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Navigating the Noise: Tips for Picking Out the Right FBA Workshop

At the beginning, third-party Amazon sellers were responsible for sourcing, warehousing, and shipping whatever products they sold via Amazon’s marketplace. That changed in 2006 when Amazon launched the Fulfilled By Amazon (FBA) program, effectively inviting third-party sellers to leverage its own in-house logistical network.

Through the FBA program, it is now possible for sellers to launch and operate an Amazon store from virtually any location without concerns of receiving inventory, storing products, or fulfilling orders. This presents a unique opportunity for individuals and companies to enjoy some serious income potential with very limited overhead- a perfect storm for the at-home entrepreneur.

In 2018, Amazon’s sales surpassed a staggering $200 billion and you’re probably wondering, “How do I get in on that action?”

There are tricks and best practices for making sure your listings rank high in searches, making sure your listing is optimally written, making sure your product photos are optimized, and running ad campaigns that drive traffic directly to your specific listing. Before you even get to launching your listing, you have to account for market demand and saturation, sourcing products, the cost of those goods, along with Amazon’s own fees charged to its sellers.

Don’t fret if this all is starting to sound a little convoluted. Just like with any other business model, the first (and arguably most critical) step is to get yourself as educated as possible on the process and there are a few ways to go about this.

The DIY – Lowest cost, up front at least

Amazon has a fairly extensive knowledge base accessible through its Seller Central portal that contains ample information and tutorials to help you create your account, optimize your listings,

manage your FBA inventory, and so forth. Essentially, Amazon is there to help you with the basics of getting your products and listings ready to sell.

Think of this as a thorough instruction manual that is included with a new toaster oven. It will get you set up, it will run you through all the features, and even include a few basic recipes to try. You will, however, have to look elsewhere for advanced knowledge of preparing your product for the absolute best results.

Outside of Seller Central, there are loads of articles, blogs, YouTube videos, and free tools covering almost all aspects of optimizing your Amazon sales. The challenge here is that while some of this information is great, some of it is good but only in certain niches, and some of it is flat-out bad. It’s up to you to filter through all the noise and figure out which methods and tools are going to work best for you, while consistently trying new tactics to make sure you are staying ahead of the curve.

It is possible to succeed on Amazon using home-grown methods; I was once part of a team that built a $5 million per year Amazon account from scratch, with no third party tools or training. It did, however, take 6-8 individuals, working overtime for nearly three years, to hit that number.

Another thing to consider is that Amazon’s knowledge base assumes, for the most part, that you already have a product to sell. If you do, that’s great but if you don’t, factor in another round of research and trials to select and source your product. Big sales don’t mean much if you aren’t pulling a per-unit profit so your supplier relations are just as important as the performance of your listings.

While going at it manually is tempting and doesn’t require much of an initial dollar investment, make sure you don’t lose sight of the value of your time. Although the company I worked with skirted the expense of education tools, they were ultimately burdened with the payroll expenses of an entire team over the course of several years as well as lost opportunity costs while we were going through the learning curve.

Bear in mind, also, that many of the free resources out there are “free” but with a catch. A lot of the analytics tools keep their most desirable features locked until you are a paying customer and many free courses will deliver great information while leaving out the “secret sauce” of the program until you buy into the paid content.

Top picks:

  • Amazon Seller Central’s Knowledge Base – Anyone selling anything on Amazon needs to be familiar with this tool.
  • Million Dollar Case Study – This is an excellent, transparent series that documents several FBA product launches from scratch. Be prepared, however, to be pitched heavily on their own analytics tool suite. 

The Online Crash Course – A solid investment, assuming you fit the mold

A cursory Google search will turn up a host of individuals offering courses to walk you through setting up your FBA business. These courses typically consist of a series of videos and/or webinars that can vary from absolutely great to totally worthless, but the good ones aren’t shy about their clients’ successes and it’s fairly easy to turn up negative reviews on the bad ones.

In general, a quality course will go through a curriculum that covers topics like these:

  • Setting up your FBA seller account and navigating Seller Central
  • Researching which products will sell the best
  • Strategies to differentiate your brand from the competition
  • Navigating patent laws and Amazon’s own regulations
  • Locating and vetting suppliers for your product
  • Branding and packaging your product
  • Getting your product shipped to Amazon’s distribution centers
  • Keyword research and strategies
  • Product photo optimization
  • Launching your product
  • PPC advertising best practices and optimization
  • Amazon’s payment, refund, and tax policies

Actual curriculum will vary from course to course with some stronger in certain areas than others. A good number of the courses offer a preview, of sorts, to give you a feel for the teaching style as well as the specific topics and methods to be covered in the course.

Most of these courses are taught by individuals who have, themselves, built their own FBA businesses. That said, each instructor is going to have a unique story of how they source their products, which products they source, and which tools they’ve used. 

It’s a good idea to check out several different reputable courses to see which one aligns best with what you are looking to learn. Another thing to keep in mind is that you will likely spend many hours over the course of many weeks watching videos of this individual speaking so, if possible, try and find someone whose personality you find agreeable.

