The Product Sourcing Blueprint Information
DISCOVER THE SUPPLY CHAIN SECRETS FOR MANUFACTURING SUPERIOR PRODUCTS IN A POST-PANDEMIC WORLD
USED TO SOURCE 2,500+ SUCCESSFUL PRODUCTS, NOW YOU TOO WILL GET AGGRESSIVE PRICING, QUALITY SAMPLES, LOW MOQ’S, AND EVEN AVOID A SUPPLIER COPYING YOUR IDEA!
BLINDLY TRUSTING THE AVERAGE ALIBABA SUPPLIER IS A RECIPE FOR DISASTER
In a post-pandemic supply chain, the manufacturing process isn’t always easy or transparent and the “average” Alibaba suppliers know it. Your unfamiliarity becomes their profitability. And for a new entrepreneur who needs to get it “right” on day one and can’t afford mistakes or misunderstanding, nothing is more expensive than ignorance at the factory.
DON’T END UP WASTING MONEY AND MONTHS OF HARD WORK BY TRUSTING THE WRONG SUPPLIER
That’s why the “old way” of just ordering a generic product from Alibaba is long gone. There’s too much competition to succeed with copycat products and dangerous suppliers. The wrong supplier will copy your idea, use cheap materials, or find a hundred different ways to put their bottom line above yours.
Today, you need to work with a proven and trusted supplier partner who can guide you in creating unique products that not only sell, but sell at a profit. Because as a small business, revenue means nothing unless you’re profitable, and your profitability starts with understanding your supply chain and your margins!
But just because some self-proclaimed “guru” has used Alibaba to source one product, from one factory, in one niche, sometimes even just one time, doesn’t mean their advice is safe to follow.
NOW IMAGINE IF EVERY SINGLE SOURCING SECRET AND STEP WAS LAID OUT FOR YOU
Which is why after visiting more than 500 factories while living and working in China for 9+ years, Kian was fed up with watching new entrepreneurs fall prey to incomplete and dangerous sourcing advice.
Because even the most innovative products fail without the right supplier and competitively negotiated margins. While it often feels like there’s a million ways to do ecommerce, every product’s profitability and viability starts at the factory on day one.
When you partner with the right manufacturer, your life changes forever. Your new online business will explode out of nowhere, allowing you to live and work from anywhere in the world. Finally you can stop trading your time for money, and instead get paid to simply create products people love!
INTRODUCING: THE PRODUCT SOURCING BLUEPRINT
THE SUPPLY CHAIN BLUEPRINT BEHIND 2,500+ SUCCESSFULLY SOURCED PRODUCTS
A step-by-step, repeatable process for quickly helping you manufacture and source your first product the right way from start to finish. Perfect for total beginners and early stage entrepreneurs.
This proven blueprint will take you from “overwhelmed with ideas”, to finally having your own unique product manufactured, shipped, and sold. All while avoiding the normal time-consuming and costly mistakes that 99% of entrepreneurs make. Plus you can use it to source any kind of product from any country!
THIS NEW PRODUCT SOURCING COURSE WILL HELP YOU…
FIND THE RIGHT SUPPLIERS
No matter what you sell, Kian’s process will help you find a trustworthy and experienced supplier for your unique product and situation.
ADD 10-20% TO YOUR BOTTOM LINE
A profitable business starts with your margins at the factory. Kian’s “Cost Calculator” helps you get the most aggressive price possible without sacrificing quality.
NEGOTIATE FLEXIBLE TERMS
Don’t get taken advantage of. Kian will help you structure your payment and shipping terms so they support your business and optimize your cash flow.
CREATE SUPERIOR PRODUCTS
Kian will help you manufacture the best product in your category, setting you apart and giving you a clear competitive advantage no matter the industry.
SAVE TIME BY AVOIDING MISTAKES
Instead of trusting blindly, you’ll use Kian’s templates and checklists to ensure quality control from your samples to your final shipped product.
PROTECT YOUR PRODUCT IDEA
Having your product “copied” by a supplier is a real threat. Kian shows you exactly what you need to do to prevent that from ever happening.
And much more…
Here’s what you’ll learn
MODULE 1: KIAN’S UNBEATABLE SUPPLIER SYSTEM
Reliable suppliers help grow your business for free. In this module, you’ll get started by going through the foundational aspects of sourcing like a pro and dive deeper into Kian Golzari’s unbeatable supplier system.
Lesson 01: Introduction to Supply Chain
Discover why it’s important to develop great supplier relationships and business processes for your e-commerce business and how Kian’s vast knowledge can help you shorten the learning curve.
Lesson 02: Product Development course summary
Get a brief overview of product development, branding and packaging secrets to help you go from idea to brand real quick. No more expensive product development projects that suck your budget dry.
