TAS 441: PL Part 2 - The 3 Step Formula for Finding Products and the 10x10x1 Strategy

How do you know what products to start selling as you get started with your ecommerce business? What criteria should you use to help you sort through the many product options in the marketplace? On this episode of The Amazing Seller, you’ll hear from Scott and Chris as they open up and share how sellers like you can learn their process and avoid much of the trial and error that other sellers face. Don’t think of it as a shortcut or a guarantee of success, think of this process as the collected experience and advice of ecommerce sellers who have been in your shoes and genuinely want to help others get their business started in the best way possible. You don’t want to miss this informative episode!

Product Discovery

The best way to get started on your journey of finding a product that will successfully sell in the marketplace is NOT to run to the latest tool! Instead, Scott and Chris encourage sellers like you to take the time to write out a “Touch List.” You may be tempted to skip this part of the process, don’t! On this episode of The Amazing Seller, the guys break down why it's vital to take the time and write out a touch list. They also explain how you can use Ebay and Amazon to get a sense of which products are trending. If you’d like to get further details on how to use the touch list, Amazon, Ebay, and other helpful tools, make sure to listen to this episode!

Product Criteria

Once you’ve come up with a list of products you want to look into, you’ve got to dive even deeper to make sure it will perform well on the market. What’s the next step? How do you make sure a product will perform in the way you need it to? On this episode of The Amazing Seller, Scott and Chris walk through what it takes to run a product idea through well thought out criteria. Here is a brief glimpse of Scott’s product criteria.

A product that serves a market. A product that retails for $19 - $45 or more. A product that is lightweight and less than 2lbs. A product that has less than 200-300 reviews. A product that sells at least 10 units a day.

If you are ready to really dive deep and run your product ideas through Scott’s criteria, make sure to listen to this episode as Scott expands on this list and so much more!

How to validate a potential product.

Before you pull the trigger and run with a product, it’s important to make sure you’ve validated it to the best of your abilities. Don’t give into the impulse to just wing it! On this episode of The Amazing Seller, Scott explains what sellers like you need to look for as you prepare to move forward with a potential product. The depth of a product is a really important factor to explore. Scott describes product depth as searching for your product on Amazon and coming up with results showing at least eight different sellers moving ten units a day or more. Don’t miss additional information on product validation, listen to this episode with Scott and Chris to hear more!

The 999 Trick

Don’t you want to get an idea of how a product is performing in the ecommerce marketplace before diving in head first? Wouldn’t it be great to find out how many products on average sellers in your product category are selling? On this episode of The Amazing Seller, Scott and Chris reveal the “999 trick.” What is the 999 trick? The 999 trick is where you go to a competitor's Amazon listing and you place 999 units of their product in your cart. When you take this step, you will likely get a message telling you that 999 units are not available but it will reveal how many units are available at that time. You should then repeat this exercise over the course of seven days, compile the data, and then create the average of how many units are being sold over the course of a week for that seller. To hear Scott expand on this exercise and why it’s important to the product validation process, listen to this episode!

OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER [0:03] Scott’s introduction to this episode of the podcast! [4:00] Why you should find products that serve a market. [7:00] Scott gives a brief overview of the three step formula. [9:00] Step #1: Product Discovery. [17:00] Scott and Chris tell a story of product discovery. [27:00] Why using Ebay and Amazon is helpful in validating products. [35:00] Step #2: Product Criteria. What makes a good product? [42:30] Scott breaks down the 10 x 10 x 1 strategy. [45:00] Digg in one level deeper to find products! [49:30] What is the 999 trick? [55:30] Step #3: Product Validation. [1:05:00] Chris provides some closing thoughts. [1:10:00] Scott recaps all three steps. RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE www.theamazingseller.com/440 www.theamazingseller.com/workshop If You Give a Mouse a Cookie www.theamazingseller.com/js www.camelcamelcamel.com www.keepa.com Shark Tank