In addition to access to the video tutorials, these courses typically include a proprietary knowledge base, forms and templates for things like contacting suppliers, and access to live analytical tools, either of their own design or discounted rates on third-party solutions. Additionally, many of these courses include lifetime access to their resource updates so you can stay current as the FBA marketplace evolves.

Many of these courses, at least the reputable ones, offer excellent toolboxes for those who are relatively unfamiliar with Amazon and wish to start a business from scratch. The downside is that many of them are built around specific case studies where if you follow their direct formula exactly, you have a very good chance of success. If, however, your situation is unique, say if you already produce your own product and are needing to penetrate a specific niche, you may have a tough time finding a course that is tailored to your specific needs.

Top Picks:

  • Proven Amazon Course – This isn’t the most organized class out there but it comes with 10 years of experience of selling on Amazon along with some seriously impressive sales figures; all at a reasonable price.
  • Ecom Freedom – A no-frills, matter-of-fact approach to getting your FBA business off the ground. I like this one as it boasts a bit more of a personal relationship with the instructor than most of the crash courses out there, also at a reasonable price.

The Mentorship Program – High cost, incredible value

Mentorship programs offer the same type of resources as the online crash-courses, only supercharged and running a 50-shot of nitrous. Think of a mentorship program as a virtual consultant.

There aren’t nearly as many mentorship programs out there as there are crash courses but the individuals running them tend to be much more established in the ecommerce sphere. Their resource libraries are considerably more vast and cover a wider variety of topics and niches.

In addition to the enhanced resources, mentorship programs offer a much more personalized experience than a simple online course can deliver. The difference is that once the initial training course is completed, you are paired with a network of seasoned Amazon sellers to work with you one-on-one to build a customized plan for your specific product launch.

After the launch, these programs offer continued support as you begin to scale your brand.  They offer resources on when and how to launch your next product, how to build a support staff, as well as tools to automate your processes.

Mentorship programs also often host events where you can network with other sellers as well as product suppliers. In addition to the educational resources, mentorship programs offer you long-term consulting and support from the initial startup through whatever long-term goals you have for your business.

This level of support does not come cheap, with many programs starting at $5000 and more for the basic enrollment fees. While that number can seem daunting to someone at the beginning of their journey, it’s also a small percentage of the potential profits of someone truly committed to growing their brand.

The company I used to work with, for example, employed a 6+ person team at an average salary of about $42,000 per year to grow their Amazon business to $1 million in the first year. The payroll overhead alone was in excess of $240,000 for that first year. Granted, the company was already producing its own products, however the same (or greater) results could have potentially been realized by 1-2 employees working closely with a mentorship program at a cost of $80,000-$90,000 rather than $240,000.

Top Picks:

  • Amazing Selling Machine – This is THE consulting solution for individuals looking to be mentored every step of the way. Their resource library is staggering and they are backed by an enormous business network. They pride themselves on the top-tier Amazon seller community that they have cultivated.
  • Nine University – Thy take a no-holds-barred approach to getting numbers on their clients’ sales board. They take personal relationships with each of their clients very seriously and tailor a bespoke mentorship plan for everyone that they work with. The downside is that there are only two of them so enrollment is extremely limited.

The Takeaway – There’s no such thing as a free lunch

Just like any business, it’s going to take a good amount of work on your end to get an FBA store launched. There’s no golden ticket here but what these tools can do, however, is help you work smarter and focus the work that you put in on methods that have proven successful.

Regardless of how you approach your FBA education, it’s important to be aware of the many free resources that are out there, specifically those within Amazon’s own Seller Central. This is your direct link to Amazon’s most current guidelines and features and is an excellent addition to any third-party training or mentorship program.

As with any startup, it’s a common instinct to try and cut any cost possible so the temptation to take the DIY route to learning FBA is very real. Even those who are SEO masters and already have an inventory of products ready to ship will often struggle to gain traction within the Amazon marketplace. The cost here, rather than actual dollars, is your personal time invested in conquering the FBA learning curve. Remember that time spent on trial and error is time taken away from actual selling.

On the other end of the spectrum, mentorship programs take a great deal of the guesswork out of forming your business model. While these programs can be cost-prohibitive for many, they do  provide you with personal consulting to advise you with every step along your FBA journey. As with any entrepreneurial venture, monies wisely invested on the front end will often reap profits ten-fold on the back end. 

Somewhere in the middle lies the online crash-course. The buy-in is relatively modest and they afford you a wealth of information unavailable to the common consumer. These can be a good option for those who are self-motivated and able to take an idea and run with it on their own. While you won’t get the personal consulting of a mentorship program with most crash courses, you typically will gain access to an abundance of information to support your FBA business as you scale your brand.

One last point for anyone setting up an FBA business to consider is investing in an analytics and optimisation software suite. These offer robust tools specifically designed for Amazon sellers. They centralize your research, optimization, and inventory management functions into a single dashboard, saving you hours of legwork each week. Many crash courses and mentorship programs offer discounts on third-party suites or free trial access to their own homegrown solutions.

My personal pick is Helium 10, the most robust in the business. It’s an awesome addition to any Amazon seller’s toolbox and it comes with a free 30-day trial so anyone setting up an FBA business should give it a look. There is even an Elite package that packs many of the long-term support benefits of the mentorship programs!