Lesson 03: Find the best suppliers online
How to find suppliers—the single most important aspect of an e-commerce business that if you ignore can slow your growth and cause unending manufacturing woes. You’ll go through a few real-life examples of how it’s done.
Lesson 04: Your First Message (that builds leverage)
Better than your own employees. Generate interest and engagement from the best suppliers and make them feel like long-term partners of your business without sacrificing on profits. Get off on the right foot.
Lesson 05: Dig Deeper Than the Competition
Do this to avoid spending thousands on products that don’t give you any edge in the marketplace. Learn where to find your competitor’s favorite suppliers, match and exceed their quality and price, and enjoy better terms.
MODULE 2: FINDING SUPPLIERS OUTSIDE OF CHINA
Never rely solely on China for all your manufacturing needs. In this module, you’ll learn how brand new businesses are sourcing products outside of China and sometimes even the USA in order to sell more and scale faster.
Lesson 01: Sourcing Outside of China
Did you know that sourcing raw materials or even finished goods outside of China can dramatically lower your costs in some cases? If you’re not getting quotations from countries like Vietnam, India, and Bangladesh, you’re missing out on your potential competitive edge.
Lesson 02: Sourcing from the USA
It doesn’t just reduce America’s dependence on foreign suppliers. Big institutions are moving their supply chain back to the USA as it gives them shorter lead time, stronger relationships and often, a clear boost in consumer confidence.
Lesson 03: Trade Shows
Not all trade shows are equal. Discover the 3 most important Chinese and domestic trade shows that will empower you with the highest quality info on the markets, trends, competition, prices, products, consumers and standards.
MODULE 3: PRICE AND QUANTITY
Have you ever wanted to be just right on the price and terms when you speak to suppliers? No going back and forth, haggling. Well, don’t miss a minute of this module. This speeds things up like nothing else.
Lesson 01: How to negotiate your price
STOP if you think you can’t be an expert negotiator. Once you know the actual price of the product you’re sourcing and understand the manufacturing steps, you’ll instantly become one. All while building long lasting relationships.
Lesson 02: External Factors that Affect Price
Even total beginners can negotiate much better than older, established businesses. The secret lies in knowing the cost of raw materials and labor in their local currency. Help them help you.
Lesson 03: Costings – Using Kian’s calculator
Just think about how you can’t ever overpay for your products. With Kian’s costing formula and calculator, you’ll instantly gain confidence to stop guessing and ask for the right price for the right product.
Lesson 04: When to negotiate the Price
Don’t leave your hard-earned money at the table. Unlike your competitors, you will know when to negotiate not only the product price but also freight price, freight terms, payment terms, packaging, warranty and lead times.
Lesson 05: Low Minimum Order Quantities
Want a lower MOQ? Just show them the spec sheet and highlight your strength as a potential long term partner without any such commitment. You’ll be surprised at how flexible an MOQ policy can be.
Lesson 06: Working with multiple factories
The moment you realize that your business can grow or die with your supplier, you’ll agree that you should have a backup supplier just in case. You don’t want to wake up one day feeling like it’s too late.
MODULE 4: SUPPLIER AND ORDER MANAGEMENT
You’re getting that extra information you probably can’t find anywhere else. Discover the absolute easiest way to build relationships with suppliers and manage the transfer and transformation of raw materials into finished products in your warehouse.
Lesson 01: Benefits of Building Relationships
Exciting new ways of building relationships with your supplier. This will create a win-win situation with superior products, faster lead times, less returns, better reviews and more market share for your business.
Lesson 02: How to Build Relationships
You can build an excellent relationship with your supplier(s) without spending time and money frequently visiting them at their factory. Learn simple gestures that make a big difference.
Lesson 03: Align with the manufacturer that fits
What you’ll discover is that when you are aligned with your supplier’s business goals and values, it will completely change your business career for good. No one will take better care of you than your supplier.
Lesson 04: The Sample Process
Has it ever happened that you got all excited about your supplier’s explanation of a new product and ordered it right away? I’m sure it has. Well, don’t do that. Never place an order without a confirmed sample.
Lesson 05: Packaging, Labels and hangtags
It goes without saying that your product unboxing experience should be memorable. In addition, all your labels, hang tags and boxes should meet the packaging requirements where you’re selling into.
Lesson 06: The Purchase Order and SC
Yes, your business needs them. Purchase orders create a legal contract between you and your supplier. And you’ll get a service confirmation in return. Both documents must be a 100% match.
Lesson 07: Terms and Conditions of Order
You’ll need to clarify what happens in any given situation. That’s what the terms and conditions are for. You’ll know exactly what to put in yours and have Kian’s template as a starting point.
Lesson 08: Carton markings
Do not skip this. All it takes is a few errors in your carton marks and labels and you’ll have wrecked your supply chain completely. If you’re shipping to Amazon, they’re going to mark all your units defective.
