Have you ever thought of empathy as a key part of your sales channel strategy? Elliot Begoun considers this the “secret sauce” to determining the best sales route for your consumer packaged goods (CPG) brand.

Begoun is the founder of The Intertwine Group, a management consulting firm that helps position emerging food and beverage brands to raise capital, build velocity, gain distribution, win share of stomach and drive revenue. In other words, he’s seen firsthand what it takes for brands to succeed and do so for the long haul.

Begoun is diving deeper into empathy and sales channel strategy at this year’s Natural Products Business School at Natural Products Expo East. Here, he gives us a sneak peek of what’ll be covered in his panel, The Role of Empathy: Choosing the Right Channel for Your Brand.

Can empathy play a role in determining channel strategy?

How do you identify the optimal channel strategy?

EB: Good channel strategy, as mentioned, starts with empathy. It requires a deep understanding of where the need is greatest, the problem most pronounced and the opportunity for discovery the highest. It also necessitates a clear route-to-market. Further, the cost-to-serve and your unit economics are aligned.

What is growth hacking, and how does it apply to channel strategy?

EB: Even the best plan is nothing more than a hypothesis. Growth hacking allows you to go into the market and test the underlying assumptions of that hypothesis. To growth hack, you design controlled experiments aimed at validating those assumptions in the most capital-efficient manner that fits within your bandwidth, risk tolerance and access to capital.

Don’t miss more conversation around empathy and channel strategy with Elliot Begoun and other industry leaders at Natural Products Business School at Expo East.