(This article was originally published in the Feb-Apr 2016 issue of the The Brass Herald. In Part 1, Dan explains how the idea for ChopSaver Lip Care first came to him. In Part 3 Dan describes the day he found out ChopSaver was going into 7,400 CVS/pharmacy stores nationwide. While ChopSaver is no longer sold in CVS stores, this was still a major accomplishment in out product journey.)
A few years into the process, we began to get noticed by dermatologists as the product had tremendous healing properties for even non-musicians. Dermatologists often prescribe drugs for treating severe acne that can also cause extreme lip dryness and chapping as an unwanted side-affect. With a new customer base, we began to market in the medical world despite the fact that the costs were much greater than marketing in the music industry.
Despite years of hard work, I realized our distribution, impressive as it was, was not enough to sustain the company. But the jump from music distribution to mass distribution is a large chasm indeed, and many things needed to happen to position the brand on that level. So I began the process of figuring out what changes needed to be made to even think about doing business with a large retailer. I drew up a “real” business plan, increased our manufacturing capacity and looked for assistance in sales, design and marketing.