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Cannabis Focused Sales

In this episode, we talk Cannabis Focused Sales with Francesca Vavalva, a co-founder of Alias Cann. Alias is a cannabis sales and marketing company based out of Delaware. They offer cannabis focused sales, planning, processing, and marketing services. With cannabis legalization in a majority of states across the country, the time to adapt and innovate has arrived.

Alias Cann marries years of expertise in sales and marketing, knowledge of the cannabis industry, and client products or service to create mutual growth. Integrating with Alias Cann is seamless and offers powerful advancement in a quickly growing field. They operate within the client’s existing structure, so you can continue to do what you’re good at, and they will take care of what you’re not so good at.

 

Transcription:

 

Get informed get inspired and get connected.

Hello, thank you for treating into another episode of NCIA’S cannabis industry voice on cannabis radio. I’m your host, Bethany Moore, the communications and projects manager at the national cannabis industry association today. My guest is Francesca Vavala, a co-founder of Alias Cann. Alias Cann is a cannabis sales,and marketing company based out of Delaware, they offer cannabis-focused sales planning processing and marketing services. Welcome to the show, Francesca thank you, great to have you. So let’s dive right in and learn a little more about you, your background, many experiences you might have had prior to finding yourself in this exciting cannabis industry and movement sure happy to… 

Yeah, my way to get to this whole cannabis world was very circuitous. It was not a direct line. I started out as a high school and middle school English teacher, and a private Catholic school. Yes, a about as different as you can get an A. and so I eat six years in, that I decided I had more of an entrepreneurial spirit than I had initially anticipated, having… And dove into real estate because I had a fairly low threshold and offered a lot of opportunities to… You still use an education background, and also mixes it with the sales and to have a self-made destiny Option A… But after a few years of that and was very successful, it was great, but it was un-fulfilling in a lot of ways, and so I had had these two experiences where one with teaching was very fulfilling and the other with sales in real estate was very lucrative.

I needed something that meshed the two, and so I ended up starting to do some writing for a company that was in the sales and marketing space, in the traditional mainstream industries. And I took to it I got to use my brain, I got to use my sales muscles in flex those and then from that, the owner of the company and I started working together, and exploring, the cannabis space and saw a need for what we could bring to the table and he reached out and said, I’d like to do this and I’d like you to start this with, me. And so that kind of brought us to the very beginning of our journey which was really exciting.

Well, yeah, that’s an interesting journey. Kinda left than right then.

Here we are.

Yeah, exactly.

Oh, that’s really cool. So I bet your former high school students think you’re really cool, now, but they might just be with them may but not handing the mini swag to wear around. So, all seen.

So as far as getting in the cannabis industry, it sounds like you came across this business opportunity. What about your personal passion or the inspiration or any personal experience you might have had with the plan or developing a relationship with the plant and the movement?

I was really lucky to find this space and to get to learn from so many people and develop and nurture and cultivate that passion. If I can use that plan words because prior to really getting into it, I had very limited exposure. I was pretty much like a dare kid and it was a drug and it was scary and the big bad out there and it wasn’t until very late in life in essay. My late 20s that I actually found out what cannabis offered rather than the threat that it’s supposedly posed and I quickly dove head first into a lot of the myths and dispelling them and doing research and it was incredibly enlightening, which was exciting and frustrating at the same time because it felt very much like I had been, I had been… We all been lied to for decades, and it’s such a long… Well entrenched myth, and I that it’s hard to dig out from that. So it became really important for me to teach other people like me that were where I had been, that it’s not what we had always thought. Just like the food pyramid is no longer the gold standard for dieting the… It’s not the boogeyman of drugs or the gateway to the nefarious things.

And I had had a personal experience because my sister has several palsy and I didn’t know anything about how cannabis could have helped her until it was much too late unfortunately, so that really struck a cord with me and that she loved it. Several policy her whole life. It’s not to generative it doesn’t get more so better, but there’s complications at the severity level that she was at. And one of those is a recurring bouts of pneumonia from ASP rating salient herons ’cause it be spasmodic properties of serve palsy and it was eventually a super bug of pneumonia in 2013 that I took my twin sister from me. So I’m so sorry to hear that, thank you.

It was… That’s an awful kind of pain to go through losing your other half.

But at the same time, it seemed to compound it because there was something there the whole time that could have helped it could have changed things and I didn’t know. And I never, ever want somebody to be in that position that my family was in that she was in to not have access to a medicine that’s so good for you that can help so many ways.

Well, thank you for sharing that story and yeah, don’t beat yourself up. There’s a lot of misinformation, as you alluded to, with the government lying to us about let’s be real. It’s still a schedule one drug on the Controlled Substances list, meaning it has no medical value which we all know at this point, there is actually research out there. Yeah, as it does and more and more research as we’re able to access it is proving what the hippies knew all along.

