We walked into a large retailer grocery store to conduct a meeting with the beverage and spirits director. Tim, one of the Retro partners handed her a bottle of our beer. She looked at it, skeptically, turned it around in her hands and started to ask questions. It wasn't until she heard that the beer gives 100% of profits to a charity of her choice that her demeanor transformed. She asked us if we could donate to Relay for Life, a charity she is heavily involved in. We obviously said YES! What happened next was pretty inspiring. She began telling us of her story of battling cancer and the emotional attachment she has to the Relay for Life mission. It was like a switch of a button she began throwing out amazing marketing and advertising ideas for Retro beer. She told us she was in full support and would link us with the retailer she worked for and the charity she served on.
All of that to say: Each of us have a capacity to buy into a vision when that vision has an emotional appeal to our story. We didn't come in with a projected profit sheet to tell her how much money she would make from this product. Instead we influenced her to see the bigger picture of service and the vision of the company's mission. This was a great business lesson for me to understand that when you put service first and profits second, sometimes you can get more buy in. Looking forward to our launch in May 2014!
