Shownotes
Have you really thought about why customers buy from you? Is it price only? All the time? Why do people pay more money than they need to? Are you easy to do business with? Hoyt believes you need to tell the story with your offer. Every time. He also realized that he had to add Amazon to his business or he could not grow. So move them off Amazon or onto Amazon. Some simple math can help you decide.
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Here is transcript- It is automated so it is not perfect but it does seem to get better over time.
Hoyt: [00:00] At first, I thought we were losing them, but I would say that we actually gain more people this way because unless we grew into a giant, giant warehouse, there was no way we were going to handle that to begin with. So, um, we’re going to let Amazon be good at what they’re good at because we tried doing that in 2013 and just we couldn’t keep up. So I believe we’ve actually gained, at least with our private labels, we wouldn’t have been able to do that the old way. So we gained through that and had to give up a few other things. But I’d say it’s all evened out in the end.
Cool voice guy: [00:39] Focus on the people, the products, and the process of commerce selling to your host Stephen Peterson.
Stephen: [00:50] Welcome back to the ECOMMERCE momentum podcast. This is episode 386, eight banks, man. Oh Man, I could, I get so excited with these interviews. I do because I, Hey, I learned something from every single person. Um, and Hoyts no, except your matter of fact. It just so I’m so encouraged. Um, somebody who’s taken something he loved and in the end he got talks about a venn diagram, then Miller be proud. Um, and how he was able to apply that and how you can apply that. So you really do want to listen to the end. But his, uh, his story is just so cool and how he’s been able to use it and continues to use it. And then that’s how it, what separates his private label because he understands it. You could do the same thing. I mean, and [inaudible] will tell you, not the smartest guy, not the most experienced, but he’s figuring it out and his putting his head down, doing the work and respecting his grandfather and his father’s legacy gives me the chills to think about.
Stephen: [01:47] It’s just a cool story. Such an encouraging story. Um, and this could be you, I really hope it’s you. Let’s get into the podcast. If you’re ready to set up a strong, reliable accounting system when it’s a real strong foundation for your business. Well, we think we have the answer for you. If this is from accounting, we will go, you’re here listening to us on this podcast we set up a course and it’s called Amazon accounting. Simplified. Yup. Simple. And we only say Amazon yet it’s really all across the ecommerce. We’re talking about integrating quickbooks into your existing or new ecommerce business and new is great because you could set up right that way but, but if you have an existing business, how do you integrate, how do you get um, quickbooks online specifically? How do you get set up in there? Well, we have modules.
Stephen: [02:30] There’s over 48 modules that will walk you through each one of those steps. I’m going to talk about cost of goods and I didn’t even talk about it. We’re going to dive in, parse it, peel it back and help you understand what it takes. How about chart of accounts, setting up the right accounts, ones that you can use to make decisions. We’ve had hundreds of clients and we come up what we see at have seen as the best practice and I think that’s going to be the best thing for you. Reconciling 10 99 from paypal. And Amazon. Good luck. Challenging. Well, we’re gonna. We have modules, unique modules for each of those because they are unique and so vendor management, accounting for Amazon loans, it goes on and on. I’m just skimming the top. There’s 48 plus modules and more will be added over time.
Stephen: [03:09] It’s going to help you get up, get set up or get caught up with strong foundational accounting books. Um, we use it to help make decisions. We use it to help predict cash and cash pinch points. What you’re going to have, if you’re buying inventory and you’re waiting to get paid for it, you’re going to run out of cash at some point. Wouldn’t it be great to know you? It’s not great that it happens, but it’s great to know when it’s gonna happen so you can plan for it. You can make different decisions based on real solid information, historical information that you keep building. That’s part about quickbooks online is our CPA signs right in and does his tax voodoo right through the system. And so I don’t have to hump it over there and we can get a little better rate by doing that.
