A local distributor is hiring a sales rep to sell Red Bull. Anyone care to share their experience selling the Bull, or any other energy drinks? Can you successfully sell just one brand (well, now it's two)?

Careful not to get all wrapped up in the Mind Games These People (RED BULL) play with you.
I did work for a distributor and moved to another city (REASON WHY I do not work 4 them now).
They are POMPUS, AROGANT, AND HAVE THE WORST "ELLITST" ATTITUDE which is really hurting their business.
So yes you can sell 2 SKUs but dont get wrapped up in the BS!

AMEN brother!

Am I to assume that "BS" stands for "Bull Sugarfree"????

Personally I don't care for their products. But I do like the fact that they get people willing to pay big bucks for "energy drinks" and that makes people more open to buying what we sell and paying for it and enjoying it and buying it all the more. So as for working for them??? No thanks but hey they do have their part in this world.

my red bull distributor ship also has salesmen for the rest of it's products, snapple, crush etc... (it's your typical fourth tier dist.) but there's still independent redbull salespeople that work for them. crazy and a goddamn waste. that guy is a stupid ****in idiot but i am not allowed to order it from my regular salesmen. morons.

If you are Red Bull, and you have the money, it makes sence. This way the Rep can only concentrate on Red Bull, and Red Bull alone. Other promos or competative items will not effect the sales of Red Bull into a store. But some one like Red Bull has to do this sort of thing. They are number 1, and want to stay there. In SF, and many other markets, Red Bull has a different sales team inside of the current dist. But, key on-premise accounts are still with the normal dist. sales reps. I have no problem with this sort of thing, and most stores should not either. I would not work for a dist. to only sell Red Bull. Way to much pressure for a possition. Same with working for Red Bull, although it would be hard to pass up if they offered $70K or so.

In the long run it'll be interesting to see what Red Bull does. With a product that costs $5/cs to get to the distributor's warehouse and sells for $32, that gives alot of fat to spread around and it appears that that is exactly what they do. To compete against that all you can offer is better packaging and flavor.

But even with $70K from Red Bull they could send you on your way some day. My distributor in SF makes twice that much and the only way he's going to have to give that up is if he fires himself. His eggs aren't all tied up in a Red Bull basket either so I'd say his future looks alot brighter than a Red Bull rep's future.

I can also say that Red Bull has effectively turned their product into the energy drink for the Duh crowd. Anyone I meet who boasts about the fact that they drink Red Bull can be handed a few of the bottled energy drinks I have and become an instant convert. However, that must be done person by person and this is a tedious task. Red Bull has to be commended for making themselves a staple item for those who are not aware. They will reap the financial benefit for years to come; even though I don't personally care for the product I can say that they've got themselves something which will only erode over a long time and will erode slowly due to their huge amount of expenditure in a staff that does all of the things you mentioned. These expenditures are paid for by the poor souls who pay $2 for a Red Bull; as long as they can stay above critical mass on that score, they'll control the market.

Yeah, your SF dist. does a pretty good job. But the difference between his job and working for Red Bull would be that Red Bull would not make you pay for other employees or storage or product cost or anything. Don't get me wrong, I think your SF guy has a good thing going, and I would not work for a dist. to only sell Red Bull. Im just saying Red Bull the supplier paying $70 a year would be hard to pass up.
With Red Bull, their landing cost is about $8 a case. They sell each case to their dist. for about $24 a case. That leaves $16 left over. $12 goes straight back into advertising, and $4 goes into the companies pockets.
I don't like Red Bull, I don't like that stores think they need 1 full shelf for their product either. But what can you do, they have helped to create a market for the rest of us.

Well, hey all that space will be quite useful when people realize that they can put a bottled, good-tasting energy drink in its place once people become more educated about energy drinks in general!

Well my SF guy has to employ people at his expense but of course his double the 70 is the net after paying the folks. Surely he does alot of the hands-on stuff himself which is why there's so much left for him. The swivel chair distributors have to have a more sure thing to make half that much. Anyway I have met you and know that you are also very hands-on so with time I think you will be raking it in as well.

Anyway, Red Bull... I never drink it but I think of it like that convoy of trucks on the interestate; you bring your little vehicle into the lane beside them and let their wind carry you to the next town [img]smile.gif[/img]

Is that wind cause Red Bull is going so fast, or because they blow? or both?