Podcasts about Skus

In this episode, the host interviews Amazon and e-commerce expert Bradley Sutton, who shares actionable strategies for successful Amazon product launches. Bradley discusses natural keyword integration, backend optimization, and advanced Helium 10 tools like Historical Cerebro and inventory management. He highlights the importance of monitoring Amazon listing changes with alerts to avoid costly mistakes, and offers advice on budgeting for product launches. The episode concludes with Bradley's personal recommendations and tips for staying informed, providing valuable insights for Amazon sellers aiming to optimize listings, manage finances, and scale their businesses effectively.Chapters:Introduction to Bradley Sutton and Amazon Listing Strategies (00:00:00)Bradley shares his background, passion for Amazon, and discusses incorporating top keywords into product listings naturally.Where to Add Keywords in Listings (00:01:15)Explains ideal keyword placement: bullets, description, backend search terms, subject matter, and special features fields.Special Features Field and Indexing Speed (00:02:47)Describes the special features field, its rapid indexing, and cautions against keyword stuffing since it appears on the listing.Advanced Helium 10 Tools for Launches (00:04:15)Introduces Helium 10 Elite tools like Historical Cerebro for seasonal keyword research and their advantages over traditional methods.Sponsored Ad Placements and New Page One Strategies (00:06:46)Discusses the proliferation of sponsored ad placements on Amazon's first page and the need for updated launch strategies.Three Actionable Takeaways for Product Launches (00:08:37)Host summarizes three key takeaways: title keyword density, running CPR via Amazon ads, and budgeting for initial losses.Financial Acumen and Scaling Successfully (00:10:57)Emphasizes the importance of understanding financials, budgeting, and cash flow to scale an Amazon business.Bradley's Most Influential Business Book (00:12:07)Bradley recommends "The Four Disciplines of Execution" and explains its impact on goal setting and business growth.Underutilized Helium 10 Tools for Sellers (00:13:59)Highlights inventory management and alerts as underused tools, sharing a cautionary tale about ignoring alerts.Where to Follow Bradley Sutton (00:16:45)Bradley shares where listeners can follow him: Serious Sellers Podcast, Helium 10 Facebook group, and Instagram.Links and Mentions:Tools and Websites"Helium 10 Listing Analyzer": "00:01:51""Helium 10 Cerebro": "00:05:09""Helium 10 Black Box": "00:05:53""Helium 10 Alerts": "00:14:13""Helium 10": "00:15:07"Additional Resources"Brand Analytics": "00:05:09"Books"The Four Disciplines of Execution": "00:12:07"Podcasts"Serious Sellers Podcast": "00:16:45"Social Media Links"Helium 10 Members Facebook Group": "00:16:45""Bradley Sutton on Instagram": "00:16:45"Key Takeaways"Alerts for SKUs": "00:15:07"Transcript:Josh 00:00:00  Today I'm super excited to introduce you to Bradley Sutton. Bradley is passionate about everything Amazon and e-commerce. He can talk about anything really. Launch strategy. Keyword research, the Amazon algorithm and everything in between. He has launched hundreds of products on Amazon for himself and clients, and he is privileged to host the most listened to podcast in the world for Amazon sellers. The Serious Sellers Podcast. Meeting helium ten customers around the world is his favorite thing to do with that. Welcome to the show, Bradley.Bradley 00:00:33  Thank you for having me here. It's great to be here.Josh 00:00:35  My question to you, Bradley, is you talked about add some of the top keywords into your listing. Where do you add them into your listing? because I could foresee an issue of, for example, maybe you're selling a calendar, right? And a pen. There's one particular type of pen, or it's a set of markers or something, right. That keeps showing up in the the frequently bought together. But those are very kind of two very different products.Josh 00:01:02  Right? So how would you go about incorporating the marker top keywords into calendar type, you know, a calendar type product and where do you put them right. Does it matter? Is it bullets? Description. Back end.Bradley 00:01:15  There's a couple of different ways. So like the most ideal way is just to get it as organic and natural as possible. You know in there. So like the you know perfect situation would be like for example, let's use that gothic, candle holder. You know, I could like, say in one of the bullet points or description, like, you know, hey, you can put a gothic candle holder on top of the coffin shelf and then you have a real spooky, you know, effect or whatever like that. You know, like something that actually makes sense. That's not that's not keyword stuffing. Yeah. You know, sometimes that doesn't you know, you're not able to do that most of the time though, if you really think about it. I mean, if two products are complementary, there's a way to tie it together.Bradley 00:01:51  I mean, otherwise it wouldn't be complementary with each other. Like like there's got to be a way. But in the extreme circumstances where there's not, of course you've got your search terms, your back end search terms. most Categories still have hidden the subject matter like you can't do it in your edit listing, but like once you create your listing, if you use like helium ten Listing Analyzer or you or your advanced user of flat files like in helium ten Listing Analyzer, we still have the subject matter and even though you don't see it there, it still works like we can tie it in the API in the back end. And then so there's usually 4 or 5 more lines of 50 characters. So you can put some of these keywords and then another one where it's very limited. But like if you just can't put it anywhere, is is this this back end feature that, that categories like home and Kitchen have that's called special features. And that doesn't help for ranking. But special features is like the most it's the craziest field I have seen in Amazon in years where I could put something there.Bradley 00:02:47  And I'll get index for it, like in less than 60s, you know, really, you know, if you change your title or your description, sometimes it takes like up to a day for you to get index or for you even to show up. You change something in the search terms. Like it was amazing that hey, like within 15 minutes you could be indexed, you know, like in the old days, this one is like less than 60s. And I could I prove that two ways. You know, using that special URL, that Ajax URL that that shows what's in the back end, or by actually just running index checker to show that, hey, this wasn't indexing then 60s later it is. So, it's it you have to be careful that you can't keyword stuff like you can in search terms and subject matter because the special features it's actually this is kind of a positive and a negative. the positive of course, is that, you know, you can index almost anything at all, even if like sometimes st...

An absolute must-listen if you're serious about scaling your product business profitably.While I'm on maternity leave, I'm re-airing some of the most impactful Buyerside Chat episodes, and this one dives into one of the most important (and hardest) skills you'll ever learn as a product-based business owner: the ability to edit your product line without emotion.When your business is small, creativity leads the way, and that's a beautiful thing. But when you're growing, scaling, and reinvesting back into inventory, emotion can quietly become one of your biggest profit killers.In this episode, I'm breaking down how buyers actually think when they evaluate assortments, and how you can start making decisions like a CEO instead of an artist, creator, maker or new boutique owner who's emotionally attached to every product.We talk about why having too many SKUs hurts conversion, how to identify what's driving the majority of your revenue, and how editing your collection can instantly improve cash flow, margins, and clarity - for both you and your customers.If you've ever:Felt overwhelmed by how many products you carryStruggled to let go of a once-beloved bestsellerWondered why sales feel stagnant despite adding more SKUsOr felt stuck between creativity and profitabilityThis episode will give you the framework and the confidence that you need to edit with intention.In this episode, we cover:Why editing is one of the most important buyer skills you can learnHow emotion sneaks into product decisions (and how to remove it)Why fewer choices often lead to higher conversionThe 80/20 rule and how it applies to your product lineHow to identify “dead weight” SKUs in your assortmentWhy bestsellers sometimes need to replace—not sit next to—older productsHow edited collections improve profit, clarity, and buyer confidenceWhen more SKUs make sense (and when they absolutely don't)Enjoy the chat! FREE RESOURCE FOR YOU!Grab the Retail Terms & Formulas Cheat Sheet HERE to help you speak the buyer language (with your wholesale buyers AND within your own retail business). LOOKING TO GROW YOUR WHOLESALE BUSINESS?Retail Pitching

The CPG Guys are joined in this episode by David Gottlieb, Chief Revenue officer and Jeff Wrona, VP Product, Image Recognition for FORM, the makers of the award-winning market execution software GoSpotCheck and FORM OpX, and Trax, the industry-recognized global pioneer of Image Recognition, delivering AI-powered shelf-level insights that help brands and retailers improve execution, availability, and growth in the physical store, have merged. Follow David on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmgottlieb/ Follow Jeff on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gospotcheckjw/Follow FORM online at: https://www.form.com/ This episode is sponsored by FORM.They answer these questions:When you combine Trax's global reach with FORM's innovative model training and deployment capabilities, what fundamentally changes for CPG brands on the ground?How does proactively onboarding the most popular SKUs in each region shift Image Recognition from just reactive reporting to a proactive competitive advantage?What does 'agentic AI' realistically look like inside a CPG organization over the next three to five years? Is it hype, or are we looking at an operational revolution? If you were building the modern CPG tech stack from scratch today, what happens when IR data is integrated directly into sales, supply chain, and marketing systems?Could shelf-level data become the fastest leading indicator of these generational behavior changes—even faster than syndicated data?In this margin-compressed world, does flawless in-store execution become the single biggest lever brands still control?How does integrating FORM's AI-powered image recognition directly with FORM's mobile task management fundamentally close that gap between identifying a shelf issue and executing a fix right there in the aisle?What unique execution challenges do traditional CPGs face when competing with the speed and emotional connection of these newer brands?How does leveraging AI and granular, SKU-level shelf intelligence help brands manage their physical presence with the same precision and responsiveness as their digital storefronts?If two brands have equal product quality and trade support, does the one with superior IR-driven visibility win every time?CPG Guys Website: http://CPGguys.comFMCG Guys Website: http://FMCGguys.comSheCOMMERCE Website: https://shecommercepodcast.com/Rhea Raj's Website: http://rhearaj.comLara Raj in Katseye: https://www.katseye.world/DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGGUYS, LLC or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGGUYS, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent.CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual's use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast.

Claire Warner helped build Belvedere Vodka for 15 years.She created 13 expressions. She climbed the ranks inside LVMH. She understood how premium alcohol brands scale.Then she made a call most people would avoid.She decided the world did not need another vodka.In this Bite-Sized episode of Screw It Just DO It, Claire explains why she left a secure leadership position to build Æcorn Drinks, how a forgotten 16th century acorn wine recipe became the foundation of a modern aperitif, and why launching three complex products at once was a risk worth taking.We also unpack what it means to build your own identity as the sister brand to Seedlip, how Covid disrupted their first real summer, and why innovation in this space has to be flavour-led, not alcohol-led.This is not about sobriety. It is about redefining the ritual.Key Takeaways• Why experience in a category can become a reason to leave it• The strategic risk of launching multiple SKUs at once• How to build brand distinction when linked to a market pioneer• Why aperitif culture matters more than alcohol percentage

EP 158 - Your Shopify Data Might Be Lying To You What if your Shopify reports are lying to you? In this episode of The Business of Apparel Podcast, Rachel explains one of the most overlooked problems in e-commerce: bad data structure. If your product naming, SKUs, and systems aren't standardized, your reports can mislead you, causing poor product decisions, wasted marketing dollars, and stalled growth. Rachel breaks down how inaccurate reporting happens, why clean Shopify data is critical for scaling, and how to identify the products actually driving unit sales, revenue, and profit inside your apparel brand. If you want to grow your brand strategically instead of guessing your way forward, this episode will change how you look at your backend systems forever. Sign up for the Secrets Behind Billion Dollar Apparel Brands Masterclass here: https://www.thebusinessofapparel.com/secrets Join The Board here: https://www.thebusinessofapparel.com Key Moments: 00:00 Data That Lies 00:31 Shopify Workshop Recap 01:38 Standardize Your Product Data 02:37 Reading Reports That Matter 04:09 Find Winners And MVPs (Minimum Viable Products) 05:01 Join The Board! 06:21 Scale Winners With UGC (User Generated Content) 07:29 Build Collections And Cut Duds 08:55 Why Clean Data Is Nonnegotiable 11:11 Get The Masterclass And Next Events   Watch episodes of The Business of Apparel Podcast: Wholesale 101: https://youtu.be/lpezH1YwCyE Use AI in Your Apparel Brand: https://youtu.be/Dn9tjPNmfaw  Grow A 7-Figure Apparel Business: https://youtu.be/rpQYDyo5Rao We can't wait to hear what you think of this episode! Purchase the Business of Apparel Online Course: https://www.thebusinessofapparel.com/course ABOUT RACHEL: Rachel Erickson—Fractional COO, Apparel Industry Consultant, and founder of Unmarked Street and The Business of Apparel. With 20+ years in technical design and product development leadership, I've sat at the executive table of a $25M apparel line and helped scale it to $60M in one year.   After decades working inside major fashion companies, I learned the truth behind billion-dollar brands, and it's not about chasing trends or pumping out endless products. It's about building clean processes, tightly edited assortments, and obsessively focused customer targeting.   I help founders and CEOs of performance apparel brands: ✅ Build lean, profitable product lines ✅ Streamline operations for growth ✅ Replace overwhelm with executive clarity ✅ Create garments that fit bodies in motion   Whether you're just hitting $1M in revenue or trying to break through the $10M ceiling, my team joins you as an embedded operations and product partner—running fittings, line plans, tech packs, and vendor communications so you can get back to leading.   To connect with Rachel, you can join her LinkedIn community here: LinkedIn. To visit her website, go to: www.unmarkedstreet.com.   

Distribution finance is complex: thin margins, thousands of SKUs, intercompany inventory transfers, fluctuating freight costs, and constant working capital pressure. Yet many organizations are still managing consolidation and reporting with disconnected systems and spreadsheets. In this episode of CPM Customer Success, we explore the biggest financial challenges facing wholesale and industrial distribution companies—from fragmented ERP environments to slow, risk-prone close cycles and limited margin visibility. Through two real-world customer stories, we highlight how a unified CPM platform helped modernize consolidation, automate intercompany processes, accelerate close, and deliver deeper insight into profitability by SKU, customer, and region.

Send a textA rye that drinks like a bourbon doesn't come along every day. We tracked down the Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Rye that snagged Whiskey Advocate's top spot and put it through a full, honest taste test—then geeked out on why this release hits different. Think 12 years and 3 months in wood, 108 proof, and a mashbill that leans Heaven Hill classic. On the nose we found roasted nuts and cocoa instead of mint. On the palate it's balanced and sweet-leaning—brown sugar, chocolate, seasoned oak—with a finish that lands like peppered steak: savory, tidy, and memorable without the burn.We also decode the A-B-C batch cadence and what A925 means for collectors, plus why barrel proof bottlings give a brand real credibility with serious whiskey drinkers. The conversation widens to the shifting whiskey market: fewer flashy new SKUs, more well-aged stock finally coming of age. That context matters, because age at a fair price is rare, and this bottle delivers a compelling value proposition. If you've avoided rye because of mint and red-hot spice, this pour might change your mind; if you're a rye diehard, it offers nuance over noise and proof that patience shows in the glass.If you love whiskey that balances character with approachability, hit play and pour along. Subscribe, rate, and leave a review with your score—did this rye win you over or are you still team bourbon?

