Since California legalized marijuana for medical use back in 1996, it has seen a large amount of support from the public and state and has become a growing industry. With all that potential, it can be a bright business venture if done the correct way.
If you are thinking of starting a marijuana dispensary here 9 pieces of advice that you should consider.
Get A Business Plan Together
You have to show that you seriously want to start a marijuana dispensary to sell medical cannabis rather than just starting the business because you like the product.
You have an opportunity to help a huge demographic of people who are suffering from seizures, depression, anxiety, autism, and the list goes on. This should be reflected in your business plan.
Keep in mind that the people who read this business plan will be responsible for giving you the license to open up your dispensary, your writing must be of the highest quality.
If you don’t have enough confidence to write up a business plan yourself, there is no shame in having someone ghost write it for you.
Get Yourself A Killer Team
Once you write an awesome proposal and get your license it’s time to get a team together.
The biggest thing here is obtaining employees that excel at customer service. This is more important than an employee that is familiar with cannabis.
You can teach your employee about cannabis, it’s much harder to teach them how customer service works. You want a team that can get close to your customers and makes them feel comfortable.
Train your team properly. Start with upper management and go from there. It is actually important to cross-train all of the executive team to the management team. This way everyone will know the jobs of those under them. This will decrease your turn-over rate.
Audit
This is more of a final step after you’ve opened your dispensary thing, but you want to do a third-party audit.
You should do these audits periodically after opening. One small error can cause you problems. It’s best to avoid those all together with an audit.
With opening a business you will have a ton on your plate. Performing these audits just gets an outside expert to look at things and double check for you. They will most likely catch something that you miss.
Most infraction fees are larger than $10,000. It’s much cheaper to pay a consultant/lawyer $3-5,000 every quarter than it is to pay $10,000 all at once.
Unique Customer Experience
Like in most businesses, the customer experience is the most important part. This is why it’s so important you hire those who have a customer service background.
Come up with unique ways to sell your product and make the customer feel comfortable. There is a vast majority who buy the product just to buy it but a lot use it for medical purposes.
You have to not put your customers in the initial stereotype and walk them through the entire process.
Product Diversity
You need to give your customers a large variety of products to chose from. If you only have ten different products, with none of them being interesting, your customers will go elsewhere. For example, the internet.
You want to have diversity in your products to keep your customer’s attention. As much as you want an array of products, you want to make sure all of these products are high quality.
If you have a large variety of products, with the highest quality, you will create customer loyalty.
Know What is Legal
Some legal matters surrounding cannabis can be a little confusing. If you don’t understand it, it’s best to consult an attorney.
Your customers want and deserve to know if what they are getting/doing is legal or not.
The area is especially grey when it comes to pushing online sales. The laws can be vague and not only do you want to protect your customers, but your business as well.
You need to be on top of your game when it comes to legal matters. Don’t just push it under the rug.
Educate Your Audience
Filling in information that customers need about cannabis can not only help finalize their purchases but build customer loyalty.
Customers need to be informed about what they are buying, that’s a given but when you are the one informing them, they trust that advice. If they love what you sell, they’ll come back to you.
Not only that but if the customer is educated on what they are buying, they will feel more confident about making the purchase. Nobody wants to go in blind.
Drive Those Online Sales
Most CBD sales happen online. You don’t want to miss out on this opportunity, even if you just want to have a retail store where it’s legal.
The best way to drive those sales is by putting together everything that we’ve talked about. Customer service, legality, and educating your audience.
With all of this, you also want a well-done website, that is easy to navigate.
Your Website Matters
Your website does matter rather you’re driving online sales or not. Your website is how your clients learn about your company, and about your brand.
In this sense, having a bad site is like having a bad first introduction. If your website is slow, doesn’t look attractive, and is hard to use, it will turn customers away.
A lot of people search for websites on mobile devices, so on top of these other three factors, make sure it is also mobile friendly.
When dealing with all of this other stuff for starting a marijuana dispensary, it can be easy to let things like your payroll slip through the cracks. For little things such as that, this company might be able to ease the headache.
Starting A Marijuana Dispensary
Medical cannabis is a growing need in the world. You can easily become successful when starting a marijuana dispensary if you play your cards right.
Make sure you are informed of legal issues and have a great website to promote yourself properly.
For tips on how to buff up that website, click here.