Everything about cannabis is evolving with the 21st century, including how people consume it. As the saying goes, this isn’t your father’s marijuana.
It’s not to say that joints and bongs are ever going out of fashion, but they’re kind of the marijuana equivalent of bulky, outdated flip phones. Companies all across the nation are diving into the vape pen market, trying to gain a foothold in an increasingly-crowded market.
Seattle-based Vuber Technologies is one of the fast-rising contenders for vape products.
“People love the technology side of it,” founder Brandon Gallagher said. “Even though there’s not that much technology involved, it’s still fun to them. It’s new. It’s like a gadget. I had one customer refer to it as being like an iPhone for pot.”
Gallagher had been selling vaporizers for another company before launching Vuber in early 2014. The company has been developing a variety of different products, including the Comet, Cosmos and Atlas. The first order was placed in February 2014, shortly before Jim Makoso joined the small team to head up business development.
“The biggest thing we prided ourselves on was customer service,” Gallagher said. “I think that’s the biggest reason we did so well.”
With so many different vape pen options on the market, Gallagher understood that customer service and having exemplary sales people would be keys to Vuber’s growth.
Gallagher put his sales background to work, training the company’s sales people to be professional, have a strong work ethic, display knowledge about Vuber’s products and those of competitors, and perhaps most importantly, to be on time for meetings.
“We don’t want to be put in that stoner category,” Gallagher said. “We try to always be on time. We try to promise what we can deliver. We promise small and deliver big.”
In many instances, the sales people are the face of the company, so it’s vital that they’re ale to
“We’ve done virtually no marketing, except through the sales people,” Gallagher said. “It’s just about having boots on the ground. Our sales people are out there all the time.”
The company tagline — “fun, discreet and guaranteed” — emphasizes the draw for the entire vape pen industry. It’s far more inconspicuous than using a lighter and smoking out of a pipe, where everybody can see and smell what’s going on.
“It’s not only discreet in a way that you can literally smoke it anywhere, and it’s vapor, so you don’t get the marijuana scent, but it’s also very simple, button-less and fun,” Gallagher said. “A lot of cannabis users are switching to that because it’s so discreet and fun, and they just love the idea of it.”
Vuber also gives a lifetime warranty on its products.
Since gaining popularity in Washington’s medical and recreational marijuana markets, Vuber has been expanding into other cannabis markets as it seeks out vendors and partners in California, Colorado, Oregon, Nevada and Arizona.