negotiation strategiesand implementing those. So
sometimes that can be verycompetitive, like an RFP, but my
favorite ones, actually are theones that are more
collaborative, where you'reyou're building some additional
value. So excited to share alittle bit of that perspective
of what's behind that the recentretailer's point of view on
(02:36):
today's conversation.
Yes, definitely. The majority ofour listeners are in the brand
space that suppliers face toretailers. But the more that
our-the listeners, and theseowners and founders can get into
the head of the retailers thebetter, you know, process and
understanding kind of salesprocess, relationship, process,
(02:56):
etc. So, so I guess first thingsfirst, let's get into, you know,
couple topics one touch ontoday, negotiation on brands, I
think a very kind of relevanttopics for the listeners, number
one, negotiation. So let's talkon, touch base on that aspect
of, you know, of, of thebusiness; the contract
negotiations, the whole process.
So can you kind of just starthigh level from what that
(03:19):
process looks like? And thenwe'll dive into more details?
Yeah, of course. So the processfor me really starts with
understanding what the impactand the value is that the
retailer because often they'remy client wants to drive in that
business. What are theirstrategy is what are their
priorities? What are theirinterests? What do they really
want to get to? And importantly,with that retailer, also ask to
(03:43):
have a perspective on what doesthe supplier want to get out of
the partnership? What are theirinterests? And then using those
priorities, using thoseinterests as a framework then to
help think through? How do wewant to approach this
negotiation? What are the keypieces of measurement we want to
be looking at so often, that'sgoing to be certainly sales
margin turnover, market share.
And looking at it again, notjust from the retailer
(04:05):
perspective, but then also thatsupplier partnership
perspective, and thenstructuring the conversation.
Depending on if it's morecompetitive space, or more
collaborative space, you've gota lot of players and maybe just
a handful of players, or maybe asingular player, then we build
out that approach of how do wewant to have this conversation?
How do we want to structurecreating value, and that can be
a little bit more transactional,and that can be incredibly
(04:26):
collaborative. And the bestconversations, again, in my
opinion, are the ones that aremore collaborative, they're
looking for more creative waysto drive value. And you're not
just focused on one or tworeally key measurements as far
as determining success of theconversation.
Gotcha. So then from an aspectof dealing with big business
coming from the Target world andbig corporations versus small
(04:48):
business and a lot of theselisteners, you know, zero to 5
million revenue brands that areemerging, trying to get in these
doors. So, you know, I thinkhaving a couple of tangible
points for the listeners isreally good. So let's say for
example, your a million dollarrevenue brand, you sell on your
direct consumer website, maybeAmazon, trying to get into
Target, let's say, becausethat's where your background is,
(05:10):
you know, whatever, let's saythey sell coffee or kombucha or
whatever, like it is, like, youknow, from just, you know,
getting into that relationship,creating a relationship with the
buyers and the retailers and allthat stuff. How does, How would
one approach specifically acouple points that they should,
you know, arm themselves with tobe better prepared for the
(05:32):
conversation to start and thennegotiation moving forward?
Well, it's a really great timefor smaller brands to be
connecting with some of thosebroader banners. And I would say
increasingly, so when I startedmy career at Target in the early
2000s, it was very much a cookiecutter approach, there's only a
handful of different formats.
And basically, the assortmentvaried very, very little across
the country, I sort of think ofit as like the opposite of more
(05:56):
that Whole Foods model whereit's very niche and very
specialized to the, to the waythat the the country shows up in
the different regions. And now alot of mass is moving towards a
more diverse perspective. So youdon't need to be a Procter and
Gamble, you don't need to be aGeneral Mills to get your
product on the shelves at Targetanymore. But you do need to have
(06:17):
a specific point of view. Andyou need to understand what that
crossover is, or that visualizethat Venn diagram of what does
that brand. So what is Target tokeep with this example, really
want to show up and deliver inmaybe the region that you're
based in? Or the specificproduct category that you are
bringing to life? And what'sthat overlap of? What's that
commitment they want to fulfillto their guest, or even in some
(06:39):
cases, are they not fulfillingit at all? Do they not have the
next Kombucha on the shelves atall. But you see that is
starting to peak, you've got asense of who that Target guest
is. So doing a little bit ofthat research of who Target is,
who they're going after. And ifyour product is a really great
fit for that if you're able tohelp Target bring and
incremental availability andincremental offering that
(07:02):
Walmart's just not going toprioritize, or some of the the
mom and pop stores might bealready running away with as an
advantage, but you can helpTarget get into that game,
you're, you're showing up with aperspective on how you can how
you can have an impact. Andthat's something that a merchant
is going to appreciate.
Awesome. So clearly, a keycouple key parts of this is
(07:24):
number one is educating yourselfon the customer or the person
that you're going to be tryingto sell to, right. So education
number one of who theircustomers are, what they're
currently selling, you know, istheir opportunity, etc. Number
two, on top of educating oreducating yourself on them, but
then educating them when youtalk to them about how this
(07:45):
brand can really benefit themversus their or for their
customers or guests as well asthe against their competitors.
The last thing that I thinkwhich is very important in this
day, and age is opportunity, itfeels like there's so much more
opportunity, and, you know,food, drink, everything is just
so democratized now, because ofjust the plan, and just overall
(08:06):
education and consumers andconsumers are all leaning
towards the more health; newthings, new age products,
progressive products, that typeof stuff. So the opportunity is
probably never been bigger thanwhere it's been the last couple
of decades. You're saying itkind of all those topics
relevant from and true, I guessfrom what you're saying?
Yeah, absolutely. I think thoseare the key things to be
(08:27):
thinking about, like who thatguest is what Target's trying to
offer to them or the retailer ofyour choice, and how you're able
to really fit that need and filla gap but know that others can.
A couple of things that I willsay, though, from a "watch out"
perspective, is before you arestarting to make some of those
outreaches or thinking about whoyou're trying to scale with.
(08:48):
What is your operational runway?
What does that start to looklike? How many stores can you
realistically support. So theflexibility of Target is that
you're not going from zero to2000 stores anymore? 1800. You
can start small with theregionality. But if you are
successful, and if your productsells well, and it makes sense,
there could be very quickconversations about how quickly
(09:10):
you want to expand. So that'salso something that Targets
going to want to understand iswhat's your operational ability
to scale. And it's sometimes ittakes a while to hit and
sometimes it goes really, reallyquickly. So just being really
nimble and candid with that tostart off the conversation in a
very direct way is alsosomething that I encourage.
Yeah, definitely don't, don'tbite off too much more than you
(09:33):
can chew initially, but also beaware of where they may need you
in 6, 12, 18 months depending onus because the last thing they
want to do is commit to a brandthat is fantastic. And then they
can fulfill and then they haveto switch the brand out and it's
short term because of thataspect. So
yeah, that door will close veryfirmly and probably won't open
back up for you again, so youhave to be candid.
