The "First Bottle" Sell-Out Checklist: How to Fix the 4 Basic Mistakes Brands Make When Selling their First Bottle to Bars

How to Fix the 4 Basic Mistakes Brands Make When Selling their First Bottle to Bars (and 5 Steps to Help Them Finish that Bottle and Re-order it).

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Dear Bottom-up Drinks Builder,

In today’s issue, I’ll go through the 4 most common issues why new drinks brands struggle to get sell-out. I'll show you my 5-step process to make your brand’s rotation in a bar go from 1 bottle to 1 case.

By adopting this process, you’ll ensure that your brand has solid foundations before scaling up.

Unfortunately, most Drinks Builders lack a pragmatic system. They hide behind their "industry connections," but that hits a glass ceiling.

NB: building a brand takes time, so you will never get a silver bullet or a shortcut from me. It's about getting the basics right and creating a long-term system.

Many people focus on new distribution but if you don’t focus on helping your customer grow or sustain the rotation, you will eventually run out of clients. Sustaining Demand is key.

Most salespeople only focus on new distribution but lose existing customers. Hunting is useless without farming.

I’ve spent time analyzing the not-so-fancy details of why a brand sells or doesn’t. We often think we need some magic stick to grow sales in a bar, but the first step is ensuring the most essential aspects are in place.

Challenge 1: Not all bar staff know they sell your brand.

You sold it to the owner/manager. They probably haven’t informed their staff, so your bottle will get lost among the hundreds.

How often have you gone to a bar where you know you’re sold, but the bar staff says not? Tip: the bottle is probably not finished. It’s either not opened yet, or it’s half-full hiding somewhere.

Often, they don’t sell it because it’s not registered in the cashier system. As basic as it sounds, make sure that is in place.

Challenge 2: Your bottle/case may still be in the cellar.

Yes, they got their order among their other bottles. The people in charge don’t know the brand, so they’ve put it somewhere in the back of the cellar. Nobody will miss that bottle if you don’t show up and tell them.

Challenge 3: Bar staff doesn’t care if nobody is reminding them.

Nobody will love you like your mum. The same goes for your brand. If you don’t care about it, they won’t.

If after they get it, you don’t show up to remind them they bought it, it will stay forgotten in one of the first 4 out of 5 steps below: