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- Aug 7, 2014
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I had recently put out a thank you post which doubled as a, "Get off your a$$ and go!" post. Towards the end I decided to show every step I take in sourcing products, putting up a website, advertising, and obviously selling the products. Although I may do videos for certain aspects, it seems best to just write and show pictures.
I'm doing this to help others, but I'm also interested in getting critiques and suggestions on how to better improve my process from more experienced users. This will also serve as a sort of "training guide" for my wife so we both have the process down for getting products found and sold. She wants to help more so this seemed like a good way to iron out the process. This will be long and I'm going to release things in stages. Also, I will probably be adding much more detail in the Fastlane INSIDERS Section. It would be wise for you to Join Here.
My ultimate goal is to come up with prototypes for my wife and I's ideas and have them manufactured. But due to a very tight budget we must first pursue other ventures such as this one in order to fund the main businesses.
Everyone has different personalities, views, strengths, etc. Because of this, I feel that certain business ventures resonate with different people naturally. Some may gravitate towards Real Estate... Others towards building websites... For us, importing seems like a model that just, makes sense. Building this up to say, 6 figures a year would provide quite a bit or seed money for other ventures. Not bad.
Importing seems simple, find a manufacturer of quality products that you would like to share with the world.... And share it with the world...It's nice if you have little competition or even better, bad competition... So let's start...First with products...
Products:
My name is Cory *****, Vice President of product sourcing for ******. We are a multinational retail company with a large market in North America. We are looking to expand our product base and are interested in carrying your [product] . There seems to be a large demand for your products in our markets and we are looking to use your company exclusively after an initial evaluation. We pride ourselves in offering our customers the best in customer service and quality. For this reason, it’s absolutely vital that we are able to provide quality products to our customers at reasonable prices and with extreme efficiency.
If you are interested in ****** carrying your products, please let me know at your earliest convenience. All we ask is that you are able to provide quality products to our warehouse in a timely manner with minimal error and with the absolute best price you can offer. If you are able to provide the best price to us, we can ensure that we sell a large amount of your [product].
Please let us know how many items come in your sample kit. We prefer at least [quantity] in a sample kit so that we can evaluate the quality and consistency.
We look forward to doing business with you and hope it develops into a long-term and lucrative partnership.
Warm Regards,
Cory *****, VP Product Division
****** LLC
info@**********.com
1-520-***-****
*** I have a template that I started working with that has landed me free samples and shipping. As soon as I get it where I like it, I'll post that in the Fastlane INSIDERS Section.***
I will leave you today with one last thing... A sample list of where to find products... Again you should hit as many of these sites and as many manufacturers on each site that make your product as possible. This is a TINY LIST. There are TONS. Hit them all...
That concludes the info for today. Again, this is for my wife and I just as much as for others. If anyone with experience has critiques or suggestions please let me know. We are always looking for better ways to do this. Next time I'll go into what we do once we receive the item.
I'm doing this to help others, but I'm also interested in getting critiques and suggestions on how to better improve my process from more experienced users. This will also serve as a sort of "training guide" for my wife so we both have the process down for getting products found and sold. She wants to help more so this seemed like a good way to iron out the process. This will be long and I'm going to release things in stages. Also, I will probably be adding much more detail in the Fastlane INSIDERS Section. It would be wise for you to Join Here.
My ultimate goal is to come up with prototypes for my wife and I's ideas and have them manufactured. But due to a very tight budget we must first pursue other ventures such as this one in order to fund the main businesses.
Everyone has different personalities, views, strengths, etc. Because of this, I feel that certain business ventures resonate with different people naturally. Some may gravitate towards Real Estate... Others towards building websites... For us, importing seems like a model that just, makes sense. Building this up to say, 6 figures a year would provide quite a bit or seed money for other ventures. Not bad.
Importing seems simple, find a manufacturer of quality products that you would like to share with the world.... And share it with the world...It's nice if you have little competition or even better, bad competition... So let's start...First with products...
Products:
- I'm looking for lightweight, interesting, quality items that are used year-round. I'm looking for decent margins so that answering customer emails, packaging, shipping, makes sense. I'm not looking to break my back for an .89 cent profit. Not worth it.
- We go to malls and other high-traffic areas and look at what they are selling. We also people-watch and evaluate behaviors. What purchases are they walking out with? What are they using right now? We keep our phones handy and when we see a product, we look it up to get an idea of how much we can sell for and how many sell. We also look for inspiration at places like FingerHut, Brookstone, Sharper Image, etc.