Right, exactly, exactly.

So here we are in remind we’re moving forward with this stronger by the day movement of the cannabis industry and here you are as a part of it, having co-founded the company. Alias can… So let’s talk about the present your role there, your day-to-day, what’s going on with the company, it’s going well. I have to say, if we’re being completely honest about everything, it’s an uphill battle because this is a new space and so I think everybody is writing the rules and discovering the rules as we go, along and figuring out how operations are gonna go in their businesses and since our whole business is built around helping others build their business, it is a steep climb, sometimes, but we’re convinced that the view is worth that climb and so we’re keeping at it and it’s definitely a passion and a mission to get out there and we’ve loved the clients that we’ve worked with, and we’ve been able to help reach more of their target customers and get them into more shelf space and to expand their brands. And it’s exciting, fun stuff. And because we get to do new things with new clients every time we get to have the benefits of these long relationships and also the excitement of a new relationship so it’s the best of both worlds, it’s everything day-to-day. We’re really about focus, we’re focusing on the sales side of things, and then the marketing activities that we have really support all of our sales activities in our endeavors, so we’ve got people in our office smiling and dialing all day that grunt work, that nobody wants to do, smiling and dialing. I love that I get writing that down right now I… Yeah, yeah. And then on my end, and my partner, Mike and we just get to do a lot of vision casting, which is a beautiful thing. And seeing how we can get into more spaces to help more people and what offerings we can have to grow other businesses support. Our whole tagline is, No one grows alone, and that’s our goal every day is to grow our own company by growing others, and those people are going to then benefit their growth is going to benefit their employees, and it’s going to benefit their customers, and it’s just this compound effect. That’s really exciting in lovely that’s great, it’s great to hear your passion about the work you’re doing as well. How long ago was it that you founded the company with your partner and how many people are on your team now?

We started looking into cannabis, I wanna say he went to MJ bison in Orlando, so that was, I wanna say 2014 maybe.

And then together, we went to a JBS in DC, and that was sort of our last walk and scope and research so that was when we officially started doing the work to get our company up and running, but I believe we were founded and incorporated in 2016, until then we were kind of just dabbling in it and getting ourselves ready making sure that we understood the landscape both competitive, and opportunity-wise, and knowing that we had a place. Because there’s nothing worse than somebody coming in with just a… Oh, this is a hot new thing okay, I’ll come in and get mine. And it’s like, No, that’s not how we work at all that we’ve gotta come in with advocacy education, and benefiting others. That’s the only way to grow is a collective growth. So it was a lot of lead up to that. And then an official launch in 2016, I believe.

And in terms of our team, we have about I wanna say just under 10 dedicated sales people for cannabis specifically, but because we built this company off of our mainstream company, it’s the same services, same building.

We have this really cool bench strength of about another 20-30 people that we can pull from, if we get that need and we can say Alright, it’s time to train you now on what cannabis is versus what you were doing. So it’s great ’cause we have this whole sales culture behind this and all this management and training and these systems and processes in place, and then we can just teach others about cannabis when we need to.

Awesome, yeah, good for you on doing that discovery work before diving in. I think there’s a lot more to the cannabis industry than people realize, particularly with compliance and regulations, or model CRA.

Cool, yeah, awesome. Alright, well yeah, thanks for sharing that. We’re gonna jump into our first commercial break and then we’ll be right back to talk more with Francesca of Alias can. So please, stay tuned, 

Alright we’re back on NCIA’s Cannabis Industry Voice on cannabis radio. I’m your host, Bethany talking with Francesca from Alias Cann. So, Francesca let’s talk more about the cannabis industry, which has a, a slightly higher percentage of women in executive roles than some other non-cannabis fields in the country.

What is your experience being a woman in leadership?

It has a lot of parallels and overlap in the mainstream industry. There’s still, I think, a lot of male domination in a way that if you’re going to a meeting, you can still expect a lot of a more traditional presence there and it can feel like you’re given almost a cookie as a leadership token, but I think it has to do the positives far outweigh those experiences and there’s such a great feeling of being a woman in leadership, because it’s this collective drive. To keep pushing people that maybe were formerly marginalized or ag order overshadow or overlooked into these roles that they’ve always belonged in that we’ve always needed their voices in. So whether that’s women or minorities, or whatever it is, people need to hear a variety of voices. And I think that’s been exciting for me because I get to be one of many instead of basically like squeaking mouse in the room.

I think it’s almost in a way a mom was pretty wire to be like, “Do I belong do I have a seat at this table? Do I belong in this conversation?

