#092 - Placing Your First Profitable Purchase Order with Selman Abdullahi I The Amazon Wholesale Podcast

#092 - Placing Your First Profitable Purchase Order with Selman Abdullahi I The Amazon Wholesale Podcast Speaker 2: All right, guys, welcome back to the show. So we've got a cool guest with us today. We've got Selman here with us. He is a Wholesale Network community member, but he's on the newer side to wholesale. And really my goal with this episode and getting Selman on here to talk to us today is to get a feel for that first PO, that first account that you land. So he is still on the newer side. You'll kind of hear his background here shortly, but I know we have a lot of people that listen to the show. Who haven't yet gotten their first wholesale PO or they haven't yet found that first good supplier. And so Selman, because he's still newer to the business and he still is working with that first supplier, I think he's a great person to come and talk to us on a little bit of a more entry level, right? How he got that supplier and how he's building his business on the back of that one main supplier. So Selman, appreciate you joining us today, man. Where are you calling out of? Where are you based out of? Speaker 1: I'm based out of Maryland, Silver Spring, Maryland. Speaker 2: Nice. Okay. Now, I'm guessing, correct me if I'm wrong, Silver Spring, Maryland is probably not a hotbed for Amazon sellers and people in the e-commerce space. Is that fair to say? Speaker 1: Yeah. No, not really. There's not much Amazon sellers here. Speaker 2: Do you know of any other sellers there locally? Is there anybody that you hang out with there in person that also sells? Speaker 1: So once I started selling, I told my brother about it and his friend. So it's really just us three now just working together. Speaker 2: Are you guys business partners, the three of you guys? Speaker 1: We're not business partners, but I'm more focused on wholesale and they're more focused on the OA side of things. So that's how it's working right now, yeah. Speaker 2: Gotcha. Okay. I was just curious because I didn't know the answer, but I was listening to a podcast yesterday and I think it's a good point to keep in mind. The point that he was making is never, ever, ever partner when you can hire, right? So the point that he was making is like, well, hey, you know, and just using your situation as an example, maybe you're a sales guy and maybe your brother's more of a number cruncher guy. It's like, well, hey, I'm good at this. He's good at that. Let's partner together 50-50 and it'll be great. And it's like, in reality, You know, that rarely goes over well because if you're a sales guy, it'd be way easier for you to hire somebody to crunch the numbers on the back end instead of giving up 50% of your business, right? So I digress, but that's just a kind of popped into my head there. Now, when it comes to your background, so how did you get into Amazon in the first place and when was that? Speaker 1: So I think it started about like last year in January where I was, you know, going through social media, looking at different business models and all that. I came across an account called Above the Par where it was like three guys doing Amazon Wholesale. I'm not sure if you're familiar with them. Speaker 2: Yeah, I've heard of them. Speaker 1: Yeah. So I went through all of their content, their free courses and learned like small bits and pieces about wholesale. I actually learned wholesale before OA and RA. I never heard about that. Speaker 2: Oh, interesting. I feel like most people are the opposite, right? Speaker 1: Yeah. After Above the Par, I found out about Miles and Warner. I watched some of their content about looking through the Keeper Charts, the Seller Amp and all that, the basic stuff. After that, I found out I had a friend of mine who went to University of Maryland with me who did Amazon. He did OA. So I asked him a couple of questions. He got me started, got me on my feet. But I told him that I was more interested in wholesale. And it was funny because he recommended your page. And I was like, I went through your page and all of that. And now I'm doing a podcast with you. So it's like, it's crazy how that works. Speaker 2: Yeah, full circle for sure. Speaker 1: Full circle for sure. But yeah, I never really got into OA. It was more of like, I wanted to do wholesale. I knew I couldn't like really just, you know, just dive into it on my own. I thought I needed a mentor. So I had a mentor before the Wholesale Network where I got this guy's course, but you know, It wasn't really the best. It was kind of like he showed me a bunch of videos and all of that. And then every time I had a question, when I was like doing some sourcing on some qualified brands, qualified distributors, I would ask him and it would take him like a really long time to respond. Like sometimes days, sometimes weeks, or sometimes it's like he wouldn't respond at all. I mean, it was nice because I learned like how to do like the basics of wholesale, like outreach, sourcing, qualified brands. But one thing separate from the wholesale network that he emphasized was sending emails. And he was saying, you know, you've got to be sending hundreds of emails a day to like brands and distributors. And I was like, OK, I was sending emails, but it wasn't really working. And then after that, I met with Jonah. I came across his page, started talking to him a bit. We were talking for like a month or two before I joined the Wholesale Network because I told him, you know, I just bought this other guy's course and I was like, it's not the best right now. And Jonah was telling me a lot about the Wholesale Network. Tell me about how it's