Little Debbie Sales Offering to Winn-Dixie
Chris Holifield
Clay Zellich
March 4, 2004
Identification of McKee Foods Corporation (Little Debbie)
McKee was founded in the late 1950’s by O.D. McKee (littledebbie.com). They began in
the 1960’s hiring independent distributors to sell Little Debbie’s. After this, they appointed
representatives to help the distributors grow their business. The representatives go from store to
store offering the managers various promotions and display offerings. They also spend time
building relationships with the store managers. After years of growth, today Little Debbie has
developed a retail business development department. People from this department travel to all of
the headquarters of the major companies. However, the little things that go on in the individual
stores are what keep the business running smoothly.
Identification of the Prospect and Its Needs
Profile of the Buyer:
The store manager at Winn-Dixie has held his position for the last five years. He has also
made the purchasing decisions for the past five years. This is a new-buy situation, but most
Winn-Dixie’s are already carrying Little Debbie’s. Sometimes when store managers are too
busy they will send you to their assistant manager to make any decisions. On this aspect, it is
also important to develop a good relationship with the assistant manager. However, if at all
possible, it is important to deal directly with the manager. After all, he makes the most important
decisions.
Profile of Winn-Dixie:
In 1984, Winn-Dixie started its first marketplace that consisted of 45,000 square feet. In
2000, they purchased 68 grocery stores in the southeast. These stores were in Mississippi,
Alabama, and Louisiana. Also in 2000, Winn-Dixie started its own store brand with almost
3,000 items sold in the 1,073 stores (winndixie.com). The store consists of a store manager and
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two assistant managers. One of the assistant managers spends his time helping the manager
make orders out and communicate with vendors. The other assistant manager manages the
stockers and checkout clerks (Holifield). For this assignment, we are going to suppose that the
current Winn-Dixie that we are calling on is not carrying Little Debbie’s. This will help us in
making the ADAPT sequence a little more interesting.
Discussion of Buyer’s specific needs and/or problems
I have noticed that the buyer has had several other cookie and cake companies’ displays
in the front of the store. I have also noticed that they are not selling anything. As a matter of
fact, a few weeks ago I saw one of the other vendors picking up product that had gone stale.
Sure, the vendor is responsible for anything that is stale, but that means that the store did not
make any money off of the product. They actually lost money because they had their money tied
up in that product. This brings a big problem to the table. The store needs to use their space
very wisely, especially the front of the store, because it is the prime spot. This is where the store
gets into the customer’s mind that “Hey, this store has great prices.” The buyer would like to
make as much money per square foot as they can. This is where the need comes into play. Of
course, everyone has a need to make more money. In the case with the other vendor, the store
lost opportunities for several sales. As a salesman, one knows that a sale lost today can never be
regained. This is a need gap that Little Debbie is willing and able to fill.
Another need that the store has is a need to draw customers into the store. They always
have to have a few products that they do not necessarily make a lot of money on, but they make
it up through other products. Now, most stores use products like Coke and Pepsi, but several
stores that I call on have been successful at using Little Debbie’s to draw in customers.
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The store also needs great service and someone to fill the shelf when it is empty. If the
shelf becomes empty the store will lose a sale. When this happens the vendor is losing money
for the store, and the manager and the organization will not be very happy.
I know that this manager also has a need for a good relationship. It is important to be able
to call each other friends, and he will feel comfortable calling me whenever he needs something.
He has a need for his business to grow. His district manager is constantly hounding him
to increase sales. He really needs his vendors to help his business grow.
He also has a need for a product that has a good reputation and brand image. Products
that have better awareness are more likely to be bought by consumers.
He has a need for a broad product line in the snack cake industry. Most of the other
companies only offer a few products.
Finally, the manager has a need for promotions and displays. He wants seasonal
offerings to take advantage of the peak seasons. There are a lot of people out shopping during
the holidays, and it is important for him to not take these times for granted.
