Danielle Rosellison
Co-owner
Trail Blazin’ Productions
Bellingham, WA
4/20. Where do I even start?
I guess the best place to start is that it’s the consumers that win … if winning looks like ridiculously cheap cannabis. And I assume in the consumers’ eyes, that is EXACTLY what winning looks like. So there is that.
But as a farm, there really isn’t anything cool about 4/20.
From a gross sales perspective we did the same amount of business as a “normal” month. It’s when we break those units down that you realize the monster 4/20 is:
– We did 61% of our business between April 15 and April 19. Despite encouraging retailers to get orders in early, we received most of our orders from the 12th to the 15th (that‘s the weekend before for those who aren’t looking at a calendar). Due to quality control and state rules, we at Trail Blazin’ package to order. Think about that: 61% of your monthly business in 25% of the month. We didn’t prepare well, and that‘s my fault. There were lots of late nights. We got the job done and our accuracy was 100% with deliveries. But man, what a week!
– We sold 8.5% more units than a “normal” month. You know, because everyone wants a deal. So, you do more work for less money. Not participating in said deals is not an option. Suck it up.
– Everyone, and I mean everyone, wants you for their 4/20 Vendor Day. So your entire sales staff is doing at least two vendor days on April 20. Does anyone have a cloning machine? For humans, I mean …
– Oh, and THEN you have to party. Look, don‘t get me wrong, I love to party. But I was running on fumes by the actual 4/19 and 4/20 parties and petrified that I would fall asleep if I consumed too much cannabis. It was like that feeling you get when you’re in Las Vegas one day too long …
And don’t forget, April 21 was Easter, so make sure everything is set up for your family and you are home when the kids wake up!
The good news is that the week after 4/20 is absolutely dead, so your entire team can recuperate and prep.
I think the winning strategy will be prepping for 4/20/2020 during fourth quarter of 2019, a typically slow time for cannabis companies. Making sure to use the downtime to hit the ground running in the new year is going to give us the leg up that we need and to avoid late nights in April!