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. 1d ago

    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

  2. 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?

  3. 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

  4. 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?

  5. Jul 21

    More People. More Software. Why the Same Decisions Keep Coming Back.

    331. Most growing brands are being sold some version of an easy button. Hire another person. Add a dashboard. Plug in AI. Automate the report, and the business will finally become easier to run. Those tools can help. The problem begins when the business expects them to replace the commercial decision capability it never built. Dan Lohman explains why the same recurring decisions keep returning to the founder even after the company adds more people, information, technology, and outside partners. You will learn: Why the founder often becomes the company's original operating system Why hiring around confusion can make it more expensive How software and AI can accelerate the wrong answer The four parts of repeatable decision capability How stronger operating rhythm improves shopper trust and business value Why better capability changes the terms with retailers and investors The Decision Clarity Trilogy helps you listen, understand, and decide. Episode 331 shows you how to build those lessons into the way the business operates. This is the Build chapter of the Retail Clarity series. Retail Clarity Series Podcast playlist 328: Listen 329: Understand 330: Decide 331: Build Bring one report, workflow, or recurring decision your team still debates: RetailSolved.com/DecisionTools Download the free 15-Minute CPG Runway Leak Finder™ and get the show notes: RetailSolved.com/session331 ⏰ Timecode 01:24 The founder becomes the original operating system 02:44 The missing layer between the people and the tools 04:17 When visible growth hides a weakening foundation 06:56 Software is not the enemy 07:36 The sequence matters. First define the decision. 08:28 Four things must come before the easy button 09:34 Shared accountability usually becomes no accountability 10:44 Better capability changes the terms of the conversation 13:03 Listen. Understand. Decide. Build. 14:47 Start with one recurring decision 15:45 The next step 17:10 The spreadsheet is not the product. The decision is. 17:17 When the margin for error gets smaller, clarity becomes your competitive advantage

    More People. More Software. Why the Same Decisions Keep Coming Back.

  6. Jul 14

    More Reports Aren't the Problem. Your Decisions Are.

    330.  Your Dashboard Can Be Accurate—and Still Mislead You More dashboards. More reports. More spreadsheets. More software. So why do so many CPG leadership teams still struggle to make confident decisions? In this episode, Daniel Lohman explains why more reporting doesn't automatically create more clarity. You'll learn: • Why accurate reports can still mislead • The $100,000 reporting lesson that changed how Daniel thinks about data • Why databases don't always reflect how shoppers actually shop • The four biggest reporting blind spots • Why every report should start with a decision—not a spreadsheet • How Retail Clarity helps founders ask better questions before expensive mistakes happen One idea sits at the center of this episode: The spreadsheet isn't the product. The decision is. ⏰ Timecode 01:35 when the margin for error gets smaller, decision quality matters more 03:15 The $100,000 source of truth 05:16 Don't confuse a polished report with a complete answer 05:38 Blind spot number one: the data is accurate but incomplete 06:07 An accurate number can tell an incomplete story. And an incomplete story can lead to a bad decision. 06:13 Blind spot number two: data not organized around the shopper 08:28 Blind spot number three: every department is optimizing in isolation 10:04 Blind spot number four: the report arrives after the decision has already been made 10:47 The best decision tools should help answer: 11:06 This is why I built the Retail Clarity Framework, it has 4 lenses  12:34 The difference between a report and a decision tool 13:42 Five questions to ask before trusting your next report 14:50 A decision tool should reduce debate—not create more of it 16:39 When the margin for error gets smaller, clarity becomes your competitive advantage. 17:10 The practical next step 17:53 See Decision Tools examples at RetailSolved.com/DecisionTools. 18:37 The spreadsheet is not the product. The decision is.

    More Reports Aren't the Problem. Your Decisions Are.

  7. Jul 8

    Your Brand Is Not Broken. The Margin For Error Got Smaller.

    329. Growth feels harder right now. That does not necessarily mean your brand, product, mission, or founder instincts are broken. The environment around the business changed, and the margin for error got smaller. Sales may be growing while cash still feels tight. Promotions may move volume while compressing margin. Shoppers may still love the brand but buy it less often, wait for a promotion, or make different choices at the kitchen table. Dan Lohman explains why the old playbook is less forgiving and why stronger decision quality has become one of the most important ways CPG founders can protect runway. You will learn: Why sales growth does not always make the business stronger How changing shopper behavior affects founder economics Why reports often explain the pressure too late How Retail Clarity connects internal, shopper, competitive, and predictive signals Your brand may not be broken. The margin for error got smaller. Start with the free 15-Minute CPG Runway Leak Finder™: RetailSolved.com/leakfinder This is the Understand chapter of the Retail Clarity series. Retail Clarity Series Podcast playlist 328: Listen 329: Understand 330: Decide 331: Build ⏰ Timecode 03:03 Growth feels harder right now because: 04:10 Solving todays problems with yesterdays playbook can get expensive 05:58 Shoppers are doing their own version of runway management 06:46 Shoppers need your brand to make sense inside their current reality 07:44 One of the biggest traps in CPG 08:57 That is what Retail Clarity Decision Tools are built to do 09:31 The promotion example founders need to understand 11:12 The four questions that change the conversation 11:46 Why the Shopper Signal Flywheel™ becomes so important 12:55 The old playbook was more forgiving 14:20 The leak is not always obvious 15:29 What founders should do now

    Your Brand Is Not Broken. The Margin For Error Got Smaller.

  8. Jul 1

    Your Email List May Know Before Your Dashboard Does

    328.  Your sales report may be one of the last places you learn that the shopper changed. By the time velocity slows, repeat purchase weakens, or a retailer starts asking harder questions, the shopper may have already made a different decision. This episode uses trade shows as a practical example, but the bigger lesson is not really about trade shows. It is about turning shopper conversations, demos, email replies, community engagement, buyer questions, and event follow-up into a listening system. Dan Lohman explains why your email list should be more than a coupon channel and how better signal capture can help your team understand what shoppers are thinking before the numbers finally explain it. You will learn: Why sales reports often reveal shopper change too late How to capture useful signals from conversations and events Why segmentation makes follow-up more relevant How email can strengthen relationships, validate ideas, and create retail proof The event creates the moment. Your system creates the return. Download the free Shopper Signal Flywheel™ at: RetailSolved.com/guide31 This is the Listen chapter of the Retail Clarity series. Retail Clarity Series Podcast playlist 328: Listen 329: Understand 330: Decide 331: Build ⏰ Timecode 02:17 What most founders already know but few will say out-loud  04:03 The problem: brands think the show is the strategy. It is not 05:17 When runway is tight, hope gets expensive.  06:14 Booth traffic ≠ the win. The win is what happens next 07:31 A good follow-up system does three things 08:15 Make the comment personnel and memorable 09:02 And that is the bigger opportunity I want founders to see 09:52 Imagine the buyer may thinking, "I have been waiting for this." 10:33 But there is a second layer 11:39 That is another reason trade show follow-up matters  13:21 With it, the show becomes an asset 13:42 Get more value from the money you are already spending  14:14 Think about every trade show in three stages 15:32 An email system can bridge the show and more  17:55 The show gives you the moment.The system creates the return. 19:19 Download the free guide at:RetailSolved.com/guide31

    Your Email List May Know Before Your Dashboard Does
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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
    335
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2016-2026 | CMS4CPG LLC
  • Show Website
    Bulletproof Your CPG Brand