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The order isn't a preference. Skipping ahead is the single most common reason a well-funded launch stalls in its first year.
Why sequence matters
The pattern is consistent. A brand secures a buyer meeting early, because a meeting feels like progress and everything else feels like overhead. The meeting goes well. The buyer asks for the compliant label, the insurance certificate, the landed cost and the fill rate, and the brand doesn't have them.
That opportunity does not pause. Category reviews run on a calendar, and the next one is usually a year away. Meanwhile the buyer relationship has been spent, and a buyer relationship is not a renewable resource — you get one first impression per account, and it goes on the record.
So we do the unglamorous work first. Compliance before pricing, pricing before presentations, presentations before promotion. Each phase exists because the phase after it fails without it.
The four phases
Every engagement runs these four. What varies is how long the second one takes, which depends entirely on what state the brand arrives in.
Category fit, pricing and margin structure through the U.S. chain, compliance gaps, and a realistic door target. Delivered in writing, candidly, before you commit to a program. If the answer is that the U.S. isn't right yet, that is what the assessment says.
Labeling and FDA compliance, claims review, liability coverage, customs and freight, warehousing, pricing architecture, marketplace listings and the sales materials buyers are shown. This is the phase brands most want to shorten and most regret shortening.
Target account list, category presentations, buyer meetings including ECRM programs, distributor and broker activation, terms negotiation, vendor onboarding, and first purchase orders shipped to specification.
Merchandising and resets, promotional calendars, marketplace management, PR and media, and the account servicing that decides whether the line survives its first category review.
What we commit to
A buyer's decision belongs to the buyer. Any firm that guarantees placement is either describing something other than retail, or arranging an argument for later. So the commitment is on the work, and the work is reported.
Twenty-five to thirty qualified retailer presentations a month across your target accounts, reported by account, date and outcome — including the reasons behind a no. Plus the deliverables in each phase, on dates agreed at the start.
We don't guarantee sales, placement or door counts, and we don't work commission-only. Both promises sound generous and both shift the risk onto the brand in ways that only become visible in the second year.
How the relationship is structured
Scope and figures are set after we have seen the product and the numbers — we don't quote before evaluating, because a quote without an evaluation is a guess presented as a price.
Covers the build phase: strategy, regulatory and retail preparation, positioning, sales materials, CRM setup and launch planning. Front-loaded because the work is.
Covers the ongoing commercial function: sales management, retailer outreach, buyer meetings, account management and reporting. This is what makes the presentation commitment possible.
Aligns the long-term outcome. We earn more when the brand earns more, which is the part of the structure that keeps attention on the accounts after the launch is over.
In their words
“Brian and the TruLife Team have been a great pleasure to work with. They are very responsive, and always over communicate everything to me and my team. They have successfully placed our brand in front of some of the largest retailers in the United States at a rapid pace.”Patrick ScallanCEO, AngioGenesis Medical LLC
Before any of it
Samples are reviewed before commercial terms are discussed. We look at differentiation, margin structure, packaging, claims, manufacturing quality, supply reliability and how ready the founder actually is for U.S. retail.
Taking on a brand we can't move costs the brand its money and costs us the buyer relationships we would spend trying. Neither is recoverable, so the conversation happens at the start.
Go deeper
How this model differs from a broker, a distributor and a consultant.
See the comparison →The same sequence in detail, with what it costs at each stage.
Read the guide →Twenty questions. Your score, your band, and your three biggest gaps named.
Start the assessment →Questions
U.S. Market Assessment
Send us your product and your numbers. We'll come back with a written assessment of what entering U.S. retail would require and what it would realistically return.