In this episode of Crazy Wisdom, Stewart Alsop sits down with Andre Oliveira, founder of Splash N Color, a bootstrapped 3D printing e-commerce business selling consumer goods on Amazon. The two cover a lot of ground — from how Andre went from running 40 FDM printers out of South Florida to offshoring manufacturing to China, to how he's using Claude Code to automate inventory management and generate supplier RFQs across 200+ SKUs. The conversation stretches into bigger territory too: the San Francisco AI scene, the rise of AI agents and what they mean for the future of the internet, whether local on-device AI will eventually replace cloud-based tools, and why building physical products will stay hard long after software becomes easy. It's a candid, wide-ranging conversation between two self-taught builders figuring things out in real time. Follow Andre on X: @AndreBaach.Timestamps00:00 — Andre introduces Splash N Color, his Amazon-based 3D printing e-commerce business and explains the grind of running 40 FDM machines in South Florida.05:00 — The conversation shifts to Claude Code and how Andre built an inventory automation system to manage sales velocity and RFQs across 200+ SKUs.10:00 — Stewart and Andre compare notes on Opus 4.6, debate Codex vs Claude, and Andre breaks down the new Agent Teams feature in Claude Code.15:00 — Discussion turns to the San Francisco AI scene, the viral OpenClaw launch event that drew 700 people, and what's capturing the city's imagination right now.20:00 — The pair wrestle with data privacy, the illusion of it since 2000, and whether full transparency of personal data might actually serve people better.25:00 — Stewart pitches his vision of local on-device AI replacing cloud tools entirely, and they debate the 10–15 year timeline for mainstream societal adoption.30:00 — Andre traces his origin story: a high school dropout from Brazil who spotted a 3D printing opportunity on Facebook Marketplace and got lucky timing with COVID.35:00 — They explore whether AI-generated 3D models and DfAM will automate physical manufacturing, and why proprietary specs keep the space stubbornly hard.Key InsightsLifestyle businesses deserve more respect. Andre spent months feeling inadequate scrolling through Twitter watching founders announce funding rounds, before realizing his cash-flowing, location-independent business was already the goal. The social media version of entrepreneurial success warped his perception of what he actually had built.Claude Code is becoming an operating system. Stewart describes running Claude Code as having a second OS on top of MacOS — one that makes the underlying machine legible in ways it never was before. Both guests use it not just for coding but as a primary interface for understanding and operating their businesses.Agent Teams changes how work gets done. Andre explains that Claude's new multi-agent feature lets you assign a team lead and specialized roles that communicate with each other in parallel, essentially running an autonomous task force inside your terminal — a meaningful leap beyond single-instance prompting.Physical manufacturing will stay hard. Even as AI-generated 3D models improve, tolerances of 0.5 millimeters can mean the difference between a product working or not. Design for manufacturing is a separate discipline from design itself, and proprietary specs mean open source models rarely hit commercial quality.The internet is heading toward agents. Both guests agree that AI agents will increasingly handle tasks humans currently do manually online — booking services, making payments, coordinating logistics — with the human internet potentially becoming secondary to a machine-to-machine layer.Iteration is the real value of 3D printing. Andre pushes back on 3D printing as a business unto itself, framing it instead as a prototyping tool. The true value is rapid iteration on housing, tolerances, and fit — not the printer, but the speed of the feedback loop it enables.Technology compounds in layers. Andre closes with a tech-tree analogy: each generation normalizes the tools of the previous one and builds the next layer on top. Agentic coding today is what the internet was in the 90s — the foundation for something we can't yet fully see.

This is Panel 4 of Retail Collective Summit of Winter 2026, CEOs from Backcountry, Borboleta Beauty, Teton Sports, ARI Bikes, Cariloha, and Mission Belt strip away the AI hype to discuss the cold, hard reality of retail innovation in 2026. For the C-suite, technology is no longer just a shiny new tool—it's an "Ironman Suit" designed to give your workforce more leverage. But there is a catch: as AI lowers the barrier to entry for "slop" content and low-cost competitors, the ultimate competitive advantage has shifted back to authenticity and In-Real-Life relationships. In this episode, we tackle: The Trust Mandate: Why every tech implementation must pass the "Trust Test"—does it build or erode the relationship with your customer?. The Era of AI Search: Preparing for the shift from SEO to AI-driven shopping patterns and the upcoming Shopify-ChatGPT integration. Operational Unlocks: How to use AI to automate administrative "busy work," from interpreting handwritten orders to accelerating curriculum development. The Omnichannel Resurgence: Why digitally native brands are returning to physical showrooms and "air-conditioned curtains" to win the customer's heart. High-Stakes Forecasting: The reality of demand planning across 1,200+ SKUs and why "two sources of truth" (Human + AI) are better than one.  

In this episode of Small Business School, Staci sits down with Alexandra (Ally) Mamalider, second-generation founder and president of Organic Traditions, to talk about what it really looks like to step into a family business and scale it with intention. From imposter syndrome and leadership transitions to ERP systems, rebrands, and cutting SKUs, this is a masterclass in thoughtful growth. Whether you're building a product-based business, taking over a company, or preparing to scale, this conversation is packed with honest lessons from behind the scenes.Key topics covered:What it actually takes to step into a family business and why outside experience gave Ally an advantageThe three growth phases she led the company through before scaling 50% in 24 monthsWhy hiring the right leadership team was a bigger unlock than any single processThe financial blind spots that quietly hold small businesses back (and why monthly reporting changes everything)How to approach a rebrand strategically and why it must be customer-focused, not founder-focusedThe importance of going deep before going wide when expanding into new marketsWhy saying yes to everything can slow your growth instead of accelerating itThe role of daily habits, superfoods, and fiber in sustaining entrepreneurial energyGrowth in a family business isn't about proving yourself, it's about building on what came before you with clarity, courage, and smarter systems that support the next level.Connect with Ally:Instagram: @allyzeifmanWebsite: www.organictraditions.comStaci's Links:Instagram. Website.

In this episode, Brendan and Hunter sit down with O&P Insight's Vice President and General Manager Lesleigh Sisson, CFo, CFm, to discuss the rising trends in payer audits, the most common causes of avoidable revenue loss, and the proactive compliance strategies that help O&P clinics ensure claims not only get paid—but stay paid.Learn more about O&P Insight and connect with Lesliegh on Linkedin. Many thanks to Trulife for sponsoring this episode! Introducing the A-Pace—an innovative AFO designed for individuals with mild to moderate foot drop, with or without foot spasticity, weak muscles, or calf muscle loss, serving both unilateral and bilateral patients across low to high activity levels. Built with lightweight carbon fiber and a customizable trim-to-fit foot plate, the A-Pace reduces SKUs while offering comfort and ease of use with its anterior style and two magnetic closures. PDAC verified under codes L1932 and L1933, the A-Pace is available now at SPS.SPS Update: On the latest episode of SPS Unpacked, we unboxed the PROTEOR Kinterra EVAQ8. This innovative foot combines hydraulic articulation with vacuum suspension to deliver enhanced mobility and limb health. Click here to learn more!Visit spsco.com

The Bowhunter Chronicles Podcast - Episode 391: Home Grown Trail Cameras- Yellowstone AI In this episode of the Bowhunter Chronicles Podcast, Adam Miller and Nate Rozeveld sits down with Ben Vander Velden of Yellowstone AI , bassed in Wisconsin, to break down the future of trail cameras and AI-driven outdoor technology.  Yellowstone AI is a family owned and operated company, with real in person customer service. They dive deep into cellular trail camera innovation, hardware durability, battery performance, remote diagnostics, flexible data plans, and what truly separates Yellowstone AI cameras from the rest of the market. Ben shares his journey into the trail camera industry, lessons learned from competitors, and how Yellowstone AI is simplifying user experience with fewer SKUs, streamlined app design, and customer-first support. The conversation also explores AI integration in hunting gear, real-world troubleshooting, warranty expectations, pricing strategy, and building dealer relationships at the ATA Show. If you're serious about trail camera performance, cellular connectivity, hunting technology, and staying ahead in the evolving outdoor tech space, this episode delivers actionable insight from inside the industry. Topics Covered:Trail cameras • Cellular connectivity • AI integration • Data plans • Remote troubleshooting • Hardware durability • Customer support • ATA Show insights • Hunting technology trends 00:00 Intro03:00 Yellowstone AI and Trail Cameras05:57 Ben's Journey into the Trail Camera Industry09:00 Challenges and Opportunities in the Trail Camera Market12:12 Understanding Connectivity and Technology in Trail Cameras15:04 The Importance of Customer Support and Reliability17:55 Hardware Considerations: Batteries, Durability, and Maintenance21:04 Warranty and Customer Experience24:09 AI in Trail Cameras: Future Possibilities27:00 Conclusion and Future Directions33:06 Networking at ATA: Building Dealer Relationships35:47 Understanding Customer Needs: Common Questions and Pain Points36:06 Market Entry: Lessons from Competitors38:52 Pricing Strategies: Balancing Cost and Value41:55 Data Plans: Structure and Flexibility44:39 User Experience: Simplifying the App Interface51:01 Customer Interactions: Surprises and Challenges52:29 Team Dynamics: The Family Business Model53:23 Innovation Pace: Software vs. Hardware Development57:08 Product Offering: The Value of Fewer SKUs58:14 Durability and Reliability: Customer Expectations01:05:17 Camera Quality: The Role of Technology01:07:27 Community Engagement: Supporting Local Initiatives https://www.yellowstone.ai/ https://huntworthgear.com/https://www.paintedarrow.com - BHC15 for 15% off https://www.spartanforge.ai (https://www.spartanforge.ai/)  - save 25% with code bowhunter   https://www.latitudeoutdoors.com (https://www.latitudeoutdoors.com/) s https://www.zingerfletches.com (https://www.zingerfletches.com/) https://www.lucky-buck.com (https://www.lucky-buck.com/) https://www.bigshottargets.com (https://www.bigshottargets.com/)   https://genesis3dprinting.com (https://genesis3dprinting.com/) https://vitalizeseed.com (https://vitalizeseed.com/) http://bit.ly/BHCPatreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send a textShould your team be selling merchandise on Amazon?In this episode, Jeremy breaks down the real strategic implications of adding Amazon as a sales channel — from margin math and SEO strategy to customer data ownership and cannibalization risk. If you're responsible for revenue, merchandise, or digital marketing, this is your practical roadmap before you jump in.Key Topics CoveredWhy Amazon is more search engine than storefront — and why that mattersThe real math behind Amazon's 15% referral feeFBA vs. FBM: Fulfillment by Amazon vs. Merchant fulfillmentThe hidden cost of losing first-party customer dataWhy you should never push your fans from Shopify to AmazonHow Amazon SEO works (and why semantic SEO matters)Why city/state-forward merchandise should launch before team-branded itemsHow to prevent Shopify cannibalizationPricing strategy: Why you may want to charge more on AmazonUsing Amazon strictly as an acquisition channelConnecting Shopify to Amazon with Marketplace ConnectModeling margin before listing a single productChapters00:00 Introduction to Selling Merchandise on Amazon 01:59 Why Amazon Is a Powerful Sales Channel 03:48 Revenue Potential During Peak Seasons 05:42 Fulfillment Options: FBA vs FBM 07:08 Understanding Amazon Fees and Margins 08:32 Customer Data Ownership and Marketing Challenges 10:54 The Importance of SEO and Search Demand 13:14 Keyword Strategies and Search Terms 14:58 Starting with City and State Apparel 18:23 Semantic SEO and Listing Optimization 20:12 Connecting Shopify and Amazon 21:32 Getting Started and Learning the Platform 22:29 Pricing, Margins, and Protecting Your Brand 23:25 Strategies to Increase Sales and Customer Lifetime Value 24:46 Balancing Amazon and Shopify for Growth 26:10 Next Steps and Deeper ConversationsCore Strategic Takeaways1. Amazon is an acquisition engine — not a loyalty platform. You will gain reach. You will gain visibility. But Amazon owns the customer relationship — not you.2. Start broad before going branded. City-forward, state-pride, and general baseball apparel can build search velocity and reviews before you launch deeper team SKUs.3. SEO is the real game. Amazon rankings are driven by relevance + performance + conversion velocity. Without visibility, there are no sales.4. Model your numbers before you move inventory. Understand your true profit after fees. Align pricing carefully. Consider charging slightly more on Amazon to protect margin.Resources MentionedShopify Marketplace ConnectMarketplace Connect TipsFulfillment by Merchant Overview & Referral FeesAmazon Seller CentralAmazon Seller UniversitySemantic SEO research toolsJungle ScoutHelium 10Sports Marketing Machine on LinkedInSports Marketing Machine on InstagramBook a call with Jeremy from Sports Marketing Machine

Lai-Ling Su: What Scrum Masters Must Do More of in 2026—Think Like a Business Owner Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Agile and Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.   "Success is so contextual. And I think the definitions and measurements of success also change over time. So, only you can definitively say what success is at any given time and how to appropriately measure it for your situation." - Lai-Ling Su   Lai-Ling frames success for Scrum Masters around what she'd love to see more of in 2026: smart, strategic, and commercial decision-making. She observes a distinct gap in the business landscape—too few people are making decisions that balance customer value, revenues, expenses, and long-term sustainability.  This could mean reducing SKUs to enhance operational flow and reduce burnout, investing in change management from day one of a transformation, or cutting unused software licenses to save a colleague's job or fund product innovation. To help Scrum Masters develop this capability, Lai-Ling puts them in the shoes of a business owner—whether through simulations, shadowing business leaders, or pairing with product owners to understand the business side of products beyond just the build side.  She emphasizes the difference between learning strategy through theory (like an MBA) versus learning it through actually operating a business, where consequences are real and immediate.   Self-reflection Question: When did you last consider how a decision in your domain impacts the broader commercial viability of your organization? Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: LEGO Serious Play Lai-Ling loves using LEGO for deeply reflective retrospectives, and she's a certified LEGO Serious Play facilitator. The approach works beautifully for tender and courageous conversations because building with LEGO does several things simultaneously: it's fun, the physical act of building helps process and articulate thoughts you didn't have words for, and it depersonalizes what's said because participants talk about a physical object rather than directly about people. You don't need expensive certified kits—just grab basic bricks from a local shop, pose a reflective question, and let people build.  Lai-Ling notes that her best retrospectives have often been the most deeply uncomfortable ones for participants, because of how much personal and emotional truth emerges when you create that safe space for constructive dialogue. The kinetic and visual elements help crystallize ideas that would otherwise not come out so easily.   [The Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast Recommends]

In this episode of the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast, host Josh Hadley explores the “hidden cost of growth” in e-commerce. Drawing from his own journey scaling to eight figures, Josh explains how business expansion often leads to overwhelming complexity, not more freedom. He introduces the “momentum matrix,” a framework based on the 80/20 rule, to help entrepreneurs focus on the most impactful products and sales channels. Josh shares actionable strategies for prioritizing efforts, reducing operational overload, and maintaining lifestyle goals while scaling, emphasizing that true freedom comes from systems and focus—not just hitting revenue milestones.Welcome to the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast!

