INTERVIEW: Kellyn Wigand on Managing Sales

Kellyn: Sure. I cover San Diego County and Orange County right now and really I’m in grocery stores everyday. We are in all of the major accounts like Whole Foods, Walmart, and Target and my job is to create relationships with the grocery managers. I implement promotions that we have in certain retail chains, build displays, and grow sales by placing more points-of-sales in stores--so whether that’s the big displays or a merchandising rack or an extra grab-and-go clip strip by the registers.

I also work closely with our marketing team to set up demos, sampling events, and some retail events. For example, we did a picnic with one of our retail chains. So I definitely have a broader exposure with marketing and sales but my main day to day activity is going to the stores, setting up meetings, and meeting with managers. If they're missing any flavors or if there are any issues I try to alleviate them by working with our distributors and warehouses.


How many accounts do you typically manage and how many prospects are you expected to reach out to? 

Kellyn: I manage about upwards of 150 at this point. But some of them I see more often than others because they’re premier accounts. Others I don’t see as often but we have distributors and other people who are seeing them. As far as new accounts, we're pretty saturated as far as groceries but there’s always room for growth like colleges and breweries which we’re definitely starting to tap into. It’s such a unique product in that it can really go a lot of places like heath events. We really focus on in store promotions for accounts that are already in. We’re always looking for new opportunities of course, if I see a brand new store I’ll stop in. My main role is to try to keep existing accounts growing.


You mentioned having premier accounts. How do you prioritize your accounts from the long list?

Kellyn: It’s just the highest sales. So ones that are selling the most in a region I call about once or twice a week. Of course the accounts that are low on sales we try to hit as much as possible to help them get up to speed with the other accounts as well.

How long have you been at Krave and what did the sales process look like when you first joined the team and has it changed since then?

Kellyn: I’ve been with Krave for almost a year. I’ve definitely gained more responsibility within my time here. For me, relationships are a huge thing and I think that that takes time to establish a relationship and to have them trust me, so a lot of what I was doing in the beginning was going in and introducing myself and making sure we had all of the products and correct flavors, and as they saw that I was there every week they gave me more responsibility and more trust with what I can do for the store.

For instance, there was this one store and the manager was a tough one. She was off putting at first, but after the three or four times I was in there she was like, ‘wow you’re in here a lot,’ and I was like I mean that’s my job to service your account and anything you need from us we’re going to achieve. Whether it be sales support or marketing support I’m here to do that. In turn, a couple of months later I got a merchandising rack in that store so some extra points of sale, and now we’re pretty much able to do almost anything in that store. When we go sample at that store we sell about 20-22 bags in two hours. It really does show what relationships can do for a brand and how it helps at the store level.


You talked about the importance of persistence and gaining trust. Can you elaborate on some other qualities you think are necessary for someone in sales?

Kellyn: Definitely being organized. I learned throughout my years working in sales that the more organized you are, the better you are. I also always keep my word. If I say I’m going to be there next week with something, I'm going to make sure I get there the day I tell them I will. It's never good when you tell someone one thing and don’t follow through...You definitely have to have a go getter attitude.  I’m out here everyday alone so you have to be self-motivated and be able to put 110% out every single day. You gotta be out going too and have thick skin because you definitely get told no a lot. But if you don’t take it personally, and you be persistent and go back the next week and ask in a different way or offer some other thing that would benefit them and show them that you’re there for them, that definitely helps a lot too.


The nature of your job is pretty independent and remote. How does Krave work to keep their sales managers engaged with the company and motivated?

Kellyn: The culture of the company is a very open door policy; if there is any issue or questions or ideas, I can email the CEO. Everyone is very humble and comfortable with everybody. But we do have monthly marketing recaps and sales recaps that come out which let us know what other regions are doing and some things that they have going on. Although we do work remotely, there definitely is a sense of community and closeness between the whole company because that sort of is the whole mantra of Krave--stay humble, stay hungry.


How do you promote retention with them retailers?  

Kellyn: As far as keeping retailers engaged, the products are doing so well for all of them and they’re making such a great margin that they want to order it. They want to keep bringing it in. At the store level, I always walk in with some samples, with some literature, upcoming promotions, pictures, big displays, merchandising tools we’re able to offer them. And they love our product so I always bring some samples for them and it goes a long way when you bring some snacks!  When we have new flavors we’ll bring them in and have grocery employees try them out before everyone else. We’re always there to support with demos and samplings  which is also a big thing because a lot of companies don’t do that, so we have that added benefit of coming out there and supporting the store. 


What do you see for the future of Krave Jerky?

Kellyn: We are the number two Jerky in the grocery channel right now. We’re hoping to get to #1. In the future I think it will just get bigger and better and more innovative for us. I’m really looking forward to seeing where Krave goes especially with Hershey behind us and giving us all that we need to succeed and more.