143 | Blair Fletcher Hardy Teaches Us How to Win Over Your Business Gatekeeper

Is your gatekeeper anything like your ideal client? Or, are they basically the exact opposite?

Blair Fletcher Hardy is the co-founder and Head of Brand for Pop & Bottle, the wellness-first coffee brand known for its organic, dairy-free lattes with no refined sugar or junky extras. With more than ten years of experience in branding and design, Blair spearheads Pop & Bottle’s visual team and helps to design the product packaging, create brand assets, and manage the brand’s overall aesthetic. While in London completing a year of study at the University of the Arts London learning the core tenants of branding and design, Blair became fast friends with fellow co-founder Jash Mehta. Fast forward a few years later, Blair relocated to the Bay Area. Blair reconnected with Jash and the two bonded over their love of San Francisco’s farm-to-table food culture and, of course, coffee. The two females founded Pop & Bottle in 2014 with a broader commitment to provide clean, plant-based beverages that are meant to elevate the everyday.

The gatekeeper is one of the most important business relationships that you can develop. Of course it’s important to connect with your ideal client, and those who are going to help you increase your top line revenue, but learning how to win over a gatekeeper is a game changer. 

That gatekeeper is often the key to your success!

When I was looking at getting FITzee Foods in The Vitamin Shoppe stores in New York and New Jersey, I knew that it was going to be hard. They’d have to get new permits and remodel their stores. It would not be a small undertaking, and it would require that I engage and enroll the right person to help me! By way of research and figuring out who the right person was, I found the perfect person to make it happen: Doug Jones.

But I didn’t have a connection with Doug. Yet. However, I did build a connection with someone who knew Doug well: Evelyn. His Executive Assistant.

Every time that I was in New Jersey, I would make it a priority to meet up with Evelyn. I’d bring her coffee or other things that she liked, and we’d chit chat. Our relationship grew over the years, and she was able to connect me to Doug.

That relationship with Evelyn connected me to the right person that I needed a YES from, and I was able to get FITzee Foods in The Vitamin Shoppe, thanks to my relationship with the gatekeeper!

This week’s guest on Success Unfiltered, Blair Fletcher Hardy, created a healthier alternative to lattes and coffee drinks. She just needed to connect with health food stores in order to get Pop and Bottle on their shelves. The problem was that she found that the gatekeepers didn’t always prioritize healthy products, so they weren’t always connected with her mission. She had to find different ways to connect with those gatekeepers in order to get a YES!

Is your gatekeeper anything like your ideal client? If not, you won’t want to miss this week’s episode of Success Unfiltered!

Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered!

 

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Special thanks goes out to Blair Fletcher Hardy for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us on 4/13/2020 for our next new episode!

Your Business Depends On Relationships. And You Can Start Building Them TODAY!

Business is about mutually beneficial connections with REAL live people. But creating those relationships doesn’t have to be a scary ordeal! All you have to do is show up, be yourself, and connect with people in a genuine way. Listen more than you talk. Don’t rule out anyone for a potential conversation. And stay open to opportunities no matter where you are. Sound like a lot of work? It doesn’t have to be! My FREE guide, “3 Simple Steps To Building Relationships ANYWHERE” will show you how to come out of your shell, embrace new connections, and “get out there” without stressing yourself out! Grab it HERE!

 

Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode:

• Michelle introduces Blair Fletcher Hardy.
• Blair and her business partner had no experience in the food industry, so they found themselves facing a lot of NO’s!
• “There’s a host of reasons people give you for not believing in you and your concept.” ~ Blair Fletcher Hardy
• Sales is a numbers game: you’re not going to reach out to 10 people and automatically have 10 investors.
• Learn from feedback: every NO is a learning opportunity.
• You will become more confident with your product and your story as you continue pitching.
• Got a fund-raising goal? Double the amount of time that you think it will take to raise that amount of money.
• Reach out to fellow entrepreneurs. As you share your stories with them, you’ll hear how they have gone through similar experiences.
• Surround yourself with others who are like-minded. Many entrepreneurs have learned to wear their failures like a badge of honor.
• “There is no growth without failure.” ~ Blair Fletcher Hardy
• Blair made their own original branding for Pop and Bottle, and was told NO that it didn’t look like a product that would be in a grocery store; that it looked like a perfume bottle.
• “Trust yourself and lean into what makes you unique.” ~ Blair Fletcher Hardy
• Don’t be afraid to marinate in your rejection, and learn from it.
• If you’re new to the entrepreneur world, learn how to take NO, learn from it, and not let it completely define you. Just because one person says NO doesn’t mean it is bad.
• Blair learned that their gatekeeper was not their ideal client. Instead of an almond milk latte, that person preferred soda. 
• Instead of reaching their gatekeeper with their business mission, Blair and her business partner had to create case studies to show that their product would be a success.
• Data is key when it comes to working with a gatekeeper who is not your ideal client.
• Blair shares what she would tell her younger self.

Connect with Blair Fletcher Hardy:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Website

Your Business Depends On Relationships. And You Can Start Building Them TODAY!

Business is about mutually beneficial connections with REAL live people. But creating those relationships doesn’t have to be a scary ordeal! All you have to do is show up, be yourself, and connect with people in a genuine way. Listen more than you talk. Don’t rule out anyone for a potential conversation. And stay open to opportunities no matter where you are. Sound like a lot of work? It doesn’t have to be! My FREE guide, “3 Simple Steps To Building Relationships ANYWHERE” will show you how to come out of your shell, embrace new connections, and “get out there” without stressing yourself out! Grab it HERE!

 

Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com