Micallef is embarking on a comprehensive sales and marketing campaign in 2019 building on the momentum that was established in the company’s first two years. It includes a promotional budget that nears $750,000 to be spent on advertisements in both consumer and trade publications as well as appearances at trade shows and consumer festivals. It’s also enacted a grassroots promotional campaign to encourage Micallef Cigars’ fans to represent the brand inside their shops (see sidebar). The company has hired a team of in-house sales representatives who are capable of covering the entire United States, and backing up the outside sales representatives is a team of customer service specialists whose responsibilities include regularly following up with existing accounts.
“Each of our sales representatives has many years of experience in the industry,” Micallef explains. “They have built relationships with the retailers in their areas, and they specialize in servicing everybody in their area. Every customer counts. Our customer service team checks on the accounts that we’ve already secured. Follow-up is very important to us as well because it minimizes the risk of a retailer running out of our cigars.”
In just two years, Micallef Cigars has gone from Micallef’s request for a personal supply of 1,000 cigars to now include its own factory and a team of dozens of sales and support personnel servicing several hundred accounts worldwide. To be sure, Micallef Cigars’ growth is mightily impressive and shows that its founder’s business acumen is sharp as ever. For his own part, Micallef points to the business philosophy that has guided him throughout his career.
“Our customers know that we will never sacrifice quality for cost,” Micallef concludes. “They know that we’re a good, honest company who doesn’t like bragging about itself but that we’ll bend over backwards to make a friend before earning that friend’s business. These have been important elements in the successes that I’ve been fortunate enough to experience, and I think they’ll work in the cigar industry as well.”
Armed with such a proven recipe for success, perhaps Micallef getting into the premium cigar business wasn’t such a gamble after all.
This story first appeared in the March/April 2019 issue of Tobacco Business magazine. Members of the tobacco industry are eligible for a complimentary subscription to our magazine. Click here for details.
– By Stephen A. Ross, senior editor of Tobacco Business Magazine. Photos by Mikel Galicia.