But the fact of the matter is, going into those meetings with the assumption that… Yes, I absolutely do, I’ve already earned it, I have nothing to prove and I’m bringing my value just in showing up with the experience and the education and the thoughtfulness and the mindfulness that I’m bringing to the table. It’s been a really kind of personal journey as much as it’s been this kind of abstract principle journey as well. So, it’s a tough question to answer because it can go both ways, but yeah, I like owning it, it’s been a fun challenge to take on.

Yeah, I really enjoy hearing your inspirational answer to that where you know you belong you walk into a room and still in the back of your mind, you’re expecting someone to ask you to go get them a cup of coffee, you sit down at the head of the table anyway, and you are present and you know you have something to contribute that’s valuable, that’s really great, thank you for sharing that, thank you yeah, I gotta just get that eye contact and we can pay attention, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There’s the super woman power move that you’re supposed to do that makes you feel confident before walking into a meeting. Yeah, that’s a good one, yeah.

So talking more about women, we do tend to be trend-setters in modern culture, women are often response responsible for slang fashion, and we’re also leading the way in helping to normalize and de-stigmatize cannabis as a wellness product as we’re seeing cannabis moms and people from various different demographics, using cannabis. But women are definitely… I’m a Cana mom, I can a woman. They’re out there saying This is a wellness product. How do you think… How are you seeing us continue to do that? What’s your perspective from what your company is doing and from as you’ve been learning about the industry, what are you seeing as women are in the front here? Kind of waving the cannabis flag.

I think it’s really kind of harnessing the role of the Underdogs? Or the unassuming ones because for so long, there was this very full year stereotype about who used cannabis and while that might have changed decade, decade that was originally founded in some really racist ideology and then moved to more of this stone image that was about how cannabis is going to send you down a path that you don’t wanna go down. That’s about lack of productivity and lack of success.

Suddenly you have women coming in and saying, “I don’t know I’m using this, so you know you can trust me. And I don’t know if that’s partly almost, an association with motherhood or care taking but it’s like, No, if she’s doing it versus instead of the… Oh, they’re doing it. And that’s the power there as women, is like we can come up and say, You don’t get to define what cannabis is and you don’t get to find who uses it because I’m using it and you’d never contact expected.

And that makes people check their expectations… Hopefully, if that’s done right. And that’s a very powerful tool in ending the stigma and saying, “Well what you thought was true is it true in this instance? Doesn’t that make you question what you’ve always thought was true across several aspects of cannabis, and beyond?

And I just love that challenge, I absolutely just relate because it’s powerful. And in terms of our company, we really are pushing this professionalism is that we are the same people that are going to be selling a lot of other products in other mainstream businesses and we’re not going to dumb-down our professionalism and not… We’re going to must elevate the conversation and the image by having these women that could be in a Nordstrom catalog or coming off of or whatever, it is a powerful business meeting. They’re still having those they’re still the same women in the cannabis space and that’s awesome.

Yeah, I think we’re seeing more women doing yoga. We’re enjoying a cup of coffee on their balcony versus Bud babes who are in bikinis which is great.

Yeah, it is and I can’t wait for the day where just like the wine glasses of Mommy needs a glass of wine. I wanna see them like I need to do.

Yeah I, that’s fine, you’re not a bad person for that. Yeah, yeah, awesome. So you’re probably working with some established companies, but you’re also working with some brand new companies that are just launching in the industry, so there’s probably an educational moment with them as you’re taking your experience and helping them brand and market their products. Is there any advice you might have for those companies or challenges they should be aware of? And ready to face?

Sure, it just depends how long you got. Sure, just a minute before commercial breaks, so yeah, okay, I’ll try and keep it store to the high-level stuff.

So I think a lot of times what people see is that they’re expecting a much easier road then they’re going to have and whether that’s they have this great idea and so of course that’s going to win, we would love to think that it’s not the truth unfortunately, the reality is that you need a lot more than a really good idea… Or a really good product ’cause that doesn’t… Not that doesn’t make a business. A business is about having operations and systems and people and processes in place that can get you from A to see not just having the “Gee that’s in the middle, and being like, I can start in the middle and go to see that doesn’t happen. So I think setting realistic expectations, is the biggest challenge in the field, and then also just reminding them that we need to be conscious that we are part of something bigger than a business we are part of a movement, and there needs to be a social consciousness and awareness around that movement as much, and that has to be built into your business. So, they can’t run separate they have to run parallel and to be genuine and to really provide a whole solution to the space.

Awesome, great advice, awesome, okay, we’re gonna take our last commercial break here, and then we’ll come back and wrap up our chat with Francesca from an alias can. So stay tuned, we’ll be right back.

