Burlap & Barrel is a mission-driven brand renowned for its extensive selection of single origin spices, sourced ethically from smallholder farmers across the globe. Committed to building direct-trade relationships with their global network of partner farmers, Burlap & Barrel is bringing incredibly fresh and flavorful spices into the US for the first time. Their spices have become a favorite among home cooks and professional chefs.
Wholesale Focus
Since the majority of Americans purchase their spices at their local grocery, wholesale is an important sales channel for Burlap & Barrel. Burlap & Barrel primarily targets specialty retail sectors such as gourmet grocery stores, gift shops, and food service industries including restaurants and bakeries.
Challenges
Burlap & Barrel faced significant hurdles in scaling their wholesale operations:
- Lead Generation and Qualification: The team spent considerable time manually sourcing leads from store websites, only to find many were not qualified, resulting in low email deliverability rates.
- Sporadic Outreach: Due to the time-consuming nature of their processes, outreach was limited to certain months, restricting growth opportunities.
- Long Sales Cycles: Utilizing basic tools like spreadsheets and Gmail for communication, Burlap & Barrel often lost track of conversations. The typically lengthy decision-making process in their industry meant that many potential deals were lost.
Solution
In July 2023, Burlap & Barrel onboarded with Oversee, a decision that transformed their wholesale strategy:
- Access to Quality Leads: Immediately, they gained access to high-quality leads matching their ideal customer profile, including specialty grocery stores and restaurants.
- Targeted Email Campaigns for Iteration & Scaling: Oversee’s platform enabled them to experiment with targeted campaigns (e.g., focusing solely on Indian restaurants), easily adjusting their strategy based on real-time feedback and results.
- Built-in CRM for Prospect Management and Deal Closure: The integration of automatic follow-ups and a CRM that filters prospects by interest level ensured that no potential deal fell through the cracks, saving valuable time and significantly reducing the sales cycle.
Results
The strategic implementation of Oversee's tools yielded impressive results:
- 12 Targeted Campaigns: Discovered and reached out to 1,050 leads in diverse sectors like American cuisine, bakeries, and gift shops.
- 21% Reply Rate: With quality leads & targeted outreach, Burlap & Barrel maintained a staggering 21% reply rate over the course of a year of cold outreach.
- 137 New Wholesale Accounts: Through Oversee, Burlap & Barrel was able to convert 137 prospects as new wholesale partners.
- 25% Sales Increase: In 2024, Burlap & Barrel is seeing consistent growth, with YTD sales growing 25% as of June 2024.
"Oversee has dramatically changed how we handle outreach for cold leads and our existing wholesale accounts. Processes that used to take hours now take significantly less time and we’ve been able to instead focus on building quality and lasting relationships. Oversee has been a key element in our wholesale growth and I highly recommend it to any brand looking to grow their wholesale."
