28
TOBACCO BUSINESS
MARCH/APRIL 2014
Two tobacco outlet retailers and two cigar retailers share their latest
and greatest to help you move more stogies.
H
ave you mastered the art of
selling fine cigars? Even if
you nailed it yesterday, there
is room to sharpen it today. The best
premium cigar sales tips are constantly
developing and changing, ideally with
the evolving creativity and strategy of
a particular retailer. Some of the most
successful cigar retailers stay ready to
reevaluate and readjust, utilizing their
backgrounds and expertise to develop a
specialized plan and unique allure.
TakeMikeJohnsonforexample,founder
and owner of Holy Smokes Cigars,
operating for 10 years inManchester,New
Hampshire. Johnson is a retired Army
sniper—specifically,he was among the elite
as a senior Scout Sniper and was in the
Army for a total of six years.
One boutique cigar vendor who
knows Johnson best—Victor Vitale of
Legacy Brands Ultra Premium Cigar
Company—said, “Mike’s been trained
to survive and strategize and patiently
seize opportunities, and that now goes
hand in hand with his [retail cigar]
business.” Vitale added that Johnson’s
survival tactics, combined with his ability
to “change like a chameleon with the
times,” all works together.
With that in mind, here are Johnson’s
and three other retailers’ best “of-the-
moment” cigar sales tips, all gathered at
TPC 2014 in January:
Identify your threats and develop
a solid plan to counter them.
Yes,
there are threats to your cigar business
that go beyond pending legislation.
Johnson identifies his most pressing
threat currently as big-brand vendors
who he knows he has to do business
with, but who also try to sell cheaper
to his customers online. Years ago, his
biggest threats came from a crashing
stock market, a partner being diagnosed
with a mental illness and his credit card
company’s skyrocketing interest rate.
“These are curve balls that you have
to deal with head-on; you can’t win in
defense, you have to play offense,” he
says. “You can sit around feeling sorry
for yourself or you can actually develop
a solution.”
Pick and choose vendors correctly.
Cigar retailers need to know which
vendors will be their allies in the “war
against the BigWeb Retailers,”according
to Johnson. “Choose more small-batch
Mastering the
Cigar Sale: 15 Top Tips
By Renée M. Covino
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