Selling Coffee Without the Hard Sell: A Five-Step Framework

A Coffee Marketing Framework Built from Experience

Many coffee business owners have clear goals: reduce bank debt, provide hazard pay for staff during COVID-19, and build a lasting business legacy. Achieving these aims depends largely on one activity—selling a substantial volume of coffee. Yet, as with many owners, marketing knowledge may be limited.

Emily McIntyre, a five-time coffee business founder, believes that selling large quantities of coffee does not require pushy behavior. She has created what she describes as the world’s first coffee marketing system. Over the years, McIntyre has observed and personally executed graceful, confident coffee sales, including millions of pounds through common-sense tactics at two businesses she founded: the coffee subscription service Crema.co and the Ethiopian coffee importer Catalyst Trade.

After more than a decade in coffee sales, McIntyre is now teaching others to do the same. Her simple system, called “5 Steps to Actually Sell Coffee,” was introduced in May through a masterclass with coffee business owners from 10 different countries. The mini-course is now available on her website, and this article marks the debut of her new column on our site. In each issue, she will share practical, expert-level details on selling coffee.

The encouraging news, according to McIntyre: if the five basic steps are in place and you or your staff dedicate a set amount of time each week to those tasks, your business is guaranteed to sell coffee. Even if other aspects are less than perfect, you can still sell more coffee than you might expect.

In upcoming issues, McIntyre will explore each step in depth (her On-Demand Masterclass offers a deeper dive and additional resources). As an introduction, here are the five steps she has identified as the foundation for sales and marketing in coffee. Every successful coffee business, she notes, excels at these.

THE 5 STEPS

1. Product – You are likely making a great product. However, the promises you make about your product—whether clearly stated or subliminal—and how well you fulfill them matter even more than the actual quality of the coffee.
2. Presentation – A common misunderstanding is to mistake a fancy logo or visual design for presentation. In reality, everything your business does forms part of your presentation: how employees respond to customers, the color of your packaging, the prices displayed on your menu board.
3. “It” Factor – This is one of the hardest elements to define, yet it is the most essential: what sets you apart from competitors? Flashy design or witty copy can be part of it, but those are merely aspects of presentation. The core of your brand is your “It” Factor. It is worth the soul-searching to identify it, because this is what keeps you in customers’ minds long after they have finished their coffee.
4. Outreach – Outreach encompasses what we often think of as marketing: social media posts, PR pushes, cold calling potential wholesale clients. It is important to have a simple list of tasks you can accomplish regularly, rather than trying everything and hoping something works. Once the other steps are complete, this step defines successful coffee companies in the long term.
5. Observe & Adjust – Determine which metrics you are tracking and revisit them regularly. When delegating, systematize the necessary tasks, check in regularly to assess performance, and make adjustments as needed.

While coffee marketing is far more complex than this, at its core it is simple: ensure your 5 Steps are in place and invest an appropriate amount of time each week, and you will begin to see success.

READ Coffee Marketing, Part 2: More Offers = More Sales

READ Coffee Marketing Part 3: How to Start a Coffee Brand