Note: Selling with Order Guides requires each customer to have a relevant order guide set up. Check out our article on Customer Order Guides and Placing Orders to get started creating guides.
Using Item Groupings to Drive Discovery
Item groupings within order guides make it easier for buyers to browse, but are a fast way of presenting information to buyers in their workflow
Instead of presenting a long, flat list of products, group items in ways that guide attention and spark curiosity. Common high-performing groupings include:
“New & Trending”
“Seasonal Favorites”
“Back-of-House Essentials”
“Discovered for You”
Note: This strategy is also what powers the “Discovered items” in Pepper’s Sales Hub Applying this same concept inside order guides helps surface items buyers may not actively search for—but are likely to add once they see them.
Creating item groupings of promotional items gets eyes on the right SKUs
Use Essential Items to Guarantee Visibility
Essential items are one of the simplest and most reliable selling levers in Pepper.
Before checkout, buyers are required to review their essential items. While these are usually everyday staples, this step also creates a built-in promotional opportunity.
You can mark items as essential that:
You have a strong price on
The customer has shown interest in
The customer may be purchasing from a competitor
By marking an item as essential, you guarantee it gets visibility before the order is placed without interrupting the buyer’s workflow.
Shelf-to-Sheet Setup as a Selling Opportunity
Every customer starts with an order guide built from their last ~90 days of purchases. That initial setup (or any Shelf-to-Sheet review) is a powerful moment to uncover selling opportunities.
When onboarding or revisiting a customer’s setup, reps can offer to walk through the customer’s store to customize the app and make ordering easier.
During this walkthrough, reps can:
Improve the ordering experience by organizing items the customer already buys
Identify back-of-house items the customer uses but doesn’t currently buy from you
Those uncovered items become:
A natural upsell list
Candidates for promotions or trials
Items to feature at the top of order guides or mark as essential
This strategy also works proactively: Reps can identify customers without Shelf-to-Sheet set up and use the setup as a conversation starter to discover selling opportunities without a cold pitch.
Knowing your customers workflow creates a natural competitive edge
Creating Order Guides to Get Attention
Beyond persona-based or department-based order guides, it’s a best practice to create at least one guide dedicated entirely to discovery.
Including new items, promotional products, strategic SKUs, and even Items the customer may be buying elsewhere, buyers will naturally move back and forth between order guides while ordering. Having a dedicated “visibility” guide ensures these items get repeated exposure without relying on timing or conversation.
In Pepper, creating additional order guides is easy - there are two main workflows users can follow:
Sales Rep-Created Order Guides
Sales reps can create targeted guides. Examples include:
“Promotions”
“On Your Mind”
“Don’t Forget These”
Effective for reinforcing recent conversations and personalizing recommendations for a specific account, reps can create order guides in seconds and use them to sell better or bring up in a conversation.
Marketing-Created Order Guides (at Scale)
Marketing and mass marketing teams can use Pepper’s Order Guide Generator to:
Create seasonal or event-based guides (e.g., “Valentine’s Day Favorites”)
Highlight top-selling or trending items
Duplicate and deploy guides across many accounts at once
Check out the following video on how easy it is to create and duplicate order guides across the customer base: