I took specialty run retailers to task for managing apparel on hope. Not so fast, brands. You aren't off the hook. Here's the other side of the coin.

Retailers and brands are a lot like siblings: same parents (the runner), same house, and always fighting over the remote. So this week it's the brands' turn. I know you have your own pressures, with margin targets and DTC goals handed down from above. But here are five ways apparel brands in the run industry are making it harder for their retailers to sell.

1. Your best lifestyle product goes to your reps.
A singular focus on technical product won't win the customer. Runners and walkers want to shout out their passion. Yet the "cool" lifestyle pieces end up on your reps and never reach the runners who'd happily buy them. Open your lifestyle and graphic line to specialty. Better yet, work with your best retailers on co-branded pieces with the store's name on them. Then you're helping them build their brand instead of competing with it.

2. Once or twice a year isn't a product flow.
Inventory turn comes from a steady stream of new and fresh product. I know what you're thinking: retailers book once a year, so what do they want from you? Two things. First, smaller capsule drops every month or two. Second, at-once inventory, so a retailer can reorder the winners in season instead of betting everything on a booking nine months out.

3. Your fixtures come with strings.
Picture the backrooms, storage units, garages and landfills full of last season's branded fixtures. If you could see them, you'd agree this isn't working. A fixture is tempting to a retailer who can barely afford quality fixtures on their own. But it isn't free. To get it, they have to meet minimums on the wrong product, set by your metrics instead of theirs. (As long as your reps are paid on sell-in instead of sell-through, those minimums aren't going anywhere.) After the first season your support goes away, the fixture stays, and now the retailer is hanging other brands on it. Yuck.

Worse, that wall puts you in direct competition with the retailer's own brand. Quality retailers work hard to build their identity, and a wall of your logo sends their customers a mixed message. It may look like growth from your side, but it hurts the retailer long term. Offer fixture dollars or brand-neutral fixtures the retailer owns, and tie your support to sell-through.

4. Your website undercuts the store.
Your site gets the deeper assortment, the first shot at new colorways and the earlier markdowns. So how is a retailer supposed to sell a full-price tight that you're emailing at 30% off? Of all the sibling squabbles, this one stings the most. Give specialty the same access on the same timing, and hold the line on price.

5. Your clinics stop at features and fabrics.
Even your apparel clinics tend to focus on the cool new features. Retailers need concrete training in the sales-floor behavior that moves customers into the dressing room. A customer in a dressing room is 50–70% more likely to buy. Sadly, too many retailers' dressing rooms are used for storage. Go beyond the features and teach the guest experience that leads to apparel sales. Retailers are hungry for this.

Same Parents, Same Goal
Sibling fights usually end when both kids figure out they want the same thing. Retailers and brands want the same thing too: a runner who walks out with shoes, a shirt and a reason to come back. Right now we're squabbling over fixtures and minimums while she buys her tights somewhere else.

So here's my challenge. Brands, pick one of these five and fix it for a single season with your best specialty accounts. Retailers, clear the boxes out of your dressing rooms and put someone on the floor who knows how to get a customer into one. Then let's compare notes.

What do you think? Tell me in the comments.

Ready to get more customers into the dressing room?
The Mann Group trains specialty run, outdoor and bike retail teams on the sales-floor behavior that sells apparel. We also help brands build clinics that go beyond features and fabrics. If you're a retailer ready to take on the challenge above, or a brand that wants to fix one of these five with your best accounts, let's talk. Contact The Mann Group: [email protected]

Dan Mann is the founder of The Mann Group, a sales training and organizational development consultancy for specialty run, outdoor, and bike retailers, and author of Leading Change.