Hi all, I'm Marty and welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career.  Today we're talking about one of the more important roles on the shipping side of things, and oddly, it’s hardly ever brought up. I find myself discussing it today only because a listener wrote in that they had applied for the position and was told they would need at least 1 year of equipment experience for the position. We're talking about the Short Chaser.  If you've never worked in a high-volume grocery, retail, produce, or foodservice DC, this position may not even be on your radar. But if you have, well, you know why I mentioned it's a very important role. When a trailer is staged, sealed, and about to be dispatched or leave the yard, yet the paperwork says we're missing a case of product, there is only one person standing between our success and customer dissatisfaction. The Short Chaser.  Today we're going to break down why the position exists, how the WMS helps drive it, some of the different types of equipment used to accomplish the task, the pressure and safety considerations, and why it's actually one of the best career-building roles in outbound operations. But then, as we've learned, in my humble opinion anyway, is that every position in the light industrial fields are great career building opportunities.   So why is the short chaser needed or why is it such an important role? Well, in large distribution centers, outbound selection is built on speed and engineered productivity standards. The Order Selectors are measured by things like cases per hour (CPH), lines per hour, and maybe pallets per hour. And then you'll have their Direct vs. indirect time metrics and travel time efficiency. In these environments, we cannot afford for selectors to stop and wait when a pick slot is empty.  So here's what happens. A selector travels down the aisle. They scan the location. The slot is empty. The Replenishment hasn't been dropped yet or the inventory count is off for one reason or another. Instead of waiting, which would destroy productivity metrics and delay the batch, the selector marks the item short in their RF unit and continues moving. The Warehouse Management System (WMS) logs that short against the load. Multiply that by 40 to 60 selectors across a shift. It adds up quick! Now you have a short list or another batch created.  Once the replenishment has been made, the WMS recognizes that inventory is now available. It then creates what most operations call a short batch. This batch includes load number, trailer number, stop number, SKU or item number, quantity shorted, slot location, and required completion time or dispatch time. The Short Chaser logs into their RF device and sees a prioritized list, usually sorted by the dispatch time. So, this role is a little bit selection, and a little bit loading, but really 100% recovery. The order selectors are pulling throughout the shift, the short chaser is of course running behind the original batch, gathering any missed or shorted cases. That means the Short Chaser operates closest to dispatch time. And in distribution, the dispatch time is sacred. If a trailer misses its dispatch window drivers lose hours, customer delivery windows are affected, route sequencing breaks down, we're outside the WMS perimeters, think of it as manual mode, and of course overtime increases and service levels can drop. So the Short Chaser works under what I like to call controlled urgency. Not chaos or panic. But controlled urgency!  Now Depending on the facility, the Short Chaser may use several types of powered industrial equipment. In the produce or specialty world we may be using the single electric rider pallet jack. Ideal for quickly grabbing partial pallets or a few cases and delivering them directly to dock or staging area for the loaders or even running the product out to the yard and adding them to the trailer. Fast, agile, and highly maneuverable. When multiple shorts are tied to the same trailer or dispatch times, the double rider jack allows movement of two pallets at once, reducing travel time and improving efficiency. We may even use the sit-down forklift, it could be used when handling full pallets, or delivering larger quantities of freight directly to trailers staged in the yard. Of course, the short chaser role requires certification and strong equipment handling skills. There is no room for unsafe operation, especially with urgency involved.  I mentioned the yard, maybe I should explain what I meant. In many large operations, once trailers are loaded, they are pulled from dock doors and staged in the yard awaiting dispatch or the driver arriving. The Short Chaser's job can expand beyond the building. They may need to identify the correct trailer in the yard, verify trailer number and route number, confirm the stop sequence, properly load secure the product, ensure the load stability and communicate back to dispatch that the load is complete and ready to go.  Sounds simple right? Think about this though. Delivering a short to the wrong trailer is worse than not delivering it at all. Because now you've created two shortages. Again, in our environment, accuracy is critical. Let's paint a real-world scenario. It's 45 minutes before dispatch. Three trailers are staged. The short batch drops with 22 SKUs, across 3 routes, with 3 different dispatch times. What does a great Short Chaser do? They prioritize by dispatch time, our warehouse route complexity or the possible different pick path we'll be taking, the items difficulty, or things like stack ability and weight. We can't stack a 50 case on top of eggs, and then of course the yard location. They communicate early. They don't wait until 5 minutes before dispatch to say, “I can't find this item.” They involve replenishment or inventory control immediately.  Here's where, I feel, the role becomes powerful for career growth. A strong Short Chaser begins to recognize patterns. They see certain SKUs consistently being shorted, replenishments that seem to always take longer to be made, slotting inefficiencies, Mis-picks during selection and cycle count issues. They begin to understand the system says one thing, but the slot sometimes says another. This is how future inventory control specialists are born. This is how future supervisors learn to ask things like why are we shorting this item three times a week? I guess I'm saying the short chaser sees things and we should speak up and communicate. It'll only help us in our careers.     Ok, I've used the word urgency several times, but it cannot override our discipline. A few of the common risks in this role include speeding through the aisles, cutting through the cross aisles, yard traffic, blind corner visibility issues and fatigue late in shift when people are tired. The expectation must be clear. You cannot rush safety.   When Short Chasers perform well, our success shows with improved on-time dispatch, higher fill rates, reduced customer claims, and reduced driver wait time. Operations managers know a strong short chasing process protects revenue, because incomplete deliveries damage our customer relationships.  And our modern WMS platforms are becoming more advanced too. We now see real-time replenishment triggers, automated alerts for low slots, dynamic slotting has really helped the order selector, Voice-directed picking systems and even AI forecasting.  All these improvements reduce shorts, but they will never eliminate them entirely. Physical inventory and system inventory will never be perfect. There will always be human error, inventory discrepancies, slotting adjustments and late replenishments.   Here's why I believe this is one of the strongest development roles in outbound operations. The Short Chaser learns WMS navigation and logic, Dispatch prioritization, Yard operations and why trailers are staged where they are, Cross-department communication, Inventory issues, and how to balance productivity. This naturally transitions into dock Lead or outbound Lead roles. Dispatch Coordinator, Inventory Control assignments and even Supervisor positions.  The best ones share some of these common traits. We'll be calm under pressure, detail-oriented, and be a strong communicator, confident and skilled on the equipment, system literate and safety disciplined.   So if you're listening today and you're working in sanitation, selection, loading, or general warehouse operations and you want to understand the bigger picture, pay attention to the Short Chaser role.  When that trailer door closes and the seal goes on and the route leaves complete and accurate, that's not luck. That's execution. And the Short Chaser is often the last line of defense before that door shuts.  Well, there's a bit on another great light industrial position! I hope you all join us again next week, and that each of you sends over a topic you'd like to hear a bit about. We love getting mail each week! Until then, remember to put safety first in all that you do and to never get on or touch a machine or piece of powered industrial equipment you've not been trained on and certified to operate. Yall be safe out there.  

What does it take to turn a 1,500-acre family orchard into the second-largest cider company in the U.S.?In this episode of Business of Drinks, Caroline sits down with Andrew Blake, Founder and CEO of Blake's Beverage Company, to unpack how a seasonal agricultural business evolved into a national beverage platform selling just over 2 million cases annually across 44 states.Blake's began with a barn renovation and a tasting room designed to smooth out harvest-driven revenue. Six months later, a distributor knocked — and Andrew had to learn distribution on the fly. The move changed the trajectory of the company, but not without cost.For founders, this is a grounded look at what scaling through the three-tier system actually requires. Andrew shares how the business was profitable in direct-to-consumer agritainment — then lost money entering distribution. The takeaway: Distribution is a long game, with upfront margin compression, trade spend, and capital intensity that many underestimate.We also dig into the mechanics of growth. Blake's expanded from a 5,000-square foot facility to a multi-plant footprint in Michigan, New York, Texas, and Oregon to de-risk apple supply and mitigate crop volatility. Today, the company manages roughly 200 distributors and nearly 200 beverage-focused employees within a broader 1,100-person enterprise.Two hero SKUs anchor the portfolio: Triple Jam (~350,000 cases projected this year) and American Apple (~300,000 cases and accelerating). Andrew's view aligns with broader data: Younger consumers are drinking less volume but seeking more flavor and impact — and cider's flavor-forward profile is resonating.Category-wise, cider still accounts for under 3% of beer share in the U.S., compared to 7–8% in more mature markets. Andrew believes there's room to expand — through premiumization on one end and new value plays, including a more aggressive push into convenience, on the other.We also explore Blake's roll-up strategy with Austin Eastciders and Avid Cider, and Andrew's caution to founders eyeing acquisitions: Cut synergy projections in half and assume everything will take longer than planned.If you're building in beverage — especially in a capital-intensive, agricultural category — this episode offers real insight on distribution strategy, capital discipline, and earning mindshare at scale.Because as Andrew puts it: There's no finish line. The job just gets bigger.For the latest updates, follow us:Business of Drinks:YouTubeLinkedInInstagram @bizofdrinksErica Duecy, co-host: Erica Duecy is founder and co-host of Business of Drinks and one of the drinks industry's most accomplished digital and content strategists. She runs the consultancy and advisory arm of Business of Drinks and has built publishing and marketing programs for Drizly, VinePair, SevenFifty, and other hospitality and drinks tech companies.LinkedInInstagram @ericaduecyScott Rosenbaum, co-host: Scott Rosenbaum is co-host of Business of Drinks and a veteran strategist and analyst with deep experience building drinks portfolios. Most recently, he was the Portfolio Development Director at Distill Ventures. Prior to that, he was the Vice President of T. Edward Wines & Spirits, a New York-based importer and distributor.LinkedInCaroline Lamb, contributor: Caroline is a producer and on-air contributor at Business of Drinks and a key account sales and marketing specialist at AHD Vintners, a Michigan-based importer and distributor.LinkedInInstagram @borkalineIf you enjoyed today's conversation, follow Business of Drinks wherever you're listening, and don't forget to rate and review us. Your support helps us reach new listeners passionate about the drinks industry. Thank you!

Omni Talk Retail is live from eTail West 2026 with coverage powered by NetElixir. In this interview, Anne Mezzenga speaks with Udayan Bose, Founder and CEO of NetElixir, about how AI is shifting from theory to measurable business impact in performance marketing. A 19 year eTail veteran, Udayan shares how the conversation around AI has evolved from buzzword to accountability, with retailers now demanding tangible, quantifiable outcomes. The discussion breaks AI in marketing into two clear categories: • Efficiency AI, including generative AI tools that reduce manual campaign management time • Performance AI, powered by machine learning and predictive analytics to unlock new revenue opportunities Udayan shares real world results, including how NetElixir's experimentation platform helped reactivate over 1,100 dormant SKUs for CarParts.com in just four months, generating significant incremental revenue and new customer acquisition. The conversation also explores: • How to approach AI experimentation without unnecessary risk • Why first party data is critical in a performance AI strategy • How to work alongside Google and Meta's automation without losing control • What retailers should avoid when investing in new AI tools For retailers looking to move beyond AI hype and into measurable growth, this is a practical roadmap. #eTailWest #AIinRetail #PerformanceMarketing #DigitalMarketing #RetailInnovation #Ecommerce #MachineLearning

Welcome to this episode of HALO Talks, where Pete Moore sits down with Angel Olavarria, founder of Strive mens skincare, and cosmetic chemist from Forest Hills, Queens. Angel reflects on his journey from a career in sales to becoming an entrepreneur in men's skincare. He reflects on the idea that people tend to attribute positive attributes to others who are very attractive, inspired him to dig deeper into self-presentation, which eventually led him down the path of skincare science. Angel discusses the often confusing (and slightly sometimes sketchy) world of men's skincare, his hands-on approach to developing formulas, and the importance of using the proper amount of evidence-based ingredients. He also opens up about the process behind launching his business, staying true to his principles, and building a brand that values authenticity over flashy marketing tricks. It doesn't matter if you're interested in men's skincare or not. What is key here are the lessons Angel has learned as he continues to (rapidly!) scale Strive. If you're an aspiring entrepreneur or even seasoned business owner and are looking for fresh insights into building a thoughtful and impactful brand, this episode offers a candid look at balancing passion, discipline, and business in today's competitive market. Key themes discussed Journey from sales to skincare entrepreneurship The complexity and science behind truly effective skincare Importance of authenticity and principles in entrepreneurship Product development: Balancing simplicity and efficacy Marketing strategies: Digital, SEO, and sampling challenges Pricing, margins, and growth without sacrificing values A Few Key Takeaways:  1.The Power of Skincare for Personal Branding: Angel shared how men's attention to self-care and skincare can enhance the tendency for people to attribute positive qualities to those who appear attractive and well-groomed. This observation sparked his journey into men's skincare and eventually founding Strive. 2. Authenticity in Entrepreneurship: He stressed how he builds his business on strong principles, refusing to compromise quality or add unnecessary complexity to men's routines. He wants Strive to be genuinely useful, not just another product pushed by aggressive marketing. 3. Science-Backed Formulations vs. Marketing Gimmicks: The chat also highlighted the importance of using ingredients with proven efficacy, like niacinamide or retinol, both backed by decades of research. Olavarria pointed out that many competitors focus on trendy but unproven plant extracts, often prioritizing marketing narratives over results. 4. Lean Operations and Smart Growth: Angel explained how he handles most of his business personally, takes advantage of contractors and US-based suppliers, and leverages technology (like AI) to stay nimble. He emphasized starting with fewer SKUs and growing thoughtfully to avoid complexity and inefficiency. 5. Philosophy of Continuous Improvement and Authentic Brand Building: The brand name "Strive" embodies the drive to always work toward something and improve. Angel wants the brand to inspire men to strive, not just for looks, but for personal growth. He also values authentic ambassador relationships, only working with those who genuinely connect to his products. Resources:  Angel Olavarria: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelolavarriajr  Strive Skincare: https://www.striveskin.com  Integrity Square: https://www.integritysq.com Prospect Wizard: https://www.theprospectwizard.com Promotion Vault: https://www.promotionvault.com HigherDose: https://www.higherdose.com

Join Kaya Cast host Tommy Truong for a deep dive with Ryan Hunter of Spherex Labs. From Colorado to multi-state expansion, Ryan shares the playbook behind a disciplined, retailer-focused cannabis brand. Learn how Spherex wins at the shelf through authentic budtender relationships, in-store merchandising, and a full-stack marketing program that travels with retailers across markets. Discover why they keep a lean SKU set, how they iterate products—from rosin cartridges to a sleep gummy—tied to a relentless focus on quality hardware and reliable manufacturing. See how field marketing cadence, retailer partnerships, and data-driven programs drive sell-through and reduce over-assortment risk in a cash-constrained industry. The conversation also covers leadership, overcoming imposter syndrome, meditation and personal development, and how their consulting work intersects with cannabis entrepreneurship. If you're a dispensary or brand looking to scale sustainably—without chasing every trend—this episode offers actionable GTM and partnership insights you can apply right away. Find out more about Spherex Labs at:https://www.wearespherex.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanhunter/linkedin.com/company/6614091/ 00:00 Net Promoter Score (NPS) Explained + Why It Matters00:51 Podcast Intro + Meet Ryan (Background & How He Entered Cannabis)03:02 What Drove Spherex's Growth: Team, Discipline, and Relationships04:27 Marketing Personas & The Budtender-First Strategy06:44 Retail Partnerships, Road Game, and Scaling to New Markets10:55 Customer Journey Thinking: Community, Experimentation, and Iteration12:39 Sales + Marketing Shaping Product: Tight SKU Strategy & Quality Control15:04 Why Launch a Rosin Sleep Gummy: Market Insight + Smart Rollout21:57 Budtender Education Playbook + Measuring Impact with NPS26:23 What Sets Spherex Apart in a Commoditized Vape Cartridge Market27:24 Flavor Formulation + Hardware Quality: The Product Fundamentals28:22 Winning Budtenders: The Real Decision-Makers in Dispensaries31:35 Staying Top-of-Mind: Store Visit Cadence & Relationship Building32:14 The Over-Assortment Problem: Sell-Through, Payment Terms & Industry AR33:36 A Costco-Style Dispensary Model? Curating Fewer Brands for Better Turns34:13 Anti-Gravity Consulting: From Go-To-Market Strategy to Coaching & Psychedelics36:28 Imposter Syndrome & Unworthiness: What Shows Up in Coaching38:24 Psychedelic Facilitation (Cannabis): Softening Ego & Reworking Identity40:12 Meditation as the Antidote: Losing Anxiety, Not Your Edge48:56 Attention in a Dopamine World: Mindfulness, ADHD, and Social Media Boundaries51:13 Savoring & Presence: Relearning Joy in Everyday Moments52:56 Where to Find Ryan + Podcast Wrap-Upcannabis retail strategy, cannabis brand expansion, multi-state cannabis brand, Colorado cannabis market, cannabis merchandising strategy, dispensary shelf strategy, cannabis sell-through optimization, cannabis retail partnerships, budtender relationships, budtender engagement strategy, dispensary product merchandising, cannabis go-to-market strategy, cannabis GTM playbook, cannabis SKU optimization, lean SKU strategy cannabis, cannabis product assortment planning, dispensary inventory strategy, cannabis manufacturing reliability, cannabis hardware quality, rosin vape cartridges, cannabis rosin carts, cannabis sleep gummies, infused sleep gummies cannabis, cannabis product innovation, cannabis brand scaling, cannabis retailer marketing programs, dispensary field marketing, cannabis field marketing cadence, cannabis brand consulting, cannabis entrepreneurship, cannabis leadership development, cannabis founder mindset, cannabis business growth strategy, cannabis retail expansion strategy, cannabis brand partnerships, dispensary sales enablement, cannabis retail analytics, cannabis data-driven retail, cannabis merchandising analytics, dispensary sell-through metrics, cannabis inventory turnover, cannabis retail operations strategy, cannabis retailer loyalty programs, cannabis brand positioning, cannabis product quality strategy, cannabis packaging strategy, cannabis compliance manufacturing, cannabis supply chain reliability, cannabis distribution strategy, dispensary category management, cannabis category optimization, cannabis retail marketing strategy, dispensary marketing partnerships, cannabis consulting services, cannabis operator insights, cannabis podcast insights, Kaya Cast podcast, cannabis industry leadership, cannabis personal development, cannabis founder meditation, cannabis imposter syndrome leadership #kayacast #cannabis #tips #dispensaries #business #podcast

The best reboots don't start with a flashy roadmap. They require honesty and reflection with courage to make consequential decisions swiftly.  When a company is bleeding cash, stuck in the past, and getting further from what customers want, you eventually hit a fork in the road. Do you strip it down and rebuild, or walk away and call it a day? It's a tough decision as it forces leaders become refounders; to build trust and create a culture the team can rally behind with a vision for success.  To be an Entrepreneur you must believe in your ability to solve problems. Trying to be perfect is the enemy of progress but sometimes you have to take a risk.  On this week's episode of the Reboot Chronicles we talk with a fellow refounder and professional rebooter Brad Charron,  CEO of Aloha. committed to building a great brand that screams optimism backed by human values.  What Brad inherited wasn't a rocket ship. It was a beloved brand attached to a failing idea, buried under too many SKUs, a culture that had gone toxic, and losses so severe that the easiest answer would have been to call it. Instead, Brad rebuilt Aloha around a new set of priorities: fewer products, real ingredients and an employee-owned operating model rooted in transparency and accountability. Can you really have a relationship with a brand?  According to Aloha, yes you can! 

