Josh Riggs (Courtesy photo)
(This is a contributed guest column. To be considered as an MJBizDaily guest columnist, please submit your request here.)
Cannabis operators spend a lot of time talking about challenges beyond their control. But many decisions that most affect long-term success are entirely within our power.
We all need outside partners, whether it’s a marketing agency, technology platform or consultant. The trick is figuring out which are genuinely invested in helping your business grow and which ones are selling another contract.
I learned that lesson while searching for a new website partner.
Our website wasn’t broken, but it looked and felt like every other cannabis retailer. We’d spent years building a company with a distinct identity and a genuine commitment to our communities and the customer experience, and our website told none of that story. And in a market where consumers have more choices than ever, “fine” simply wasn’t enough.
We went back to our provider with a vision. They pushed back on every idea and eventually made a comment that stopped me cold: “There’s a reason all retail websites look the same. Because it works.”
Our website partner had been the right partner when we first started working together. But when we came to them with a new vision, they handed us a box and told us to fit inside it.
That’s when we knew we needed something else.
Do outside vendors deliver to cannabis industry operators?
Every vendor puts their best foot forward in the beginning. Then the contract gets signed and the people who sold you on the relationship disappear. Your account gets handed down the chart, and you’re left wondering what happened to all the enthusiasm.
I’ve seen this play out often enough to know it isn’t unique to cannabis, but our industry is especially susceptible to it.
It’s easy to mistake a polished sales process for a long-term partnership.
For our website rebuild, we wanted a partner who could understand our business and translate our identity into a digital experience. Defining what mattered before vendors started pitching us prevented us from buying into someone else’s priorities instead of our own.
We were going to be demanding. When you’re putting real money on the line, refusing to settle isn’t being difficult. It’s doing your job.
How to tell when a vendor is listening or performing
Every company we interviewed said the right things, but the real test came when the conversation went off script. The companies worth paying attention to adjust their thinking
The others simply circle back to the presentation they came prepared to deliver. One firm stood out for all the wrong reasons.
They were listening while waiting for their turn to explain why their approach was right. The underlying message wasn’t subtle: you should feel fortunate to work with us because of who else we work with.
If you’re an independent operator, you’ve probably experienced some version of this. At some point, you realize you’re not being evaluated based on your business and where you want to take it. You’re being measured against someone else’s largest account.
What is ‘the plane ticket test’?
As we narrowed our search, we asked each finalist to come meet us at our headquarters in Denver. Instead of another virtual meeting, we wanted them to get on a plane, spend a day with us and have a real conversation about our business.
To us, it was reasonable. We were about to enter a long-term partnership involving a meaningful financial investment.
Most companies pushed back. One seemed genuinely shocked we’d even asked. That was all I needed to hear.
Will Read from Cannaplanners had a different response. He booked the flight, came to Denver and spent the day talking about our business instead of his.
It was obvious he’d read everything we’d sent, thought carefully about our challenges, and arrived with ideas tailored specifically to us.
What should small cannabis operators choosing a vendor know?
You’re the customer in this negotiation. That is leverage, and most small operators don’t use it.
They don’t want to push too hard, so they accept the pitch as the promise and spend the next year wondering why the relationship feels different than they expected.
Remember your license application process? This time, you’re in charge.
Write a request for proposals. Build a scoring matrix. Get clear on what you want before vendors start shaping your expectations.
Ask the hard questions.
- What does the team look like six months after the contract is signed?
- Who handles your account day to day?
- What happens when you want to go in a direction they didn’t plan for?
Then watch how they respond when you make a reasonable ask that creates a real inconvenience for them.
The vendors who deserve your business are the ones who show up when it costs them something.
Those are the partners worth building something with.
Josh Riggs is the cofounder and CEO of Denver-based cannabis retailer Social Dispensary.
