Daymon Senior Vice President of Brand Development Dale Whitehill has a reputation for being a cross-selling guru. He champions the importance of knowing all aspects of the business in order to help deliver solutions that ease retailer and brand partners’ pain points. We recently sat down with Whitehill to find out more about how he and his teams drive success.
RNI: You’ve been particularly instrumental in helping to expand Daymon’s partnership with what is now one of the largest grocery chains in the United States. Can you tell us more about that?
Whitehill: Daymon began partnering with this retailer on private brand development about 15 years ago. Our brand development team works right on-site with the retailer, which has allowed us to learn about many aspects of their business. Over the years as Daymon’s own services have grown, the team has been able to identify opportunities where our services could ease the retailer’s pain points and provide needed solutions. First, our consumer experience marketing team developed a sensory taste-test program to gather shopper feedback on their private brand products. Then, in 2013, we were able to sell-in additional experience marketing services for grand openings and re-openings, as well as our retail execution services.
Based in large part on the successes of the grand opening and retail execution programs, we were successful in expanding both programs in late 2015 to include an in-store demonstration program and conversion from a managed to a dedicated retail execution program. All together, these services have helped lift sales, improve efficiency and allowed our retailer partner to put savings back into their business.
RNI: What would you say have been the key drivers of your and your team’s success in cross-selling Daymon services?
Whitehill: It comes down to three main things: ownership, collaboration and execution. Ownership is about taking responsibility for cross-selling, having a basic understanding of Daymon’s key services and being an active listener, so you can identify a retailer’s or brand’s pain points. Then comes collaboration—where you create an opportunity and audience to bring in the subject matter experts from other business units. Daymon’s business units then work together to develop a customized solution that’s right for a particular retailer or brand. Finally, our reputation requires that we execute with excellence. We have to deliver a high-quality service and meet our partners’ expectations if we hope to grow any business.
RNI: Is there an added benefit for retailers in working with a cross-functional company?
Whitehill: At the end of the day, from a retailer perspective, it’s really about who can bring the best solution and deliver the results they’re looking for. A cross-functional company, like Daymon, can offer customizable end-to-end solutions to meet a retailer’s unique needs, whether it’s one service or multiple services. And once a retailer has experience with one service, it offers a proven track record for executing to expectations—building a reputation that affords opportunities to provide additional services.