BLS Interview with Karen Posada, Founder of The Good Promise, Part 3

Derek concludes his interview with Karen Posada, founder of The Good Promise.

Read part 1 about Karen getting started with her product and how she got into Wal-Mart. Read Part 2 about her experience on Shark Tank.

Listen to the Podcast

Derek: Not everybody makes it out from there, so that’s great that you did and learned from it and survived it and are thriving. Some products, small products, they don’t get a second shot at learning that lesson. Especially at the scale that you’re getting to do it.

Karen: Yes, it is – but even though what I’m saying, the scale – what was – and going back to the Shark Tank thing, it was completely devastating but it also brought light to there’s a whole world online and now they gave us a head start because now people know that we exist, for good or for bad. And they give us an opportunity, when we send them emails, they don’t send us to spam right away, they actually read them. So now I’m excited to keep growing that, I’m excited to see what happens with the gas stations. When we do launch, if the price- they want to market at $1.49, they think that $1.99 is too expensive and at this time, instead of kicking and screaming like I did before; I say, “Okay”, then I say, “You know better than I do.” So I think I’m excited just to see where it heads but I am, in a sense, excited to not be so dependent on the retailers because it is volatile. You can’t be in every store at every second, to get truly the right audience at all times.

So I think a combination of both is great, especially because online will show you where your consumers are, what their needs are, into understanding what you can do with retail. So maybe test your product heavily online and we just recently got an opportunity with Amazon, Amazon has a program called Amazon Launch pad; if you’ve ever raised any money and in any platform. They will take your product and actually purchase the product from you and sell it to consumers from them. The big difference there is shipping, so when you get into the Launch Pad Program, Amazon pays for your shipping to get to their facilities, which is huge. So with that program, we’ve been selling about a hundred cases a week, with very little advertising and with very little reviews. We haven’t gotten any reviews; we have to start sending out requests for reviews.

So they literally take your product and they hold you by the hand and they make sure that you succeed. They even pay for the ads, they put your ads all over the place. So I’m excited for Amazon and I’m excited to launch more products with Amazon as well. I think we’re seeing that online is going to be a good thing for us.

Derek: That’s exciting. So go to goodpromise.com, if anybody wants to learn about your product and we absolutely love it-

Karen: Thank you. What was your favorite?

Derek: You know, I like the Veggie Energy Burst and actually, the other day, in the afternoon, instead of a cup of coffee, I tried that instead and actually it was very good. It is a good ‘pick me up’.

Karen: Were you surprised that it was good?

Derek: No – well after the reaction the Sharks made [laughs], I was glad that it was good but I don’t know that I was surprised and the packaging was wonderful too, beautiful packaging; the taste matches that. Any other advice you want to share? What’s the biggest take away advice you would share to our listeners who want to learn from you today?

Karen: The biggest advice that I can give, is listen to the buyers and listen to your consumers. And before you spend your life savings, truly test the market. If the market is telling you, “No, this is terrible”, maybe don’t do it. As hard as it is to think that your baby that you have created is not going to be accepted – as you said before, the consumer does not lie, the market doesn’t lie. I think, now with the internet, you have the option of truly testing it right. You have the option of doing it either on Amazon or doing several ads to see if there’s truly any interest from consumers, before you approach a retailer. So you can approach them with some data and say – I’ve done now with Sam’s; I said – they said, “Why don’t you want to be in Texas right away?” and I said, “Because no one’s buying in Texas.” So when you give that type of information, they can make educated decisions to help you succeed.

I feel that if someone thinks that they have a product that could work with Walmart, to go for it because they’re going to be having the Made in the USA event – I don’t know if you know anything about that but they truly do listen and mostly, right on the spot, they will give you stores. They will either say, “Yes, we’re going to give you an opportunity” or, “No, we’re not going to give you an opportunity.” I think if you have a chance of doing business with Walmart, do it because, for me, they’ve been the biggest, the most amazing retailer to work with. It’s just a matter of making sure that your product is the correct product, priced correctly.

Derek: That’s great advice, thank you so much Karen. We hear good and bad about Walmart but we’re in the Walmart bubble of course here, so it’s nice to hear a positive story from someone that is on the other side of it. I look forward to watching other great things you’re doing and to continue to be a customer and we’ll talk to you soon.

Karen: Sounds great Derek, thank you so much.