you buying the whole network. It's not just you, Kajua and Jonah, but it's like a whole network of other people who are doing even better than you now, like the mastermind part of things. So I joined the Wholesale Network in about October. And then, yeah, ever since then it's been up. Shortly after I met this one supplier and I've been buying from him ever since. I placed like two POs with him. Speaker 2: And that's what I want to drill into, right? Is that for a supplier, how you found him, how you analyze his products, the relationship that you've started to form with him since then. And we'll get to that. But what I want to dig into first is Kind of how you initially approached wholesale, right? So you took, you take this other course, you start sending out tons of emails because that's what you were told to do at the time. And so like, what was the, what were the results there? Do you have any numbers as far as how many emails you were sending out versus how many responses you were getting? Can you kind of give us the rundown on the numbers there? Speaker 1: Yeah, so I was trying to send out like, you know, at least like 10 to 15 emails a day. But sometimes, you know, I was also, you know, just hitting the contact us button in like the whatever website of the brand or distributor. Speaker 2: Right. Like their contact form. Yeah. Speaker 1: Because sometimes they wouldn't have an email or a number. So you would just click contact and type in all your information. But I would never really get responses out of that besides like, you know, just some bot responding to me in my email saying thank you for like contacting us. Speaker 2: So you took that mass approach to begin with, right? Did you get any results from that? Did you even open any accounts? I'm sure you opened some accounts doing that, but they probably weren't profitable. That'd be my guess, but I mean, tell me if I'm wrong. Speaker 1: No, I don't think I opened any accounts doing that. Speaker 2: Okay, so you take the mass approach, right? You're firing off emails left and right. You're filling out the contact us forms on websites, which by the way, side note for the audience, If your only option is to either fill out a contact form on the website or like don't contact them at all, I would say don't even waste your time. Like the contact us form on a supplier's website, the chances of you landing a profitable wholesale account from filling out a contact form on a website is probably one in a thousand, right? It might even be worse than that. So complete waste of time. And the thing is, is if you find a supplier's website, right, if you find their contact form, you can find their phone number and you are going to be a hundred times more successful calling them on the phone than you ever would be just sending off a request into that contact form that just goes off into the ether. Who knows if anybody is even going to see that in the first place, right? So you take the kind of the mask, I call it like a shotgun approach, right? Where you're just firing off emails left and right. Now, in terms of the suppliers that you were contacting, how were you choosing which brands or which distributors to contact in this initial early like shotgun approach phase? Like how are you vetting them? How are you qualifying them? Speaker 1: So in the beginning, I was using SmartScout. I was trying to contact like the people who are doing like, you know, below 100k revenue per month. I was using that as a way to go about things. I would find them through SmartScout, go to their website, email them saying, can I open up a wholesale account with you guys? The basic stuff. But the approach wasn't the best because I'm just saying, can I open up a wholesale account with you? They're not going to take you serious like you say. So the approach wasn't really the best either. Speaker 2: Okay, understood. So again, we got the, and the reason I'm asking these questions is I want to get the background, right, is from approach A versus approach B. And I know you've had a lot more successful with our methods and with our approach. So let's fast forward a little bit, right? So you joined the Wholesale Network, you're inside the community, you're talking to other folks inside the community. Now that you are working with a supplier and you are placing profitable orders, how did you go about finding this supplier that you now work with? Like what is kind of phase two of Selman's outreach and Selman's approach now that he has a little better guidance on what exactly to do? Speaker 1: So, I remember Jonah told me, I saw like Jonah's story once where he posted like a truck with like, had a supplier's name and he was like, you know, suppliers are everywhere, even on like the back of these trucks. So, I was on my way to work one day and I saw a truck with a supplier's name on it. And I was like, okay, cool. Let me take a picture of it real quick. And then, you know, I do some sourcing on their website while I'm at work. So as I was at work, I was sourcing through their website, cross-referencing what sells on Amazon, what doesn't. And then, you know, after I found like a couple of products on their website that sold on Amazon, I contacted them and asked them, you know, hey, can I buy these from you? Basically he's just saying, can I get these off of you? But in a more professional manner, of course. So he gave me prices. Some of them weren't profitable, but there was one close to profitable. So I basically did what you say where I said, hey, how many of these do I need to buy to get it at X price? And he was like, okay, if you buy X amount, I'll give it to you at this price. And that price ended up being profitable. So I ended up placing the