We are approaching spring time! Which means new brand launches, new lawn mowers, and a renewed energy as we head into Q2 of 2026!!!   In today's episode, I share some BTS of what we've been working on, the new launch that's coming and how many SKUs we're starting with, how to make sure you're finding the right supplier and a very important topic...   There is VALUE in VOLUME.   Take a listen!   All my content and resources found at: www.andyisom.com  

In this episode of The Voice of Retail, Michael LeBlanc sits down with Tara Conway, retail strategist and co-founder of Commerce Rewired, for a wide-ranging discussion on AI in retail, digital transformation, customer experience innovation and leadership in an era of disruption. Tara's retail career spans decades — from growing up in a family general store to senior leadership roles at Blacks Photography, Toys “R” Us Canada and The Source. She shares behind-the-scenes insights from launching Toys “R” Us Canada's first e-commerce site — a testing ground for global digital strategy — and implementing early clienteling technology that connected store associates with online product data, fundamentally reshaping the omnichannel experience for new parents at Babies “R” Us. The conversation turns to artificial intelligence in retail. Tara identifies inventory optimization, assortment planning and data-driven merchandising as the most impactful AI use cases today. With thousands of SKUs across hundreds of stores, AI enables retailers to interpret complex patterns in seasonality, demand forecasting and aged inventory — decisions that humans alone struggle to process at scale. On the customer-facing side, Tara discusses the evolution of chatbots into intelligent AI assistants capable of handling low-touch service inquiries such as order tracking and product availability. Rather than replacing employees, she argues that AI should enhance workforce productivity by eliminating repetitive tasks and enabling leaders to focus on higher-value decision-making. The episode also explores the risks of retail media networks. Tara warns that retail media can quickly become a friction point if revenue generation outweighs customer experience. Success, she argues, depends on intent: using data and messaging to improve the shopper journey, not overwhelm it. Michael and Tara debate why smaller and mid-sized retailers often outpace large chains in digital agility. Without legacy systems and bureaucratic layers, emerging brands can implement rapid test-and-learn strategies that drive innovation visible to consumers. For larger retailers, shedding outdated processes and shortening decision cycles will be critical to remaining competitive. The episode closes with Tara introducing Commerce Rewired, a new media platform focused on bold debate, data-driven insights and candid conversations about the future of commerce. For retailers navigating AI adoption, workforce transformation, omnichannel strategy and digital innovation, this episode delivers both strategic clarity and practical perspective. Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada's Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fifth year in a row, the National Retail Federation has designated Michael as on their Top Retail Voices for 2025, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael's cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.

You Can't Scale a Mess: Fix Your Shopify Backend & Unlock Profitable Growth for Your Apparel Brand If your Shopify backend is messy, your growth will be too. In this episode of The Business of Apparel Podcast, Rachel breaks down why clean backend data is the hidden key to scaling your apparel brand. If your reports are unreadable, your SKUs are inconsistent, and your product names are all over the place, you're making growth decisions blind. Rachel shares real brand audit stories, including one where 20 products turned into 100 report lines because of inconsistent naming, and explains how messy data can quietly cost you revenue, time, and clarity. You'll learn how to clean up your Shopify backend, standardize your SKU system, and finally pull reports you can actually use to make strategic, profitable decisions. If you're serious about scaling, this is where you start. Sign up for the FREE Shopify Workshop here: https://www.thebusinessofapparel.com/shopify-workshop Sign up for the Secrets Behind Billion Dollar Apparel Brands Masterclass here: https://www.thebusinessofapparel.com/secrets Join The Board here: https://www.thebusinessofapparel.com Key moments: 00:00 Scaling Your Apparel Brand 00:28 Understanding Your Shopify Store 02:14 Masterclass and Workshop Announcements 02:50 Importance of Clean Data 06:21 Client Success Stories and Data Cleanup 11:24 Free Resources and Tools for Your Brand 16:33 Final Thoughts and Upcoming Shopify Workshop   Watch more of The Business of Apparel Podcast episodes: Wholesale 101: https://youtu.be/lpezH1YwCyE Use AI in Your Apparel Brand: https://youtu.be/Dn9tjPNmfaw  Grow A 7-Figure Apparel Business: https://youtu.be/rpQYDyo5Rao We can't wait to hear what you think of this episode! Purchase the Business of Apparel Online Course: https://www.thebusinessofapparel.com/course ABOUT RACHEL: Rachel Erickson—Fractional COO, Apparel Industry Consultant, and founder of Unmarked Street and The Business of Apparel. With 20+ years in technical design and product development leadership, I've sat at the executive table of a $25M apparel line and helped scale it to $60M in one year.   After decades working inside major fashion companies, I learned the truth behind billion-dollar brands, and it's not about chasing trends or pumping out endless products. It's about building clean processes, tightly edited assortments, and obsessively focused customer targeting.   I help founders and CEOs of performance apparel brands: ✅ Build lean, profitable product lines ✅ Streamline operations for growth ✅ Replace overwhelm with executive clarity ✅ Create garments that fit bodies in motion   Whether you're just hitting $1M in revenue or trying to break through the $10M ceiling, my team joins you as an embedded operations and product partner—running fittings, line plans, tech packs, and vendor communications so you can get back to leading.   To connect with Rachel, you can join her LinkedIn community here: LinkedIn. To visit her website, go to: www.unmarkedstreet.com.   

In this episode, we break down what really belongs in COGS, how to read gross margin correctly, and how to dig deeper to uncover hidden margin leaks. If you want stronger cash flow, smarter pricing, and better decisions, this episode will help you master the numbers that matter most.

In this episode, we explore how to fix underperforming product listings and stop losing money on bad designs. Monte Desai, Founder of Pixii.ai, explains how his AI platform uses data from 100,000 top Amazon listings to create high-converting, editable images in minutes. He shares how brands are cutting costs, shortening design times from weeks to seconds, and seeing massive jumps in their conversion rates. You will also learn how to stay consistent across different sales channels like Shopify and Amazon.Topics discussed in this episode:  How poor design kills conversion rates.What top listings do differently to sell.Why refreshing listings monthly boosts growth.How AI builds full creative strategies fast.Why editable AI images beat standard tools.How to scale one design to 1,000 SKUs.What brands save on professional photoshoots.How to lower ad spend with better visuals.Why AI empowers founders to design alone.Links & Resources Website: https://pixii.ai/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/montedesai/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pixii_aiGet access to more free resources by visiting the show notes at https://tinyurl.com/yc7nuxdsI'd love your feedback. Tap the the link to send me a text.I'd love your feedback. Tap the the link to send me a text.______________________________________________________ LOVE THE SHOW? HERE ARE THE NEXT STEPS! Follow the podcast to get every bonus episode. Tap follow now and don't miss out! Rate & Review: Help others discover the show by rating the show on Apple Podcasts at https://tinyurl.com/ecb-apple-podcasts Join our Free Newsletter: https://newsletter.ecommercecoffeebreak.com/ Support The Show On Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EcommerceCoffeeBreak Partner with us: https://ecommercecoffeebreak.com/partner-with-us/

What does it actually take to build a non-alcoholic spirit that the bar world respects?In this episode of Business of Drinks, Chris Abbott, co-founder of The Pathfinder, walks us through how the NA brand scaled to more than 20,000 nine-liter cases in 2025 — up over 80% year-over-year — by doing something many emerging brands skip: Earning credibility on-premise first.From Day One, The Pathfinder wasn't positioned around what it doesn't have. Instead, the team spent two years developing a fermented and distilled hemp-seed base, layered with 20 botanicals, so bartenders could treat it like a real spirit. Their key insight? If you want back-bar respect, build like a spirits brand — not a wellness brand.Chris shares why they went after the hardest accounts first — bars you can't buy your way into — and how landing 50 to 100 serious on-premise placements before leaning on distributors changed the entire conversation. As he observes, case studies are helpful, but visible traction in elite accounts is what turns heads inside distribution (and for consumer brand awareness).He's also transparent about what really motivates distributor partners. It's not just growth charts. It's whether reps believe they can make money selling the brand. Once that clicks, velocity follows.We talk about the unexpected upside of scarcity (including an early COVID-era stockout that created outsized buzz), why the company resisted the typical CPG urge to launch multiple SKUs too early, and how RTDs were introduced later as a smart trial and versatility play — not as a distraction from the core bottle.Retail expansion through Total Wine and Whole Foods became another proof point. When Pathfinder started selling in markets where the founders weren't personally hand-selling or training staff, that's when they knew product-market fit had moved beyond the echo chamber.At its core, this is a conversation about disciplined growth. Chris returns again and again to fundamentals: Unit economics, profitable scaling, and earning the right to expand into new states and new channels.If you're building in non-alc, spirits, THC, functional, or any emerging drinks category where credibility with the trade matters, this episode offers a replicable blueprint for how to do it — and how to scale without losing focus.For the latest updates, follow us:Business of Drinks:YouTubeLinkedInInstagram @bizofdrinksErica Duecy, co-host: Erica Duecy is founder and co-host of Business of Drinks and one of the drinks industry's most accomplished digital and content strategists. She runs the consultancy and advisory arm of Business of Drinks and has built publishing and marketing programs for Drizly, VinePair, SevenFifty, and other hospitality and drinks tech companies.LinkedInInstagram @ericaduecyScott Rosenbaum, co-host: Scott Rosenbaum is co-host of Business of Drinks and a veteran strategist and analyst with deep experience building drinks portfolios. Most recently, he was the Portfolio Development Director at Distill Ventures. Prior to that, he was the Vice President of T. Edward Wines & Spirits, a New York-based importer and distributor.LinkedInCaroline Lamb, contributor: Caroline is a producer and on-air contributor at Business of Drinks and a key account sales and marketing specialist at AHD Vintners, a Michigan-based importer and distributor.LinkedInInstagram @borkalineIf you enjoyed today's conversation, follow Business of Drinks wherever you're listening, and don't forget to rate and review us. Your support helps us reach new listeners passionate about the drinks industry. Thank you!

In this episode, Donna and Tom sit down with Elena Polansky, Founder of Somerset Solutions Advisory Partners and former Chief Procurement Officer and Vice President of Global Sourcing & Procurement at BioMarin Pharmaceutical, to explore the evolution of procurement from a support function to a strategic value-engine. Elena shares insights from her 25-year career, including over 20 years at Pfizer where she delivered more than $1 billion in cumulative savings. She discusses navigating hidden costs in global sourcing, from geopolitical volatility to regulatory complexities, and the unique procurement challenges within life sciences. Elena also emphasizes the power of curiosity, asking smart questions, and staying open to feedback as essential traits for success in today's dynamic supply chain landscape. Takeaways: Procurement's transformation into a strategic business driver Managing hidden costs and risks in global pharmaceutical sourcing The role of innovation and technology in modern procurement The importance of curiosity and continuous learning Stay connected with CSCR on LinkedIn (Center for Supply Chain Research) and Instagram (@pennstatesupplychain), and be sure to follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you are tuning into Unpacked: Insights hosted by the Penn State Smeal Center for Supply Chain Research™. Thank you for joining us!  Visit our website: https://www.smeal.psu.edu/cscr  Guest Bio: Elena Polansky is a results-driven executive and strategic advisor with more than two decades of experience transforming procurement, operations, and organizational culture across global enterprises. As the Founder of Somerset Solutions Advisory Partners, she focuses on unlocking value through procurement transformation, supplier ecosystem optimization, and strategic advisory support. Her work centers on helping organizations evolve with clarity, confidence, and measurable impact. Before launching Somerset Solutions, Elena served as Chief Procurement Officer and Vice President of Global Sourcing & Procurement at BioMarin Pharmaceutical, where she established a centralized global sourcing function. Under her leadership, the team harmonized tools and processes, strengthened sourcing capabilities, and exceeded savings targets. Elena spent 20 years at Pfizer, advancing through multiple senior leadership roles in Global Sourcing and Global Supply. She delivered more than $1 billion in cumulative savings across direct and indirect categories and led the Internal Medicines External Supply organization, overseeing a global network of 50+ contract manufacturers producing 1,500+ SKUs. Her leadership ensured supply continuity, quality, and agility across diverse and highly regulated supply ecosystems. Elena began her career in consulting, leading strategy development, technology implementations, and change management initiatives for clients in the manufacturing and distribution sectors. At Andersen, she executed ERP implementations and software selection engagements; at Proxicom, she shaped digital strategy for a global bank and led the design of an internal knowledge management platform that improved collaboration and firm-wide efficiency. Elena is a proud Penn State alumna, holding a BS in Business Logistics and International Business from the Smeal College of Business. She resides in New Jersey with her husband—also a Penn State graduate—their two children, and their two dogs.

Send a textWhat does it really take to build a profitable business while raising a family—and still like your life? Jennifer joins us with a story that starts in a delivery room and a bakery build-out and grows into a 20-year company she eventually sold. We pull back the curtain on the nine pillars she now uses to help women prioritize profit, protect their time, and grow a business that can thrive without burning them out.We get practical fast: how to price with data instead of emotion, track time to uncover hidden labor, and guard your gross margins so there's money left for subscriptions, overhead, and your paycheck. Jennifer explains why simplifying offers can unlock growth—like trimming 72 SKUs down to 16—and how a focused niche turns you from forgettable to top-of-mind. You'll hear the difference between selling “cookies” and selling “gifts,” and how a photographer quadrupled revenue by choosing real estate over everything else.Community becomes a strategy, not a nice-to-have. Jennifer lays out the Fab Five advisory circle—an industry peer, a seasoned mentor, an operator outside your field, a younger spark, and a trusted confidant—so you have wisdom, innovation, and emotional safety on speed dial. On the sales front, we reframe follow-up as care, not pressure, with simple email cadences, value-first touch points, and even handwritten notes that cut through the noise. Along the way we talk boundaries, presence at home, and getting kids involved so the lessons of grit and service become a family legacy.If you're a mom founder aiming for profit, simplicity, and staying power, this conversation hands you a blueprint: niche clearly, price bravely, follow up consistently, and let your community lift you. Loved the episode? Subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review so more moms can build businesses they love.Jennifer's website: https://nextwavebusinesscoaching.com/Free Resource:  3 Steps to Boosting Profits in Your Small Business Need a CRM System.  I highly recommend FG FunnelsJennifer's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nextwavewithjen/

This episode features John Rebagliati, a 26-year food service brokerage veteran at IPS, in conversation with Jay. John started his career in restaurant operations before making the leap to the brokerage side in the spring of 2000, the same week he learned he was expecting his first child. He shares the culture shock of going from managing restaurants (where he assumed distributors stocked everything) to learning that roughly only 10–20% of SKUs are actually stocked at broad-line distributors.The conversation covers how John built his career from cold-calling out of the Yellow Pages with a bag phone in his Mazda, to becoming a seasoned broker navigating complex manufacturer-distributor-operator dynamics. Key themes include the irreplaceable value of having worked in restaurant operations, how broker-operator trust is built over years, the misconceptions operators have about distribution, and how technology and AI are reshaping the industry. John also shares personal insights on mentorship, morning routines, reducing screen time, and the importance of stepping away to recharge. The episode wraps with mutual appreciation between two long-time industry friends who've known each other since 2004.

