Commodity price increase & USA Made Commando Lock - Matt Damman Ep88

How to Pitch Products to Major Retailers Plus Surviving the Impacts of the Pandemic

How did the pandemic transform your business’s operations and sales efforts? We have to admit that even with the many challenges we faced during the pandemic, many businesses have adapted through the adversity to become even better in their operations. 

In this episode of Page One Podcast, Luke Peters speaks with Matt Damman about the positive and the negative impacts of the pandemic on the newly transformed Commando Lock. Matt is the CEO of Commando Lock company in Michigan, a growing manufacture of military-grade padlocks and security systems, and an entrepreneur.

Listen in to learn how the increase in the cost of raw materials and challenges with labor is affecting production processes. You will also learn the different ways you can pitch your product to major retailers.

Key Takeaways:

• How to successfully pitch your products to different retailers
• The impact of the raw materials like brass and steel cost increase
• The uncertainty in sales performance for most businesses caused by the current world inflation
• How challenging times force you to refine your product and become more efficient in what you do

Episode Timeline:

• [2:10] Matt describes what they do at Commando Lock, which is manufacturing military-grade locks.
• [3:57] He talks about the delays and sales growth they experienced during the pandemic.
• [6:40] The big companies they have been able to pitch to over the last several months.
• [9:14] He explains how to pitch products to major retailers through cold calling and presentation.
• [14:19] How their sales have been performing on different platforms plus how they were shut down on Google.
• [20:36] The raw materials cost increase and labor challenges that Commando Lock has experienced since the pandemic.
• [27:31] Why Commando Lock is highly contemplating cost increases to cover the production cost.
• [29:55] Matt explains their funding through credit and private investors to keep them afloat.
• [32:37] How they’ve been forced by the pandemic to become more efficient in manufacturing.
• [35:14] Matt explains their plans of getting into Home Depot and not taking out the competition.

Quotes:

 “Our products were well packaged. Retail quality packaging. We had UPCs. We were able to walk in and say that we were EDI compliant.”