Shownotes
Love this phrase from Mary Ann: “In and out the door in 24”. It kind of tells you what you can expect from the Wisconsin prep center. Fast service and even faster turnaround service. You need a partner in your business and as I continue to suggest : find the person who you connect with. The relationship really matters and with a strong relationship you get to ask for help when you need it. You will need it, everyone does.
Mentioned:
Central Wisconsin Prep, Pack and Ship
Phone #’s:
(855) 397-4587
(715) 267-5111 (local)
Sponsors:
Gaye’s Million Dollar Arbitrage List
Transcript: (note- this is a new tool I am trying out so it is not perfect- it does seem to be getting better)
Stephen: [00:00] Want to jump in here and just bring back up episode 250 Toys for Tots campaign put together by Sellar lambs. It is such a great opportunity. I was with the seller on Friday. Their team is working on it. I’m very very excited. This is a chance for you to use the skills that you personally have developed. You’ve got sourcing muscles not many other people have it. And this is a chance where we can take and use our skills to help those less fortunate. All the information is on episode 250 such a great cause. Kick back give back give back this time of year thanks hope your Q4 is going good. It’s a great time to be selling and sell a lot. Watch your repressors. I just got whacked on one last$15 a unit. I didn’t lose I lost in profit because I should have blocked one wasn’t paying attention so please do me tell you by a couple sponsors you know scope from solar labs.
Stephen: [00:59] If you’re not using it to even just to take your wholesale accounts of course you got to use a private label. Right. You need to understand the keyword you want to understand a key word go look at your competitors get their keywords and then use them. That’s smart business right because they already have proven that proof of concept but take the same approach to your wholesale accounts make sure that those keywords are in there. If not upload those changes many times you can but many times you can take advantage sculped from Sellar labs go to several labs dot com slash scope used a code word momentum save a few bucks get a few key words get your listings found.
Stephen: [01:35] Got to find that key and scope will be the product that will help you. There are solutions for e-commerce Charron logger. You know again you hear me talk about her because she is my account manager. She has been doing a great job. Again I had some stranded listings and I notice them down there on the bottom right hand corner. They’re gone. I look back and they’re gone and I see stuff submitted. I see stuff return. It’s such a great process because I don’t have to pay attention. I can pay attention to the other parts of our business solutions for e-commerce slash momentum. I’ll save you 50 bucks. Lowest price she offers. And do you still get the amatory Health Report. Take a look at it set up for 2018. Now tell Karen I sent you.
Stephen: [02:17] When you think about Q4 lists and hope you don’t use them just Q4 for Hope you use them all year long again you want to learn how to fish right. And so the best thing to do when you’re buying a list is look at what they’re doing and how they’re doing it and then figure that out on your own. That’s the approach that gay lesbian uses and a million dollar arbitrage list. It is closed for the rest of this year. However I have asked them and they have said they would do it if there’s an opening. They will pull from the waitlist. OK so I have the link out on my site and this episode that will have a link that will take you right onto the waitlist. So get on the waitlist if there’s something that your interest member she’s going to give you a 7 day free trial so there’s nothing to lose.
Stephen: [03:00] But then once you get in there take advantage learn how to fish right sharpen your tool you know sharpen your skills I guess is the right phrase I should use. OK so again I have that link out on this episode. So jump out there and get on that list. You know go daddy and grasshopper are both national sponsors of the show. I’m very fortunate. I have a third one coming on in February very excited about that. But go daddy. I use them. This was somebody who had a great idea for and for a domain and I’m like. Use my link. Save 30 percent 30 percent yes they pay me. We all know that. However 30 presents real I use it myself because I want to save the 30 percent.
Stephen: [03:41] So let’s try. Go Daddy dot com slash momentum right try Go Daddy dot com slash momentum and you’re going to save 30 percent grasshopper’s the same deal. Try grasshopper com slash momentum and you’re going to save 50 bucks. I saw somebody else just signed up for it. The service makes you a pro.. All of a sudden your business has a phone number has a vanity phone number you can kind of create your own one if it’s available but you don’t need a second phone. And I think that’s the big thing it’s not Google Voice which is choppy Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t. This is professional stuff. Press one for customer service press two for my Amazon account manager which we go to Karen’s team. I mean this is a great opportunity. So it’s Try grasshopper dot com slash momentum. Say fifty bucks. Welcome
Cool voice guy: [04:29] to the e-commerce momentum. Good guys. Well we focus on the people the products and the process of Commerce selling today. Your host Stephen Peters and welcome back to the e-commerce momentum podcast. This
Stephen: [04:44] is episode [2:53] Marianne shuk Allman. Marianne is runs a company called central Wisconsin prep pack and ship and she was recommended to me by a bunch of different people over time and we just haven’t. We’re both busy. Let’s face it we’re both busy but we had met in Chicago and said I’ve got to get you on. And she broke free and is busy Q4 to come on a couple surprises in the conversation. One is that she would take on a new customer right now. So if you’ve been thinking about adding someone to your team perhaps this is the opportunity to add a prep center and there are a bunch of. I’ve had a bunch of great interviews on one of my kind of conversations that we have pre is about you know I think I think that when you add somebody to your team when you partner up with a company you bring on somebody you’re going to find out who you’re comfortable with and assume costs are relatively the same service you should be able to expect what you want and then you should be comfortable with the person and so find the person that you fit with and you want it with everybody nobody does and that’s cool but find the person that you do and then just go all in.
Stephen: [05:52] I just think it really really can help grow your business. Let’s get into the podcast. All
Stephen: [05:56] right welcome back to the e-commerce moment podcast very excited about today’s guest because she is in the throes the busiest possible time for me to pull her out and to get her with the pressure. I think the pressure is what really adds to the conversation. Marianne Shackleton from central Wisconsin PAC prep pack and ship welcome area. Good morning Stephan. Well Stephen and this is the earliest I know it’s spelled that way. This is the earliest worst possible time to get here. This is the heat of Q4. This is you’re probably inundated with people’s products. It’s come on now everybody wants it done yesterday why wasn’t it done yesterday I’m sure. Trucks are backed up all the worst possible things it’s early in the morning you’re probably still putting out fires but you graciously agreed to come on and talk with us this morning about about you know kind of kind of where you are and where you’re going and how you got there.
Stephen: [06:56] I really really appreciate that. Thank you. Glad to be. OK so let’s get into it. So you in Wisconsin and you were or are an Amazon slash e-bay slash whatever else seller.
Mary Ann: [07:14] OK so in 2013 I previously owned a business but was looking to get out of that. And I found ebay and Amazon. So I started selling in 2014 is when I opened a prep pack and ship company. Where we have an empty build the thing that we were using at that point I had two employees. We very quickly outgrew that. Our packages were sitting out on Main Street piled as high as we could get it waiting for the U.P.S. semi to get here at night and our city didn’t really take a liking to that. So
Mary Ann: [07:57] we bought a building about one and a half blocks from where we originally started out that building very very quickly. And we just completed this summer took the boys about a month and a half to add on our onto our existing building an eighteen thousand square foot addition which we are now and still in the other part of building. But
Mary Ann: [08:31] that’s where all our offices and receiving comes then outgoing is in that building also. So
Mary Ann: [08:38] that’s where we are today. We’ve grown very very very quickly. And I truly believe it is because we do have the 24 hour turnaround.
Mary Ann: [08:49] So a couple of weeks ago we got a container from China in and if you go to our Facebook page you will see pictures on there. We unloaded and labeled or 5000 products for our customer and it went out the same day.
Stephen: [09:10] Well OK so I’m going to pull that apart because that’s a lot of information and it’s in it. I mean I agree the 24 hour to 48 hours. You said 24 but you know you do give your little self a little bit of leeway that sometimes it can take up to 48 hours turnaround time and it’s a guarantee that you offer. So I do want to talk about that because it does sound like a little bit of your secret sauce while you’ve been so successful. But let’s go back. So what kind of business were you in that you didn’t want to be in anymore.
Mary Ann: [09:39] A restaurant bar business.
Stephen: [09:41] Oh that doesn’t sound. I mean I’m assuming was it glamorous when you first went in and you you’re going to be different. You knew all the answers you were going to make it right. And it was going to be awesome like cocktails and dreams from Tom Cruise or was it you know right away to an ok thing I wanted to be different so we are we are bikers and we drive a Harley Davidson.
Mary Ann: [10:11] So that’s the way that the restaurant was set up. Wait a biker bar. That’s what it was going to be. Wow.
Stephen: [10:19] Now we have a dining room as I envision when I think a biker bar I think of at roadhouse but kind of a rough for a little rough for tumble you know kind of fight in a bar where a guy like me could walk.
Stephen: [10:35] OK. So not like that.
Mary Ann: [10:38] Yeah definitely not that.
Mary Ann: [10:40] So we had seating for I believe there was 65. The
Mary Ann: [10:45] bar was in another room. You know it was two buildings put together.
Mary Ann: [10:54] I just I’m getting to the age I’m in my middle 50s. I just did not that wasn’t. It wasn’t for me.
Stephen: [11:05] OK. OK. But there was a time it was for you right. And so there was reward and enjoyment. When you start out probably especially right because you’re enthusiastic and then is it the hours the time the customers the staff what gets to you or what wears you out in a business like that.
Mary Ann: [11:27] It’s long hours and it’s seven days a week. So
Mary Ann: [11:30] seven days a week is something that would wear on anyone over time. I mean it surely has to affect your family life. I mean did you have kids or grandkids at that time. My
Mary Ann: [11:43] kids are all grown and yes I have seven grandchildren. And
Stephen: [11:47] so getting you know time away when your seven day week operations are almost impossible. Right. Let me ask you this because this is this is a question that pops into my head. Do you have a seven day a week business today.
Mary Ann: [12:01] We do not. OK
Stephen: [12:02] . So you physically do. Close.
Mary Ann: [12:05] Yes. We run Monday through Friday seven thirty four and I’m not saying we never work Saturdays because in Q4 if it comes in Friday it has to go on Monday.
Mary Ann: [12:19] So you know we’ll have I have a lot of toys that have to go out on Monday and yes we will close Saturday but 99 percent of the times we do not. We
Mary Ann: [12:33] were on Monday through Friday.
Stephen: [12:34] And so that sounds intentional. I mean is that one of the things that was attractive for when you were setting up this business is a kind of an absolute like hey I’m not working nights and weekends anymore. That’s the way we’re going to do it. Definitely. OK. OK. All right. So
Speaker 14: [12:51] you had the business and the restaurant. Was that the business the building that you were in when you started up your eBay and Amazon business.
Stephen: [13:00] Yes. OK. So you’ve closed the restaurant in the bar. You then moved the tables together this process on are you selling the stuff from the bar.
Mary Ann: [13:09] We actually had an auction. OK. Everything out.
Mary Ann: [13:15] And so we had an empty building to start with. So that was a wonderful thing.
Stephen: [13:22] And so did you specialize in anything. I mean was it did you have any knowledge going into that world.
Mary Ann: [13:30] Me why eBay and Amazon it was something that I could do on and really work the hours that I wanted to work. OK. If you know if I want to take a day off and not source I didn’t have to. If my daughter called me or one of the kids called me to take the grandchildren can you...