This episode features John Rebagliati, a 26-year food service brokerage veteran at IPS, in conversation with Jay. John started his career in restaurant operations before making the leap to the brokerage side in the spring of 2000, the same week he learned he was expecting his first child. He shares the culture shock of going from managing restaurants (where he assumed distributors stocked everything) to learning that roughly only 10–20% of SKUs are actually stocked at broad-line distributors.The conversation covers how John built his career from cold-calling out of the Yellow Pages with a bag phone in his Mazda, to becoming a seasoned broker navigating complex manufacturer-distributor-operator dynamics. Key themes include the irreplaceable value of having worked in restaurant operations, how broker-operator trust is built over years, the misconceptions operators have about distribution, and how technology and AI are reshaping the industry. John also shares personal insights on mentorship, morning routines, reducing screen time, and the importance of stepping away to recharge. The episode wraps with mutual appreciation between two long-time industry friends who've known each other since 2004.

In this episode, Etienne Nichols sits down with Edwin Lindsay, a seasoned MedTech operator and QARA leader, to discuss the systemic challenges facing the pediatric medical device market. Following a personal experience in a neonatal ward, Edwin highlights the stark reality that many pediatric treatments rely on adult devices adapted off-label, often leading to safety risks and clinical inefficiencies.The conversation delves into the "mismatch" of the pediatric market: these devices require the same rigorous regulatory and quality standards as adult products but offer significantly lower financial upside due to smaller patient populations. This creates a barrier for investors and manufacturers, leaving clinicians and nurses to "work miracles" with tools that aren't always fit for purpose.Despite these hurdles, Edwin shares an optimistic vision for the future. He discusses his initiative to build a collaborative network of experts—including regulatory consultants, testing houses, and grant writers—willing to provide pro-bono or at-cost support for pediatric startups. The goal is to create a streamlined regulatory roadmap that prioritizes patient safety without the prohibitive costs that currently stall innovation.Key Timestamps00:45 – The "Pediatric Gap": Why pediatric devices have adult-level requirements but lower ROI.03:12 – Personal Insight: Edwin's experience in the hospital and the "Guinness philosophy" of giving back.05:30 – The danger of adhesives and adapting adult materials for newborn skin.08:15 – Building a pediatric volunteer network: Testing houses and consultancies stepping up.11:40 – Regulatory Roadmaps: Navigating the age variability from premature infants to adolescents.14:50 – Off-label usage risks and the "mindset shift" required for manufacturers.18:25 – Micro-timestamp: The FDA's Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE) and P-Sub programs.21:10 – Real-world clinical friction: Alarm fatigue and sensor sensitivity in NICU settings.25:40 – The hidden costs: Manufacturing complexity, multiple SKUs, and low-volume production.Quotes"We need to give clinicians the correct tools to work their miracles. They don't want to use products off-label; they want devices actually designed for the children they are saving." - Edwin Lindsay"If you have a pediatric project, there is a community behind you. We are breaking down the barriers of risk and cost because these babies deserve a chance." - Edwin LindsayTakeawaysRegulatory Flexibility: Utilize specific FDA pathways like the Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE) and the Pediatric Submissions (P-Sub) program to gain early feedback and specialized guidance.Collaborative Cost-Sharing: Seek out "altruistic" partners; many testing houses and manufacturers are willing to work at-cost or under different financial models for pediatric-specific innovations.Design for Sensitivity: Pediatric innovation isn't just about miniaturizing adult tech—it requires solving unique issues like alarm fatigue and skin sensitivity (e.g., non-damaging adhesives).Workflow Integration: Engage the "head nurse" early in R&D to ensure the device fits into the high-stress environment of a pediatric ward without adding to clinical fatigue.ReferencesFDA HDE Program: A regulatory pathway for devices intended for diseases or conditions that affect small populations.Greenlight Guru: The industry-leading platform for QMS & EDC solutions, helping MedTech companies maintain...

In this episode of Product & Packaging Powerhouse, Megan Young Gamble talks with fulfillment expert Maïré BAVARDAY-ROSA from ECOMSPACES all things fulfillment, operations, and growth for indie and product-based brands. Maïré details her inspiring journey from a small Caribbean island to launching a logistics business in Atlanta, sharing lessons on resilience and innovation. The conversation covers when to consider a 3PL, the importance of organization (like using SKUs and barcodes from the start!), strategies for inventory management, and why branded packaging and customer service are key growth levers. They also discuss the impact of technology like Shopify, dynamic pricing due to tariffs, retail readiness, and the ever-changing landscape of ecommerce logistics, including AI's growing role. Maïré offers super practical tips: focus on numbers, outsource shipping when it makes sense, and never underestimate operations' impact on customer experience. The episode wraps with a fun “power round” where Maïré shares personal tidbits and her passion for helping purpose-driven brands. Affiliate & Other Links: [Megan Young Gamble Links][AFFILIATE] Ready to crank out your content in as little as 5 minutes? Use Castmagic, AI powered tool to take your content creation from overwhelmed to overjoyed by saving hours of developing content. Save 20 hours by Signing up today! https://get.castmagic.io/Megan [FREEBIE] Learn about “day in the life” of a Packaging Project Manager → Get our “Starter Packaging PM Freebie” [link] https://glc.ck.page/thestarterpackagingprojectmanager [FREEBIE] Access commonly referenced organizations and tools in ONE PLACE with our handy guide HERE [link] https://bit.ly/OSTPlay Subscribe & Access our Video Vault YouTube Channel [ link] https://bit.ly/GLConYouTubeJoin our Email List [link] https://glc.ck.page/55128ae04b Follow and Connect with Megan on LinkedIn [link] https://linkedin.com/in/megangambleLearn about GLC, Packaging & Project execution firm for CPG brands http://www.getlevelconsulting.comWork with Me @ GLC, Schedule Discovery Call https://calendly.com/getlevelconsulting/15-minute-insight-sessionGot a topic you'd love us to cover? Share your ideas here [link] https://bit.ly/ppptopicform[Powerhouse Guest Maïré s LINKS]LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mairehina/Company Website : https://www.ecomspaces.com/Email Address: maire@ecomspaces.comQUOTES:Shipping is the most hated industry, I think, in the entire world. Shipping is hard.If you start spending more than two hours a day shipping, it's time to look at outsourcing your shipping.I would rather pay someone $100 to ship stuff for me in two hours than spend these two hours and lose the opportunity to make $500.Be organized. People overlook how important that is.Packaging is a very underutilized marketing tool.The best marketing is organic marketing.If you treat your customer extremely well and they have the best customer experience possible, you're going to grow organically.

TikTok Shop sales are booming. Will Amazon surpass Walmart? Plus, a major Helium 10 announcement. Get the latest buzzing e-commerce news on this Weekly Buzz episode! We're back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10's Principal Brand Evangelist, Carrie Miller. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, TikTok Shop, Walmart, and E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10's newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level.   TikTok Shop U.S. GMV grew 68% to reach US$15.1B in 2025 https://thelowdown.momentum.asia/new-report-tiktok-shop-u-s-gmv-grew-68-to-reach-us15-1b-in-2025/ TikTok Shop buyers expect 4x faster response than on Amazon https://channelx.world/2026/02/tiktok-shop-buyers-expect-4x-faster-response-than-on-amazon/ New Feature Alerts: Helium 10 just launched for the Diamond plan. This new feature, called Insight Alert, instantly flags SKUs at risk of Amazon low-inventory and long-term storage fees, so you can sort by risk and fix restocks before you get charged.   Plus, Elite members can now set a specific time window for “Request a Review” automations in Follow-Up, letting you choose exactly when review requests are sent instead of leaving timing to Amazon. Amazon set to pass Walmart in annual revenue for the first time after hitting $700 billion in sales https://www.modernretail.co/operations/amazon-set-to-pass-walmart-in-annual-revenue-for-the-first-time-after-hitting-700-billion-in-sales/ Amazon Seller Central: New Sell Globally feature simplifies international expansion https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHR0EyRFpaQ1ZSWDdWRTZV Helium 10 is bringing back its old-school, high-level strategy webinars with a major educational session hosted by Leo Sgovio and Bradley Sutton, packed with “behind-closed-doors” tactics tailored for selling in 2026. It airs February 23 at 10 am PST — register now at https://h10.me/bigweb226 In episode 496 of the AM/PM Podcast and Weekly Buzz, Carrie talks about: 00:40 - TikTok US Sales 03:53 - TikTok Buyer Expectations 06:09 - Low Inventory Fee Alert 08:30 - Review Request Delivery 10:23 - Amazon vs Walmart 12:18 - AI Bid Rules Strategy 16:01 - Sell Globally Feature 17:23 - Big Announcement

In this episode, the host interviews Brian Johnson, a leading expert in online advertising and Amazon conversion strategies. Brian shares actionable advice on how brands can stand out in crowded marketplaces by highlighting unique product features, understanding buyer psychology, and continuously innovating their listings. He emphasizes the importance of clear, benefit-driven messaging and regularly analyzing competitors and customer feedback. Through real-world examples, Brian illustrates how deep customer understanding and attention to detail can drive sales and outpace competitors. Listeners gain practical tips for differentiating products and optimizing Amazon listings for higher conversion rates.Chapters:Introduction to Brian Johnson (00:00:00)Host introduces Brian Johnson, his background in online advertising, and his achievements in Amazon strategy.Differentiation Through Unique Features (00:00:57)Discussion on using unique or overlooked product features (e.g., filtered beer, handcrafted products) to stand out in the market.Mindset Shift in Product Optimization (00:02:16)Emphasizes the importance of thinking beyond standard competition and adopting a new mindset for product differentiation.Understanding Buyer Psychology (00:02:48)Brian explains how most competitors ignore buyer psychology and the opportunity this creates for attentive brands.Continuous Innovation and Adaptation (00:04:15)Necessity of ongoing innovation and regular review of product listings to maintain differentiation as competitors adapt.Communicating Benefits Quickly (00:05:12)Advice on leading with clear, succinct benefits in product titles, images, and bullet points to answer "what's in it for me?"Conversion Rate Optimization Tactics (00:06:07)Focus on the importance of quickly communicating benefits for higher conversion rates, especially in the first few seconds.Three Actionable Takeaways (00:07:00)Host summarizes three key takeaways: always innovate, analyze top search terms and listings, and focus on customer benefits.Pattern Breaking in Listings (00:09:04)Discussion on breaking visual and content patterns in listings to stand out, while staying within Amazon's terms of service.Understanding Customer Motivation (00:10:25)Example of Wendy's Frosty: understanding why customers buy and using those insights to improve product offerings.Learning from Competitor Mistakes (00:12:00)Brian shares a Wendy's failure example, highlighting the importance of spotting and capitalizing on competitors' mistakes.Closing Remarks and Farewell (00:14:12)Host thanks Brian for his insights and encourages listeners to follow his work. Brian expresses his appreciation.Links and Mentions:Tools and WebsitesAmazonWendy'sConcepts and StrategiesDifferentiation in Product Listings: 00:07:07Buyer Psychology: 00:03:16Review Analysis: "00:03:16Actionable TakeawaysContinuous Innovation: 00:08:17Evaluate Top Search Terms: 00:09:04Customer-Centric Copy: 00:10:25Transcript:Josh 00:00:00  Today I'm super excited to introduce you all to Brian Johnson. Brian has served as a leader in online advertising and conversion rate strategy for nearly two decades. He's a trusted partner to tens of thousands of brands across the globe. And Brian's work has earned him a reputation as a disruptive force in a world brimming with new and interesting challenges. Through his advertising agency, Canopy Management, as well as his highly successful Amazon advertising consultancy, community training and software, Brian has helped over 25,000 brands increase sales by over $2 billion on Amazon through advertising strategy, conversion rate optimization and differentiation. The results his products and services deliver continue to put him in high demand, with companies both large and small around the world. So with that introduction, Brian, I want to welcome you to the podcast.Brian 00:00:56  Thanks for having me.Josh 00:00:57  I don't remember there's a there was a beer company and you might know this, right? That what they changed in their marketing is that they said that their their beer was filtered, right. I think that's the correct thing, right? Where their beer is the exact same.Josh 00:01:14  Went through the exact same process as everybody else. Right. And that is the differentiating factor is like they just went through that thought process of like, all right, what's the most expensive step or what's the what takes the longest amount of time. And they're like, oh, we spend a lot of time filtering. Let's call out that our beer is filtered. And so at that time, nobody else was calling out that our beer was filtered, whether that was important or called out. You know, and and it differentiated them. And I think there's a lot I mean, I've already had a big mindset shift with that, like with some of my products that, one thing that we can do is like there's a lot of like, hand tooling time that takes a lot of, like, hand craftsmanship for some of our products. It's like, why don't we say that this is actually handcrafted like each one gets, you know, we can market that. And instead of just looking at the standard competition and just looking at like, oh, what does everybody say about planners? Right.Josh 00:02:16  Well, our planner has 1000 pages. Mine has 1001 pages or things like that. That's that's the basic stuff. Like what? I love those questions that you talked about. And it can make such an impact. So I'll let you continue going down that path. But I want the audience to know, like this is a huge mindset shift and I don't we haven't had any podcast guests on thus far that's ever talked about something as simple as this when it comes to product optimization, that I think genuinely is like a true miss right now in the industry.Brian 00:02:48  It is a huge opportunity because I can I can guarantee you that. But, you know, I wasn't just being cheeky when I said, like, I could walk into any niche on Amazon and immediately see the opportunities. that is that is a true statement because your competitors, they don't understand the buyer psychology. They're not taking the time to consider their bio psychology. In fact, you're probably even going up against some brands that have, you know, a thousand SKUs and they don't have the time or the resources in order to even go through that process.Brian 00:03:16  But you can, right? If you truly are passionate about the audience that you're serving, I'll probably mention it a little bit later on. As far as, review, analysis. That's a whole, whole additional topic that goes into that. But, those examples, those are just a couple of, of, you know, 20 different, 30 different ways that you can make small improvements to how well that your product, you know, catches somebody's eyes, compels them or interests them, hooks them, I call it, to pull them into your product listing just from what's in your first 75 characters of your title. and then go towards the end the listing itself, 100% is that, yes, you can you can point out benefits and I and I made I pointed out a couple of examples here as far as like how do you come up with a benefit or feature that makes my product appear to be unique? Now, you brought up a very good point. And that is, you know, my competitors don't do this currently, and that is.Brian 00:04:15  Yes, they will adapt. When they see your success, they will emulate you. And you'll need to continue to innovate. So just plan on every six months going back, looking at your ni...

In this episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with longtime friend and beauty industry force Jaimee Holmes for an intimate conversation that marks a new chapter in her career—the launch of Fel. Known for shaping some of the most iconic products in prestige beauty, Holmes opens up about the personal experiences, creative pauses, and emotional clarity that ultimately led her to build something entirely her own.The episode traces Jaimee's journey from her early days at Sephora—where she learned the power of founder vision and retail storytelling—to pivotal roles at Benefit, Perricone MD, and Too Faced. She reflects on leading the launch of Better Than Sex Mascara, the conviction it took to push past skepticism, and how trusting instinct over trend can redefine an entire category. Later chapters at Kendo and Goop offered a different lens: overseeing countless brands and SKUs revealed just how crowded—and emotionally disconnected—the industry had become.That realization, paired with personal loss and reflection, became the quiet catalyst for Fel. Rather than chasing what's next, Holmes chose to look inward—building a brand rooted in nostalgia, emotion, and the universal language of a kiss. Fel's debut, Kissylips, is designed to be felt as much as worn: playful, tactile, and intentionally uncomplicated, with packaging and textures that evoke memory rather than perfection.At its core, Fel is about responsibility and care—especially for younger consumers. From globally clean, vegan formulations to a proprietary fel-good complex™ designed to support both the lip barrier and emotional wellbeing, every detail is deliberate. This isn't makeup built for speed or spectacle—it's built for connection.Listen to the full episode of Skin Anarchy to hear Jaimee Holmes share how Fel came to life, why meaning matters more than momentum, and how beauty's future may be rooted in feeling something again.SHOP FEL BEAUTYDon't forget to subscribe to Skin Anarchy on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred platform.Reach out to us through email with any questions.Sign up for our newsletter!Shop all our episodes and products mentioned through our ShopMy Shelf!Support the show

What if one hour of creative testing beats a month of ad spend? In this episode of Sharkpreneur, Seth Greene interviews Daniela Bolzmann, Founder of MindfulGoods.co, who leads a boutique Amazon creative studio that helps seven- and eight-figure CPG and DTC brands turn product pages into high-converting brand experiences. Known for running hundreds of split tests and publishing aggregate metrics, she shows where creative focus delivers outsized conversion gains. In this conversation, Daniela breaks down the three highest-impact tests, why brand-driven storytelling wins on Amazon, and how shifting a slice of ad budget into creative can unlock rapid lift. Key Takeaways:→ What brand-specific storytelling looks like on a PDP.→ Why it's vital to have the right title, images, image stacks, and content.→ How to make your main image drive clicks. → How ongoing split tests compound results across SKUs. → The importance of going all in with conviction. Daniela Bolzmann is the Founder of MindfulGoods.co, the go-to creative studio for Amazon brands. As a featured speaker at Amazon Accelerate 2024, she is a leading expert in Amazon optimization and supports hundreds of eCommerce brands in doubling and tripling their sales on Amazon through creative content that converts. Connect With Daniela:Website: https://mindfulgoods.co/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielabolzmann/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dbolzmann/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@danielabolzmann

What does growth actually look like inside today's liquor stores — and where is it no longer coming from?In this episode of Business of Drinks, Jon Halper, CEO and owner of Top Ten Liquors, offers a rare operator-level view into how consumer behavior is evolving across wine, spirits, beer, non-alcoholic, and THC-adjacent categories — and what those shifts mean for brands trying to win at retail.Top Ten Liquors operates 15 stores across Minnesota and generates more than $50 million in annual sales, giving Jon a front-row seat to category change at real scale. From that vantage point, he challenges a core industry assumption: That consumers shop by category. Instead, Jon sees shoppers choosing based on occasion, mood, and desired effect — and flexing between alcohol, lower-alcohol, non-alcoholic, or THC products depending on the moment.For traditional alcohol brands, Jon explains why growth is no longer reliably driven by classic trade-up behavior. Premiumization still exists, but it's uneven and episodic, while frequency and basket size are under pressure. He discusses how GLP-1 drugs are already influencing drinking behavior — particularly among higher-income, health-conscious consumers — reducing consumption occasions rather than eliminating them outright.That shift toward intentional consumption is showing up across emerging categories as well. Jon shares how format and function are becoming critical growth levers, whether that's single-serve spirits, lower-dose options, or non-alcoholic products that fit specific occasions rather than trying to replace alcohol entirely.Within THC, he offers a concrete example of how this plays out at retail: Edibles now account for nearly 25% of Top Ten's THC sales, while beverage remains the primary entry point. Importantly, he frames this not as category cannibalization, but as incremental behavior driven by use case — a pattern brands across all drinks categories should be paying attention to.For brands, distributors, and investors, Jon outlines what retail partners now expect: Smarter assortments over more SKUs, depth in fewer markets, and execution that reflects how consumers actually shop today. He also frames alcohol as a cyclical category in a slower phase, arguing that the companies who adapt during this period will be best positioned when growth returns, potentially post-2026.If you want a grounded, data-backed view of how adult beverage growth is actually being built — and constrained — at the point of sale, this episode delivers.For the latest updates, follow us:Business of Drinks:YouTubeLinkedInInstagram @bizofdrinksErica Duecy, co-host: Erica Duecy is founder and co-host of Business of Drinks and one of the drinks industry's most accomplished digital and content strategists. She runs the consultancy and advisory arm of Business of Drinks and has built publishing and marketing programs for Drizly, VinePair, SevenFifty, and other hospitality and drinks tech companies.LinkedInInstagram @ericaduecyScott Rosenbaum, co-host: Scott Rosenbaum is co-host of Business of Drinks and a veteran strategist and analyst with deep experience building drinks portfolios. Most recently, he was the Portfolio Development Director at Distill Ventures. Prior to that, he was the Vice President of T. Edward Wines & Spirits, a New York-based importer and distributor.LinkedInCaroline Lamb, contributor: Caroline is a producer and on-air contributor at Business of Drinks and a key account sales and marketing specialist at AHD Vintners, a Michigan-based importer and distributor.LinkedInInstagram @borkalineSPONSOR: SWIG Partners is exclusively offering $100 off their supplier-distributor matchmaking fee when you mention the Business of Drinks podcast, or inquire via this link: ⁠https://www.swigpartners.com/businessofdrinksIf you enjoyed today's conversation, follow Business of Drinks wherever you're listening, and don't forget to rate and review us. Thank you!

Peter Russo, entrepreneur and hardware mentor who has founded and sold multiple companies, shares decades of hard-won wisdom on working with contract manufacturers. With 15+ brands created, 2,000+ SKUs launched, and $250M in retail sales under his belt, Peter reveals the strategies, pitfalls, and creative approaches that separate successful hardware partnerships from costly disasters.What You'll Learn:• How to structure contracts that protect your IP while enabling collaboration • The cultural fit factors that make or break CM relationships • Why startups are "crappy customers" and how to overcome it with storytelling • Exclusivity negotiation strategies that work for both parties • Exit planning from day one: ensuring you can transition suppliers when needed • How to avoid being trapped by tooling, know-how, or single-source dependencies • The power of treating suppliers as partners, not vendorsEpisode Sponsors:Jiga - Professional hardware sourcing with direct access to vetted manufacturers and reliable capacity from prototype through production. Communicate directly with machinists, maintain supplier relationships, and get consistently reliable quality. Visit jiga.ioOnshape - The only cloud-native product development platform combining professional-grade CAD with built-in PDM and real-time collaboration tools. Through the Onshape Startup Program, eligible hardware startups receive free access to Onshape Professional for one year, including integrated CAM. Apply at onshapepro/the-builder-circleConnect & Learn More:• Follow the show's Substack for hardware tools, frameworks, and tips: https://substack.com/@thebuildercircle • Reach out to our LinkedIn Page if you have topics you'd like us to deep dive!DISCLAIMER Creators of this show are independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by any other company. All views expressed are solely those of the guests. Content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or any professional advice. Listeners are responsible for their own decisions and should consult qualified professionals. By listening, you agree we are not liable for any outcomes.

Without brand, growth and performance marketing are just flashes in the pan.In the wake of iOS 14 privacy changes & rising CACs, we're no longer in an era where growth at all costs is a viable strategy anymore.I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Foujan Volk, the VP of Brand & Marketing at Parachute Home. She was the first marketing hire at Parachute Home and built the brand from the ground up.Parachute Home is an emerging brand in the home goods category with a range of products.    The brand started out of a home office/showroom in Los Angeles with a DTC presence.Foujan and her team realized people love touching the bedding fabrics, which was a different experience from the typical plastic-wrapped sheets.From that experience, she saw immense value in having customers touch and feel products.It's a differentiator and a brand experience.  That home showroom expanded to 26 brand stores.  These stores are in major markets where DTC buyers or the customer demographic is concentrated. Parachute invests a lot of energy in making that experience feel like being in someone's home. In the last year, they have invested heavily in experiential marketing, hosting over 200 events, which have generated sales and strong brand affinity.Foujan defines omnichannel: “Be wherever the customer wants to shop”.To that end, Parachute has wholesale distribution with Crate & Barrel, Nordstrom, and Bloomingdales.‍In addition to their DTC presence and owned retail locations.‍Foujan shares that wholesale is a double-edged sword.‍She has very little insight into who their customers are, but wholesale brings a big uplift in brand awareness. ‍Foujan suggests entering retail with small tests with a limited selection of SKUs.‍And monitoring sell-through, DTC cross-over, and brand lift to determine the next steps.   ‍Brand awareness is the leading indicator, whereas the DTC cross-over as measured through the post-purchase survey is the lagging indicator.‍Keeping a consistent brand experience across channels is of paramount importance.‍Foujan and her creative team run brand training during onboarding and invoke the brand regularly. ‍Foujan is excited that brand marketing is back in the forefront in the wake of iOS 14 privacy changes and the sunset of the growth at all costs era.‍Without a brand, growth and performance marketing are just flashes in the pan.‍That sentiment is stronger than ever.‍Thanks, Foujan for sharing your story and perspective!

If you want to play the game on hard mode… randomly pick an industry and hope it works.In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson and Jack Carr break down exactly how they'd build a home service business in 2026—and why the old 2016–2020 playbook is dead. They go deep on research-first market selection, avoiding late-stage consolidation traps, picking “boring” services with clean SKUs, and building a business that can win even when weather, competition, and ad platforms don't cooperate.In this episode, we cover:Research, Research, Research: Why “randomly picking a trade” is hard mode—and how to find unmet demand in a specific market.The 2016–2020 Playbook Is Irrelevant: Why advice from the late 2010s doesn't match today's competitive reality.Consolidation & Multiples: How consolidation changes outcomes—and why “gold mine” industries can cool off before you're big enough.Pick the Right Industry (Fragmented + Big TAM): What to look for in a winning service category in 2026.Boring Businesses Win: Drain cleaning, duct cleaning, leak detection, jetting, water filtration, septic, turf—simple offerings, repeatable operations.

Jordan Harper built an eight-figure skincare brand in its first year by maxing out five credit cards while already $500,000 in debt — and never raised a single dollar from investors. In this interview, the founder of Barefaced breaks down how years of treating patients as a nurse practitioner revealed a massive gap in the skincare market, why simplifying routines unlocked explosive demand, and how a password-protected pre-order generated over 1,000 sales in 48 hours with no email list. What you'll learn in this interview: • How Jordan funded her business using credit cards instead of investors • Why simplifying to four SKUs drove eight-figure revenue • The exact pre-order strategy that validated demand before launch • How to build trust and repeat purchases without paid marketing • Why destroying inventory protected long-term brand value • How Barefaced reached a 90% repeat customer rate • The real risks of manufacturing and supplier contracts • How to hire senior talent without giving up equity • Jordan's time-blocking system for running a business and family • Why serving customers beats selling at every stage of growth By the end of this episode, you'll understand how to validate a product, fund a launch creatively, and scale a physical ecommerce brand without venture capital — while protecting margins, reputation, and personal bandwidth. SAVE 50% ON OMNISEND FOR 3 MONTHS Get 50% off your first 3 months of email and SMS marketing with Omnisend with the code FOUNDR50. Just head to ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://your.omnisend.com/foundr⁠⁠⁠⁠ to get started. HOW WE CAN HELP YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS FASTER Learn directly from 7, 8 & 9-figure founders inside Foundr+ Start your $1 trial → ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.foundr.com/startdollartrial⁠⁠⁠⁠ PREFER A CUSTOM ROADMAP AND 1-ON-1 COACHING? → Starting from scratch? Apply here → ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-start-application⁠⁠⁠⁠ → Already have a store? Apply here → ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-growth-application⁠⁠⁠⁠ CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN Instagram → ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/nathanchan⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn → ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhchan/⁠⁠⁠⁠ CONNECT WITH JORDAN HARPER Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/barefaced/ Jordan's Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/jordanharper_np/ Website → https://www.barefaced.com/ FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES YouTube → ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/2uyvzdt⁠⁠⁠⁠ Website → ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.foundr.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram → ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/foundr/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook → ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/foundr⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter → ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.twitter.com/foundr⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn → ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundr/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Podcast → ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.foundr.com/podcast

Amazon's rules changed—and that's good news if you know how to play the new game. We sat down with Neil Twak, co-founder of Voltage Holdings and Cayman Data, to unpack why algorithm shifts have compressed launch windows to roughly 30 days, how structured data now acts like a prompt into Amazon's Cosmo engine, and why intent beats keywords for ranking and profitable growth. Neil makes a clear case for relaunching weak ASINs over reviving old reviews, and he explains how to train the algorithm with PPC while optimizing for tacos, not ACOS.We dig into pricing strategy and brand defensibility in a world of rising fees and policy risk. The winning move is to build in tier two and tier three price bands—$50 to $500—protect at least $12 per-unit profit, target 40 percent ROI, and turn inventory four times a year. That math lets you buy customers aggressively while maintaining healthy margins. Neil also maps a practical channel sequence: capture demand first on Amazon, Walmart, and TikTok Shop, then graduate to Shopify demand creation when your numbers justify the lift. You'll hear why TikTok's GMV Max ads preview Amazon's future, and how display and DSP can send qualified traffic to your DTC store without breaking terms.Data is the moat. Neil pulls back the curtain on Cayman Data's intelligence engine that identifies the small set of customer needs driving most of Amazon's revenue and greenlights product plays that slot into real demand. The big mindset shift: adopt portfolio thinking, validate fast with structured data and lean bundles, then double down only on the SKUs the market proves. If you're stuck in mid six to low seven figures, the unlock is moving from micro-ops to CEO mode—deploy capital faster, tighten cash cycles, and manage by tacos, ROI, and inventory turns.Ready to future-proof your brand and grow profitably on Amazon in 2026? Follow the show, share this episode with a seller who needs it, and leave a quick review with your top insight. Your feedback helps us bring more sharp operators to the mic.Ready to scale your Amazon business? Click here to book a strategy call. https://calendly.com/firingtheman/amazon Support the show

In this episode, Michelle walks through how she tackles post-holiday blues in-store and as a buyer—sharing practical merchandising strategies, sale philosophy, and ways to reinvent existing inventory to keep stores fresh and profitable through January and beyond.We are doing our first-ever open call! You can submit your store or favorite store to be on the podcast because every store has a story behind it! Go to theretailwhorepodcast.com, click on SUBMIT YOUR STORE, fill out an easy form and we'll see you on the mic!What's inside:Reset fast: Run a decisive post-holiday sale (Michelle's go-to is 50% off) to recover cash, then reinvent remaining stock instead of dumping everything.Reinvent and recolor: Use “coloring out,” regrouping, and cross-department moves to make random or low-stock items feel new and abundant.Seasonal strategy shift: Adapt buying cadence for local demand (e.g., strong January sales in tourist markets), keep bread-and-butter SKUs, and take creative risks to avoid complacency.Support the show

In this Omni Talk Retail episode, recorded live from NRF 2026 at Vusion's booth, Todd Garner, Chief Product Officer at Sam's Club, joins Anne Mezzenga and Chris Walton to share how Scan & Go has become a defining pillar of the Sam's Club member experience and what's coming next as agentic AI reshapes shopping. With Scan & Go now approaching 40% member adoption and nearing its 10-year anniversary, Sam's Club is using its limited SKU, membership-based model to reduce friction, shorten the distance between intent and purchase, and unlock new personalized, agent-driven experiences. Todd explains why mobile-first shopping, curated assortments, and AI-powered insights give Sam's Club a unique advantage and how all of it ladders back to engagement, renewal, and loyalty. Key Topics covered: -Scan & Go nearing 40% adoption and what's driving member usage -Why membership engagement and renewal matter more than individual feature metrics -How Scan & Go fits into a broader frictionless shopping ecosystem -Why limited SKUs make agentic shopping more powerful, not less -Using mobile-first experiences to shorten intent-to-purchase -The role of AI in merchandising, discovery, and personalized insights -How Sam's Club thinks about product, associate tools, and member experience together -What Todd is most excited to deliver next as Scan & Go approaches its 10-year milestone -Stay tuned to Omni Talk Retail for continued coverage from NRF 2026, and stop by Vusion booth #4921 to say hello. #NRF2026 #SamsClub #ScanAndGo #RetailAI #AgenticAI #MembershipRetail #RetailTechnology #OmniTalk #RetailInnovation

Are your sales inconsistent? It might be tempting to create a new product, new sales channel, or a new marketing strategy. In this episode, I'm sharing what's actually stalling your revenue. Whether you're overwhelmed by too many SKUs, posting on Instagram without asking for the sale, avoiding your numbers (cost of goods, profit margins, pricing), or staying stuck in a maker or side hustle mindset, this episode will help you pinpoint what's actually blocking consistent sales. I'll walk you through how to shift into CEO mode, simplify your product lineup with a hero product or core collection, commit to focused marketing (email marketing, social media, Shopify, Etsy, Amazon, wholesale, in-person markets), and use your data to make confident decisions that lead to sustainable growth and a more predictable sales system for your product business.In This Episode, You'll Learn:00:00 Why your business is a mirror for your mindset.03:45 How old identities cap your growth.06:30 How perfectionism hides fear of being seen.11:00 Why does fear of success show up as avoidance?15:30 What you're really avoiding when you say “I don't know”.21:15 Being known for something is better than being invisible.23:15 The cost of avoiding a hero product.30:30 One thing that's hiding your visibility.33:00 Why avoiding numbers keeps your profit stuck.40:45 How to identify your biggest avoidance right now.Resources + LinksReady to stop guessing and follow a proven system? Book your strategy call.Get business tips sent right to your inbox - join the newsletter!Watch on YouTubeFollowJacqueline on IG: @theproductbosstheproductboss.com

