Episode #102: Innovating The Sales Process In 2021 with Chloe Kershaw of Hape Toys
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Once you make your toy idea a real product, how do you sell it? In today’s podcast episode we sit down and chat with Chloe Kershaw, the National Sales Manager at Hape Toys. Chloe didn’t start her career in the toy industry...she actually wanted to be a psychiatrist! But eventually, she began her career in consumer goods working in the warehouse of a handbag company. Her curiosity and enthusiasm for the work of the sales team at that same company, led her to discover a career path even better suited for her than tagging handbags.
Chloe shares the steps she took to eventually cross over into the sales side of the toy industry including her joyfully offering to do the grunt work that her coworkers didn’t want to do. Learn what she thinks the heart of a physical product-based company is and why, and walk away with insights on why you might want to start working with a sales rep for your company.
EPISODE CLIFF NOTES
Find out what toy job will have you traveling over 200,000 miles per year. [02:50]
The biggest demotivator to a sales-person [4:42]
The difference between house accounts and a sales representative accounts [07:38]
Get a peak and overview of a toy company sales catalog. [08:39]
An email hack that will help you never leave out an important part of an email again. [16:00]
What Chloe sees as the heartbeat of a company, and what professional experience taught her this [20:12]
Chloe’s FAVORITE part of her job. [22:55]
How the sales and product development teams work together at Hape [24:50]
The different challenges for small entrepreneurs vs large manufacturers in setting up sales systems and processes. [23:38]
What a sales rep group can do for your toy business? [29:04]
Find out the innovative way Chloe came up with to showcase and sell product virtually before everyone was doing it. [35:12]
What Chloe sees will happen in the future now that virtual events have started to come to the forefront of the toy industry [40:40]
What draws vendors to virtual shows? [45:00]