Are you a @ServiceProviders or @EquipManufacturers or @EquipSuppliers trying to access the cannabis market? Acquiring clients can be a real pain. Nobody likes to cold call. This topic is to discuss your you acquire new clients. B2B communities and trade shows aside, how do you get clients to purchase your products and/or services? How do you get your foot in the door?
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Instagram and LinkedIn have honestly been great resources for me. I will strike up a conversation, either in the DMs or in the comments, about their operation and eventually get to a point where I ask them if they would like to run a trial of Hygrozyme.
We are all about getting samples to qualified growers and having them see the impact our product will have. Once they see the results, then we have a customer for life. In sales, naturally you are going to get burned from time to time. For me, it is all about asking the right questions and getting a feel for the grower to see if it is a good fit.
I am also always asking them to post their results or just give us a shout out on their pages. That too has helped drive more interest.
ROI has been great using this method so far.
I am looking forward to reading other techniques
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I’ve been doing social media for about 15 years, and in cannabis for 5. All of my business comes from referrals and networking. I go to local networking events, as well as a few trade shows a year.
LinkedIn. LinkedIn is huge for this industry, especially if you are trying to get to decision-makers. It’s where the big companies go when they are looking for candidates to hire. I get a few inquiries a week there.
I hold a lot of workshops to show my expertise, too. It’s not easy to sell social media. It’s still fairly new, and a lot of business owners still don’t understand why it’s so crucial. Workshops give me a way to show what it’s about, and how much work it is. Once they realize that, I have new clients. 
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Hello! Former customer referrals/partner referrals and recommendations have been our two biggest points. We may offer a service a current partner has no use for, but they’ll recommend us for something like inside sales to someone who does.
Other than that, e-marketing & actually applying as a company on Indeed for sales opportunities yielded some good things! It was little outside the box but definitely got us a couple new clients recently.
Be well! 
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That’s a topic I was discussing last week a producer. On one hand, there doesn’t seem to be a superior channel or approach to find new clients according to some @EquipManufacturers and @EquipSuppliers, on the other, @mastergrowers and @producers report paying 20%+ more than what they should be paying for their supplies.
A few weeks ago, we launched a Supplies section aside the Genetics, to see if it could address this situation for all parties. In a couple months, we’d like to do a survey with our members regarding their search experience.
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We use a variety of methods but the absolute best is referrals from existing customers.
A close second entails us committing a couple
of hours of expert time reviewing their employee handbook and giving them feedback. It allows us to show our HR and compliance skills.
The third way, and it’s not great in Cannabis, is to attend conferences. We see cannabis conferences working well for others but in our space, the conferences have been a wash. Contrast that with some of our other verticals like dentistry and medical, where we do really well at conferences, and it’s a head scratcher.
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I think you could find some good conferences, you’ll just have to dig a bit. There are some niche ones. If I find one, I’ll PM you here.
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Mostly we rely on word of mouth.
Of course shows, exhibitions and online presence are a great way to get the word out , but really it all boils down to recommendations from satisfied customers.
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What have been some of your favorites? What do you recommend to other pros here in the community?
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Great insight @amy
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We’ve found that referrals have brought in the most qualified leads, and frankly those are the cheapest to acquire. They generally come in familiar with you and armed with information and a built in testimonial from whoever recommended you. The problem is that they are not always predictable or scalable. There is a great book called “Talk Triggers” that outlines the importance and tactics around having word-of-mouth-worthy aspects/differentiators of your business that spreads the word for you without advertising.
I’ve treated social media like the “$1 burger to the $2 soda” - what I mean by that is that social media can serve as the incentive or hook to get people in the door or gets people’s attention (i.e. the $1 burger that gets advertised), then once you begin engaging with them, you get a better sense of their needs and find solutions that are best for them where you can actually make money (the $2 soda they end up buying once they buy the burger is where your margins are highest and you earn back the money). It’s playing the long-game and can be an investment (especially for B2B like us) but it tends to be time well-spent.
Trade shows have been increasingly expensive, so it’s been imperative to have a very detailed plan in place and understand where you gain the most value: scheduled in-person meetings at the show, booth traffic, speaking on panels to gain exposure and establish authority on a topic, setting up follow-ups after the show, etc.
Having a content plan that aligns with search habits and the different research stages also creates familiarity with your brand while adding value throughout their journey (white papers, podcasts, infographics, articles, interviews, FAQs, case studies, etc.). This is another long-game strategy, but well worth the time to bring in more qualifies leads.
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@Alex_Gro-Tech from one marketing guru to another …
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Cold Calling, Trade Shows, Contacts, Social Media, Distribution Centers
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What do you find to be the most successful?
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Trade Shows and Social Media…one awesome thing about this industry is people talk inside of their circle. Once you get a happy client it doesn’t take long for their friends to want in on the awesomeness as well. The snowball affect is killing me…but no rest for the wicked.
I started here with a goal set by the company of $100,000 in sales on my first year. Remember we are a VERY young company. I did nearly 30 times that this week alone. Nearly all my major accounts landed was by word of mouth. However they come we will take them. Happy Growing!!
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Verrry true! Growers always want to know what other growers are using…
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How do you get around the ever changing rules about cannabis on the bigger platforms? Facebook slapped us down after approving and running one of our campaigns?
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@digicole I sell lights so it is not a factor for me…that being said I post tons of our clients photos and testimonials along with our photos without any issues thus far. The community standards of most social media is so out of wack and unjust it is scary.
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Awesome @Cultilightluv Thanks for the insight!
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