Guest hosts and a host as the guest in this episode. Byron Hoffman and Tyson Caly, co-CEOs of Offset, a leading e-commerce platform for allocated offerings, interview host Peter Yeung about his new course, Allocated Wine Offerings: Best Practices. They get into the content of the course and also a wide range of topics related to allocated offerings. Detailed Show Notes: Co-hosts: Byron Hoffman, Tyson Caly, Co-CEOs of Offset, a wine e-commerce platform and brand studioPeter's background: helped managed wineries (Realm Cellars, Kosta Browne, CIRQ Estate) which used Offset's e-commerce platform, including managing the allocation systems and then consulting for other wineries; McKinsey; co-author of Luxury Wine Marketing, which has high-level strategy around allocationsAllocated Wine Offering courseMore operational strategy for allocationsGoes through the entire offering processIncludes some benchmarks of key metricsAre allocations still relevant? Yes, for 1) scarcity or desired perceived scarcity and 2) large number of SKUs (hard to do a wine club)Allocated Offering definition: allocation (limit to purchase) + offering (distinct time frame to buy)One of the oldest allocated offerings - Vega SiciliaOther industries that use allocations: watches, cars, sneakersUniqueness of wine allocations: price per bottle relatively low, number of bottles relatively high compared to other luxury goods, regulation of alcohol → has made wine allocation systems more advancedTiming of offerings clustered at key times (“spring” and “fall”), alternatives tend not to work as wellBest practice examples: timing of offerings, wish setting strategySupply-demand balance makes a difference in what strategies to useAllocation methods: Offering types: first come, first serve; guaranteed allocation; order request; wine clubs; hybridsAllocation types: group based or individualNapa winery started first come, first serve and group based; winery got several 100 point scores, e-commerce system crashed, created buzz and scarcity, and customer service issues amongst old customers; system evolved to guaranteed allocation with individual allocations; led to 40% more customers buyingMost important factor in allocations: creating value in allocations (waitlist, secondary market premium, loss of value if they don't buy)Hybrid models: e.g. - Shafer sold high production wines in online store/club, Hillside Select was allocated; adding multiple models increases operational complexityAI automation for allocations: could do targeted marketing, might be able to create allocations, likely won't create allocation rulesSetting allocations is quick for first come first serve / group based allocations, more complex individual / guaranteed allocations take longer, but can be accelerated with templates and formulasPredicting and identifying potential good customers challenging because wine interest is not easy to determine and not correlated with wealthRFM (recency, frequency, monetary) a way to prioritize customers Leveraging unique experiences to wine buying and building community can drive performanceManaging waitlists (e.g. - Sine Qua Non sent a postcard / letter / email every offering to let people know they couldn't buy wine; intro offerings can engage people right away; drip campaigns also work) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to the Ultimate Guide to Partnering® Podcast. AI agents are your next customers. Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/ Check Out UPX:https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ In this exclusive interview, Vince Menzione sits down with Darryl Peek, Vice President for Partner Sales (Public Sector) at Elastic, to decode how Elastic achieved the rare “triple crown”—winning Partner of the Year across Microsoft, Amazon, and Google Cloud simultaneously. Darryl breaks down the engineering-first approach that makes Elastic sticky with hyperscalers, reveals the rigorous metrics behind their partner health scorecard, and shares his personal “one-page strategy” for aligning mission, vision, and execution. From leveraging generative AI for cleaner sales hygiene to the timeless lesson of the “Acre of Diamonds,” this conversation offers a masterclass in building high-performance partner ecosystems in the public sector and beyond. https://youtu.be/__GE0r2fPuk Key Takeaways Elastic achieved “Pinnacle” status by aligning engineering roadmaps directly with hyperscaler innovations to become essential infrastructure. Successful public sector sales require a dual approach: leveraging resellers for contract access while driving domain-specific co-sell motions. Partner relationships outperform contracts; consistency in communication is more valuable than only showing up for renewals. Effective partner organizations track “influence” revenue just as rigorously as direct bookings to capture the full value of SI relationships. Generative AI can automate sales hygiene, turning scattered meeting notes into actionable CRM data and reducing friction for sales teams. The “Acre of Diamonds” philosophy reminds leaders that the greatest opportunities often lie within their current ecosystem, not in distant new markets. If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Keywords: Elastic, Darryl Peek, public sector sales, hyperscaler partnership, Microsoft Partner of the Year, AWS Partner of the Year, Google Cloud Partner, partner ecosystem strategy, co-sell motion, partner metrics, channel sales, government contracting, Carahsoft, generative AI in sales, sales hygiene, Russell Conwell, Acre of Diamonds, open source search, observability, security SIM, vector search, retrieval augmented generation, LLM agnostic, partner enablement, influence revenue, channel booking, SI relationships, strategic alliances. Transcript: Darryl Peek Audio Episode [00:00:00] Darryl Peek: I say, I tell my team from time to time, the difference between contacts and contracts is the R and that’s the relationship. So if you’re not building the relationship, then how do you expect that partner to want to lean in? Don’t just show up when you have a contract. Don’t just show up when you have a renewal. [00:00:13] Darryl Peek: Make sure that you are reaching out and letting them know what is happening. Don’t just talk to me when you need a renewal, right? When you’re at end of quarter and you want me to bring a deal forward, [00:00:23] Vince Menzione: welcome to the Ultimate Guide to Partnering. I’m Vince Menzi. Own your host, and my mission is to help leaders like you achieve your greatest results through successful partnering. [00:00:34] Vince Menzione: We just came off Ultimate Partner live at Caresoft Training Center in Reston, Virginia. Over two days, we gathered top leaders to tackle the real shifts shaping our industry. If you weren’t in the room, this episode brings you right to the edge of what’s next. Let’s dive in. So we have another privilege, an incredible partner, another like we call these, if you’ve heard our term, pinnacle. [00:01:00] Vince Menzione: I think it’s a term that’s not widely used, but we refer to Pinnacle as the partners that have achieved the top rung. They’ve become partners of the year. And our next presenter, our next interview is going to be with an organization. And a person that represents an organization that has been a pinnacle partner actually for all three Hyperscalers, which is really unusual. [00:01:24] Vince Menzione: Elastic has been partner of the Year award winner across Microsoft, Amazon, and Google Cloud, so very interesting. And Darrell Peak, who is the leader for the public sector organization, he’s here in the Washington DC area, was kind enough. Elastic is a sponsor event, and Darryl’s been kind enough to join me for a discussion about what it takes to be a Pinnacle partner. [00:01:47] Vince Menzione: So incredibly well. Excited to welcome you, Darryl. Thank you, sir. Good to have you. I love you. I love your smile, man. You got an incredible smile. Thank you. Thank you, Vince. Thank you. So Darryl, I probably didn’t do it any justice, but I was hoping you could take us through your role and responsibilities at Elastic, which is an incredible organization. [00:02:08] Vince Menzione: Alright. Yeah, [00:02:09] Darryl Peek: absolutely. So Darrell Peak vice President for partner sales for the US public sector at Elastic. I’ve been there about two and a half years. Responsible for our partner relationships across all partner types, whether that’s the system integrators, resellers, MSPs, OEMs, distribution Hyperscalers, and our Technology Alliance partners. [00:02:26] Darryl Peek: And those are partners that aren’t built on the Elastic platform. In regards to how my partner team interacts with our team. Our ecosystem. We are essentially looking to further and lean in with our partners in order for them to, one, understand what Elastic does since we’re such a diverse tool, but also work with our field to understand what are their priorities and how do they identify the right partners for the right requirements. [00:02:50] Darryl Peek: In regards to what Elastic is and what it does elastic is a solution that is actually founded on search and we’re an open source company. And one of the things that I actually did when I left the government, so I worked for the government for a number of years. I left, went and worked for Salesforce, then worked for Google ran their federal partner team and then came over to Elastic because I wanted to. [00:03:11] Darryl Peek: Understand what it meant to be at an open source company. Being at an open source company is quite interesting ’cause you’re competing against yourself. [00:03:17] Vince Menzione: Yeah, that’s true. [00:03:18] Darryl Peek: So it’s pretty interesting. But elastic was founded in 2012 as a search company. So when you talk about search, we are the second most used platform behind Google. [00:03:28] Darryl Peek: So many of you have already used Elastic. Maybe on your way here, if you use Uber and Lyft, that is elastic. That is helping you get here. Oh, that is interesting. If you use Netflix, if you use wikipedia.com, booking.com, eBay, home Depot, all of those are search capabilities. That Elastic is happening to power in regards to what else we do. [00:03:47] Darryl Peek: We also do observability, which is really around application monitoring, logging, tracing, and metrics. So we are helping your operations team. Pepsi is a customer as well as Cisco. Wow. And then the last thing that we do is security when we’re a SIM solution. So when we talk about sim, we are really looking to protect networks. [00:04:03] Darryl Peek: So we all, we think that it’s a data problem. So with that data problem, what we’re trying to do is not only understand what is happening in the network, but also we are helping with threat intelligence, endpoint and cloud security. So all those elements together is what Elastic does. And we only do it two ways. [00:04:18] Darryl Peek: We’re one platform and we can be deployed OnPrem and in the cloud. So that’s a little bit about me and the company. Hopefully it was clear, [00:04:24] Vince Menzione: I’ve had elastic people on stage. You’ve done, that’s the best answer I’ve had. What does Elastic do? I used to hear all this hyperbole and what? [00:04:32] Vince Menzione: What? Now I really understand what you do is an organiz. And the name of the company was Elasticsearch. [00:04:36] Darryl Peek: It was [00:04:37] Vince Menzione: elastic at one time when I first. Worked with you. It was Elasticsearch. [00:04:40] Darryl Peek: Absolutely. Yeah. So many moons ago used to be called the Elk Stack and it stood for three things. E was the Elasticsearch which is a search capability. [00:04:48] Darryl Peek: L is Logstash, which is our logging capability. And Cabana is essentially our visualization capability. So it was called Elk. But since we’ve acquired so many companies and built so much capability into the platform, we can now call it the elastic. Platform. [00:05:00] Vince Menzione: So talk to me about your engagement with the hyperscalers. [00:05:02] Vince Menzione: You’ve been partner of the Year award winner with all three, right? I mentioned that, and you were, you worked for Google for a period of time. Yes. So tell us about, like, how does that work? What does that engagement look like? And why do you get chosen as partner of the year? What are the things that stand out when you’re working with these hyperscalers [00:05:19] Darryl Peek: and with that we are very fortunate to be recognized. [00:05:23] Darryl Peek: So many of the organizations that are out there are doing some of the same capabilities that we do, but they can’t claim that they won a part of the year for all three hyperscalers in the same year. We are able to do that because we believe in the power of partnership, not only from a technology perspective, but also from a sales perspective. [00:05:39] Darryl Peek: So we definitely lean in with our partnerships, so having our engineers talk, having our product teams talk, and making sure that we’re building capabilities that actually integrate within the cloud service providers. And also consistently building a roadmap that aligns with the innovation that the cloud service providers are also building towards. [00:05:56] Darryl Peek: And then making sure that we’re a topic of discussion. So elastic. From a search capability, we do semantic search, vector search, but also retrieval augmented generation, which actually is LLM Agnostic. So when you say LLM Agnostic, whether you want to use Gemini, Claude or even Chad, GBT, those things are something that Elastic can integrate in, but it actually helps reduce the likelihood of hallucination. [00:06:18] Darryl Peek: So when we’re building that kind of solution, the cloud service provider’s you’re making it easy for us, and when you make it easy, you become very attractive and therefore you’re. Likely gonna come. So it becomes [00:06:28] Vince Menzione: sticky in that regard. Very sticky. So it sounds like very much an engineer, a lot of emphasis on the engineering aspects of the business. [00:06:35] Vince Menzione: I know you’re an engineer by background too, right? So the engineering aspects of the business means that you’re having alignment with the engineering organizations of those companies at a very deep level. [00:06:44] Darryl Peek: Absolutely. So I’m [00:06:45] Vince Menzione: here. [00:06:45] Darryl Peek: Yeah. And being at Elastic has been pretty amazing. So coming from Google, we had so many different solutions, so many different SKUs, but Elastic releases every eight weeks. [00:06:54] Darryl Peek: So right before you start to understand the last release, the next release is coming out and we’re already at 9.2 and we just released 9.0 in May. So it’s really blazing fast on the capability that we’re really pushing the market, but it’s really hard to make sure that we get it in front of our partners. [00:07:10] Darryl Peek: So when we talk about our partner enablement strategy, we’re just trying to make sure that we get the right information in front of the right partners at the right time, so this way they can best service their customers. [00:07:19] Vince Menzione: So let’s talk about partner strategy. Alyssa Fitzpatrick was on stage with me at our last event, and she Alyssa’s fantastic. [00:07:25] Vince Menzione: She is incredible. Yes, she is. She was a former colleague at Microsoft Days. Yes. And then she, we had a really interesting conversation. About what it takes, like being in, in a company and then working with the partners in general. And you have, I’m sure you have a lot of the similarities in how you have to engage with these organizations. [00:07:42] Vince Menzione: You’re working across the hyperscalers, you’re also working with the ecosystem too. Yes. ’cause the delivery, you have delivery partners as well. Absolutely. So tell us more about that. [00:07:50] Darryl Peek: So we kinda look at it from a two, two ways from the pre-sales motion and then the post-sales. From the pre-sales side. [00:07:56] Darryl Peek: What we’re trying to do is really maximize our, not only working with partners, because within public sector, you need to get access to customers through contract vehicles. So if you want to get access to some, for instance, the VA or through GSA or others, you have to make sure you’re aligned with the right partners who have access to. [00:08:12] Darryl Peek: That particular agency, but also you want domain expertise. So as you’re working with those system integrators, you wanna make sure that they have capability that aligns. So whether it is a security requirement, you wanna work with someone who specializes in security, observability and search. So that’s the way that we really look at our partner ecosystem, but those who are interested in working with us. [00:08:30] Darryl Peek: Because everybody doesn’t necessarily have a emphasis on working with a new technology partner, [00:08:36] Vince Menzione: right? [00:08:36] Darryl Peek: So what we’re trying to do is saying how do we build programs, incentives and sales plays that really does align and strike the interest of that particular partner? So when we talk about it I tell my team, you have to, my grandfather to say, plan your work and work your plan. And if you fail a plan, you plan to fail. So being able to not only have a strong plan in place, but then execute against that plan, check against that plan as you go through the fiscal year, and then see how you come out at the end of the fiscal year to see are we making that progress? [00:09:01] Darryl Peek: But on the other side of it, and what I get stressed about with my sales team and saying what does partners bring to us? So where are those partner deal registrations? What is the partner source numbers? How are we creating more pipeline? And that is where we’re now saying, okay, how can we navigate and how can we make it easier? [00:09:17] Darryl Peek: And how can we reduce friction in order for the partner to say, okay, elastic’s easy to work with. I can see value in, oh, by the way, I can make some money with. [00:09:25] Vince Menzione: So take us through, have there been examples of areas where you’ve had to like, break through to this other side in terms of growing the partner ecosystem? [00:09:33] Vince Menzione: What’s worked, what hasn’t worked? Yes, I’d love to learn more about that. [00:09:36] Darryl Peek: I’ll say that and I tell my team one, you partner program is essential, right? If you don’t have an attractive partner program in regards to how they come on board, how they’re incentivized the right amount of margin, they won’t even look at you. [00:09:49] Darryl Peek: The second thing is really how do you engage? So a lot of things start with relationships. I think partnerships are really about relationships. I say I tell my team from time to time, the difference between contacts and contracts is the R and that’s the relationship. So if you’re not building the relationship, then how do you expect that partner to want to lean in? [00:10:07] Darryl Peek: Don’t just show up when you have a contract. Don’t just show up when you have a renewal. Make sure that you are reaching out and letting them know what is happening. I like the what Matt brought up in saying, okay, talk to me when you have a win. Talk to me when you have something to talk about. [00:10:22] Darryl Peek: Don’t just talk to me when you need a renewal. When