Personally delivered to you by Steve Lindhorst, author of
"Selling on 'the River' and "The Niche Book"
I'm just back from Las Vegas and ready to roll. Nothing for sale in this issue, just odds and ends that I hope can help you in your business. I am reading a new eBook which seems helpful. If the advice there works, I'll send out an email this weekend, so watch for that. On to the newsletter...
Here are the topics for this issue:
In This Issue
- Are you using Twitter yet? You may want to be.
- ASD/AMD in Las Vegas - Encouraging Observations
- Using Amazon Daily to Spot Trends
- This Day in History on eBay
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1. Are you Twitter-pated?
I'm sure you've noticed, everyone is talking about Twitter. Twitter is a free, social networking tool (yes, another one) that lets you stay in touch with people throughout the day. I thought it was stupid when I first heard about it. I didn't understand it, I couldn't understand why anyone would care if I was going to a particular restaurant, or if my plane had landed. But that has changed for me.
Twitter allows you to send out small (140 characters or less) messages or "tweets" to anyone in your network. Your network is built of people who "follow" you, and in turn you also "follow" people you're interested in. It is sort of an ego boost to see you have hundreds of "followers."
Let me give you an example of how twitter can work. Last summer I was in Chicago eating at a restaurant. A friend of mine (also in my Twitter network) was at the same restaurant. Neither of us saw each other. He "tweeted" that he was there, and Viola! we met up.
Tweeting for Your Business
Online sellers like you have begun using Twitter for their business. Many sellers "tweet" when they have a new item up for sale, or a new blog post. A link is included and people can simply click right over and see more about the item. It is a great, quick and free way to develop a niche community around items you sell, and reach out to your buyers.
I suggest signing up for a Twitter account and find some people you can follow. You will eventually want to jump in. Sign up for free at www.twitter.com. As soon as you do, you can find my page and follow me at: http://twitter.com/SteveLindhorst. Send me a message and I'll be happy to follow you back.
I've found a really helpful guide to Twitter. When I'm through the material, I'll send you an email notice about it. I think you'll love it.
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2. ASD/AMD
A couple of weeks ago I recieved a call from my friend, Skip McGrath. He asked if I'd be interested in standing in for him at a trade show seminar in Las Vegas. The show was the ASD/AMD Merchandise Show. (ASD/AMD stands for Associated Surplus Dealers / Associated Merchandise Dealers.) I wanted to help out so I went in Skip's place.
This trade show is huge. There are hundreds of wholesalers, liquidators, and surplus vendors with their products on display. There was kitchenware, gifts, jewelry, apparel, military surplus (U.S. and Russian), books, and much much more. I approached many of the vendors and asked them about working with small sellers who sell online. All but one said they are happy to do so, and all but one said they do drop shipping.
I arrived Sunday afternoon, spent Monday at the show, and spoke on Tuesday morning to around 100 people, including some readers of this newsletter. The topic of my seminar was "Taking Your Retail Business to eBay, and Beyond." In the room next door was Colette Marshall, President of Worldwide Brands. Both of our rooms were packed. In fact the interest in ecommerce was very high.
In the group of 100 people most sold on eBay, a few sold on Amazon, and everyone wanted to sell more online. Only three people had a blog, which totally amazed me. The most interest (based on the questions) was in learning how to sell on Amazon. This gave me an opportunity to tell them about Selling on 'the River' and hopefully get them going on Amazon.
Encouraging Thoughts
I know the economy is not good. I know a lot of people are having tough times. But I came away from this show encouraged. As I spoke to one vendor, who imports gifts, he received a $20,000 order from a person with a small chain of stores. Many told me their business at the show was very good. People are spending money. If you are trying to sell online, just don't give in to the thought that since times are tough, people won't spend. They will.
Other things I noticed was the willingness of these people to do business with even small sellers. There may be some minimum requirements, but nothing prohibitive. They know customers are buying online, and the old resistance has definitely come down a lot.
If you're trying to find a source for products, you must not be afraid to approach these companies and set up a deal. Be honest about the size of your business, don't be afraid to ask questions. Find out what their minimum order is. If you want to drop ship, find out what your price will be, plus any drop shipping fee. Not sure where to start? You can see a list of vendors for the show, along with what they sell here: http://www.asdamd.com/march/directory-of-exhibitors-products
If you'd rather skip the direct deal-making with these wholesalers, you can try Worldwide Brands. They have the best product sourcing directory out there in my opinion. They give you the exact contact information, and the companies in their directory have been pre-screened so they know small sellers will be calling. Check out their free eBook section. I'll bet you can find something helpful.
The bottom line is, there are still a huge number of opportunities to have a business online. It takes digging, and work. In most cases you will be making up your business from a thousand little pieces. Multichannel selling, product sourcing, bookkeeping, blogging, shipping, and all the related tools. One of the main questions though is still, "What should I sell?" - Chances are, one of the vendors at this show has it.
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3. Using Amazon Daily to Spot Trends
What is Amazon Daily? In short, it’s a blog that you customize to meet your needs. It contains posts by editors from all parts of Amazon.com. You customize it to display only the topics you are interested in, and you can find some very interesting information in return.
For example, if you are interested in electronics and want to know the latest gadgets coming out – you can get that through Amazon Daily. If you want to know who is recording a new album or filming an upcoming movie, Amazon Daily will deliver. I even use it for recipes.
This is a great research tool for keeping sellers ahead of the curve on trends. You can get information on what is about to be released, not just what's hot now. So you'll have time to get product or adjust your listings to stay current. Since it’s a blog, you can subscribe to its RSS feed and have the articles delivered directly to your newsreader.
You can find Amazon Daily by visiting www.amazon.com, and clicking the button near the upper right corner of the page that says “Amazon Daily BLOG.”
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4. This Day in History on eBay
Over on GenuineSeller.com, I've started a new daily topic category called "This Day in History on eBay." I find some event that happened on a given day in history, then find a related item on eBay to display. Take a look, I'd like to hear what you think. I got tired of writing about eBay's dumb changes, so I thought I'd focus on the collectibles that still make eBay cool.