order with him. Speaker 2: Okay, so let's back up a little bit. Let's get this straight, right? So you're driving down the highway, you're driving down the street in Maryland and you see a truck on the road and it looks like a distributor's truck, right? So I assume this is not the brand, this is a distributor, right? Speaker 1: Distributor. Speaker 2: Okay, so you see a distributor's truck and maybe it says XYZ distributor or whatever. You can tell they're a supplier of some sort. So you literally just take a picture of the truck You go on their website when you're at work and you're kind of just browsing through their website. Now, let me ask you this. On their website, I assume they did not have pricing on their website. Is that correct? So this was one of those suppliers where it's like, hey, they have all their products on their website, but if you want to get actual pricing, then you've either got to talk to a sales rep or you've got to open an account. Is that correct? Speaker 1: Correct. Correct. Speaker 2: Okay. And just for the audience, right? So the reason why suppliers will do this, the reason why they'll have products available on their website, but you can't just buy them is because these distributors, they operate on really thin margins. So if this distributor advertised their pricing on their website, then it would be so easy for Selman to just go to a competitor and say, Hey, Supplier XYZ has this on their website for $3. I need it for $2.85, right? And obviously suppliers don't want you to do that, which is why he had to call them and have a conversation with someone and get actual pricing. Okay, so you're at work. You're kind of browsing through the website. And what you mentioned, it kind of slid under the radar, but it's key. You said you were looking for products or brands on the supplier's website that are already selling well on Amazon. What were you looking for specifically? Were you literally just typing products, typing brands into Amazon? Were you using SmartScout? Like what did that almost like that initial sourcing process look like when you were looking for stuff that was already selling well? Speaker 1: So yeah, I was mostly typing them in on Amazon, typing the brand name, typing, but also another like tip that I do is like when I'm on the website, I just right click on the product and with seller app, like it automatically pulls up everything to the side. So it makes it pretty quicker. It makes the process easier. Speaker 2: Yeah, that is a huge, that's a huge key for, and you know, SellerAmp's been a sponsor of the podcast before, obviously we're buddies with the owners there, but it is a fantastic tool. And that is a feature I'm embarrassed to admit, I didn't even know about until the last few months. You can write, this is how it works, right? You can right click on any image and it'll, there's like a, if you have the SellerAmp Chrome extension installed, there's just a button you can click to say like search in SellerAmp. And so that's SellerAmp. I guess window or extension will just like pop up on the right hand side of your Chrome browser, and it will search Amazon's catalog right there within the SellerAmp app. And I believe it will not only match the title of the product to Amazon, but it'll also match the photo. Because you know how a lot of listings it's like, Maybe the, you know, it's the same photo everywhere on the internet, but then the Amazon title is something wonky or it's something like 10 words, right? It's just not a, you wouldn't be able to find it normally. Okay. So you're, you're going through the suppliers website. You've got SellerAmp installed to your Chrome extension. So you're just right-clicking, searching on Amazon via SellerAmp. And then what do you find? Like, what are you seeing at this point? Are you seeing a lot of products that are duds? Are you seeing a lot of stuff that sells well and you're then having to decide what to ask for? Like, what are you seeing at this point? Speaker 1: Most stuff that was, you know, within the high, high, high sales rank. So like, I'm talking about like million BSR. Speaker 2: So the stuff that just never sells. Speaker 1: Yeah. Stuff that were like, does release. Speaker 2: Yeah. Okay. Got it. So you're seeing a lot of duds at this point, but then you come across a brand or maybe a product where you're like, wait, this thing actually sells decently well. Right. And was it one product from one brand that you found? Or I think based on what you said earlier, it sounds like maybe you narrowed in on a specific brand and that brand had multiple products that sold well from that supplier. Is that correct? Speaker 1: So it was only one brand, one product. And then there were some other brands, one product from each brand that like sold kind of well. Speaker 2: Got it. Okay. So in this case, and it's kind of a little different than what I hear a lot of other people experience, right? Because what some people, I think they find in this phase is they, you know, they're going through a catalog and everything's a dud and then they come across this random brand, right? Usually a brand they've never heard of. And they're like, wait, this brand has one product that does really well. Wait, they've got another product. Wait, they've got three or four more, right? And the next thing you know, you find this one brand that you've never heard of, but that this one brand has five or six or 10 or, you know, sometimes more products that are selling well on Amazon. But you're saying you found, it was almost like, you know, one brand, one product. And you found a few of those where that was the case. Speaker 1: Is that correct? Yeah, correct. Speaker 2: All right. So you've got at