you’re at end the quarter and you want me to bring a deal forward, that doesn’t help ab absolutely. [00:10:28] Vince Menzione: So engineering organizations, sales organizations, what are, what does a healthy partnership look like for you? [00:10:35] Darryl Peek: So I look at metrics a lot and we use a number of tools and I know folks are using tools out there. [00:10:41] Darryl Peek: I won’t name any tools for branding purposes, but in regards to how we look at tools. So some things that we measure closely. Of course it’s our partner source numbers, so partner source, bookings, and pipeline. We look at our partner attached numbers and pipeline as well as the amount or percentage of partner attached business that we have in regards to our overall a CV number. [00:11:00] Darryl Peek: We also look at co-sell numbers, so therefore we are looking at not only how. A partner is coming to us, but how is a partner helping us in closing the deal even though they didn’t bring us the deal? We’re also looking at our cloud numbers and saying what amount of deals and how much business are we doing with our cloud service providers? [00:11:15] Darryl Peek: Because of course we wanna see that number go up year over year. We wanna actually help with that consumption number because not only are we looking at it from a SaaS perspective, but also if the customer has to commit we can help burn that down as well. We also look at influence numbers. [00:11:27] Darryl Peek: Now, one of the harder things to do within a technology business is. Capturing all that si goodness. And saying how do I reflect the SI if they’re not bringing me the deal? And I can’t attribute that amount of deal to that particular partner, right? And the way that we do that is we just tag them to the influence. [00:11:44] Darryl Peek: So we’re able to now track influence. And also the M-S-P-O-E-M work that we are also tracking and also we’re tracking the royalties. And lastly is the professional service work that we do with those partners. So we’re looking to go up into the right where we start them out at our select level, we go to our premier level and then our elite level. [00:12:00] Darryl Peek: But left and to the right, I say you gotta go from zero to one, one to five, five to 10, and then 10 to 25. So if we can actually see that progression. That is where we’re really starting to see health in the partnership, but also the executive alignment is really important. So when our CEO is able to meet with the fellow CEO of the co partner company that is really showing how we are progressing, but also our VPs and others that are engaged. [00:12:20] Darryl Peek: So those are things that we really do measure. We do have a health score card and also, we track accreditations, we track certifications as well as training outcomes based on our sales place. [00:12:30] Vince Menzione: Wow. There’s a lot of metrics there. Yeah. So you didn’t bring, you didn’t bring any slides with that out? [00:12:35] Darryl Peek: Oh, no. I’m not looking at slides, by the way. [00:12:40] Vince Menzione: Let’s talk about marketplace. [00:12:42] Darryl Peek: All right? [00:12:42] Vince Menzione: Because we’ve had a lot of conversations about marketplace. We’ve got both vendors up here talking about marketplace and the importance of marketplace, right? You’ve been a Marketplace Award winner. We haven’t really talked about that, like that motion per se. [00:12:55] Vince Menzione: I’d love to s I’d love to hear from you like how you, a, what you had to overcome to get to marketplace, what the marketplace motion looks like for your organization, what a marketplace first motion looks like. ’cause a lot of your cut a. Are all your customers requiring a lot of direct selling effort or is it some of it through Marketplace? [00:13:14] Vince Menzione: Like how does it, how does that work for you? [00:13:15] Darryl Peek: So Elastic is a global organization. Yeah. So we’re, 40 different countries. So it depends on where we’re talking. So if we talk about our international business, which is our A PJ and EMEA business we are seeing a lot more marketplace and we’re seeing that those direct deals with customers. [00:13:28] Darryl Peek: Okay. And we’re talking about our mirror business. A significant amount goes through marketplace and where our customers are transacting with the marketplace and are listing. On the marketplace within public sector, it’s more of a resell motion. Okay. So we are working with our resellers. [00:13:39] Darryl Peek: So we work our primary distribution partner is Carahsoft. So you heard from Craig earlier. Yes. We have a strong relationship with Carahsoft and definitely a big fan of this organization. But in regards to how we do that and how we track it we are looking at better ways to, track that orchestration and consumption numbers in order to see not only what customers we’re working with, but how can we really accelerate that motion and really get those leads and transactions going. [00:14:03] Vince Menzione: Very cool. Very cool. And I think part of the reason why in, in the government or public sector space it has a lot to do with the commitments are different. Absolutely. So it’s not government agencies aren’t able to make the same level of commitments that, private sector organizations were able to make, so they were able to the Mac or Microsoft parlance and also a AWS’s parlance. [00:14:23] Vince Menzione: Yeah, [00:14:24] Darryl Peek: definitely a different dynamic. Yeah. And especially within the public sector. ’cause we have Gov Cloud to work with, right? That’s right. So we’re working with Microsoft or we’re working with AWS, they have their Gov cloud and then we Google, they don’t have a Gov cloud, but we still have to work with them differently. [00:14:35] Darryl Peek: Yeah. Within that space. That’s [00:14:36] Vince Menzione: right. That’s right. So it makes the motion a little bit differently there. So I think we talked through some of this. I just wanna make sure we cover our points [00:14:43] Darryl Peek: here. One thing I’ll do an aside, you talked about the acre of diamonds. I’m a big fan of that story. [00:14:47] Vince Menzione: Yeah, let’s talk about Russ Con. Yeah, [00:14:49] Darryl Peek: let’s talk about it. Do you all know about the Acre Diamonds? Have you all heard that story before? No. You have some those in the audience. [00:14:55] Vince Menzione: I, you know what, let’s talk about it. All [00:14:56] Darryl Peek: See, I’m from Philadelphia. [00:14:57] Vince Menzione: I didn’t know you were a family. My daughter went to Temple University. [00:14:59] Vince Menzione: Ah, [00:15:00] Darryl Peek: okay. That’s all I know. So Russell Conwell. So he was, a gentleman out of the Philadelphia area and he went around town to raise money and he wanted to raise money because he believed that there was a promise within a specific area. And as he continued to raise this money, he would tell a story. [00:15:14] Darryl Peek: And basically it was a story about a farmer in Africa. And the farmer in Africa, to make it really short was essentially looking to be become very wealthy. And because he wanted to become very wealthy, he believed that selling his farm and going off to a long distant land was the primary way for him to find diamonds. [00:15:28] Darryl Peek: And this farmer didn’t sold us. Sold his place, then went off to to this foreign land, and he ended up dying. And people thought that was the end of the story, but there was another farmer who bought that land and one time this big, and they called him the ot, came to the door and said you mind if I have some tea with you? [00:15:43] Darryl Peek: He said, all right, come on in. Have a drink. And as he had the drink, he looked upon the mantle and his mouth dropped. And then the farmer said what’s wrong? What do you say? He says, do you know what that is? No. He said no. Do you know what that is? He says, no. He said, that’s the biggest diamond I’ve ever seen, and the farmer goes. [00:16:01] Darryl Peek: That’s weird because there’s a bunch right in the back where I go grab my fruits and crops every day. So the idea of the acre diamonds and sometimes that you don’t need to go off to a far off land. It is actually sometimes right under your feet, and that is a story that helped fund the starting of Temple University. [00:16:16] Vince Menzione: I’m gonna need to take you at every single event so you can tell this story again. That’s an awesome job. Oh, I love it. And yeah, they founded a Temple University. Yeah. Which has become an incredible university. My daughter, like I said, my daughter’s a graduate, so we’re Temple fan. That’s great story. [00:16:31] Vince Menzione: That is a very cool, I didn’t realize you were a Philadelphia guy too, so that is awesome. Go birds. Go birds. All right, good. So let’s talk, I think we talked a little bit about your ecosystem approach, but maybe just a little bit more on this, like you said, like a lot of data, a lot of metrics but also a lot of these organizations also have to under understand the engineering side of things. [00:16:53] Vince Menzione: Oh, yeah. There’s a tremendous amount to become. Not everybody could just show up one day and become an elastic partner [00:16:58] Darryl Peek: absolutely. Absolutely. So take us [00:16:59] Vince Menzione: through that process. [00:17:00] Darryl Peek: Yeah. So one of the things that we are trying to mature and we have matured is our partner go to market. [00:17:06] Darryl Peek: So in order to join our partner ecosystem, you have to sign ’em through our partner portal. You have to sign our indirect reseller agreement. ’cause we do sell primarily within the public sector through distribution. And we only go direct if it is by exception. So you have to get justification through myself as well as our VP for public sector. [00:17:21] Darryl Peek: But we really do try to make sure that we can aggregate this because one thing that we have to monitor is terms and conditions. ’cause of course, working with the government, there’s a lot of terms and conditions. So we try to alleviate that by having it go through caresoft, they’re able to absorb some, so this way we can actually transact with the government. [00:17:36] Darryl Peek: In regards to the team though we try to really work closely with our solution architecture team. So this way we can develop clear enablement strategies with our partners so this way they know what it is we do, but also how to properly bring us up in a conversation. Also handle objections and also what are we doing to implement our solutions within other markets. [00:17:55] Darryl Peek: So those are things that we are doing as well as partner marketing. Top of funnel activity is really important, so we’re trying to differentiate what we’re doing with the field and field marketing. So you’re doing the leads and m qls and things of that nature also with partner marketing. So our partner marketing actually is driven by leads, but also we’re trying to transact. [00:18:10] Darryl Peek: And get Ps of which our partner deal registration. So that is how we align our partner go to market. And that is actually translating into our partner source outcomes. [00:18:18] Vince Menzione: And I think we have a slide that talks a little bit about your public sector partner strategy. [00:18:23] Darryl Peek: Oh yeah. Oh, I share that. So I thought maybe we could spin it. [00:18:25] Darryl Peek: Absolutely. [00:18:25] Vince Menzione: I know you we can’t see it, but they can. Oh, they can. Okay. Great. [00:18:29] Darryl Peek: There it’s there. [00:18:30] Vince Menzione: It’s career. [00:18:31] Darryl Peek: One thing, I think this was Einstein has said, if you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough. So that was the one thing. So I always was a big fan of creating a one page strategy. [00:18:39] Darryl Peek: And based on this one page strategy one of the things when I worked at Salesforce it was really about a couple things and the saying, okay, what are your bookings? And if you don’t have bookings, what does your pipeline look like? If you don’t have pipeline, what does your prospecting look like? [00:18:51] Darryl Peek: Yeah. If you don’t have prospecting what does your account plan look like? And if you don’t have an account plan, why are you here? Why are you here? Exactly. So those are the things that I really talk to my team about is just really a, it’s about bookings. It’s about pipeline. It’s about planning, enablement and execution. [00:19:05] Darryl Peek: It’s about marketing, branding and evangelism, and also about operational excellence and how to execute. Very cool. So being able to do that and also I, since I came from Salesforce, I talk to my team a lot about Salesforce hygiene. So we really talk about that a lot. So make, making sure we’re making proper use of chatter, but also as we talk about utilizing ai, we just try to. [00:19:21] Darryl Peek: How do we simplify that, right? So if we’re using Zoom or we’re using Google, how do we make sure that we’re capturing those meeting minutes, translating that, putting that into the system, so therefore we have a record of that engagement with that partner. So this is a continuous threat. So this way I don’t have to call my partner manager the entire time. [00:19:36] Darryl Peek: I can look back, see what actions, see what was discussed, and say, okay, how can we keep this conversation going? Because we shouldn’t have to have those conversations every time. I shouldn’t have to text you to say, give me the download on every partner. Every time. How do we automate that? And that’s really where you’re creating this context window with your Genive ai. [00:19:53] Darryl Peek: I think they said what 75% of organizations are using one AI tool. And I think 1% are mature in that. But also a number of organizations, it’s 90% of organizations are using generative AI tools to some degree. So we are using gen to bi. We do use a number of them. We have elastic GPT. Nice little brand there. [00:20:11] Darryl Peek: But yeah, we use that for not only understanding what’s in our our repositories and data lakes and data warehouses, but also what are some answers that we can have in regards to proposal responses, RP responses, RFI, responses and the like. [00:20:23] Vince Menzione: And you’re reaching out to the other LLMs through your tool? [00:20:26] Darryl Peek: We can actually interact with any LLM. So we are a LLM Agnostic. [00:20:29] Vince Menzione: Got it. Yep. That’s fantastic. And this slide is we’ll make this available if you don’t have a, yeah, have a chance. We’ll share it. I [00:20:36] Darryl Peek: am happy to share, yeah. And obviously happy to talk, reach out about it. Of, of course. I simplified it in order to account for you, but one of the things that I talk about is mission, vision of values. [00:20:45] Darryl Peek: And as we start with that is what is your mission now? How is anybody from Pittsburgh, anybody steal a fan? Oh wow. No, there’s a steel fan over [00:20:54] Vince Menzione: here. There’s one here. There’s a couple of ’em are out here. So I feel bad. [00:20:57] Darryl Peek: The reason why I put immaculate in there is for the immaculate reception, actually. [00:21:00] Darryl Peek: Yes. And basically saying that if you ever seen that play, it was not pretty at all. It was a very discombobulated play. Yeah. And I usually say that’s the way that you work with partners too, because when that deal doesn’t come in, when you gotta make a call, when you’re texting somebody at 11 o’clock at night, when you’re trying to get that at, right before quarter end. [00:21:17] Darryl Peek: Yeah. Before the end of it. It really is difficult, but it’s really creating that immaculate experience. You want that partner to come back. I know it’s challenging, but I appreciate how you leaned in with us. Yes, absolutely. I appreciate how you work with us. I appreciate how you held our hand through the process, and that’s what I tell my team, that we have to create that partner experience. [00:21:32] Darryl Peek: And maybe that’s a carryover from Salesforce, Dave. I don’t know. But also when we talk about enhancing or accelerating our partner. Our public sector outcomes that is really working with the customer, right? So customer experience has to be part of it. Like all of us have to be focused on that North star, and that is really how do we service the customer, and that’s what we choose to do. [00:21:48] Darryl Peek: But also the internal part. So I used to survey my team many moves ago, and I said, if we don’t get 80% satisfaction rate from our employees how do we get 60% satisfaction rate from our customers? Yeah. So really focus on that employee success and employee satisfaction. It’s so important, is very important. [00:22:03] Darryl Peek: So being able to understand what are the needs of your employees? Are you really addressing their concerns and are you really driving them forward? Are you challenging them? Are you creating pathways for progression? So those are things that I definitely try to do with my team. As well as just really encouraging, inspiring, yeah. [00:22:19] Darryl Peek: And just making sure that they’re having fun at the same time. [00:22:21] Vince Menzione: It shows up in such, I, there’s an airline I don’t fly any longer, and it was a million mile member of and I know it’s because of the way they treat their employees. [00:22:29] Vince Menzione: Because it cascades Right? [00:22:30] Darryl Peek: It does. Culture is important. [00:22:32] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Absolutely. [00:22:32] Darryl Peek: What is it? What Anderson Howard they say what col. Mark Andresen culture eat strategy for [00:22:37] Vince Menzione: breakfast. He strategy for breakfast? Yes. Very much this has been insightful. I really enjoyed having you here today. Really a great, you’re a lot of fun. You’re a lot of fun. [00:22:43] Vince Menzione: Darry, isn’t you? Amazing. So thank you for joining us. Thank you all. Thank And you’re gonna be, you’re gonna be sticking around for a little while today. I’m sticking around for a little while. I’ll be back in little later. I think people are gonna just en enjoy having a conversation with you, a little sidebar. [00:22:55] Darryl Peek: Absolutely. I’m looking forward to it. Thank you all for having me. Glad to be here. And thank you for giving the time today. [00:23:01] Vince Menzione: Thank you Darryl, so much. So appreciate it. And you’re gonna have to come join me on this Story Diamond tool. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for tuning into this episode of Ultimate Guide to Partnering. [00:23:12] Vince Menzione: We’re bringing these episodes to you to help you level up your strategy. If you haven’t yet, now’s the time to take action and think about joining our community. We created a unique place, UPX or Ultimate partner experience. It’s more than a community. It’s your competitive edge with insider insights, real-time education, and direct access to people who are driving the ecosystem forward. [00:23:38] Vince Menzione: UPX helps you get results, and we’re just getting started as we’re taking this studio. And we’ll be hosting live stream and digital events here, including our January live stream, the Boca Winter Retreat, and more to come. So visit our website, the ultimate partner.com to learn more and join us. Now’s the time to take your partnerships to the next level.