- We use the approach taught by @Ecom man on his thread for evaluating competition. Basically look on eBay and Amazon for low competition or poor quality sellers. See his thread here.
- As often as I can, I look for products that have multiple uses. I've said it before but I'll reiterate... If I'm selling tires, I can sell tires for cars, I can sell tire swings, I can sell to gyms as fitness equipment, to racetracks as track liners, to playgrounds as safety filler. Multiple avenues. So now instead of making a few grand selling to one group, I've sold thousands to multiple groups for several purposes without changing my product. I was going to sell the tires anyway so why not?
- Also, invest some time into finding an angle that you can use for every product! Not to brag but my wife and I came up with a GENIUS angle. Everything we sell, we use it and it pulls the customer almost every time. With our angle we can charge more and STILL get a customer to lean towards us. On top of Free Shipping, excellent customer service, and a cool company story, we have this unique angle that applies to any product we sell!! I guarantee people will catch on to what we are doing and it will be written in every tutorial there is. When that happens, I'll come back here and announce that it was our idea so everyone can, "Oooo" and "Ahhhh".... Of course, we'll have another angle by the time everyone steals it so no worries
- Look everywhere to find the best source. I'll go into this further later on but for now, understand that this requires you to look at all possible manufacturers in order to find the best price, shipping times, quality, etc. And that doesn't mean just Alibaba. Hit as many manufacturers on as many sites as you can find. When someone complains that they can't find a job even though they have put in sooo many applications and you ask how many they have put in and they say 10....Well.....There ya go.. I do ten times that, easy.
- Take an average of all of the high-end price ranges offered per piece by the companies and add a few bucks to that to get a ballpark of what your sample cost might be. You need to try and get samples first in order to verify that the item can sell. If they say cost per piece ranges from $0.10-$2.50, figure around $4.00 for a sample price.
- You should have a general template you use in order to expedite the process of establishing contact with these manufacturers. It should be professional, establish credibility, trust, etc. These suppliers are looking to do business with a large US company and your letter should imply that this can be accomplished by going with your company. You do want to sell thousands right? Here is a general template I use with success. I change the numbers and such as needed.
My name is Cory *****, Vice President of product sourcing for ******. We are a multinational retail company with a large market in North America. We are looking to expand our product base and are interested in carrying your [product] . There seems to be a large demand for your products in our markets and we are looking to use your company exclusively after an initial evaluation. We pride ourselves in offering our customers the best in customer service and quality. For this reason, it’s absolutely vital that we are able to provide quality products to our customers at reasonable prices and with extreme efficiency.
If you are interested in ****** carrying your products, please let me know at your earliest convenience. All we ask is that you are able to provide quality products to our warehouse in a timely manner with minimal error and with the absolute best price you can offer. If you are able to provide the best price to us, we can ensure that we sell a large amount of your [product].
Please let us know how many items come in your sample kit. We prefer at least [quantity] in a sample kit so that we can evaluate the quality and consistency.
We look forward to doing business with you and hope it develops into a long-term and lucrative partnership.
Warm Regards,
Cory *****, VP Product Division
****** LLC
info@**********.com
1-520-***-****
*** I have a template that I started working with that has landed me free samples and shipping. As soon as I get it where I like it, I'll post that in the Fastlane INSIDERS Section.***
- After you have sent out letters, you will begin receiving tons of emails replying to your letter. This is where the ballpark sample cost you figured above comes into play. It's understandable that a small order should be slightly higher per piece. But if you figure it should be around $7 and they quote you $22, there is a problem.
- Become familiar with shipping. Check USPS, DHL, FEDEX, etc. for rough estimates of how much shipping should cost. If you find shipping is roughly $50 bucks for the amount and weight of your product and they quote you $150. Another problem. Counter by telling them you researched and it should cost roughly [price] and ask them if they reported that number in error.
I will leave you today with one last thing... A sample list of where to find products... Again you should hit as many of these sites and as many manufacturers on each site that make your product as possible. This is a TINY LIST. There are TONS. Hit them all...
- Tradekey.com
- Dhgate.com
- Ec21.com
- Taobao.com
- Aliexpress.com
- Globalsources.com
- Ectrade.com
- Tradeindia.com
- Made-in-china.com
- alibaba.com
- globassources.com
That concludes the info for today. Again, this is for my wife and I just as much as for others. If anyone with experience has critiques or suggestions please let me know. We are always looking for better ways to do this. Next time I'll go into what we do once we receive the item.
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