Identification of our Total Market Offering
Now that we have discovered several needs for the buyer, we are going to offer him
several features, advantages, and benefits that our products offer. We discovered that he had a
need to draw people into the store. As we explained earlier, most stores use Pepsi and Coke to
draw people into the store, but we have found in stores that Little Debbie’s work really well in
this type of situation (Holifield). The advantage, that he will have from this, is that people will
see the low prices, and they will automatically assume that the store has low prices. This will
ultimately increase sales volume. Thinking reasonably, all customers will not fall into this trap,
but the majority of grocery shoppers are drawn in by this. The managers of grocery stores
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almost always think like this, and they are always looking for ways to draw a customer’s
attention. The major benefit for the store manager and the organization, in this case, is to
increase revenue.
Another need that we have discussed is the need for a profitable use of space. Grocery
store managers determine profitability by square footage. They will look at a display and
determine how much money they are making off of that display. Little Debbie will offer them an
opportunity to make more money per square foot. The competitors’ products sit there and
eventually go stale. This is a lost opportunity for the store manager and Winn-Dixie. The
advantage that Little Debbie brings to the table is that it will sell a lot better than the competitors’
products. The major benefit that this will bring to Winn-Dixie is a growth in sales and profits.
The store manager always needs a vendor that will give him great service. One of the
store manager’s key tasks is to make sure that all of the shelves stay full. When the shelves are
empty, the store manager and Winn-Dixie loose sales. The advantage that I bring to Winn-Dixie
is that I make sure to keep up good service. This means that I am in and out of the store on a
daily basis and keep the shelves full and in great shape. The customers are more apt to buy from
a clean and fully stocked shelf. The major benefit of all of this is that it will make the manager’s
store more money.
We also understand that it is important for the store manager to have a good relationship
with his vendors. The advantage to this is that the manager can call me anytime that he needs
something. The benefit from this is that there will be trust, honesty, dependability, and
compatibility between the store manager and I.
The manager needs his vendors to want to help his business grow. The major feature that
Little Debbie brings to his business success, is that Little Debbie attracts more customers,, which
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will help his business grow. The advantage to this is that the major fact is that Little Debbie’s
just simply sell. It does not take a lot of work to sell Little Debbie’s. This will benefit the
manager because it will help him make more money, and it will give him personal recognition
within Winn-Dixie. When he makes a move to help his business grow, he is put in the spotlight
of the company.
Another need that the manager has is to have well established brands that have a good
reputation. A feature that Little Debbie offers is that people look for our snack cakes. Our brand
is much better known than that of our competitors. As a matter of fact, the Little Debbie brand
has a 98 percent awareness it the United States (littledebbie.com). The major benefit of all of
this is that the manager does not have to hard sell or worry about a surplus of products because
they are going to move very quickly. I can recall one customer saying that “they will not be back
in that store because they got rid of Little Debbie’s.”
Next, the manager has a desire for a broad product line under one brand name. Pepsi and
Coke offer several lines of drinks to satisfy several needs. Little Debbie also offers this in the
snack cake business. This gives a variety for people to choose from. We are always offering
new products and seasonal products for special holidays. The advantage to this is that you can
satisfy several customers that share different needs. This will ultimately satisfy the customers
and make Winn-Dixie more money.
Last, the manager needs promotions and display offerings at certain times of the year.
During holidays like Christmas there are more people shopping, and this is the time of year the
store manager can take advantage of gaining customers. The major advantages to us offering
him seasonal promotions like the one that I discussed, are that customers will buy more. The
benefits are really great from this type of promotion. The manager will decrease cost, decrease
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price, increase demand, and make more money. Who can argue with making more money while
selling more volume?
Features, Advantages, and Benefits Matrix
Prospects Need
1. Draw customers
into the store
Feature
Brings customers
into the store
Advantage
People are going to
buy more
Benefit
Increase Revenue
2. Profitable use of Make more money
space
per square foot
Little Debbie will sell This will help in
better compared to
making the store
other brands.
a low cost leader
3. Great Service
The shelf and
displays will stay
fully stocked
You do not lose any
sales.
4. Relationship
The buyer and seller The manager can
have a close
call me any time
relationship.
that he needs
something.
Trust, honesty,
dependability,
and compatibility
5. Need for his
business to grow
Little Debbie
attracts more
customers.
Products that will
sell.
Make more
money and have
personal
recognition
6. Products that
have a good
reputation
People look for the
Little Debbie brand
Brand is better than
the competitors
More awareness
You do not have
to hard sell or
worry about a
surplus of
products.