Stephen: [03:48] So how do you find out more about it? And again, you should look into it. AMZ, accounting, simplified.com forward slash, podcast I’ll say it again, amz accounting, simplified.com forward slash podcast check out all the different modules. Checkout what you can do if you really want to get your house in order. If you’re really looking to get that building block established and in locked in place and then you can build from there, then we recommend the course. All right, welcome back to the ECOMMERCE momentum podcast. Very excited about today’s guest because he said neighbor, a relative, relatively neighbor and I’m fascinated to a, I see how well he’s doing it, which is always awesome. Um, but I think the story is going to be an interesting story and some of the pre uh, pre call, we were talking through some of the things going on in the marketplace and I think he’s been affected and I think he’s adjusted and I think that that’s what you have to do. And so I’m very, very excited about Hoyt banks joining us today. Welcome. [inaudible] I am really well, I’m really well, whether it’s decent here in Pennsylvania, not too bad.
Hoyt: [04:51] Yeah, same here. We’re probably the same cloud.
Stephen: [04:54] Yeah, I can see it. Yep. I see it shining over your building now will probably 20 minutes, 30 minutes apart from each other. And uh, when I saw that, I’m like, Ha, I think actually you reached out to me and I’m like, Whoa, that’s close. Awesome. You know, I just, and I love, uh, I don’t know how you feel about this cause I run into other sellers are I used to, when I did store shopping, which I really don’t do too much anymore, but I used to run into other sellers and some people were just so cool and so, you know, like, Hey, yeah, you know, there’s plenty of stuff to sell, but other people get real like secretive and like, hey man, you can’t see this. You know, what’s been your experience?
Hoyt: [05:30] I came into this sort of backwards where it’s a store that my grandfather had and I added on the Amazon thing to it. So I never really had that fear because we were already selling them. I just sort of was digitizing a store,
Stephen: [05:46] but then you didn’t go out and do the scanning it target in cabs and hating yourself eventually and all that. You didn’t bother with any of that stuff.
Hoyt: [05:54] I got in with this about four years ago and I sort of listened to some of your podcasts and I just have been adding on what we sold in the store and we’re still just doing that. So I mean, I’m pretty overwhelmed just adding what we sell. All right.
Stephen: [06:10] Yeah. Well it’s got to be overwhelming, so, so, all right, well let’s go back to, let’s, let’s go into how you got into it. So you were going to be, what work in just in your grandfather’s store mean there? Was that going to be the path for you?
Hoyt: [06:22] Well I want to do like I’ve got a film major at Syracuse and I was out,
Stephen: [06:27] oh, I could see the relationship there. The filmmaker at it. Yeah, that’s a connection.
Hoyt: [06:32] So My uh, my dad was running this and he had some heart problems and I came back from La because the jobs were just kind of backing like, oh nine and I got involved here, this like little online store and his tech guy quit. And I just started learning about how to get to the top of Google and all that. And I sold stuff directly via the website from like Oh nine till 2014. And that’s when I started to add on Ebay and Amazon. And now I’d say they’re more than our normal online store, but we’re still doing that as well.
Stephen: [07:08] Oh wait, you are going to be a film that you, so you were going to Hollywood and you were going to make, what kind of movies? What was your vision? What is it that drove you?
Hoyt: [07:17] Yeah, I was gonna, I was gonna write a script. I actually worked for the guys
Stephen: [07:21] super troopers. I was their assistant. Oh, that tells us something about that. All right, hold on a second. Whoa. So there’s more and your coffee then just cream at this point of the day, right?
Hoyt: [07:33] Oh, I was good at editing videos and when I did, I was, I started doing videos for my dad’s store and I have more success there then fighting every other screenwriter in la. So took me on this journey to the Internet. And so I’ve been doing this for almost a decade now, actually. I’ll be doing it a decade in August. So,
Stephen: [07:56] well, you know, somebody, I heard somebody else say you interviewed had simmer similar stories. And their thing was they are storytellers. I mean, when you think about product, especially as you’re now, right now, you’re getting good at Amazon, right? You’re, you’re understanding that you really do have to tell a story, right? The photos matter, the presentation, the lifestyle photos, the words, the keywords to the description. It really kind of is a weak story. Not Quite as deep as super troopers. I mean that’s a pretty decent but, but you know, am I, I’m am I making a stretch there or is that true?
Hoyt: [08:29] No really to sell on Amazon you that those 12 pictures there is the story of the product I found is if you do it right then you are telling the why, what the product is and why you want it. And that’s really a story. So if you nail it there, you should be a successful Amazon seller. Hmm.
Stephen: [08:49] Who would’ve thought that that college degree would have led you to here? I mean it’s pretty cool. I mean it’s really cool.
Hoyt: