Bulletproof Your CPG Brand

Daniel Lohman
  • 5.0 (22)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Daily

Bulletproof Your CPG Brand is the founder-first podcast for entrepreneurial and growth-stage CPG brands that want to protect runway, improve execution, and compete smarter at retail. Hosted by Daniel Lohman, CPSA, founder of Retail Solved, the show helps natural, organic, better-for-you, food, beverage, wellness, and mission-driven CPG founders understand what really drives profitable retail growth. Most brands do not have a spend problem first. They have a clarity problem. Each episode helps founders think more strategically about category management, retail sales, trade marketing, promotion ROI, deduction management, broker accountability, distribution gaps, assortment strategy, shopper insights, retailer relationships, data analytics, and retail execution. You will hear practical solo episodes, expert interviews, founder stories, and real-world lessons from the retail system — not theory. The goal is simple: Help you see what others miss, make better decisions, and build a stronger CPG brand with the resources you already have. Learn more and access free CPG growth resources at RetailSolved.com. Topics include CPG brand growth, retail strategy, category management, trade marketing, trade spend, promotion planning, deduction prevention, broker management, distributor execution, retail analytics, shopper insights, natural products, food and beverage brands, omnichannel retail, sales dashboards, scorecards, and CPG founder strategy.

  1. 2d ago ·  Video

    Your CPG Brand Is Growing. Why Does Everything Feel Harder?

    339. Growth is supposed to make your CPG brand stronger. So why do more stores, more sales, more people, and more data so often leave a brand with tighter cash, more fires, and harder decisions? In this episode, Dan Lohman breaks down one of the biggest problems growing brands face. As the company grows, different people start owning different parts of the business. Sales is focused on sales. Operations is focused on supply. Finance is focused on cash. Marketing is focused on demand. Brokers and distributors are doing their part too. The problem is not always that someone is doing a bad job. The problem is that everyone can be looking at a different piece of the same decision. That is when growth starts making the business feel heavier instead of stronger. Dan walks through what gets lost as brands grow, why more distribution is not the whole decision, how challenger brands can stay nimble without becoming chaotic, and what it really means to build retail muscle into the company. In this episode: why growth can create tighter cash, more friction, and harder decisions what happens when each function solves only its own piece of the problem why the department can be right while the business is still wrong what category management was supposed to do how to keep the speed of a challenger brand while adding better discipline the 5 questions to ask before making the next retail decision how to use the new Start Here page to find the right next step Start with the problem that is costing you the most. Start here: RetailSolved.com/start Show notes and free guide: RetailSolved.com/session339 If this episode helps, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone trying to grow a CPG brand without breaking it.   Chapters 00:00 Why growth can make a brand weaker 00:55 When the whole company fit around one table 02:01 The 4 things every brand thinks it needs 03:43 500 new stores and the hidden bill 05:44 What gets lost as brands grow 07:29 What category management was supposed to do 09:10 Do not become the company you are trying to beat 10:20 What building retail muscle really means 11:43 Why learning becomes your competitive edge 13:35 Find the real problem before solving the wrong one 15:28 5 questions to ask this week 17:01 Why I rebuilt the starting point 18:06 The 3 ways to get help 19:04 Bigger is not the same as stronger 20:03 What got harder that you did not expect?

    Your CPG Brand Is Growing. Why Does Everything Feel Harder?

  2. Sep 8

    We Got the Stores. Now How Do We Make Them Work? With Julia Klein, LiveMore Superfoods