7. A need for
several snack
products
Variety for different You can satisfy
people
several needs of
customers that share
different needs
Satisfied
customers and
ultimately make
more money
8. A need for
displays and
promotions
Displays and sales
offerings
Decrease Cost
Decrease Price
Increase Demand
Make more
money
This attracts
customers, and they
will buy more.
Make more
money
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Profile of the Competition
Hostess:
Hostess’s major strength is the image of their Twinkie Golden Snack Cake and the
Chocolate Cup Cake (littledebbie.com). Even though this is their major strength, Little Debbie
has four products that sell more than they do. Another strength that Hostess has is the high profit
margin per product that they offer to the customers. The major weakness of Hostess is high
prices, and they do not sell a lot of volume (Holifield). We will sell a lot more of a variety at
lower prices, and we offer a much better overall profit margin. According to IRI Infoscan data,
Little Debbie holds seven of the top ten bakery snacks.
Krispy Kreme:
Krispy Kreme’s major strength is in the pastry-donut-coffee cake industry. They have
two products in the top three that consists of assorted donuts and plain yeast donuts. Although
this is true, the Little Debbie Honey Bun is still the number one product in this category with
Krispy Kreme’s two products ranking a distant second and third. Another strength that Krispy
Kreme has is the ability to locate local bakeries so that the pastries are fresh (Holifield). A
weakness of Krispy Kreme is that they are not as accessible as Little Debbie’s. Another
weakness is that they are a little high on their prices. Most people looking for this type of
product are very price sensitive.
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Multiple Attribute Analysis:
Characteristics
Drawing customers to
The store
Profitability
Service
Relationship
Help business grow
Reputable Products
Broad Product Line
Offer promotions and
displays
Little Debbie
P
I PxI
Hostess
P I PxI
Krispy Kreme
P
I
PxI
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
80
100
100
80
100
80
80
100
7 8 56
10 10 100
10 10 100
6
8 48
6 10 60
7
8 56
4
8 32
5 10 50
5
7
10
5
4
10
5
5
720
502
Overall evaluation score
8
10
10
8
10
8
8
10
8
10
10
8
10
8
8
10
40
70
100
45
40
80
45
50
470
source: Holifield
As you can see from this multi-attribute model, Little Debbie has the upper hand in most
categories. Even though we are the best at most categories, there are still areas that we could
improve. It is our philosophy that we can find an improvement in every store that we go into.
These improvements could include new racks, relocation of racks, displays, better customer
service, building relationships, and even more. The fact is that if we set a goal to find an
improvement in every store, we will be able to offer our customer knowledge to not only grow
our business, but to grow his too.
ADAPT Sequence
Assessment questions:
1. What are your major objectives as a store manager?
2. How does Winn-Dixie lay out their chain of command starting with the store manager?
3. What is the day in the life of a store manager such as yourself?
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4. What is your current position in this area compared to other grocery stores?
Discovery questions:
1. Who are your current snack cake vendors?
2. How long have you been dealing with your current snack cake vendors?
3. How are the sales for these vendors?
4. Are you pleased with the service that you are getting from these vendors?
5. How often do these vendors offer you promotions or seasonal discounts for you to take
advantage of?
6. What disadvantages do you see from the vendors that you are using at this time?
Activation questions:
1. What happens if one of your vendors lets their shelf get empty?
2. What all do you have to loose if your shelf is empty?
3. How important is it to have displays up in front of the store?
4. What would you like more?
a. A product that had a large profit margin and sold very little?
b. A product that had a small profit margin and sold a lot?
5. How important do you think that a good buyer-seller relationship is?
6. Do you think that a product that has more awareness will sell better than one that doesn’t?
7. How important does this phrase mean to you “profitability per square foot”?
8. Are you currently having any problems drawing customers into the store?
Projection questions:
1. What do you and Winn-Dixie have to gain if the shelves stay full?
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2. What would it be like to for you to not only have displays up front but have displays that
would sell large quantities?
3. Would you like it if you could sell large quantities and make large sums of money at the same
time?