this point, you've got like a short list, right? So you've got a few different brands, a few different products that you know, this supplier has because it's on their website. You know, they have access to it. And at this point, sounds like the next step is to figure out what price you can get. Is that right? Speaker 1: Correct. Speaker 2: So what did that conversation look like? I mean, I know it's pretty simple, but is it as simple as we make it out to be? Like, was it literally you called them up and said, Hey, I want this product. This is how many I want to buy. What's my price? Like, was that the conversation? Speaker 1: Yeah, so when I first called them initially, like I got handed to the front office, like a receptionist lady, we started talking for a bit, I told her, you know, I'm a local wholesaler out in Maryland, and I'm interested in purchasing some of your products. And then she just referred me over to I'm the salesperson who works in the warehouse and we started talking for a bit. I told him I'm interested in these products. Can you get me pricing on these? And he said, okay, I'll get you pricing. He sent me, he texted me pricing on my phone. And then we started going back and forth with an iMessage saying like, you know, if I can get that, sorry, if I can, how many do I need to purchase to get at this price? And then that's how we started that conversation. Speaker 2: Okay, so you call up the company, you talk to a receptionist. Now, did she immediately put you through to the salesperson or did he have to kind of get back to you? And again, I'm trying to get as granular as possible here into this process because there's so many people listening to this that They have gotten somewhere along this process, but then they've stopped, right? So maybe they got to the point where they're on the supplier's website, but they don't know what to look for. And some people have gotten past that point to where we are now. It's like, all right, I've identified some products, but now I don't know what to say to the supplier. So that's why I'm trying to dig into like every single step in the process. So you call the company, you talk to the receptionist, does she put you right through to sales or does he have to kind of get back to you? Speaker 1: I think she said he would get back to me. Yeah. She said he would get back to me. He would give me a call to my number and then he gave me a call not too long. He gave me a call not too later. Speaker 2: Okay. And that's, that's a key point to keep in mind. Cause that's rare, right? Anybody who's watched my YouTube or they've watched me make cold calls, anything like that. I hate to say it, and I don't know what the hell is wrong with people, but most salespeople are allergic to money. It blows my mind. I don't get it, but it sounds like this particular supplier, this particular salesperson, they were on it. As soon as you got off the phone with that receptionist, she probably reached out to that salesperson. She said, hey, we've got a guy named Selman. He's interested in buying. Call him. Believe it like the salesperson actually called you right which is great. Speaker 1: So it happens a lot I know like you have to be on these sales guys sometimes like calling them like three, five times a week because they're not picking up. Speaker 2: Which is God, like, don't even get me started. You know, I could go off on a whole rabbit hole there. But okay, so he calls you, right? Now, what does he ask you? Because I think this particular part of the process is where a lot of people get hung up. They don't want to talk on the phone or they're almost hoping the salesperson doesn't call them. For a couple of reasons, either because they're afraid of being asked, well, where do you sell? And they don't know how to confidently tell somebody that they sell online, specifically on Amazon. So what did this guy ask you when he called you up? Speaker 1: So I think he just told because the receptionist already gave him the rundown. He said you were interested in these products. So we started talking about a bit. I don't think he asked me, where do I sell? But mostly when people ask me that, I just tell them B2B because that's what works for me most of the time. I don't really bring up online unless they really start pressing me out about it. We started, go ahead, were you gonna say something? Speaker 2: Yeah, I was just gonna say, for people listening, right? They might be thinking to themselves, well, hey, that's not right because if you're gonna turn around and sell this on Amazon, aren't you technically lying to them? And the answer is not necessarily, right? Now, let me preface this by saying, obviously, we never wanna lie to anybody. We always wanna be 100% upfront. And if somebody asks us point blank, hey, do you sell on Amazon? Or hey, are you gonna be selling this stuff on Amazon? The only answer is yes, right? We have to say yes, but we say yes in a way where it's like, well, yeah, of course we are, right? We have a huge business on Amazon. Why would we not sell this on Amazon? We could sell, you know, 200 units, 2000 units a month on Amazon. Of course, we're going to sell it there. And when you answer that way, nine times out of 10, they're like, okay, that makes sense. But in this case, You're essentially omitting the fact that you sell online, which again, in my opinion, some people might not agree with this, that's fine. But in my opinion, there's nothing wrong with that. You didn't lie. You do have the ability to sell B2B, right? You're inside the Wholesale Network community. So if somebody inside the community, if Selman came across a really good deal, but he didn't have the capital with which to buy it, he could easily