(09:56):
Awesome. So kind of any othertalking points on kind of the
next initiation process andthings like that?
from a negotiation perspective,so once you're in the door, even
sometimes when you're juststepping in, there will be some
often some sort of structuredline review process that's going
on. And if you're going throughthis, for the first time with a
specific merchant or specificorganization, just really
(10:19):
encourage you to do yourhomework, reading really
carefully, what all theinformation that's that's shared
with you, and I'm not a lawyer,so this isn't contract advice.
But even just thinking throughand understanding what is the
process that this merchant isgoing to be going through when
they're making their decisions?
And asking those clarifyingquestions; what is the timing?
What is the expectation? Whenwould you have this product on
shelf? And being really clearabout what's important to them
(10:40):
as they're making theirdecisions? If they're not being
upfront with you, what are someof the questions that you can
ask to draw that out? So what isthe rate of sales velocity
you're looking for? Margin, ifthat's not abundantly clear to
you. Make sure you understandwhat their margin expectations
are. Also some of the non thenon-product related expenses. So
what are you going to be on thehook for what's the damage
(11:01):
defective or policy? What's thefoods, the shelf-life policy
expectations? Case backs,everything, everything within
that space, if you are going insomewhere new, really make sure
that you're either scrubbing theinformation you're getting
directly from the merchant, orit's part of a vendor portal,
for example. What are thosestandard vendor terms of
(11:21):
engagement that that retailer isgoing to expect? Because
candidly, they're moving fast.
And a merchant is tasked withbeing an expert on who their
customers are. But there's a lotfrom an operations perspective
that they aren't often expertsin, and they aren't going to
tell you to watch out for orunderstand or volunteer
information, not necessarily,because they're they're trying
(11:43):
to hide it, because sometimesthey just don't know. So you
need to be your own advocate andasking questions, and doing a
lot of the research before thenegotiation even begins, to
understand what's the standardway of working with this
retailer, or partner for thefirst time?
Yeah, 100%, like, arm yourselfwith advisors, people who've
done this before, like, askquestions, get educated, get
(12:03):
people involved, that can reallyhelp you and clarify that. I've
seen some just clients of oursthat have, because of bad
decisions or not having clearexpectations of Bill backs, you
know, pre-fills, things likethat, that really, really
devastated them upfront thatthey weren't expecting. And that
impacts cash. And as a smallbusiness, it's impossible to run
a business without cash.
(12:24):
Exactly right. If you're given aform, read it very, very
carefully. Or if you have anonline input template that
you're being asked to use, Iwould read that incredibly
carefully. And make sure youunderstand what those each of
those cells are that you arefilling out. And because to a
certain extent, you are thenstepping into their process. I
mean, you've got a prospective,you're an owner, you've really
(12:44):
worked to build out what yourbrand means and how you go to
market. But now you're steppinginto someone else's space. And
again, if you're doing it forthe first time or with a certain
client for the first time, youare moving into their turf in a
new way. So how are you reallymaking sure that you understand
the way that they're setting upthat that approach?
Yep. And just one last questionon that topic, like how much?
(13:08):
How much negotiating negotiationleverage does a small brand have
getting into like a, you know, aTarget? Or even like a regional
thing? Is there? Is there a lotof flexibility like, or is it
depend upon the situation? Idon't know. Because clearly, a
lot of small brands are like,"well, it is what it is through
the distributor, you got to justdeal with it". But you know, I'm
(13:28):
just wondering, from yourexperience?
Yeah, that's a great question.
It all depends on power. To behonest, how badly do they want
you, there are some things thata brand or a retailer isn't
going to be able to move on justbecause the operationally
they're set up a certain way. Sothose are definitely some watch
outs, you want to understandwhat those expectations are. But
if you've got an up and comingbrand, and it's a really great
(13:49):
fit, and you've done that work,or they've come to you because
they have anticipated orunderstand the gap that you can
fill, they can be much morewilling to make some shifts. So
in some cases, I would justrecommend asking if it's not
clear what the flexibility isask. Usually it's pretty
straightforward. But if theywant you, they might be some
(14:10):
room to negotiate a slotting feeor Yeah, or add fee or
participation rates on oncertain elements.
Just like everything in lifedepends on which power, control,
leverage you have. So that'scompletely...
But you've got to start withasking. So I if you don't know,
I wouldn't assume?
Yep, perfect. All right, let'smove on to own brands. This is a
(14:30):
very interesting topic that uh,not a lot of our target brands
or clients really do. A coupleof them have thought about it or
do it but just give us a littlebackground on kind of own
brands, private labels and kindof how they operate and what are
the benefits of it. And then wecan kind of talk more specifics
of examples of how somebodycould leverage it.
So own brands and private labelreally started out as a
(14:54):
compare-to space, so it was thesame as a national brand
equivalent. So it was basicallywas the knockoff or generics if
you want to call it that way,but over the years, the space
has become much broader, and Iwould say has a lot more depth
to it now. And now it's becomemore of a competitive advantage.
It's not just about the valueplay, it's about how can I offer
(15:15):
something as a retailer that Ican protect against the
competition, something thatAmazon isn't going to be able to
show up with, but it helps medeepen my brand loyalty with my
Target consumers, my Targetguests to put a specific name on
it. And there's certainbusinesses that just do this
beautifully, like Trader Joe'sreally stands out. As you know,
when you walk in the store, it'sa high, high percent of products
(15:37):
you aren't going to findanywhere else. And if you're a
Trader, Joe's loyalists, youwill be going for the Greek
yogurt, or they're Gronola or myfamily really likes some of the
frozen meals that are there,those are our go-to's, and we
can't get those where we wereshop elsewhere. So for a
consideration set, it's a fastgrowing part of the business,
the retailer is able to protectthe flavor, flavor profiles,
(16:03):
they're able to separate theproduct diversity in an
impactful way. And they're oftenable to build it in so it's
margin and creative to theirmix. And so there's also a
profitability play. But you needto start hitting scale, you need
to be able to hit a certainbalance of your assortment and
meet that expectations of yourcustomer if they're looking for
a certain set of CPG products,and how do you surprise and
(16:24):
delight them with additionalown-brand products. So that's a
lot of what's going to thestrategy of the expansion and
the deepening of own brandstoday. And just pausing there
before I jump into how potentialaudience members might be able
to capitalize on that. It's,it's a pretty exciting space.
But any questions? Orreflections on that?
Okay, no, no, keep going. Butthat's it's great. So far, we're
(16:46):
going to other ones that arebuilding up.
