A early recap of our trip

A quick trip recap: What did we accomplish? What did we learn? What should we do next? These are some of the questions I will attempt to answer.

First what did we accomplish? This was a good time for Galen to visit face-to-face his top customer Breck, his staff, shed personnel and customers. Mission accomplished! On Friday, we all attended (25 of us) a Chicago Cubs game sponsored by World Wide and had great fun and bonded in unusual new venue. I also reviewed our entire product line, especially from Mexico in a live warehouse format. Checked out the Sysco, Piazza and Tony’s conditioned fruit and reviewed the overall look of our product. I have great reports on our fruit quality except the number 2’s from Mexico and our California avocado box from Weyerhaeuser, it was atrocious. (We need a credit)

On Saturday, I got to meet the owner; Dominick of Tony’s Finer Foods and received an education on retailing like I never had before. During the show, had the opportunity to meet and greet our big customers like, Costco, Safeway and Gentile. John had even more customers swing by and discuss various programs with us-he was swamped. Both of us had a productive meeting with Steve, an owner of Ranch Markets that was very positive. They are growing like hotcakes! John overall had a very strong show.

Brian and Heath did extremely well and learning the show circuit. They were both in front calling out attendees like it was the Del Mar Fair. Even though they were green at times, I think they are learning quickly and will become seasoned veterans for the PMA. I really enjoyed their maturity, willingness to do anything and dedication during the show.

Trevor of course was assisting both sides and did well as a more seasoned employee. He filled in admirably with the tougher clients and maintained his presence. We learned our marketing material lineup is very strong and it received uniformly praise, especially from the California Avocado Commission staff. Our Produce News ad was a hit with the tag line “We Promote a Sense of Well Being.” Our give away, a USB storage devices went over well and our only snafu was our Sales pamphlet (with Matt’s face) needs updating.

The show itself was a difficult show. We learned we have to stand out and fight against the competition, from the biggest companies down-like Budweiser, to hundreds of companies giving away samples of chocolates, cheeses, wines, pâté and everything organic. Just to be a produce company was almost too boring.

What should we do different, what would make us standout? Maybe, an avocado food product and with hot serving GIRLS, would get us more attendees. But are they what you want? Just people grazing for freebies? I noticed new products or new packaging seemed to catch the retailer’s eye. Everyone and I mean everyone took a close up of our bag rack. It seemed to be the ONE universal looking point for all individual. Also, our giveaways, DVD and product manuals were a strong draw. Overall, we should consider a food giveaway for PMA maybe for buzz, but a new product design or packaging presentation would actually get the people you want to come by.

Besides just buyers, we got great leads on outside cooling, logistics, freight companies, customs experts, packaging companies, bagging net suppliers and many others. These are just as important profit centers.

Lastly, we have to act on the new contacts, fix the complaints of current customers and use our knowledge to make a better upcoming PMA show. Customers no longer want a call on the phone. They want MORE services and cheaper solutions. They want more innovation, green and organic. It means getting 100% into customer service more-getting to know the customer better-getting intel on what is going on inside their companies-acting faster- and learning the lessons to apply for all of our key customers.