4. How much more profitable would you be if this was the case?
5. How would your business be affected if your vendor was there to help your business grow?
6. How much more could you sell if you had products that customers were more aware of?
7. What would it be like to say that you are making more money per square foot?
8. What would happen if you had products that would draw customers in to your store?
9. Do you think that they would buy other products (other than the draw-in products)?
Transition Questions:
1. So, having a vendor that keeps the shelf full is important to you? Being profitable per square
foot? Having displays that sell products? Selling large quantities while making large sums of
money? Our company helping your business grow? Having products that customers are aware
of? Helping you accomplish your organizational and professional goals? If I can completely
satisfy all of these needs, would you be interested in doing business with Little Debbie snack
cakes?
Anticipated Buyer Objections or Resistance
1. I have been doing business with my current vendor for 10 years.
Response: Little Debbie is Americas number one snack cake, and they are sold in 95% of all
supermarkets. I am not asking you to quit selling the other vendors snack cakes. I am simply
offering a proposal to have a larger line of products, and products that will move.
2. The profit margin per unit is not very good with your products.
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Response: Well, This is the focus on our products “Sell cheap, and sell a lot.” People really
come out and look for Little Debbie’s because they are so good and cheap. I know that
companies want you to reach sales in units and dollars. With Little Debbie, you can reach both
goals.
3. I can’t see giving you all of that display space because I have other products that need to be
on display.
Response: Sir, I will find an open space somewhere, and I can almost guarantee you that you
will make more money on Little Debbie’s. I will also give you a Feature Display Allowance that
will allow you to cut the price tremendously.
4. I just don’t see how Little Debbie’s will draw people into a supermarket.
Response: Little Debbie is a household name. Today, you know women don’t have the time
that they used to, and they are buying more convenience goods. A few months ago, I had a
customer that put up some displays in the front of his store. I gave him the same promotional
offerings that I would give you, and he ended up increasing his overall sales that week by 10%.
Little Debbie was a big part of that because we sold over 200 cases that week
5. I really don’t have time to discuss this with you today. My district manager is coming today.
Response: I understand. Although, I would like to come spend a few minutes with you
tomorrow or any time that is convenient for you this week. Would you please take a look at your
calendar and see what will be best for you?
6. How do I know that you will keep my shelf full?
Response: Well, the fact is you don’t know. The only way that you can know it to trust my
word and let me show you what I am capable of. You will find that I am here to help you grow
your business.
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7. I don’t have any space for you on the snack isle.
Response: Well, Little Debbie has an assortment of modern elegant racks, and we will supply
you with any rack and/or racks that you want. We have everything from end-caps to shoparounds. Here is a brochure with all of the racks that we have to choose from. Whichever one
that you want, I can get it in here by the end of the week. I would recommend the Little Debbie
Smile Island Shop-Around. It has been very successful in supermarkets like this one. I would
also recommend a snack rack to put by the cash registers
8. I need time to think it over
Response: Please, take all of the time that you need. However, I would like to keep in touch
with you. I believe that doing business with you will be a great opportunity for you to make
more money and increase customer satisfaction. I am leaving you a few brochures for you to
look over, and I look forward to meeting with you again real soon. I really appreciate the time
that you have given me.
9. I am really overstocked on snack food items.
Response: Well, are you having trouble selling the snack cakes that you are currently carrying?
Buyer: Yes, a little trouble
Response: You are not going to have that problem with Little Debbie. Little Debbie’s sell like
hot cakes. Most of the snack cakes that you have are either overpriced by the vendor, or they are
poor quality according to most customers. Little Debbie will give the customer a great price and
great quality, so you will definitely not have to worry about being overstocked.
10. I am willing to give you regular space; however I am not willing to give you any display
space.
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Response: At this point, I would take what I could get and run with it. After I got my product in
the store and proved that it would sell, I would make my move and try to get display space.
Even then it is possible that the buyer will say no. The key to this is to be patient but persistent.
I will always remember that a no today is not a no tomorrow.
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Work Cited
Holifield, Cliff. Personal interview. 21 February 2004
McKee Foods Corporation. Collegedale, TN. 27 February 2004 www.littledebbie.com.
Winn-Dixie. Jacksonville, FL. 27 February 2004 www.winndixie.com.
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