Fair enough. So that's how ownbrands is evolving. So the
benefits that I see for smalleremerging and even moving into
midsize brands is that if you'vegot a specific offering, that
can really complement or fallsunder the brand, I would say
Halo or that brand personathat's already in that retailer,
(17:08):
you might be well positioned tobring that product to them. Now
there's some pluses and minuseswith this idea. Certainly a plus
is that for retailers, there'sonly so deep in of expertise
they want to build, they'll havea food scientist team. And
depending on the size of theretailer, they might be
developing a ton of their ownproducts. But sometimes they are
(17:30):
partnering really closely with abrand that already knows that
business really would reallywell. So they can outsource some
of the product development to asupplier. And in that case, if
that partnership takes off, itcan be very, very fruitful for
both partners, because the theretailer isn't going to want to
(17:50):
change that flavor profile ofthe Kombucha or whatever it is,
once they get on the shelves,and their customers are
responding to it, they want tostick it stick with it. So
there's gonna be some great lockin for that supplier, that
they're going to have thatassortment that can continue to
grow and expand. The downsidecan certainly be that if you've
given away your flavor profileor your formulas, there's often
some exclusivity and there'ssome limitations that you are
(18:12):
now really hitching your wagonor pick whatever euphemism you
want, you're you're locked inwith that retailer. And that
gives you less opportunities tobe able to scale and move to
other partners. And if thatretailer goes in a completely
different direction on thebrand, that could be really
challenging for you then tostart re-engaging and rebuilding
that momentum if you haven'tbeen in a position to be out
(18:32):
selling and pitching thatbusiness. So there's a bit of
high risk, high reward when itcomes to those partnerships. But
they can be incrediblybeneficial if it's a really
great overlay of the priority ofthe consumer that the retailer
is trying to connect with andthe brand expertise that a brand
can come to the table with.
Yeah, I think it definitely highrisk, high reward, but there's
(18:55):
definitely a thought processbehind it. And something to
think about, if you move in thisdirection of own brands is like
do big retailers. Will theystart with own brands like in a
regional capacity? Or is likewill they go national? Or is it
kind of dependent oncircumstances? I'm wondering
about this whole operationcapacity conversation as well?
Yeah, that's a great question.
From an own brands perspective,there are certainly
(19:17):
opportunities to pilot and startthings small before they scale.
And it certainly depends on howclose in the product categories
are to something that's alreadyon the shelves, what is already
known. But if there's a lot ofunknowns, it could start
smaller. But I would say theexpectation would be that if a
retailer is investing in ownbrand development, if it's a
broader own brand, and you'recoming in with a specific subset
of products, they're going towant to scale that pretty
(19:40):
quickly. So I from anoperational perspective, it's
definitely a conversation youwant to have a word of the goals
of this business, but myinstinct would be would be that
they'd want to have it acrossmost of the doors where it's
regionally appropriate andpretty quickly once there's some
good proof of concept.
Brad Ebenhoeh (19:59):
Yes, definitely.
And then clearly, I'm assumingthat probably every relationship
can vary depending upon if youcan still sell into with your
not own brand, but with youractual brand into other
competitors, or retailers ordifferent situations, right?
There's always could be somecompetitive, you know, stops or,
you know, whatever, like as partof this correct?
Juli Lassow (20:23):
Exactly right.
Well, and that's also some ofthe benefit, though to that you
get of partnering with aretailer is that you get to
outsource some of the the workand the marketing and the brand
building, they have a Target hasa Good and Gather brand that
they're investing millions ofdollars in, and you're able to
really just focus on bringingamazing products. So your
formulation priorities or yourassortment expansion priorities,
(20:44):
that can be most of your effort,you, you then don't need to
focus quite as much on selling.
And then you can also then focuson the operational side, how are
you scaling? What is the supplyin the production capacity that
you are then building out? So itfrees up resources within your
organization to maybe scale morequickly, when you don't have to,
(21:05):
basically be deliveringeverything on behalf of your
brand.
Brad Ebenhoeh (21:09):
Yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, deepening
the relationship and creating avery beneficial relationship for
both parties can help everythingas you move forward with your
business in the short term, orlong term. And at the end of the
day, like from a lot of smallbusiness and brand owners, a big
goal is scaling and growingtheir business and selling,
Assuming, that you create thisrelationship, and everything's
great, and you're hitting yourmarks. And also, you're going to
(21:29):
a point, there's probably aworld where the, you know, in a
purchase or, you know, canhappen for a small brand. So
again, not guaranteed, butagain, a lot of things to think
about as you go forward justfrom your idea of business
development, sellingrelationships, you know, within
different retail partners.
Juli Lassow (21:49):
Yeah, absolutely.
And I'm not an expert on onselling your business. But
there, that would certainly bean interesting consideration of
what is that future value startto look and feel like if you've
locked in a direct relationshipversus a private label
relationship? And across all ofyour channels, whether that's
wholesale or direct.
Brad Ebenhoeh (22:07):
So last question, then on this is for kind of a
small version of brands, again,back to kind of like how you
know, how much operationalcapacity you have and funds to
bring product to the table forsomebody, I'm assuming that
similar to our initialconversation that retailers are
going to look at like, what isyour brand or your product that
(22:27):
we can do this on? And what isthe scalability long term in the
short term to focus on this. Soagain, it may not work perfectly
for a small brand, right, likemillion or 2 million, but it's
something to think about maybestarting the relationship,
having conversations and thentargeting down the road. And
maybe when you're ready to gothat so what I'm trying to say
by this is like it can happen inany venture of your business,
(22:50):
depending upon variouscircumstances that exist across
the board.
Juli Lassow (22:55):
Yeah, I think that's well said. Too early on,
it's it's one of those things,be careful what you wish for.
Because when the when the godswant to punish us, they grant us
our our wishes is that thephrase? And I have seen
businesses that have gotten intoa partnership with a Target or
someone of that scale. And it isreally challenging. And like I
(23:16):
mentioned earlier, when that ifthe door shuts, that usually
doesn't reopen. So you do wantto make sure you've got some of
that mapped out and make sureyou are I think sizing, your
pursuit that aligns well withwhat you can actually deliver.
So if you need to be reallyupfront that this is something
that you can test and get intoit at a small way. But you
(23:38):
aren't going to be able to scaleuntil you see some mutual proof
of concept, then I think that'sit's really fair to be able to
say that, but then also be readyto say these are the things that
we're willing to invest in,should it seem viable to expand
this product, this is what wecan do. Here's our backups,
here's the different Packerswere able to use the different
manufacturing lines. This is howwe're going to be able to secure
credit. Target isn't going tobe as interested as financial
(24:00):
backer is going to be in all ofthose operational plans. But
just what are the high levelbullet points that give them a
sense that you would be able togrow with them and be able to
meet those common objectivestogether?
Brad Ebenhoeh (24:10):
Awesome. Awesome.
All that makes sense. So as kindof just general question I have
and topic is just overall kindof supply chain, in today's
economic climate. You know, fromour perspective, the last kind
of, you know, 6, 12 monthsclearly have been crazy on the
economy as a general, local, youknow, national, global, it's
affected a lot of our client'ssupply chain disruptions,
(24:32):
capital funding disruptions, allthis type of stuff that goes
into a clearly from yourperspective from a supply chain,
just kind of high level whatyou've seen and then what are
the things that a brand can doto try to offset this crazy time
or lack of certainty each stepjust to support their supply
chain and operational venture?
Juli Lassow (24:53):
I think a lesson that many organizations learned
in the COVID response era isthat you can't have a very
brittle supply chain, you needto build some flex into your
supply chain, and understandwhat are those key pressure
points for you? Is it securing aspecific raw material? Is it
securing a specific packagingbased on how your product goes
(25:16):
to market? What are those keypressure points? And then what
are your backup solutions? Andit went from and I would say,
pre-COVID. On the procurement,the supply chain side, it was
more of a perspective of thesewere teams that were risk
averse, they really wanted toget everything locked down, they
want to be able to have theanswer and have the best supply
(25:36):
chain and deliver ultimate. Andnot to say you didn't have your
backup plans, but you more hadthose backup plans as a way to
show that you were, you'd haveeverything locked down and
buttoned up. Now the backupplans aren't so much of an
eventuality as an implicitexpectation that you're gonna
have to leverage a backup planand you really hope that you've
got the backup plans in placethat you need. So I would
(25:58):
encourage teams to understandwhat are those pressure points?
What are the things that aregonna bring your business to a
standstill, if you don't havesolutions, two and three to back
them up. And really make surethose are fully vetted-out
solutions? First and foremost.
So what's that risk planninggoing to look and feel like? And
and that's, that's true in manyparts of your business I supply
chain and production are placesthat I know best. But that's the
(26:20):
same from a social mediaperspective and a marketing
perspective. If you know, onebad tweet or something goes
viral, you need to be able tomanage that as well. So I think
there is more risk planning thanthan ever before. But that also
I find is opening upopportunities to create value as
well. So you're looking atsomething new. Often when you're
(26:41):
operating with constraints, youcan come up with a different
approach. So it's not to saythat, that you can't find upside
in some of those backuppartnerships as well. It doesn't
always have to be doom andgloom. But it's more of "how can
we be really creative to makesure we can continue to find
solutions to get products in thehands of the consumers that
we're connecting with?"
Brad Ebenhoeh (27:02):
Yes, definitely, I think risk based approach, you
know, you've mentioned, youknow, that term, I think it's
huge to focus on what are the1,2,3 big risk points and risk
areas that that exists, andreally prioritizing time, energy
and resources in that as yousay. And then number two, you
know, for the entrepreneurs outthere, these people that have
created unbelievable, weird,creative new brands, there's
(27:25):
opportunities to create newsolutions, we know when doom and
gloom come right? And, and thatcan be you know, part of
presenting a solution to asupply chain partner on how you
can add value to them, rightversus in the past year, I
looked at yourself as just acustomer is what it is, but go
approach them and became great apartnership, for example. So
again, looking at things I thinkcreatively, solution oriented,
(27:47):
based upon this risk basedapproach can help out with any
aspect of the business thatyou're saying; marketing,
finance operations, etc. So Ithink just kind of continuing
that aspect and consistentlyre-analyzing your business
quarter over quarter overquarter, what are the new risks?
What's going on the economy?
What's going on with this orthat, and focusing time and
energy on that, so I think thatthat's a really good, the
(28:08):
baseline and a good thoughtprocess for people to have any
size of the business. Well,awesome Juli, this has been a
fantastic chat, I love I lovethe topics, I think our guests,
or our listeners are gonnareally enjoy it as well. So
while we end, we have a coupleof our every question or our
topics we want to touch on. Sofirst things first, give us your
(28:28):
CPG do.
Juli Lassow (28:32):
o the CP G do I touched on it earlier, but it
bears repeating. It's ask a lotof questions. So just coming to
this business space,entrepreneurs are excited about
their idea their curious aboutcreating something new, and make
sure you're bringing thatcuriosity to the partners that
you're working with. Itabsolutely applies with with
retailers. And I find thatsuppliers that don't ask a lot
(28:52):
of questions often don'tunderstand the full agreement
that they're reaching. So that'sthat's a must do for me.
Brad Ebenhoeh (29:01):
Love it. And then a CPG Don't.
Juli Lassow (29:05):
Don't forget to focus on the other party's
perspective. Try to anticipatewhat's going to be most
important to them in framing theconversation. What are they
hoping to get out of theagreement, whatever type of
agreement you're trying toreach. I think that's a way to
help create some more value andfind solutions that aren't so
you-focused but that ultimatelyare creating a bigger slice of
(29:28):
the pie again, pick youreuphemism. But yeah, don't
forget that other perspective.
Brad Ebenhoeh (29:33):
Yup, empathize.
Put yourself in their shoes andlook at their perspective,
because it literally helps everytime you have a conversation
when you do that.
Juli Lassow (29:41):
that. And so that's true in business in life. But
yeah, that's,
Brad Ebenhoeh (29:46):
um, that aspect.
So all right, Juli Lassow fromJHL Solutions, can you let us
know how we can get a hold ofyou? What you're doing today
that you know, with with yourbusiness and just kind of give
us a little bit of that beforewe sign off here.
Juli Lassow (29:58):
Yeah, happy to share. So it's Juli
Lassow and you can find me onLinkedIn. I'm pretty active on
LinkedIn, or JHL-solutions iswhere you can find the website,
I have a fair amount ofinformation on negotiations and
supplier partnerships available.
Today, as I shared, I mostly siton the retailer side supporting
retailers and building anddeveloping negotiation
(30:19):
strategies. But I do alsosupport suppliers. So if you're
looking for negotiation support,if you're reaching in or
entering in conversations withretailers, for the first time
going direct and moving into thewholesale space, happy to have a
conversation on how I might beable to support that work and
support your efforts. Awesome.
Brad Ebenhoeh (30:39):
Again, thanks so much for your time today, Julie.
Appreciate the the knowledge,the expertise, you know the
experience that you've had, I dobelieve the listeners will
really enjoy it. So take care,Juli, thanks again. Again. This
is episode 28 of The Month Endpodcast. Hope you all enjoyed
it. Take care.
Juli Lassow (30:54):
Thanks
Welcome to The Month End CPG community chat,
The Month End will provideemerging CPG brands real life
knowledge into the accounting,finance and operational worlds.
Our guests will be keystakeholders from those same
brands as well as other keycontributors to the industry.
Welcome to Episode 28 of TheMonth End today, we have Julie
lasso from jhL solutions. Howyou doing today, Julie?
Juli Lassow (00:23):
So Well, Brad, thanks for having me today.
Yeah, we're really excited tohave you as we keep trying to
have a diversity of guests onour CPG podcast brand owners,
people in the finance andaccounting space, people with
supply chain operationalexpertise, I think he fit that
bucket. And I think ourlisteners are really excited for
today's chat. So let's getstarted on just your background,
(00:45):
who you are and where you'vecome from. And then what jhL
solutions is today.
