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[LWN] 💔 Betrayed By My Most Loyal Employee...
Lunch With Norm's Weekly Newsletter - Product Inspections, The Customer Experience, and Golden Samples
💔 Betrayed By My Most Loyal Employee
My employee betrayed me for personal gain, stealing thousands of dollars from my close-knit company.
What you’ll find in this week’s newsletter:
💔 Betrayed By My Most Loyal Employee [True Story]
🔍 Do You Know YOUR Customer Experience… Probably Not
🎙️ What You Missed Last Week
🗞️ Amazon News & Updates
🙌 The Golden List Of Freight Forwarders
Quick note: If you are looking for a podcast to be more present and positive in your day-to-day life. Check out Damayanti For Your Soul!
💔 Betrayed By My Loyal Employee [True Story]
Back in the day, I owned a company that had 20 awesome people that worked hard and played hard.
I genuinely believed my employees enjoyed working at my company. They would even come in early to work!
My company really felt like family. But that quickly changed after this incident…
One day, I heard something unsettling from Brad, the manager at our embroidery facility.
He said, “I don’t know how to tell you this, but somebody in your company is screwing you.”
I quickly refuted his claims.
“You’re crazy. Not in my company? No way.”
But it was true.
Here’s what happened…
We regularly received large orders from customers via fax machines.
For example, a customer would order 250 jackets for $X amount.
Someone in my company was taking that information, contacting the very same company, and saying that they had a special on jackets, offering them a 10% better deal… Undercutting me.
Yep, they were directly stealing my customers.
Brad told me exactly who it was. The culprit sat right next to the fax machine.
I calmly walked downstairs and told the employee to take a walk with me.
We went out the back door and chitchatted about life, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Then I said, “I have one question. Are you screwing me?”
She instantly broke down.
“Yes, I am. I’m so sorry, Norm. Me and my boyfriend needed extra money….”
I called her boyfriend and told him to come down to the office immediately.
They explained their family struggles.
The worst part was that everyone in the office knew these two. Like I said before, they were like family.
The whole office was heartbroken and morale was crushed.
I was too.
The easy decision was to fire her immediately.
But for some reason, I decided not to.
Everyone was ticked off at me for this decision!
I called an office meeting where she apologized to everyone.
She could barely look any of us in the eye.
After, everyone had a chance to share their feelings.
We agreed to forgive but not forget. There were a lot of tears that day.
I ended up giving her a week off from work.
She returned the next week, and continued doing the very same job!
Yes, the same orders, from the same fax machine, just like before.
She ended up being my most loyal employee after this point (and I’ve had a lot of loyal employees).
Anyway, the point of the story is not about whether or not I should have fired her, but really, to never get too comfortable or complacent.
Trust is fragile, and even the closest bonds can be tested.
Anyway, it's a weird story, but a good one nonetheless.
Enjoy the rest of the newsletter.
— Norm
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT
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WHERE IN THE WORLD IS THE BEARDED GUY?
Can you find Norm in the picture below? Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to see the answer!
Congratulations who found the BONUS Beard Guy in last week’s issue! That definitely was not a mistake…
🔍 Do You Know Your Customer Experience
If you want a returning customer, you need to fully understand your customer experience.
What's the best way to do this?
It's simple…
Buy your products! 🤯
You should know exactly what your customer is receiving. What better way then to put yourself in their shoes.
If you are getting products shipped directly from China with no inspections, I'm sorry to say but your products may be flawed.
Sellers MUST keep an eye on the quality of their product!
I've had experiences with suppliers slowly but surely, lowering their quality over the long periods of time.
So keep an eye out for negative reviews. 👀
If you start noticing 1-2 star reviews roll in, look towards your manufacturer. Have they altered your product.?
They could be shipping the wrong materials, producing the wrong colours, or even sending faulty packaging...
Once your product arrives examine it, touch it, feel it, heck even smell it.
Buy it multiple times throughout the year.
This isn't a one and done kind of situation!
See how your product can improve for your next order. If you see reviews criticizing your product, that's okay. Jot it down, and see what your manufacturer can do to solve the issue.
Improve constantly.
BONUS TIP: Ask your supplier for a golden sample. This is a sample sent to you before mass production and can help when products are not meeting your quality standards. This sample should be perfectly-made product that completely aligns with your product quality standards.
WHAT YOU MISSED LAST WEEK
👇 Highlights from last week’s Lunch With Norm podcast episodes👇
How to Read the Minds of Your Customers
Main Takeaways:
Conduct Targeted Customer Surveys 🧠 Design NPS surveys to uncover the real reasons customers buy from you. Use open-ended questions to inform product improvements, and customer service enhancements
Offer incentives to increase participation
Analyze Competitive Reviews 🧐 Study your competitors' customer reviews to identify gaps and where your product could excel
Test, Test, Test 🚧 Continue to optimize your landing pages based on research insights you’ve gathered. This is not a one and done type of strategy
Rufus AI: Amazon's AI-Powered Shopping Assistant
Main Takeaways:
Optimize for AI Search: Since Rufus utilizes AI to understand and recommend products, ensure your product listings are comprehensive, using clear and concise language that aligns with customer search intents and questions
This includes using high-quality images
Regularly Update Listings: Due to potential AI drift and evolving algorithms. Regularly review and update your listings for the latest version of Rufus
Read Max’s full breakdown here ➡️ Decoding Rufus
But what does Rufus look like? Check it out here
Lessons Learned From Scaling 8 Brands
Main Takeaways:
Focus on Your Strengths 💪 Identify and leverage your unique abilities and strengths while delegating tasks that fall outside your expertise. Build a team of experts
Read the E-Myth to learn more
Implement Effective Systems 📝 Establish clear SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) and policies to streamline operations and maintain quality across all aspects of the business
Be Resilient and Adaptable 🛠️ The entrepreneurial journey is filled with challenges. Resilience and the ability to adapt to changes and setbacks are key traits of successful business owners
TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE
SubSummit, 2019📍
Memories at the SubSummit in 2019 with my buddies from .Club Domains. Can you guess which one is me?
THREE UPCOMING PODCASTS
You can watch all episodes on YouTube or on my Facebook page at 12 pm ET on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday!
**Guests and topics are subject to change**
Monday - Real Life Success Stories of Expanding into Retailers
Steven Selikoff - Founder of of the Product Development Incubator, and the Product Development China Trip
Selling to retailers since 2001
Featured in every major morning TV show and his products were in the gift bags at the Oscars
Watch LIVE 👉 Sign up here
AI Wednesday - What’s New in The World of AI
Gen Furukawa - Co-Founder of Prehook
His software helps hundreds of high growth Shopify merchants sell more, accelerate list growth, and capture zero party data with quizzes
Check out his newsletter Super Marketers
Watch LIVE 👉 Sign up here
Friday - Prepping For Prime Day
Michelle Covey - Vice President of Community Engagement at GS1 US
Michelle works with industry stakeholders to identify business needs and develop standards-based approaches to address them
Watch LIVE 👉 Sign up here
🗞️ AMAZON NEWS & UPDATES 🗞️
What’s happening in the world of Amazon today…
AVOID THIS WITH YOUR PRODUCT INSPECTION
Provided by Steven Selikoff of the Product Development Incubator
Do NOT use a Freight Forwarder that isn’t registered with the Federal Maritime Commission!
Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a list of good honest Freight Forwarders?
There is.
Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a list of Freight Forwarders that had to prove financial viability?
There is.
Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a way to ensure that my Freight Forwarder could be held accountable for scams, dishonesty, or just poor service?
There is.
Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a way to make sure my Freight Forwarder didn’t suddenly appear last week, or last year? A way to make sure they have been in business for at least three years or more.
You guessed it… There is.
The US Federal Maritime Commission keeps this list.
You can view it and download it ➡️ here.
Many Chinese Freight Forwarders are on this list.
And many are not – particularly those who avoid marketing to legitimate corporations and choose to troll Facebook groups instead.
If a Freight Forwarder is not on this list, they can still do business bringing goods into the US.
⛔️ However, you should treat those Freight Forwarders with caution. ⛔️
It’s easy to be registered, so if they are not registered it means they made a strategic decision not to be accountable or transparent.
Learn more ➡️ Product Development Incubator
🌎 UPCOMING EVENTS
MARK DOWN THESE EVENTS!
March 10 - 13 - Las Vegas - Starting at $55
April 3 - Sofia Bulgaria - Starting at $220 - Use NORM10 for 10%
May 1 - 2 - New York City - Starting at $397
May 18 - 23 - Kauai - Hawaii - Starting at $4997
Looking for events? Get the full list of events in the Amazon Ecom space put together by Danan Coleman
→ FULL CALENDAR ←
And that’s it, Beardos!
Let me know what you’d like me to feature in the newsletter by replying back to this email.
P.S. Make sure you don’t miss any updates by joining our community here.
See you next Monday!
- Norm
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