    338. Getting into retail is a big win. But for many founders, that is where a different set of problems begins. In this episode of Bulletproof Your CPG Brand, Dan Lohman sits down with Julia from Livemore Superfoods to talk about what happens after the retailer says yes. Julia shares how Livemore grew, what they learned the hard way about retail expansion, and why being in more stores does not automatically mean the business is stronger. One of the most valuable lessons from this conversation is simple: The goal is not just getting into stores. The goal is making those stores actually work. Dan and Julia discuss: • why getting distribution and building productive distribution are not the same thing • how spreading a brand across too many retailers, regions, or channels can weaken support • why concentrated effort helps build awareness and velocity • how customer learning can lead to better product decisions • why founders need to think beyond the yes If your brand is already in retail but the results are not where you want them to be, this conversation will help you think differently about what happens next. This weeks free guide: https://retailsolved.com/guide33 Get the show notes and free guide: https://retailsolved.com/session338 Chapters 00:00 We Got the Stores. Now How Do We Make Them Work? 00:51 Meet Julia and the Story Behind Livemore 03:43 Building Livemore Around Better Nutrition 05:21 Why Livemore Chose Retail First 09:59 From Smoothies to a Bigger Retail Opportunity 13:02 Choosing the Right Retailers, Regions and Shoppers 16:28 The Retail Growth Lessons Livemore Learned the Hard Way 19:23 Why Founders Need to Say No to More Retail Opportunities 20:43 The Retailer Said Yes. Now What? 22:07 How to Make Existing Retail Distribution Work 26:04 Turn Your Customer List Into a Retail Growth Asset 28:02 How Shopper Insight Can Make You More Valuable to Retailers 31:39 Scaling Livemore After the Nutrisco Acquisition 34:14 How Acquired Brands Protect Their Authenticity 37:20 Retail, DTC and Building a Stronger Growth Engine 41:43 Turn Customers Into Co-Creators and Brand Advocates 43:41 Why Trust and Authenticity Become Your AI Moat 45:04 Right Accounts. Right Products. Strategic Growth. 47:50 Find the Leak. Then Build the Muscle Behind It.

    We Got the Stores. Now How Do We Make Them Work? With Julia Klein, LiveMore Superfoods

  3. Sep 1

    More Retail Doors. Less Cash? The Hidden Cost of CPG Growth

    337. A CPG brand can add distribution, grow revenue and become financially weaker at the same time. I've watched it happen. A profitable brand expanded into more distributor DCs and markets. Distribution increased. So did inventory, free fills, chargebacks, distributor costs and the resources required to support all those new doors. The sales report showed growth. The underlying business was getting weaker. That's because getting the retailer's yes isn't the end of the investment. In many cases, it's when the investment begins. Inventory has to be produced before shoppers buy it. Distributor economics have to work.  Trade needs a job. Retail execution has to happen. Deductions can arrive after the sale. And the brand may finance weeks or months of activity before the cash comes back. The problem is that those costs rarely appear together on one report. In Episode 337 of Bulletproof Your CPG Brand, I break down the Retail Door Cost Stack and show you how to pressure-test one retailer before funding the next expansion. You'll learn how to think about: • inventory and working capital • distributor and path-to-retailer economics • trade investment • retail execution • deductions and compliance • cash timing • organizational capacity • the difference between more distribution and Productive Distribution The goal isn't to become afraid of growth. It's to know what must be true for growth to make your business materially stronger, not merely bigger. Try this now Pick one retailer. Ask how much cash you must commit before meaningful cash comes back, what recurring costs come with the account, who owns what happens after authorization, and what evidence 90 to 120 days from now tells you to keep investing, change the plan or stop. One retailer. One better decision. Then build the next muscle. 🎯 Find the loudest leak before you fund another one: RetailSolved.com/leakfinder 🎧 Episode 337 and show notes: RetailSolved.com/session337 Chapters 00:00 — More Retail Doors, Less Cash? 01:07 — How Episodes 335 and 336 Got Us Here 01:40 — What Does a Retail Door Actually Cost? 02:28 — The Retail Yes Is Not the Finish Line 03:26 — Growth vs. Productive Growth 03:53 — Strategic vs. Opportunistic Distribution 04:25 — When More Distribution Made a Profitable Brand Weaker 05:05 — Sales Are Visible. The Costs Are Scattered. 05:52 — The Retail Door Cost Stack 06:17 — #1 Inventory 06:55 — #2 The Path to the Retailer 07:25 — #3 Trade 08:10 — #4 Retail Execution 08:53 — #5 Deductions and Compliance 09:35 — #6 Cash Timing 10:15 — #7 Company Capacity 10:55 — What Has to Be True for This Retailer to Become Productive? 11:37 — What Prepared Growth Looks Like 12:30 — Your One Retail Muscle Rep 13:20 — The Bigger Lesson From Episodes 335–337 14:21 — Find the Leak Before You Fund Another One 15:29 — More Distribution Is Not Automatically Better Distribution

