Sandra Martinez Leads a Team Whose Work is Always In Play!

In Play Showroom, located at The California Market Center in downtown L.A., has earned a quality reputation as an experienced, trend-setting rep room. The spirited team at In Play enjoys plenty of laughter and good-natured fun, but is definitely there to “work it!” Owner Sandra Martinez shares all the praise and success with her team of hard-working sales reps who care about each other as only the strongest, most loving families do.

The In Play Showroom team knows how to make its on-trend, hipper, and either happening or “about to happen” brands accessible to a wide range of children’s retailers, from the most mod to the more traditional. Today’s parents and grandparents have a variety of tastes in children’s products, and In Play Showroom helps retailers understand how to mix it up with the perfect blend of classic combined with a big splash of “what’s happening!”

Sandra Martinez recently met up with The Giggle Guide^® to discuss what makes her work like play, and most importantly, how she plays to win for herself, her associates and the manufacturers she represents with unsurpassed style.

How long have you been a manufacturers’ sales representative and how did you get started in the children’s business?

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I have been in the children’s industry for about 11 years now. I started as a sales rep for the showroom I now own and it was a complete fluke. After finishing fashion school in L.A., I went to Europe for a little 3 week trip that turned into almost 7 months. I came home ecstatic about my trip, but panicked that I didn’t have a job and/or foot in the fashion industry and needed to start making some moves. I literally landed in LAX, met a guy who was the new owner of the iconic Monkey Wear collection that happened to be best friends with the owner of In Play, who gave me an interview and a job the very next day. It all fell into place after that.

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What was your experience prior to becoming a children’s sales rep?

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I went to fashion school as I worked full time as a marketing assistant for an automotive company, believe it or not! My boss at the time always knew I would leave the company for fashion eventually, but taught me everything I needed to know about selling and marketing regardless of what the product was. I have been so lucky to have the best mentors in each job I have held along the way.

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How many reps are in your organization and what territory do you cover?

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We have 4-5 people at the moment and do the job of ten. We also have awesome interns that keep the office buzzing with energy! We mostly cover the 13 western states but have started nationwide sales for a few of our accessory brands.

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How would you describe the “look” or style that defines your showroom and the lines you represent?

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We are definitely more contemporary and cater to a new generation of parents and grandparents. We have known to be a little edgier than most, though I still like to think it is edgy with taste and within reason. We have a pretty solid reputation of launching popular adult brands’ children’s categories dating back to Lucky Brand Kids, Juicy Couture, Da Nang, Ella Moss, Little Fox by Wild Fox, Mighty Fine and so forth.

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How do you evaluate prospective collections presented to you?

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It’s usually a team effort since we all have to sell it and be responsible for the results. I don’t like overwhelming the team or under-servicing the manufacturers, so we have to limit the amount of lines we manage which is a tough call sometimes. I feel and treat everyone in the showroom as family and care about their success, challenges etc. We are constantly working as hard as we can to help each other grow and respect that these brands are family owned, so there is a very personal connection and responsibility we have towards each other that makes this job that much more rewarding. I depend on them and they depend on us, so we really have to be cautious of which lines we partner with.

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What line have you represented the longest?

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I would say Luna Luna and Diaper Dude have been the longest thus far. They had both just launched with the previous owner and were very new to the industry. Puma Kids was one of the first name brands I brought on board myself which was exciting and at about the same time I contacted Goorin Bros/ - one of the first adult brands to launch a full kids collection, Sand Cassel Kids. They are still with me to date and are for sure family. Wow, we have come a long way!

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What are the most recent lines you’ve picked up?

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We recently picked up MOGO the magnetic charm bracelets, a fantastic concept and good looking product. Aside from the product I was very impressed with the owner, a very intelligent businesswoman; I try to keep those types around me as much as possible! =)

The last line we just picked up was Mini Maniacs, which was a little out of the norm for us. She is a very sweet, cool single mom producing very cool kids bibs, [which I have never sold until now]. I was impressed with her as a person, which is a good deciding factor. She was very down to earth, real and ready to make things happen so we had a meeting, gave her some feedback and thought we may have scared her off. On the contrary, she left, came back, did everything we said and had a solid collection to show for it, so we said why not!

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What fees, if any, do you charge the manufacturers you represent?