Alright, we’re back on NCIA’s cannabis industry voice podcast, on cannabis radio we’re speaking with Francesca Vala of Alias can. And I mentioned at the beginning of the show that you’re based in that tiny little state over there, on the East Coast, just tucked into Maryland called Delaware.

Yeah, and we don’t hear a whole lot about Delaware but legalization is increasing in states, all across the country, and we’re seeing that east coast segment warm-up to cannabis, which is super exciting.

Any predictions on when we think Delaware is gonna jump on board into the cannabis industry, I think we are going to see it this year which is fingers cross-knock-on all the wood that you can find right now, but that’s the anticipation that’s the buzz that we were getting from our work in legislative halls and lobbying days and all of that, so we’re very much a part of the movement to legalize in the state and we like having those conversations because a lot of it has to be maybe sometimes, shutting your mouth and listening to what those objections are and talking to people like the minority leaders, and not just the people that want to agree with. You already agree with you, it’s important to listen to the injections, and then say okay and I see where you’re coming from and have you thought about this because that’s all they want, they wanna know that they’re not paint it as this bad guy that they have reasons behind their decisions. And so we’re here to change minds that has to start with listening I… So I think It’ll definitely happen. Delaware tends to be slower than most of the rest of the East Coast especially the north-east, but we are not the size state or economically “want to be an influencer in terms of national legalization so our business is very much outside of the state. In fact, we don’t have any business in Delaware, so it won’t change anything for our company that Delaware legalize but to me, every state has to have their wins because it’s going to change more hearts and minds and get more momentum behind the a movement, and the ultimate goal.

Yeah, absolutely, I’m really glad to hear your involved at the state and local level in whatever capacity you can be. And of course, the state-by-state battle is happening, the dominoes are slowly falling across the country, but important to that work is the federal work that “ncia does, for example, and our annual lobby days are ninth annual lobby days, how is coming up? May 21st, 22nd and 23rd.

Last year, we had between 250 and 300 CI members fly out to DC and our GR team always does a great job of setting up these meetings with congressional offices with groups of “ncia members to educate and answer questions and listen to the concerns. Of course, there’s plenty of members of Congress who are already friendly to our issues, but some of those challenging but really important conversations are the ones with the officers who either oppose or maybe aren’t so sure and need more information.

So if you’re a member of  NCIA which alias can is, I hope to see many NCIA members register register today, please register today for lobby days. Because we have to have those conversations, we have to do that education.

You have to shake their hand and tell them about your kids and that they play soccer. And what school you went to? And they need to know that you’re a real human being who has business interests and sharing your struggles, as a business owner is really important. So if you’re interested listeners interested in learning about lobby days www the cannabis industry or lobby days, 2019 lobby days, 2019 is super important. We’ve got a ton of people registered. Of course, the momentum is still going. Please register as early as you can, because our GR team does a lot of behind-the-scenes work in advance, putting teams together, setting up meetings with congressional offices.

So thanks for being involved locally and at the state level Francesca and hope to see you in DC next month for lobby days as well, Oh yeah, yeah, on either.

Yeah, I’m so glad to hear that.

And of course there’s all kinds of information if people listening do wanna do some outreach at the state and local level, even if you’re not a member, there’s a ton of free resources on our website particularly in the industry reports area of our resources, both our policy council, as well as our committees are producing extremely helpful resources that you can download, print it out, take it to your local regulators, and have a chat with them and go through things like ideal suggested recommendations for policy. So check out our website, particularly the industry reports area there’s a lot of information there and as we wrap up here, I just wanna mention our regional networking events, the cannabis caucuses and the industry socials are happening throughout the year. So please check those out, and of course the cannabis business Summit, and expo is happening in July and tickets are on sale and we’re looking forward to it, this is our biggest trade show of the year. The website for that, for tickets is cannabis business Summit, dot com.

So I’m looking forward to seeing you some of those events Francesca and I really appreciate you depending me on the show today to chat about our exciting industry.

Yeah, oh I’m so happy to be here. I’m so glad we could have this talk because it’s important too, and it’s important to have as many people involved in the conversation as possible. It’s the only way we can keep moving forward and getting the results that we need.

You got it. Where can people find out more about alias? Can you can visit our website at AliasCann.com, that’s aliascann dot com, and you can follow us on Instagram and Facebook and Twitter as well, so you can always interact with us. We’ve got people like actually engaging, there’s no robots at running anything, so we’re real people and we love to talk to to you and can always email me at Francesca, at aliascann dot com.

Awesome, thanks so much, Francesca. and thanks everybody for tuning in to another episode of NCIA’s cannabis industry voice. Until next time…