Yeah, happy to share. Well, Ihave only professionally had a
career in retail coming rightout of college, I went to work
for hometown team at TargetCorporation. And I was there for
17 years and worked in a varietyof merchandising and merchant
I'll call it adjacent spaces. Sostart up my careers many do at
(01:09):
Target in inventory planning,spent several years there,
worked in the finance team didsome buying and then worked
about half of my time insourcing and negotiations. And
at Target sourcing is all aboutfinding the right partners. In
my case, it was specifically ownbrand partners to bring those
amazing products to the shelves.
So finding, vetting, onboarding,and then negotiating with those
(01:29):
teams to come to agreements thatwere really building more value
for target for the guest, andthen the the suppliers and
vendor partners as well.
Awesome. And what does JHLsolutions do?
So I stepped out of Target alittle over five years ago now
and launched a business that wasstayed very centrally focused on
(01:50):
that retailer and supplierpartnerships. So I do a fair
amount of work and own brands,but some branded work as well.
And I help retailers find thebest partners for themselves.
And then also make sure they'reworking with those partners
effectively to build and developnew products. So this is
certainly the Process Princessside of me has a an approach to
building products and helpingensure that retailers are being
(02:12):
really clear on theirperspective and what their needs
are. And then also working tobuild really collaborative and
impactful negotiation strategiesand implementing those. So
sometimes that can be verycompetitive, like an RFP, but my
favorite ones, actually are theones that are more
collaborative, where you'reyou're building some additional
value. So excited to share alittle bit of that perspective
of what's behind that the recentretailer's point of view on
(02:36):
today's conversation.
Yes, definitely. The majority ofour listeners are in the brand
space that suppliers face toretailers. But the more that
our-the listeners, and theseowners and founders can get into
the head of the retailers thebetter, you know, process and
understanding kind of salesprocess, relationship, process,
(02:56):
etc. So, so I guess first thingsfirst, let's get into, you know,
couple topics one touch ontoday, negotiation on brands, I
think a very kind of relevanttopics for the listeners, number
one, negotiation. So let's talkon, touch base on that aspect
of, you know, of, of thebusiness; the contract
negotiations, the whole process.
So can you kind of just starthigh level from what that
(03:19):
process looks like? And thenwe'll dive into more details?
Yeah, of course. So the processfor me really starts with
understanding what the impactand the value is that the
retailer because often they'remy client wants to drive in that
business. What are theirstrategy is what are their
priorities? What are theirinterests? What do they really
want to get to? And importantly,with that retailer, also ask to
(03:43):
have a perspective on what doesthe supplier want to get out of
the partnership? What are theirinterests? And then using those
priorities, using thoseinterests as a framework then to
help think through? How do wewant to approach this
negotiation? What are the keypieces of measurement we want to
be looking at so often, that'sgoing to be certainly sales
margin turnover, market share.
And looking at it again, notjust from the retailer
(04:05):
perspective, but then also thatsupplier partnership
perspective, and thenstructuring the conversation.
Depending on if it's morecompetitive space, or more
collaborative space, you've gota lot of players and maybe just
a handful of players, or maybe asingular player, then we build
out that approach of how do wewant to have this conversation?
How do we want to structurecreating value, and that can be
a little bit more transactional,and that can be incredibly
(04:26):
collaborative. And the bestconversations, again, in my
opinion, are the ones that aremore collaborative, they're
looking for more creative waysto drive value. And you're not
just focused on one or tworeally key measurements as far
as determining success of theconversation.
Gotcha. So then from an aspectof dealing with big business
coming from the Target world andbig corporations versus small
(04:48):
business and a lot of theselisteners, you know, zero to 5
million revenue brands that areemerging, trying to get in these
doors. So, you know, I thinkhaving a couple of tangible
points for the listeners isreally good. So let's say for
example, your a million dollarrevenue brand, you sell on your
direct consumer website, maybeAmazon, trying to get into
Target, let's say, becausethat's where your background is,
(05:10):
you know, whatever, let's saythey sell coffee or kombucha or
whatever, like it is, like, youknow, from just, you know,
getting into that relationship,creating a relationship with the
buyers and the retailers and allthat stuff. How does, How would
one approach specifically acouple points that they should,
you know, arm themselves with tobe better prepared for the
(05:32):
conversation to start and thennegotiation moving forward?
Well, it's a really great timefor smaller brands to be
connecting with some of thosebroader banners. And I would say
increasingly, so when I startedmy career at Target in the early
2000s, it was very much a cookiecutter approach, there's only a
handful of different formats.
And basically, the assortmentvaried very, very little across
the country, I sort of think ofit as like the opposite of more
(05:56):
that Whole Foods model whereit's very niche and very
specialized to the, to the waythat the the country shows up in
the different regions. And now alot of mass is moving towards a
more diverse perspective. So youdon't need to be a Procter and
Gamble, you don't need to be aGeneral Mills to get your
product on the shelves at Targetanymore. But you do need to have
(06:17):
a specific point of view. Andyou need to understand what that
crossover is, or that visualizethat Venn diagram of what does
that brand. So what is Target tokeep with this example, really
want to show up and deliver inmaybe the region that you're
based in? Or the specificproduct category that you are
bringing to life? And what'sthat overlap of? What's that
commitment they want to fulfillto their guest, or even in some
(06:39):
cases, are they not fulfillingit at all? Do they not have the
next Kombucha on the shelves atall. But you see that is
starting to peak, you've got asense of who that Target guest
is. So doing a little bit ofthat research of who Target is,
who they're going after. And ifyour product is a really great
fit for that if you're able tohelp Target bring and
incremental availability andincremental offering that
(07:02):
Walmart's just not going toprioritize, or some of the the
mom and pop stores might bealready running away with as an
advantage, but you can helpTarget get into that game,
you're, you're showing up with aperspective on how you can how
you can have an impact. Andthat's something that a merchant
is going to appreciate.
Awesome. So clearly, a keycouple key parts of this is
(07:24):
number one is educating yourselfon the customer or the person
that you're going to be tryingto sell to, right. So education
number one of who theircustomers are, what they're
currently selling, you know, istheir opportunity, etc. Number
two, on top of educating oreducating yourself on them, but
then educating them when youtalk to them about how this
(07:45):
brand can really benefit themversus their or for their
customers or guests as well asthe against their competitors.
The last thing that I thinkwhich is very important in this
day, and age is opportunity, itfeels like there's so much more
opportunity, and, you know,food, drink, everything is just
so democratized now, because ofjust the plan, and just overall
(08:06):
education and consumers andconsumers are all leaning
towards the more health; newthings, new age products,
progressive products, that typeof stuff. So the opportunity is
probably never been bigger thanwhere it's been the last couple
of decades. You're saying itkind of all those topics
relevant from and true, I guessfrom what you're saying?
Yeah, absolutely. I think thoseare the key things to be
(08:27):
thinking about, like who thatguest is what Target's trying to
offer to them or the retailer ofyour choice, and how you're able
to really fit that need and filla gap but know that others can.
A couple of things that I willsay, though, from a "watch out"
perspective, is before you arestarting to make some of those
outreaches or thinking about whoyou're trying to scale with.
(08:48):
What is your operational runway?
What does that start to looklike? How many stores can you
realistically support. So theflexibility of Target is that
you're not going from zero to2000 stores anymore? 1800. You
can start small with theregionality. But if you are
successful, and if your productsells well, and it makes sense,
there could be very quickconversations about how quickly
(09:10):
you want to expand. So that'salso something that Targets
going to want to understand iswhat's your operational ability
to scale. And it's sometimes ittakes a while to hit and
sometimes it goes really, reallyquickly. So just being really
nimble and candid with that tostart off the conversation in a
very direct way is alsosomething that I encourage.
Yeah, definitely don't, don'tbite off too much more than you
(09:33):
can chew initially, but also beaware of where they may need you
in 6, 12, 18 months depending onus because the last thing they
want to do is commit to a brandthat is fantastic. And then they
can fulfill and then they haveto switch the brand out and it's
short term because of thataspect. So
yeah, that door will close veryfirmly and probably won't open
back up for you again, so youhave to be candid.
(09:56):
Awesome. So kind of any othertalking points on kind of the
next initiation process andthings like that?
from a negotiation perspective,so once you're in the door, even
sometimes when you're juststepping in, there will be some
often some sort of structuredline review process that's going
on. And if you're going throughthis, for the first time with a
specific merchant or specificorganization, just really
(10:19):
encourage you to do yourhomework, reading really
carefully, what all theinformation that's that's shared
with you, and I'm not a lawyer,so this isn't contract advice.
But even just thinking throughand understanding what is the
process that this merchant isgoing to be going through when
they're making their decisions?
And asking those clarifyingquestions; what is the timing?
What is the expectation? Whenwould you have this product on
shelf? And being really clearabout what's important to them
(10:40):
as they're making theirdecisions? If they're not being
upfront with you, what are someof the questions that you can
ask to draw that out? So what isthe rate of sales velocity
you're looking for? Margin, ifthat's not abundantly clear to
you. Make sure you understandwhat their margin expectations
are. Also some of the non thenon-product related expenses. So
what are you going to be on thehook for what's the damage
(11:01):
defective or policy? What's thefoods, the shelf-life policy
expectations? Case backs,everything, everything within
that space, if you are going insomewhere new, really make sure
that you're either scrubbing theinformation you're getting
directly from the merchant, orit's part of a vendor portal,
for example. What are thosestandard vendor terms of
(11:21):
engagement that that retailer isgoing to expect? Because
candidly, they're moving fast.
And a merchant is tasked withbeing an expert on who their
customers are. But there's a lotfrom an operations perspective
that they aren't often expertsin, and they aren't going to
tell you to watch out for orunderstand or volunteer
information, not necessarily,because they're they're trying
(11:43):
to hide it, because sometimesthey just don't know. So you
need to be your own advocate andasking questions, and doing a
lot of the research before thenegotiation even begins, to
understand what's the standardway of working with this
retailer, or partner for thefirst time?
Yeah, 100%, like, arm yourselfwith advisors, people who've
done this before, like, askquestions, get educated, get
(12:03):
people involved, that can reallyhelp you and clarify that. I've
seen some just clients of oursthat have, because of bad
decisions or not having clearexpectations of Bill backs, you
know, pre-fills, things likethat, that really, really
devastated them upfront thatthey weren't expecting. And that
impacts cash. And as a smallbusiness, it's impossible to run
a business without cash.
(12:24):
Exactly right. If you're given aform, read it very, very
carefully. Or if you have anonline input template that
you're being asked to use, Iwould read that incredibly
carefully. And make sure youunderstand what those each of
those cells are that you arefilling out. And because to a
certain extent, you are thenstepping into their process. I
mean, you've got a prospective,you're an owner, you've really
(12:44):
worked to build out what yourbrand means and how you go to
market. But now you're steppinginto someone else's space. And
again, if you're doing it forthe first time or with a certain
client for the first time, youare moving into their turf in a
new way. So how are you reallymaking sure that you understand
the way that they're setting upthat that approach?
Yep. And just one last questionon that topic, like how much?
(13:08):
How much negotiating negotiationleverage does a small brand have
getting into like a, you know, aTarget? Or even like a regional
thing? Is there? Is there a lotof flexibility like, or is it
depend upon the situation? Idon't know. Because clearly, a
lot of small brands are like,"well, it is what it is through
the distributor, you got to justdeal with it". But you know, I'm
(13:28):
just wondering, from yourexperience?
Yeah, that's a great question.
It all depends on power. To behonest, how badly do they want
you, there are some things thata brand or a retailer isn't
going to be able to move on justbecause the operationally
they're set up a certain way. Sothose are definitely some watch
outs, you want to understandwhat those expectations are. But
if you've got an up and comingbrand, and it's a really great
(13:49):
fit, and you've done that work,or they've come to you because
they have anticipated orunderstand the gap that you can
fill, they can be much morewilling to make some shifts. So
in some cases, I would justrecommend asking if it's not
clear what the flexibility isask. Usually it's pretty
straightforward. But if theywant you, they might be some
(14:10):
room to negotiate a slotting feeor Yeah, or add fee or
participation rates on oncertain elements.
Just like everything in lifedepends on which power, control,
leverage you have. So that'scompletely...
But you've got to start withasking. So I if you don't know,
I wouldn't assume?
Yep, perfect. All right, let'smove on to own brands. This is a
(14:30):
very interesting topic that uh,not a lot of our target brands
or clients really do. A coupleof them have thought about it or
do it but just give us a littlebackground on kind of own
brands, private labels and kindof how they operate and what are
the benefits of it. And then wecan kind of talk more specifics
of examples of how somebodycould leverage it.
So own brands and private labelreally started out as a
(14:54):
compare-to space, so it was thesame as a national brand
equivalent. So it was basicallywas the knockoff or generics if
you want to call it that way,but over the years, the space
has become much broader, and Iwould say has a lot more depth
to it now. And now it's becomemore of a competitive advantage.
It's not just about the valueplay, it's about how can I offer
(15:15):
something as a retailer that Ican protect against the
competition, something thatAmazon isn't going to be able to
show up with, but it helps medeepen my brand loyalty with my
Target consumers, my Targetguests to put a specific name on
it. And there's certainbusinesses that just do this
beautifully, like Trader Joe'sreally stands out. As you know,
when you walk in the store, it'sa high, high percent of products
(15:37):
you aren't going to findanywhere else. And if you're a
Trader, Joe's loyalists, youwill be going for the Greek
yogurt, or they're Gronola or myfamily really likes some of the
frozen meals that are there,those are our go-to's, and we
can't get those where we wereshop elsewhere. So for a
consideration set, it's a fastgrowing part of the business,
the retailer is able to protectthe flavor, flavor profiles,
(16:03):
they're able to separate theproduct diversity in an
impactful way. And they're oftenable to build it in so it's
margin and creative to theirmix. And so there's also a
profitability play. But you needto start hitting scale, you need
to be able to hit a certainbalance of your assortment and
meet that expectations of yourcustomer if they're looking for
a certain set of CPG products,and how do you surprise and
(16:24):
delight them with additionalown-brand products. So that's a
lot of what's going to thestrategy of the expansion and
the deepening of own brandstoday. And just pausing there
before I jump into how potentialaudience members might be able
to capitalize on that. It's,it's a pretty exciting space.