distribute that product to somebody else in the community, right? Because he's buying it. From a legitimate distributor with a clean supply chain, which would be a B2B transaction. So it's not, in my opinion, unethical or out of line for you to have that response. It's like, well, yeah, we operate a B2B business. And if they were to press you further, it's like, well, yeah, we're also a retail business. We also sell online. We also sell on Amazon, right? So again, I don't think there's anything wrong with that approach. I just wanted to dig into that. For the audience here who might be thinking, well, wait, is that true? Because again, when you're a part of a network or a community like ours, or if you just know other sellers, then yeah, that's a legitimate response. You do have the ability to sell B2B. So continue there. He asked you where you sell. You said you plan to sell things B2B. How did it go from there? Speaker 1: Yeah. I say B2B and also online, you know, just to include that in there. So from there, we started talking pricing. He sent me a couple of prices on the other products and brands that I found. Those ones ended up not being profitable. One of them ended up being close to profitable. So I asked him, you know, If I buy X amount, can you get it to me at this price? And he said, yes. Speaker 2: And guys, that is the million dollar question, right? That is the one question that will make you, it will make or break a lot of suppliers. Because if you don't ask that question about certain products or about certain brands, then You might have missed opportunities that would have been easy for you to grasp had you just asked that question. So to reiterate what Selman saying, and this is a line I tell everybody to use, is that when you're looking for a specific product, let's say you're talking to a supplier and you find a product. And so let's use real numbers if we can. Selman, what price did they quote you at initially? Right. So you said, Hey, I want this product and I want say a hundred units. They came back and said, okay, the price would be X. What was that price? You remember? Speaker 1: I think it was like 200 above the original price, the price that I got it at after. So it was like 800. Speaker 2: $800? Yeah. Okay. So these are like expensive products. These are like high ticket products you're saying. Speaker 1: Oh, you mean per unit? Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. Per unit. Okay. So you're talking about the whole PL. I was like, damn, what are you selling over there? Speaker 1: No, no, no high ticket. It was like originally $2 a unit. I think $2 a unit. Speaker 2: Okay. So you asked for in your initial request, you're like, Hey, I want this product. I want this amount of units. And he came back and he said, okay, it's going to be $2 a unit. Speaker 1: Right. Speaker 2: Now, what is the price that you needed to be at in order for it to work? Like, what was the exact question that you asked? How many do I need to buy in order to get, what price did you ask for? Speaker 1: So, I wanted it around like 1.5, 1.6. So, I didn't really ask, how many do I need to buy to get at X price? I said, if I buy like 400 of them, will you get it to me at 1.6? And he said, okay, yeah, that's a good amount. Speaker 2: And that's a great variation of that question, right? Because, and to be honest, I like my version a little better only because he might have had a, like, if you would have framed it, well, how many do I need to buy to get that price? He might've said 200, right? In which case you could have said, okay, well, I'll start with 200. But by you throwing out a number first, It's great that you got the price you needed, but you could have gotten a little more, right? So that's just kind of like tip for the future. But that's, I mean, you never know until you ask. And dude, to get it from $2 down to $1.60, you're talking, what, is that almost a I can't do math. That's almost a 25% discount on a very inexpensive product, which is very rare. I'm shocked that he had enough margin to be able to go from $2 down to $1.60. So it's either a product that maybe they don't sell a lot of and they have room to go down, or maybe it's one they do sell a lot of and they buy so many that they have enough margin left over. But either way, You asked the question, you said, well, hey, if I buy 400 units, can I get it at $1.60? And guys, the beauty of that question is that if it's physically impossible for him to sell it to you at $1.60, like let's say his cost is $1.70, right? He would tell you that. He would say, I can't give it to you for $1.60 because it's below my cost. I just can't do it. And in any other case, he would say, well, either, yes, I can, or no, but I can give you this price. So by simply asking that question, in my experience, the vast, vast majority of the time, you are going to get some sort of discount. You might not get the discount that you need, but you're going to get a bigger discount than what you had before. Right? Because again, the only two things he can say is either, no, I can't give you that price because it's below my cost or, I can give you either that price or I can give you, you know, slightly better price because, you know, because you asked. So that's a question that for the audience, if you're not asking your wholesale suppliers, even ones that you've never worked with, right? This was a cold interaction for Selman. Like he doesn't have a preexisting relationship with the supplier. This isn't a supplier that he spent tens of thousands of dollars with where he feels comfortable enough to negotiate big discounts. This was a simple ask on an opening PO for him to be able to get a foot in the door, right? Speaker 1: Yep. And it never hurts to ask. You're leaving money on the table. Speaker 2: It never does. And guys, these suppliers expect you to negotiate. Like if you show up out of thin air, like he did, and you place orders with them at their wholesale list price, they're going to be like, damn, like this guy Selman, like, you know, he's, he came out of nowhere. He's paying full list price. Like we love this guy. Right. Cause they're expecting you to negotiate. Right. That's just how this business works. So, and this is awesome. Like I really like getting deep and granular into like, especially that first deal, because again, a lot of people are hung up on those initial conversations. So you ask for that price, you get that price. Is that the only product that you ended up buying from them? Did you end up buying anything else from them? Speaker 1: No. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: That was the only product we ended up buying from them. About like 400 units of that product. Speaker 2: So that's awesome. So then what happens next, right? So he's, it's like, you've got a, an agreement on paper. He's like, all right, we can do that. What do you do next? Did you send him a PO? Did you like, how did you approach it next? Speaker 1: So after that, I came, met him in person this next day or like two days later. Came to their warehouse, paid for the product, picked it up. He printed out an invoice for me and I took that. I took the products, put them in my SUV, took them back home. Speaker 2: So this was an in-person, this was a local supplier, right? So when you saw that truck on the road, it was a local supplier. So when you showed up to their warehouse the next day, were you nervous? How did that interaction go down? Speaker 1: A little nervous, but I felt like it was kind of like, you know, like a family owned like wholesale like We're a distribution company. It wasn't really that many people in the warehouse. It was just him and the owner who doesn't even speak English, by the way. Speaker 2: It was like a Hispanic guy. The best suppliers are immigrant-owned. They've just got a small sales team and you can just show up in person and pick stuff up out of their warehouse just like you did. Speaker 1: That's basically what it was. I didn't really feel too nervous after I met everyone. It was pretty calm. Speaker 2: And this is for the audience as well. And listen, I get it was your first interaction, but you should feel the opposite of nervous. If anything, you should be walking in there with just all kinds of swagger because you're walking in with a checkbook. You're walking in there. I'm ready to cut them a check. If anything, they should be rolling out the red carpet for you, especially because you just called them out of the blue. Like you as a new customer just fell into their lap, right? So if anything, they should be pulling out all the stops to make sure that you do more of that, which I know you have done a little more with them since. You show up in person to pick up that PO. Did you talk to your sales rep for a little bit or did you literally just walk in, pick it up and leave? Speaker 1: So I was talking to him most of the time because the other guys, you know, they didn't speak much English. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: So it was just me and him going back and forth and ended up paying for the PO and he helped me load up the products into my card. It was, that was it from there. I told him I'll contact you for more future buys. Speaker 2: And I bet he loved you. I bet you guys were just chatting, kind of just shooting the shit, casual, just, yeah. And that's how it should be with these sales reps, right? Like good sales reps, really good sales reps are just like other outgoing people who should be your friends eventually, right? Like they want to be friends with you. They want to be on a text message basis with you. And I guarantee you, if this hasn't happened yet to you Selman, it will happen eventually, that sales rep is going to text you when he gets that product or that brand in. He's probably going to text you first. He's going to say, Hey man, we've got another container of this stuff coming in. Do you want to come grab some off the dock as soon as it gets here? Right? Like that, that's the kind of relationship you want to have with your reps. And I mean, it sounds like you're well on your way to that relationship with this particular rep. Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, just recently when I picked up the second PO, I told him, he was asked, he was more interested about like where I was selling it. So I just ended up telling him like, you know, I'm selling them on Amazon. And he was like, Oh, cool. And then he told me that he did some Amazon FBA himself and he was doing like sports products and selling like baseball products and stuff. I was like, it's pretty cool. Speaker 2: See, that's like, that's the kind of, those are the kinds of conversations you can have again, when you're just honest and you're upfront and you're not, You're not like trying to hide the fact that you sell on Amazon. You just told him like, yeah, we sell this stuff on Amazon. And who would have known that, oh, hey, I've tried that too, right? I sold sports. So, I mean, that's just, I guarantee you that conversation helped you build more rapport with him because here you are doing something that he's tried and sounds like maybe not successfully been able to do in the past. If anything, he looks at you as like, dang, this guy's killing it on Amazon. Maybe I could, Learn something more from him or maybe I should get closer with him. So that's a great rapport building piece there as well. Now, so that was the