Kiva Brands, Inc.

I had the privilege of speaking on a panel at the Benzinga's Cannabis Capital Conference earlier this week about cultivating loyalty in cannabis retail and strategies for influencing customer engagement and loyalty in a competitive market. At Kiva, we understand that making safe, consistent and delicious edibles isn’t enough to earn customer loyalty. We need to create a memorable experience for people in the dispensary - and that starts with a budtender who is knowledgeable and enthusiastic about recommending our products. As one of many brands on dispensary shelves, it’s important to work together with our dispensary partners to ensure budtenders have the knowledge and tools they need to feel confident recommending our products. We create specific budtender education materials, budtender samples (where we can) and we spend time in the dispensaries. Our commercial teams are also known to conduct education and merchandising “blitzes” when launching a new product or introducing products in a new market. As founders, Scott and I make a point of?spending time in dispensaries across the country, engaging with budtenders and store managers every month to listen to their take on the category and feedback about our brands and products. Sometimes we also take a turn at leading a budtender education session or manning a demo table because there is no better place to get real and sometimes humbling feedback, and also have a direct touchpoint with potential and existing Kiva Brands, Inc. customers. We care deeply about delivering the best quality in everything we do - not just products but also beautifully designed and well-thought out training materials, store POS materials, displays and SWAG. Every single touchpoint with buyers, budtenders and consumers is an opportunity to foster loyalty. #customerloyalty

This week I’ll be taking the stage with Christine Apple, Tiffany Chin and Steve Riparip to discuss Cultivating Loyalty in Cannabis Retail at the Benzinga's Cannabis Capital Conference in Chicago on Wednesday morning. I hope to see you there.

How in the world do people do this!? I have heard the term “household engineer” tossed around to title the job. However, that seems like it only encompasses a small portion of the responsibilities of being a parent. Having kids is just like a start up. The early parts of the job require an immense investment of time and energy. And the work isn’t always stimulating - it’s often quite mundane. It reminds me exactly of the early days of Kiva Brands, Inc. where it doesn’t matter if you’re tired, if you’re sick; there is another being that needs your full attention to thrive and realize its full potential. And you are the one that has the attention to give. You have to dig deep and find your motivation even when times are tough. The motivation for me with Kiva has been providing the best cannabis edibles possible for people who need them. With my children, it’s helping guide them to live full and happy lives. For both outcomes, you have to give them your undying love. It’s bittersweet coming back to work - feeling the tug of war between your baby and your work responsibilities. Both need you, and it’s a constant struggle to figure who needs what, when and how much without ignoring the other. So right now I’m here, but after posting this I’m back to brainstorming healthy dinners, coordinating childcare, and laundry stain removal between meetings. See you at Benzinga's Cannabis Capital Conference in Chicago next week!