August 2018

in the Los Angeles area as critical retail partners. In the first months of operation, they made sales calls and visits to get their products on those dispensaries’ shelves. Courting retail partners requires persistence, while vetting them calls for attention to compliance. It could be harmful to your brand, for exam- ple, to sell product in unlicensed stores or shops that flaunt the rules. “A lot is changing in California’s (cannabis) retail environment,” Koz said. “You have unlicensed stores that have no intention of becoming licensed or compliant. … It’s impor- tant to weed out shops that aren’t compliant and focus on the shops that have greater potential to be around for a while. Compliance and being a stalwart brand are really important to us.” It isn’t easy to get your product on shelves in top-tier dispensaries, Koz Wilson said. A critical part of the Kozes’ strategy is high-touch com- munication with dispensary owners and buyers, they said. In lieu of a traditional relationship with a distributor, which wasn’t previ- ously required under California law, the siblings made their own sales calls and dispensary visits to get their products in stores. Be Flexible and Persistent When a dispensary agrees to stock the company’s signature product – Dr. Norm’s Chocolate Chip Therapy cookies – the Koz siblings are flexible with minimum order amounts, which can be a barrier to get- ting a new product on shelves. “It has really helped that we’re flexible with our minimum order,” Koz Wilson said. “We’ve agreed to minimum orders as low as $150 to let (dispensaries) see how the product sells. That can be taxing for your business, but when the product sells and (dispensaries) start ordering $400 in product, then it’s worth your time.” They also hosted patient apprecia- tion days at retail shops that carried their products to promote the partner- ship. Often, that led to larger orders for inventory and orders for the dispen- sary’s other locations. The flexibility and personal touch – direct communication between the owners and the dispensaries – and persistence were key to growing the Dr. Norm’s brand, according to Koz Wilson. “You need to be incredibly persis- tent,” she said. “Buyers and manag- ers are bombarded by vendors, and it’s really, really tough to get their 5 Inspired by temperature USA Huber USA, Inc. 100 Centrewest Ct. Suite A Cary, NC 27513 Extraction at its finest Consistent and accurate temperature control solutions for easy integration in extraction labs and distillation plants for the best results and highest yields. For more information, please visit www.huber-usa.com/Unistat815 or call 800.726.4877 88 • Marijuana Business Magazine • August 2018