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I charge a showroom fee which varies by brand and goes to the marketing, maintenance and growth of the line. This also includes regional shows for the year, which we budget at the start of each consultation time which is key to progress. As a contemporary showroom, we also invest in a lot of out of the norm sales tools such as our software systems, website, ordering systems, mailers and so forth.

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How do you interact with the brands you carry regarding their future product development?

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I am lucky to have a very involved team and smart vendors [that listen]. We are all social networkers and are out in the scene keeping up with what is going on. We constantly pass on inspiration to the vendors and have our ear to the ground on what’s happening. Katy in our office is in charge of all our social media and does a great job at it, in addition to being an awesome sales rep. Hilary comes from the contemporary adult market and is still very involved in everything that is going on in the fashion industry and I like the business and creative side of it, so we all have our two cents. Again, being that we are a family we are always communicating with our designers on what the next thing is and they never let us down!

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What methods do you use to interact with buyers?

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We love our markets of course, because our buyers get to come in, relax and view each line in a comfortable, energetic environment. For those that can’t come to L.A. we come to them! We have actually been very active with tradeshows and like to try new ones when we can. We definitely do the San Francisco show [with all our brands] and ENK NYC twice a year [with a few of our brands]. We go on the road as well, and like to throw in vacation/business research trips as often as possible. We have tested out ABC Kids Show, and even launched with PROJECT Kids Las Vegas the infamous contemporary adult show that sadly only lasted 2 seasons, though it was fun being on the forefront. We are even doing KSA [a kids shoe shoe in Manhattan Beach] this year with Me In Mind, our footwear line, and a few accessory lines that have awesome crossover with shoe stores. And lastly, we just decided to participate at the KidsShow Las Vegas.

In addition, we are very active via the internet. Email is by far our strongest power tool as it is convenient and efficient for most of our buyers. We also just brought on a fantastic online ordering system that our buyers are responding very positively to!

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Do you provide other services such as merchandising or consulting to your buyers?

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Absolutely. It starts with the initial presentation to a buyer. We merchandise each of our collections as a shop within a shop so a buyer can visualize the brand properly presented in their store and so they can get a good sense of the product and its potential. We also have pretty amazing software that allows us to properly profile [as best we can] a store, so we can make educated suggestions as to what will/won’t work for them. Merchandising and suggesting ways to do it is, after-all, our creative outlet and we are all very creative people.

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What do you feel makes your sales firm unique?

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My team! I am lucky to say I get to share my days with intelligent, energetic, talented people that take pride and responsibility for the sales we make. We have a mutual respect for our customers and our vendors and do what we can to help both succeed. We have a fantastic energy and passion for what we do and each of us has something amazing to contribute. We all come from solid backgrounds, both personally [strong families] and professionally [strong experience] and it all comes to play when we sell. I believe this allows and encourages us to keep a strong connection and trust with our retailers, since they are, after all, our livelihood.

Hilary, our showroom manager, bought for three adult and kid stores in Chicago before coming to L.A. and working at Project, a cutting edge tradeshow. Katy managed an awesome high-end kids’ boutique in Atlanta before moving to Los Angeles, and has now taken on the marketing side of the showroom, in addition to sales, which keeps our buyers as informed as possible so they can maximize sales within their stores.

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What is one thing you would like manufacturers to understand better about their relationship with sales reps?

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The more you support your rep, the more they will support you. It’s funny, people always ask what my best brand is and I can never answer specifically because everyone pulls their own weight in different ways, but I will tell you this, the people that treat me the best are always the ones that get and give the best results. wink. wink. It’s not intentional either - it just is.

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What is one thing you would you like buyers to understand better about their relationship with sales reps?

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Communication is key. The more you are involved with your rep and the more information you give them as to what your business is about and where it’s at, the more the rep can help efficiently. This also helps you stay on your toes and know where you are at, where you are going and what you are about. If you don’t tell us what sells, we can’t make accurate suggestions to you or the next buyer that needs our guidance. We have to remember: You are our lifeline to retail and we are yours to wholesale - let’s help each other out!

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For more information about In Play Showroom, and the brands represented, some of which are linked on the Businesses Referenced sidebar, visit www.inplayshowroom.com

Rep Wrapup is a regular feature on The Giggle Guide. Sales representatives throughout the country will share with us their answers about what’s special about their services, and offer tips about improving communications, sales, service and teamwork between reps, manufacturers and buyers in the children’s business. What sales rep or rep organization would you like to know more about? Let us know,