first PO. And how long ago was that first PO when you first walked in there to pick that order up in person? Was that around, you said like October-ish? Speaker 1: Yeah, so it was back in November when I placed that. Yeah. Speaker 2: Okay. Yeah. And actually, I feel like I remember you, I think you posted the picture of like the back, the trunk of your car with all the boxes in it in the success post channel there, the community Discord. You were like, just picked up my first PO here locally. And we were, we were hyping you up over it. It was awesome. Now, what has happened since then, right? So that was a few months ago. What has kind of gone down with that supplier ever since then? Speaker 1: So yeah, I just placed another order with him like a week ago, about the same 400 units, sent it off to Amazon last Friday. I ended up finding another wholesaler in the same area who I just purchased from as well like a week ago. I sell mostly in the grocery niche, by the way, so it was another grocery product. But they ended up being right next to each other, so it was pretty crazy. That whole area just has a bunch of wholesalers that I can just look into all of them and see which accounts are profitable. Speaker 2: And so this is probably some sort of industrial park type place. Speaker 1: Yeah, that's basically what it is. Speaker 2: Well, do this. And whether you do or not, it's up to you. But I'm telling you, if somebody just did this, they would land so many profitable accounts. So you're already working with two suppliers there in that little complex, right? Speaker 1: Yeah. Speaker 2: How easy would it be for you to literally just drive around that complex or not even drive, just look on Google Maps, but look at every single business in that complex. And if there's two grocery distributors in that complex, I guarantee you there's going to be more. How easy would it be for you to just show up one day and knock on a couple of those doors and say, hey, My name's Selman. I know you don't know me. This seems like totally out of the blue, but I currently buy from XYZ, like you're pointing across the parking lot. You're like, I buy from that guy and that guy over there. These are the exact products I've been buying from them. Saw you guys were here in the complex as well. Figured I would just knock on the door and introduce myself, see if there's any way we could do business as well, right? And you get automatic credibility because you're buying from their two competitors across the street. Like if anything, they're going to welcome you in with open arms. They're going to, Oh, come in. Right. What are you buying from them? How, what sort of quantities, what are you looking for? They're going to probably be doing everything they can to try and wrangle your business from the other competitors across the parking lot. And now you went from having. One profitable grocery supplier two, three months ago to now, potentially two, three, four, five grocery suppliers who not only are willing to work with you, but they're trying to essentially undercut each other in order to get your business, right? So that one product you were getting at $1.60, I guarantee you there's somebody else there in that industrial park who can get it for you at say $1.50 or $1.40, right? And it's worth a try. It's worth trying to pit them against each other. Speaker 1: Yeah, like last time I went I was like looking at the signage on the road and just taking pictures of all them so I can like go through them like later on. Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I'm telling you that That is such an underrated move. And that happened to me recently. I went to pick up a PO here in Charlotte locally in this large industrial park. And I pulled in to pick it up for my supplier. The rep came out, he helped me load it in my car. And as I was driving out, I was like constantly looking left, right, left, right. Like who are the other distributors, the other suppliers in this office park that I could also contact, that I could also literally just knock on the door. Because like I said, I can knock on the door and say, hey, I just bought from XYZ down the street. Wanted to see if you guys might be open to a conversation, right? It's really that simple at the end of the day. Speaker 1: Honestly, it really is. Speaker 2: It is. Well, I love it, man. So what's next for you? What's next for Selman in 2025? So you've got one solid supplier that you work with there locally. Well, it sounds like two actually, but what's next? Where are you headed? Speaker 1: So yeah, goal is to keep finding more like profitable suppliers. I like what you do or you just you track one metric and that's like how many suppliers am I, how many qualified brands and distributors am I calling per day? So I want to get that, you know, like three to five daily or like, you know, work days, Monday through Friday calling at least three to five qualified brands and distributors. And I want to open at least like one or two brand directs because right now my wholesale company is basically just distributors, no brand directs yet. So that's another goal of mine. And then also hitting, you know, like the 100K, 200K mark in my wholesale business, really. Speaker 2: In revenue, you mean? Speaker 1: In revenue, yeah. Speaker 2: Yeah. And that is 100% achievable. And again, at the rate that you're going and with the tools that you have at your disposal, and now that you've broken the ice with a couple of these distributors already, That is so within the realm of possibility. It's almost inevitable, right? And your point, so it sounds like you're referring to a tweet and an Instagram story that I put out the other day for the audience who might not