ForumsAdvertising, Sales and Marketing

Since you get, as you said "one bite at the apple," it's important to go in to the buyer with something stronger than a "belief" that your commodity will work well with the military customer -- AAFES buyers normally want to see evidence that a new product IS ALREADY working well for their customer base. You best shot will be if you go in ready to demonstrate that your on-line sales have been shipping to FPO or APO addresses like crazy, that your ads in Army Times and Navy Times have been getting response rates through the roof, that a regular retailer near a military post is selling your product like hotcakes, etc. The more evidence you have that their customers are ALREADY spending money on your product anyway -- somewhere else -- the greater the odds become that they'll want it in their stores. They take fewer chances on new products than regular retailers, especially at the smaller PXs/BXs (which are constrained on shelf space as it is), so that evidence of existing sales to their customers is what will impress them most.

Hope that helps. Best wishes.

I'm not quite seeing how FBO would help here, let alone be bittybabys' "best bet" (try to say "be bittybabys best bet" three times fast).

Could you eleborate on your advice? Thanks.

By the way bittybabys, joking and stupidity aside.

The FBO website is a direct link to military and federal opportunities.

You will need to have a DUNS number and be registered to do business with the government before you offer your services or product.

Good luck in your endeavor, and please excuse my poor attempts at humor on this thread, although it was a great attempt at stupidity.

Sincerely yours,

Mike(intechspecial)