Should I pre-wire with my category manager?

YES. If you walk into a line review cold, you’re basically rolling the dice — and most of the time, you’re going to lose the listing. The real work happens before the meeting.

Pre wiring is how you warm up the conversation, build familiarity, and make sure the buyer already understands your story before they ever sit down with you.

So, what does this look like?

At Sunset Strategic Brands, we work alongside our clients by:

• Sharing quick performance updates so they see momentum

• Getting samples in their hands early

• Sending simple one pagers that highlight the “why”

• Touching base ahead of the review so nothing feels new or surprising

When you do this consistently, the line review becomes way easier — because the buyer already knows you, your product, and your value.

Our team doesn’t see pre-wiring as something “extra” you “can do” - for us its a necessary step towards building a relationship that helps you win.