    More Retail Doors. Less Cash? The Hidden Cost of CPG Growth

  4. Aug 25

    More Retail Doors Won't Fix the Wrong Assortment

    336. I found a roughly $15 million growth opportunity gap inside a brand that was already in the stores. They did not need another retailer. They needed the right products in the retailers they already had. The brand had 16 SKUs, growing distribution, brokers, promotions, and plenty of reasons to believe things were moving in the right direction. But store by store, the assortment told a very different story. Retailers were carrying the brand — but often not the core products shoppers in the category looked for first. That created three expensive problems at once: weaker competitive positioning harder-to-build velocity trade promotions being forced to work much harder than they should In this episode of Bulletproof Your CPG Brand, I show you how I identified the gap and the simple four-part system I used to turn the problem into a much clearer retail strategy. You'll learn: why more distribution is not always better distribution how to identify the products that should form your core assortment why specialty items should expand the brand after the core is protected how the wrong assortment can weaken promotion ROI why a retailer can carry your brand while your existing distribution quietly becomes less secure how to find productive whitespace in stores you already have the four questions to pressure-test before chasing the next retailer The lesson is simple: Sometimes the fastest growth opportunity is not the retailer you have not landed yet. Sometimes the money is hiding in the stores you already have. Want help finding the retail problem sitting in front of you? The free Build Your Retail Muscle Founder Problem Finder gives you three podcast conversations to start with, one practical action, and the next resource if you want to go deeper. No email required. RetailSolved.com/guide33 Show notes and resources: RetailSolved.com/session336 Chapters 00:00 — The $15M growth gap hiding inside existing distribution 00:45 — What looked like retail progress was actually a warning 01:20 — The products shoppers look for first 02:04 — Three expensive problems caused by the wrong assortment 02:39 — When trade marketing subsidizes a weak assortment 03:01 — How I exposed the productive whitespace 03:56 — Protect the core assortment before adding more SKUs 04:45 — Why fixing the shelf makes promotions work harder 05:30 — When weak velocity puts existing distribution at risk 06:24 — Distribution vs. productive distribution 06:48 — The four-part productive distribution check 07:27 — Why door count is the wrong growth scorecard 07:53 — Finding money in the stores you already have 08:26 — The free Founder Problem Finder 09:20 — The question to ask before chasing more stores

    More Retail Doors Won't Fix the Wrong Assortment

  5. Aug 19

    CPG Pitch Deck - What Retail Buyers Need to See Before They Say Yes

    335. If you're trying to get into retail stores, a better-looking CPG pitch deck is not enough. Retail buyers hear versions of the same founder, product, traction, growth, and market-size story every day. The brands that stand out make the retailer's decision easier. In this episode of Bulletproof Your CPG Brand, I explain what retail buyers actually need to understand before taking the risk on a new item — including where the product belongs, who the shopper is, why that shopper matters to the retailer, what useful evidence the brand can bring, what the retailer gains, and what needs to happen after authorization. You'll also hear: why an investor pitch and retailer presentation solve different problems why retail buyers start tuning out self-focused brand pitches how I turned one of the weakest DSD routes into the highest-grossing route by making retailers' lives easier why a simple shelf image built in PowerPoint can be more useful than another 20 slides why retailers do not need you to read their own data back to them what happened when a brand expanded distribution faster than it could support why brokers, distributors, software, data, and agencies can help — but the brand still has to own the strategy how to build your retail muscle one practical win at a time FREE NEXT STEP Before your next buyer meeting, pressure-test the retail fundamentals behind the launch. Get the free New Item Essential System: RetailSolved.com/guide13 The goal is not to fix everything at once. Ask one question: Which retail fundamental is costing you the most right now? Then build that muscle first.   CHAPTERS 00:00 What retail buyers need to see before they say yes 01:05 Why this is not really about a prettier pitch deck 01:59 CPG pitch deck: make the retailer's decision easier 02:39 Investor pitch vs. retailer decision 04:12 Why retail buyers start tuning brands out 05:06 The lightbulb moment when I became the brand 06:39 The simplest retailer tool almost nobody uses 08:27 1. Where exactly does the product belong? 08:44 2. Who is the shopper and why do they matter? 09:45 3. What can you show the retailer they do not already know? 10:36 4. What does the retailer gain if they say yes? 11:22 5. What happens after the retailer says yes? 12:13 When more distribution creates a bigger problem 14:01 Can your brand actually support the growth? 14:35 Build your retail muscle 15:51 One question before your next retailer meeting 16:29 Free New Item Essential System Then append your standard Retail Solved description block underneath this custom section.

    CPG Pitch Deck - What Retail Buyers Need to See Before They Say Yes

  6. Aug 12

    The Promotion Was Approved. So Why Is the Shelf Empty?

    334. Your promotion is live. The retailer approved it. The funding is committed. Inventory shipped. The team believes everything is ready. Then someone walks into the store. The sale tag is there. The shelf is empty. Or the display never got built. Inventory is sitting in the back room. The product was moved. A competitor took the space. Something changed between the plan and what the shopper actually experienced. And here is the dangerous part: Your report may eventually tell you the promotion underperformed. It may not tell you that the shopper never had a fair chance to respond. In Episode 334 of Bulletproof Your CPG Brand, Dan Lohman explains how to close one of the most expensive gaps in retail: the distance between the strategy you approved and what actually happened at the shelf. Your broker should not own your strategy. But because brokers work directly with retailers, promotions, resets, inventory, displays, competitive activity, and execution, they can become one of your most useful sources of field intelligence. Dan shares the lessons he learned managing broker performance at Unilever and Kimberly-Clark, working from inside a broker environment at SPINS, building the original SPINS Distribution Tracker, and later writing hundreds of articles and training leadership teams on broker and trade effectiveness. You'll learn how to: recognize execution problems before the post-promotion recap use your broker as a field resource without handing over your strategy ask five better questions before the next retailer or broker decision connect shopper truth, retailer needs, competitive activity, and field reality turn what the broker sees into a clear decision, owner, and next action give the broker a clearer assignment and definition of success Dan also introduces the free 5-Minute Broker Advantage Check™. Use it with one broker, one retailer, and one live priority before your next broker conversation. Start here: 5-Minute Broker Advantage Check™: RetailSolved.com/leakfinder Then go deeper: The free Broker Advantage Playbook™: RetailSolved.com/guide11 Episode notes and resources: RetailSolved.com/session334 CHAPTERS 00:00 The promotion is live. The shelf is empty. 00:45 The expensive blind spot your report may miss 01:53 How the last several episodes lead to the shelf 02:46 How I learned and earned broker strategy 04:13 Why broker management can feel like herding cats 05:20 Your broker is close to the execution gap 05:57 Five questions to ask before your next broker call 07:37 Shopper truth + field reality + data 08:14 Don't wait for the post-promotion recap 08:59 The free 5-Minute Broker Advantage Check™ 09:32 Give your broker a better assignment 10:15 Accountability, meetings, and stronger partnership

    The Promotion Was Approved. So Why Is the Shelf Empty?

  7. Aug 5

    Your Best Product Doesn't Win. The Product That Solves the Right Problem Does. With Marise May, Cha's Organics

    333. What makes one shopper willingly pay more while another keeps chasing the lowest price? It is not always the product. It is whether the product solves a problem the shopper recognizes and whether the brand communicates that value in a way the shopper and retailer can understand. In this episode, Daniel Lohman talks with Marise May, co-founder of Cha's Organics, about the values, relationships, and operating choices behind a mission-driven organic brand that has spent 20 years building trust with shoppers, farmers, suppliers, and retailers. Marise shares how authenticity, simplicity, organic agriculture, Fairtrade, and long-term partnerships have shaped the brand. The conversation also reveals a larger commercial opportunity. The people already buying your product can help explain: • what problem your product solves • which parts of your story resonate • what shoppers value beyond price • what creates trial, loyalty, and advocacy • how to improve products, packaging, and communication • how to build a stronger retailer story • what your broker needs to understand before representing the brand Your email list and customer community should not be used only for coupons and announcements. They can become a two-way Shopper Signal System that helps the brand listen, validate ideas, improve decisions, and bring real shopper language into retailer conversations. You will also hear why generic consumer research can miss the specific people buying your product and how strong supplier and community relationships can create resilience when costs, logistics, and markets become difficult. Listen to the episode, review the show notes, and download the free Shopper Signal Flywheel™ at: RetailSolved.com/session333 Download the free Shopper Signal Flywheel directly: RetailSolved.com/guide31 Learn more about Cha's Organics: https://chasorganics.com The free Shopper Signal Flywheel™ helps you listen: RetailSolved.com/guide31 The free guide Simple Solutions To Maximize Broker/Distributor Effectiveness helps you translate what you learn into a clearer broker and retailer strategy: RetailSolved.com/guide11 Simple Solutions To Maximize Broker Effectiveness helps you apply that strategy to one broker, one retailer, and one immediate priority: RetailSolved.com/BrokerStrategies CHAPTERS 00:00 What shoppers reveal that data cannot 00:40 When a mission becomes valuable to the shopper 02:06 Meet Marise May of Cha's Organics 03:15 Building a business around impact and organic food 09:35 Why simplicity and authenticity matter 13:30 Regenerative agriculture and farmer relationships 22:56 Why price is not the shopper's entire decision 25:38 Turning shopper value into a retailer story 27:00 Helping shoppers understand the product at shelf 28:41 What happens after someone joins your email list? 29:29 The Shopper Signal Flywheel™ 30:19 Using customer language in retailer conversations 32:10 Building a two-way shopper signal system 36:09 Why generic consumer research can miss your buyer 42:48 Fairtrade as a business and community system 47:37 Protecting the mission when costs increase 48:25 Why long-term partnerships create resilience 50:56 What is next for Cha's Organics 54:24 The final founder takeaway