be familiar. What I had said in that tweet is that there's really only one metric that matters at the end of the day. If you're a wholesale seller, right? This mainly applies when you're at towards the beginning of your journey, but it applies to anybody who's looking to grow their business. And the only metric that matters is how many Quality conversations are you having with qualified brands and distributors every day, right? Now notice how I didn't say, well, how many calls did you make, right? Cause you can make 10 calls and not talk to anybody. In which case you might as well have made zero calls, right? It's how many conversations am I having? Not just with any brand or any distributor we're talking qualified brands and distributors, right? Brands that have existing FBA competition that are already selling well on Amazon where we might have the possibility to work with them. Distributors who carry brand name products that already sell well on Amazon and they work with retailers and you know, it's clear to tell they're legitimate and authorized. Those are the types of conversations we want to be having And like you said, your goal of three to five per day, that is a realistic goal. That's a goal that's going to take you between finding them and contacting them. That is going to take you 60 to 90 minutes per day once you get good at it. Right. I don't I mean, correct me if I'm wrong. But one to two hours per day of effort to build the foundation for what can and will be a seven-figure per year revenue business, eventually an eight-figure per year revenue business, small price to pay, right? And the beauty of this business too is you don't have to do outreach forever. Once you have You're stable of qualified suppliers. You can ease up on the outreach. You can start doing three to five per week instead of three to five per day once you get to a certain point, because you will get to a point where you've got so many opportunities and not enough capital to buy everything. So doing more outreach is not going to be what moves the needle for you, right? It's going to be figuring out either how to find more capital or how do I work more with the suppliers that I already have a relationship with. So it's almost like you lock in for 30 to 60 to 90 days doing that outreach every single weekday, like you said, then the foundation has been built and then you can really scale up from there. Does that sound realistic and achievable to you? Speaker 1: So achievable. Speaker 2: Yeah, totally. Well, I love it, man. Listen, where can people find out more about you? And before I let you plug your socials there, guys, Selman obviously said, just before I forget, he said he is a Wholesale Network community member. He has been since, I think you said October of last year. Yeah, October of last year. So guys, Again, this is not meant to be like a pitch episode for the Wholesale Network, but we do have some folks listening who would definitely benefit from being a part of our community, whether it's the one-on-one access to people like myself or Kaj or Jonah, as well as our entire community of 160 plus successful wholesale sellers. Guys, if you're looking to build a profitable wholesale business on Amazon, the right way In 2025 and beyond, the Wholesale Network is by far the best place to be and the best place to be supported while you're doing that. So if you're interested in joining us, you can head over to WholesaleNetwork.io. Apply to join us. You can hang out with me, hang out with Selman, all of our great people every day. We've got a really good group. So Selman, where can people find out more about you specifically? Where can they go and connect with you? Speaker 1: Yeah, before I plug my socials, I just really wanted to say about the Wholesale Network. You know, there's a, I was going to say something I'd forgotten. So in the Wholesale Network, it's And by yourself, you can go through the steps and do trial and error, but within the Wholesale Network, they just basically make that so much easier for you because you already have the guys that went through what you went through and they're already doing the numbers that you wanna do. So if you surround yourself with people who are at the goal or peak of where you want to get, you'll get there much faster than if you're by yourself. That's basically what I was trying to say. Speaker 2: I appreciate the kind words. I appreciate it, man. I'm the same way. It's why I joined communities. I'm interested in real estate, so I pay for real estate masterminds. I pay for local business owner masterminds. Anything you're trying to do, you're going to benefit from being around other people who are doing what it is that you want to do at a high level. I appreciate the kind words there. Where can people find out more about you specifically? Where can they go follow you? Speaker 1: I'm on Instagram. Selman Abdullahi with two I's. I'd probably have to spell that out. So S-E-L. Speaker 2: We'll put it in the description there. Yeah. So don't worry. I wouldn't even try to spell it myself. So no worries. Speaker 1: A lot of people, a lot of times when I'm contacting suppliers, you know, sometimes they ask me to spell out my name. Speaker 2: And you're probably like, oh, you don't want to know. Well, listen, man, I appreciate the time. Guys, if you've listened this far and if you enjoy the show, go over to YouTube, go over to Apple, Spotify, wherever you're listening to the show. Leave us a quick thumbs up on YouTube or a five star on Apple or Spotify. Really appreciate it. Helps get the show in front of more people. Selman, thank you so much for the time, man. I will see you inside the Wholesale Network. Speaker 1: All right. Thanks, Corey.