Lesson 09: How to Minimize Going Out of Stock
Delays must never cause you to go out of stock. While no one can predict shipping delays, you can minimize production delays by planning ahead on the raw materials used. Also saves money in the long run.
MODULE 5: QUALITY CONTROL
Prevention is better than cure. When you implement a step-by-step quality control system, it eliminates the need for expensive product recalls and manufacturers are less likely to shortcut processes when they know you take it seriously.
Lesson 01: The Quality Fade
Cut your risk of product quality fade. After a successful initial production run, it’s not uncommon for manufacturers to start substituting slightly cheaper materials or cutting corners to get work finished quickly.
Lesson 02: Product Certifications
Certification improves trust. What kind of legal or industry standards can you get your products certified for? It can be a mandatory requirement depending on where you sell what. Can your supplier do them for you?
Lesson 03: Pre-Shipment Inspections
Stop product mistakes before they start. Routine product inspections means that you nip any creeping product quality degradation or genuine mistakes due to miscommunication in the bud. There’s no way around it.
Lesson 04: What to do if your inspection fails
Correct mistakes without damaging relationships. This handy lesson shows you how to get to the root of the mistake, whether genuine, casual or deliberate and salvage it at the supplier’s expense.
MODULE 6: CASHFLOW & COMPLIANCE
It’s un-entrepreneurial not to look at your cash flow. (And it’s just as unresourceful not to stretch it.) This together with compliance are the keys to eliminating stress and mess when working with manufacturing.
Lesson 01: How to pay your suppliers
How and when you pay your suppliers makes a big difference in your cash flow. So be sure to explore all options while placing emphasis on being a reliable partner that cares. You don’t want to go the extreme.
Lesson 02: credit terms from your supplier
Take the maximum time allowed and it can be an interest-free line of credit. And work with your supplier’s limits over a number of years so you can place bigger orders for events like Black Friday without paying for it all upfront.
Lesson 03: Contracts, NDAs, NNNs, and IP Protection
Making contracts that cover various NDAs and IP protection clauses is fast, very easy, and nearly foolproof, and it works to prevent your competitors from cajoling your supplier to produce your products for them.
Lesson 04: HTS codes
It’s a 10-digit system used by governments to identify and classify imported items for duty and tax purposes. And sometimes, just these tariffs alone can make your product uncompetitive in the marketplace.
MODULE 7: SHIPPING AND RECEIVING
The success and scalability of your business is only as good as the weakest link. And for many, it’s the logistics. The global shipping industry and supply chains have undergone some transformations recently and it’s good to pay attention.
Lesson 01: Transport Methods
How the world moves products: air, road, sea and rail. The rookie almost always choses air because of speed whereas this lesson helps you choose the right one based on the situation, product size, weight, value and supplier proximity.
Lesson 02: Incoterms
There are a set of 11 internationally recognized rules that interpret common trade terms for commercial buyers and sellers. While these are not compulsory, you want to use these terms in all your contracts.
Lesson 03: Shipping Cargo
Now you can skip all the days you’d spend Googling container sizes, container loads, sea freight times, ground transportation costs, BL, CI, PL and COO and go straight to using the best options when necessary.
Lesson 04: Selecting a freight forwarder
At some point in your e-commerce growth journey, you’d wish someone was there to professionally manage the shipping lines, transit times, modes of transport, routes, and document submissions. That’s a freight forwarder.
Lesson 05: Shipping hacks
Oh no, not again! What happens if your goods arrive damaged, your container rates shoot up or your competitors spy on your shipping activity? There are ways to anticipate these and take pre-emptive actions.
Lesson 06: 3PL
If they say, “we’ll store your items, pick and pack your orders and handle your exchanges and returns,” can you trust them? Well, here’s where you’ll learn how to properly communicate with and rate a 3PL partner.
Lesson 07: Chinese Holidays
You’re waiting for your goods to get shipped and you realize…’tis the season—but for them. What do you do? Watch this lesson and never get caught in Chinese New Year shipping delays and production halts.
Lesson 08: Summary
You just saved thousands of dollars in costly supply chain mistakes (presently or in the future) thanks to Kian’s systems and processes. Now, how do you make it easy to remember and easier to implement? What if you want more?
About Author
Kian Golzari is one of the world’s leading sourcing experts who has personally visited over 500 factories and sourced over 2,500 products.
He’s manufactured products for the NBA, United Nations, Olympic Games, US Ministry of Defense, as well as for some top athletes such as Neymar JR and Kobe Bryant. He’s even created brands for UK big box retailers such as Tesco, Argos, Aldi and more.
He’s mentored over 200 Amazon entrepreneurs on better sourcing practices and he has spoken at international ecommerce & sourcing events in Hong Kong, Los Angeles, China, London, Prague, Amsterdam, Las Vegas and many more.
More courses from the same author: Kian Golzari
Salepage: The Product Sourcing Blueprint – Kian Golzari – Foundr