    Your Best Product Doesn't Win. The Product That Solves the Right Problem Does. With Marise May, Cha's Organics

  8. Jul 29

    Your Promotion Increased Sales. So Why Did Cash Get Tighter?

    332.  A promotion can increase sales, make the retailer happy, and still quietly drain cash, margin, and runway. That is the part most post-event recaps miss. In this episode, Dan Lohman explains why a promotion can look successful on paper while quietly creating margin pressure, deduction issues, forward buys, execution gaps, and weaker baseline sales later. He shares the promotion lesson he learned selling chips against a much larger competitor and breaks down five questions every CPG brand should ask before repeating an event. In this episode, you will learn: Why sales lift alone is not proof a promotion worked The hidden costs most promotion recaps miss Why smarter timing can outperform deeper discounts How retailer value creates leverage Five questions to ask before you repeat a promotion How to turn a promotion recap into a decision, an owner, and a next action Download the free guide: RetailSolved.com/guide7 Show notes and resources: RetailSolved.com/session332 ⏰ Timecode 00:32 the most expensive promotion may become the one you repeat because sales went up 01:44 Why rinse and repeat is not a good strategy 02:50 Every ineffective promotion is more expensive 03:35 The lesson I learned selling chips - It's not what you think 05:52 How a massive free display helped double my paycheck 06:36 The costly promotion mistake every brand makes - avoid this 07:41 Earning a voice in the retailers strategy became an unfair advantage   08:04 How a small daily improvement produced an result over time 08:25 5 questions you MUST ask before repeating a promotion 08:51 A promotion with no job = a discount. A discount without measurement becomes a leak 11:08 The ethical easy button that I trust 11:58 The real easy button is a simple, repeatable decision process 12:03 This is Retail Clarity in practice 12:51 The goal is to make every promotion earn its place in the plan 13:07 Here is a practical next step 13:12 Get the FREE 8 Strategies to Maximize Your Trade Marketing ROI RetailSolved.com/guide7 14:25 When every dollar has to work harder, a slightly better decision repeated across every retailer and every event can create a very large advantage

    Your Promotion Increased Sales. So Why Did Cash Get Tighter?
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5
out of 5
22 Ratings

About

Bulletproof Your CPG Brand is the founder-first podcast for entrepreneurial and growth-stage CPG brands that want to protect runway, improve execution, and compete smarter at retail. Hosted by Daniel Lohman, CPSA, founder of Retail Solved, the show helps natural, organic, better-for-you, food, beverage, wellness, and mission-driven CPG founders understand what really drives profitable retail growth. Most brands do not have a spend problem first. They have a clarity problem. Each episode helps founders think more strategically about category management, retail sales, trade marketing, promotion ROI, deduction management, broker accountability, distribution gaps, assortment strategy, shopper insights, retailer relationships, data analytics, and retail execution. You will hear practical solo episodes, expert interviews, founder stories, and real-world lessons from the retail system — not theory. The goal is simple: Help you see what others miss, make better decisions, and build a stronger CPG brand with the resources you already have. Learn more and access free CPG growth resources at RetailSolved.com. Topics include CPG brand growth, retail strategy, category management, trade marketing, trade spend, promotion planning, deduction prevention, broker management, distributor execution, retail analytics, shopper insights, natural products, food and beverage brands, omnichannel retail, sales dashboards, scorecards, and CPG founder strategy.

Information

  • Creator
    Daniel Lohman
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2026
  • Episodes
    340
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2016-2026 | CMS4CPG LLC
  • Show Website
    Bulletproof Your CPG Brand

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