National & Global BA Market Visit Best Practices
If you are a national or global Brand Ambassador, you must rely on your local market manager, key account manager, or both to create a list of accounts to visit, training to give, and activate events.
Market visits should be planned far in advance. You and your manager should create a calendar for the year to show when you are available to be in the market and how many market visits you are allowed.
Brand Programming: Any brand programming should be executed during your schedule visit. So sell-in should happen way in advance of your arrival.
Call with each market: Before visiting each market, you and your manager should have a call with each market (typically at the beginning of the year) to discuss the following:
- Your Availability
- Overview of brand programming
- Budgets available
- The market needs - Always ask, how can we help?
- Other things you would like to achieve in the market such as:
- Staff training
- Distributor training
- Account visits
- Account support
- Work-with
CONFIRM WITH THE MARKET
- Can you ensure days and nights are booked with training, events, work-withs, etc.?
- Can they arrange a time for you to work with a sales rep or key account managers who focus on your brand's target accounts?
- What brands are in their portfolio so you know which brands you should mix with when presenting cocktails to an account?
A good market manager will have you booked out way in advance. They should have every hour of your time booked with training, events, and work-withs.
When in the market, remember it is not about you. You want to turn each person you work with in the market into an advocate for the brand. A way to achieve this is to :
- Keep your ego in check and help the local team achieve their goals for the brand first and then your goals.
- Express your passion for the brand & provide them with crucial facts they can utilize to sell it, plus signature cocktails to help drive volume.