A customer walks in and says, "I need a good X". This could be any category. Pre-workout, protein, eaa. You name it.
My first question: What is your goal?
You might think that sounds fairly normal, but it isn't. Tons of stores don't actually care. They're either being lazy and selling you whatever they think you'll buy, or they only care about moving their preferred brand.
Every supplement store has preferred brands. If they tell you they don't, don't believe them.
I have preferred brands. And I've never tried to hide it. My family owns Nutrithority and Alchemy Labs. But here's the deal: I won't recommend any brand or product unless it actually makes sense.
So if you ask me for something one of my brands doesn't do, I'm not going to try to fit a square peg in a round hole. I'm going to find the right product, regardless of brand.
I'd rather sell you something you like, that works for you, and have you keep coming back than make one high-profit sale and never see you again.
Ryan Ragsdale is the CEO of Supplement Giant, a multi-location supplement retailer with stores across Colorado and Kansas. He grew up in the supplement industry and has spent over 30 years around supplements, including the last 18 running Supplement Giant.