Independent Sales Rep - Children`s products

ProfessorPocket

Hello - I own a small children`s entertainment company that produces bilingual musical CDs for preschoolers. We are having a difficult time finding distribution, so we thought independent sales reps are the way to go. However, they are hard to find! Does anyone have any good sales reps that will work with children`s audio products?? Any help is appreciated. Thank you...

ProfessorPocket

Yes, our website is www.professorpocket.com....any suggestions?

studiocherie

There is a list of sales reps on JamesGirone.com
 
Also, you might ask at independent stores in your area if they have a rep that they like.
 
Trade shows are crawling with independent reps who are hungry for the next big line.


Hope that helps.
 

GrillCharmer

I’ve posted this before, but here’s my story for what it’s worth.  I have not hired this person yet, but this is what I did to locate someone I wanted to use.  Maybe it will pay off when the time comes, who knows! This is what I did….
I would go into the stores that I wanted to be in locally (William Sonoma, independently owned gourmet and kitchen stores etc...) and I took notes on some of the bigger manufacturers out there in grilling and kitchen gadgets (Like Charbroil and Norpro). I emailed their sales department and asked who their local sales rep was in CharlestonSC. The same name came up a few times and I filed that information away. Then a few months later at a function I met a women who owned a local gift/gourmet store. I was not at the point where I wanted to give her MY pitch (I was still a LONG ways away from a launch) but I asked, in her opinion, who was the best kitchen accessory rep she knew and she said w/o a doubt Mr. XYZ (same guy as above). So now I have his name and number just waiting for the time when I feel I am ready to make contact. Sooooo.... I wouldn`t go with someone you meet before asking around to both other manufacturers in your genre who they have represent them in your area, and also retailers in your area that would sell in your genre. If you`re lucky, you`ll get the same few names from both sides of the fence, then you have someone with a track record you can actually research instead of shooting in the dark. Sales reps have pretty big territories so even though I got this information from a local perspective, I do know that his territory is pretty much a bunch of the Southeast. Now when I am ready to really go national, I will use my wonderful Southeast sales rep to get the name of other Wonderful national reps. This is all in theory and it’s just my theory, so take it for what it`s worth.  Good luck!!!

ProfessorPocket

Hi Mary Kay,
Thank you for your reply. We would love to have been at the Toy Fair this year, but we are still too small and since we are self-funded a trade show that large is cost prohibitive for us. However, I would still be very interested in connecting with you and speaking with you about your reps. Your website is great and I feel the best way to learn is from other business owners who are doing the same thing! Please email me at paula@professorpocket.com and we can try to find some time to talk. Best of luck at Toy Fair....

edplusinc

I would love to help with this.  I am a retired teacher, home schooling gramma, our
Charter School offers Spanish, and I go to a co-op with a lot of parents who want their little ones learning Spanish. This post is from February so I hope you are still interested in sales help.