But any questions? Orreflections on that?
Okay, no, no, keep going. Butthat's it's great. So far, we're
(16:46):
going to other ones that arebuilding up.
Fair enough. So that's how ownbrands is evolving. So the
benefits that I see for smalleremerging and even moving into
midsize brands is that if you'vegot a specific offering, that
can really complement or fallsunder the brand, I would say
Halo or that brand personathat's already in that retailer,
(17:08):
you might be well positioned tobring that product to them. Now
there's some pluses and minuseswith this idea. Certainly a plus
is that for retailers, there'sonly so deep in of expertise
they want to build, they'll havea food scientist team. And
depending on the size of theretailer, they might be
developing a ton of their ownproducts. But sometimes they are
(17:30):
partnering really closely with abrand that already knows that
business really would reallywell. So they can outsource some
of the product development to asupplier. And in that case, if
that partnership takes off, itcan be very, very fruitful for
both partners, because the theretailer isn't going to want to
(17:50):
change that flavor profile ofthe Kombucha or whatever it is,
once they get on the shelves,and their customers are
responding to it, they want tostick it stick with it. So
there's gonna be some great lockin for that supplier, that
they're going to have thatassortment that can continue to
grow and expand. The downsidecan certainly be that if you've
given away your flavor profileor your formulas, there's often
some exclusivity and there'ssome limitations that you are
(18:12):
now really hitching your wagonor pick whatever euphemism you
want, you're you're locked inwith that retailer. And that
gives you less opportunities tobe able to scale and move to
other partners. And if thatretailer goes in a completely
different direction on thebrand, that could be really
challenging for you then tostart re-engaging and rebuilding
that momentum if you haven'tbeen in a position to be out
(18:32):
selling and pitching thatbusiness. So there's a bit of
high risk, high reward when itcomes to those partnerships. But
they can be incrediblybeneficial if it's a really
great overlay of the priority ofthe consumer that the retailer
is trying to connect with andthe brand expertise that a brand
can come to the table with.
Yeah, I think it definitely highrisk, high reward, but there's
(18:55):
definitely a thought processbehind it. And something to
think about, if you move in thisdirection of own brands is like
do big retailers. Will theystart with own brands like in a
regional capacity? Or is likewill they go national? Or is it
kind of dependent oncircumstances? I'm wondering
about this whole operationcapacity conversation as well?
Yeah, that's a great question.
From an own brands perspective,there are certainly
(19:17):
opportunities to pilot and startthings small before they scale.
And it certainly depends on howclose in the product categories
are to something that's alreadyon the shelves, what is already
known. But if there's a lot ofunknowns, it could start
smaller. But I would say theexpectation would be that if a
retailer is investing in ownbrand development, if it's a
broader own brand, and you'recoming in with a specific subset
of products, they're going towant to scale that pretty
(19:40):
quickly. So I from anoperational perspective, it's
definitely a conversation youwant to have a word of the goals
of this business, but myinstinct would be would be that
they'd want to have it acrossmost of the doors where it's
regionally appropriate andpretty quickly once there's some
good proof of concept.
Brad Ebenhoeh (19:59):
Yes, definitely.
And then clearly, I'm assumingthat probably every relationship
can vary depending upon if youcan still sell into with your
not own brand, but with youractual brand into other
competitors, or retailers ordifferent situations, right?
There's always could be somecompetitive, you know, stops or,
you know, whatever, like as partof this correct?
Juli Lassow (20:23):
Exactly right.
Well, and that's also some ofthe benefit, though to that you
get of partnering with aretailer is that you get to
outsource some of the the workand the marketing and the brand
building, they have a Target hasa Good and Gather brand that
they're investing millions ofdollars in, and you're able to
really just focus on bringingamazing products. So your
formulation priorities or yourassortment expansion priorities,
(20:44):
that can be most of your effort,you, you then don't need to
focus quite as much on selling.
And then you can also then focuson the operational side, how are
you scaling? What is the supplyin the production capacity that
you are then building out? So itfrees up resources within your
organization to maybe scale morequickly, when you don't have to,
(21:05):
basically be deliveringeverything on behalf of your
brand.
Brad Ebenhoeh (21:09):
Yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, deepening
the relationship and creating avery beneficial relationship for
both parties can help everythingas you move forward with your
business in the short term, orlong term. And at the end of the
day, like from a lot of smallbusiness and brand owners, a big
goal is scaling and growingtheir business and selling,
Assuming, that you create thisrelationship, and everything's
great, and you're hitting yourmarks. And also, you're going to
(21:29):
a point, there's probably aworld where the, you know, in a
purchase or, you know, canhappen for a small brand. So
again, not guaranteed, butagain, a lot of things to think
about as you go forward justfrom your idea of business
development, sellingrelationships, you know, within
different retail partners.
Juli Lassow (21:49):
Yeah, absolutely.
And I'm not an expert on onselling your business. But
there, that would certainly bean interesting consideration of
what is that future value startto look and feel like if you've
locked in a direct relationshipversus a private label
relationship? And across all ofyour channels, whether that's
wholesale or direct.
Brad Ebenhoeh (22:07):
So last question, then on this is for kind of a
small version of brands, again,back to kind of like how you
know, how much operationalcapacity you have and funds to
bring product to the table forsomebody, I'm assuming that
similar to our initialconversation that retailers are
going to look at like, what isyour brand or your product that
(22:27):
we can do this on? And what isthe scalability long term in the
short term to focus on this. Soagain, it may not work perfectly
for a small brand, right, likemillion or 2 million, but it's
something to think about maybestarting the relationship,
having conversations and thentargeting down the road. And
maybe when you're ready to gothat so what I'm trying to say
by this is like it can happen inany venture of your business,
(22:50):
depending upon variouscircumstances that exist across
the board.
Juli Lassow (22:55):
Yeah, I think that's well said. Too early on,
it's it's one of those things,be careful what you wish for.
Because when the when the godswant to punish us, they grant us
our our wishes is that thephrase? And I have seen
businesses that have gotten intoa partnership with a Target or
someone of that scale. And it isreally challenging. And like I
(23:16):
mentioned earlier, when that ifthe door shuts, that usually
doesn't reopen. So you do wantto make sure you've got some of
that mapped out and make sureyou are I think sizing, your
pursuit that aligns well withwhat you can actually deliver.
So if you need to be reallyupfront that this is something
that you can test and get intoit at a small way. But you
(23:38):
aren't going to be able to scaleuntil you see some mutual proof
of concept, then I think that'sit's really fair to be able to
say that, but then also be readyto say these are the things that
we're willing to invest in,should it seem viable to expand
this product, this is what wecan do. Here's our backups,
here's the different Packerswere able to use the different
manufacturing lines. This is howwe're going to be able to secure
credit. Target isn't going tobe as interested as financial
(24:00):
backer is going to be in all ofthose operational plans. But
just what are the high levelbullet points that give them a
sense that you would be able togrow with them and be able to
meet those common objectivestogether?
Brad Ebenhoeh (24:10):
Awesome. Awesome.
All that makes sense. So as kindof just general question I have
and topic is just overall kindof supply chain, in today's
economic climate. You know, fromour perspective, the last kind
of, you know, 6, 12 monthsclearly have been crazy on the
economy as a general, local, youknow, national, global, it's
affected a lot of our client'ssupply chain disruptions,
(24:32):
capital funding disruptions, allthis type of stuff that goes
into a clearly from yourperspective from a supply chain,
just kind of high level whatyou've seen and then what are
the things that a brand can doto try to offset this crazy time
or lack of certainty each stepjust to support their supply
chain and operational venture?
Juli Lassow (24:53):
I think a lesson that many organizations learned
in the COVID response era isthat you can't have a very
brittle supply chain, you needto build some flex into your
supply chain, and understandwhat are those key pressure
points for you? Is it securing aspecific raw material? Is it
securing a specific packagingbased on how your product goes
(25:16):
to market? What are those keypressure points? And then what
are your backup solutions? Andit went from and I would say,
pre-COVID. On the procurement,the supply chain side, it was
more of a perspective of thesewere teams that were risk
averse, they really wanted toget everything locked down, they
want to be able to have theanswer and have the best supply
(25:36):
chain and deliver ultimate. Andnot to say you didn't have your
backup plans, but you more hadthose backup plans as a way to
show that you were, you'd haveeverything locked down and
buttoned up. Now the backupplans aren't so much of an
eventuality as an implicitexpectation that you're gonna
have to leverage a backup planand you really hope that you've
got the backup plans in placethat you need. So I would
(25:58):
encourage teams to understandwhat are those pressure points?
What are the things that aregonna bring your business to a
standstill, if you don't havesolutions, two and three to back
them up. And really make surethose are fully vetted-out
solutions? First and foremost.
So what's that risk planninggoing to look and feel like? And
and that's, that's true in manyparts of your business I supply
chain and production are placesthat I know best. But that's the
(26:20):
same from a social mediaperspective and a marketing
perspective. If you know, onebad tweet or something goes
viral, you need to be able tomanage that as well. So I think
there is more risk planning thanthan ever before. But that also
I find is opening upopportunities to create value as
well. So you're looking atsomething new. Often when you're
(26:41):
operating with constraints, youcan come up with a different
approach. So it's not to saythat, that you can't find upside
in some of those backuppartnerships as well. It doesn't
always have to be doom andgloom. But it's more of "how can
we be really creative to makesure we can continue to find
solutions to get products in thehands of the consumers that
we're connecting with?"
Brad Ebenhoeh (27:02):
Yes, definitely, I think risk based approach, you
know, you've mentioned, youknow, that term, I think it's
huge to focus on what are the1,2,3 big risk points and risk
areas that that exists, andreally prioritizing time, energy
and resources in that as yousay. And then number two, you
know, for the entrepreneurs outthere, these people that have
created unbelievable, weird,creative new brands, there's
(27:25):
opportunities to create newsolutions, we know when doom and
gloom come right? And, and thatcan be you know, part of
presenting a solution to asupply chain partner on how you
can add value to them, rightversus in the past year, I
looked at yourself as just acustomer is what it is, but go
approach them and became great apartnership, for example. So
again, looking at things I thinkcreatively, solution oriented,
(27:47):
based upon this risk basedapproach can help out with any
aspect of the business thatyou're saying; marketing,
finance operations, etc. So Ithink just kind of continuing
that aspect and consistentlyre-analyzing your business
quarter over quarter overquarter, what are the new risks?
What's going on the economy?
What's going on with this orthat, and focusing time and
energy on that, so I think thatthat's a really good, the
(28:08):
baseline and a good thoughtprocess for people to have any
size of the business. Well,awesome Juli, this has been a
fantastic chat, I love I lovethe topics, I think our guests,
or our listeners are gonnareally enjoy it as well. So
while we end, we have a coupleof our every question or our
topics we want to touch on. Sofirst things first, give us your
(28:28):
CPG do.
Juli Lassow (28:32):
o the CP G do I touched on it earlier, but it
bears repeating. It's ask a lotof questions. So just coming to
this business space,entrepreneurs are excited about
their idea their curious aboutcreating something new, and make
sure you're bringing thatcuriosity to the partners that
you're working with. Itabsolutely applies with with
retailers. And I find thatsuppliers that don't ask a lot
(28:52):
of questions often don'tunderstand the full agreement
that they're reaching. So that'sthat's a must do for me.
Brad Ebenhoeh (29:01):
Love it. And then a CPG Don't.
Juli Lassow (29:05):
Don't forget to focus on the other party's
perspective. Try to anticipatewhat's going to be most
important to them in framing theconversation. What are they
hoping to get out of theagreement, whatever type of
agreement you're trying toreach. I think that's a way to
help create some more value andfind solutions that aren't so
you-focused but that ultimatelyare creating a bigger slice of
(29:28):
the pie again, pick youreuphemism. But yeah, don't
forget that other perspective.
Brad Ebenhoeh (29:33):
Yup, empathize.
Put yourself in their shoes andlook at their perspective,
because it literally helps everytime you have a conversation
when you do that.
Juli Lassow (29:41):
that. And so that's true in business in life. But
yeah, that's,
Brad Ebenhoeh (29:46):
um, that aspect.
So all right, Juli Lassow fromJHL Solutions, can you let us
know how we can get a hold ofyou? What you're doing today
that you know, with with yourbusiness and just kind of give
us a little bit of that beforewe sign off here.
Juli Lassow (29:58):
Yeah, happy to share. So it's Juli
Lassow and you can find me onLinkedIn. I'm pretty active on
LinkedIn, or JHL-solutions iswhere you can find the website,
I have a fair amount ofinformation on negotiations and
supplier partnerships available.
Today, as I shared, I mostly siton the retailer side supporting
retailers and building anddeveloping negotiation
(30:19):
strategies. But I do alsosupport suppliers. So if you're
looking for negotiation support,if you're reaching in or
entering in conversations withretailers, for the first time
going direct and moving into thewholesale space, happy to have a
conversation on how I might beable to support that work and
support your efforts. Awesome.
Brad Ebenhoeh (30:39):
Again, thanks so much for your time today, Julie.
Appreciate the the knowledge,the expertise, you know the
experience that you've had, I dobelieve the listeners will
really enjoy it. So take care,Juli, thanks again. Again. This
is episode 28 of The Month Endpodcast. Hope you all enjoyed
it. Take care.
Juli Lassow (30:54):
Thanks
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