Danny Carlson is an FBA entrepreneur specializing in PPC management and listing optimization. He founded the Amazon seller agency Kenji ROI in 2016. He has grown to almost 10 teams. Kenji ROI has served 638+ Amazon sellers with product photography, video copywriting, Amazon SEO, Amazon PPC management services and has produced more than 1300 Amazon product listings.
Danny Carlson is also the host of Actualized Freedom podcast - an Amazon FBA Podcast - and the Danny Carlson Podcast - building agencies mindset and lifestyle. He has completed more than 75 interviews with names such as Steve Sims, Manny Coats, Keving King, Daniel D, and Piazza.
What did your processes look like before it was automated? What caused you to realize that you needed automation?
- Carlson says that it takes time to automate, and user error was the biggest reason for automation.
- There were issues in the team because someone would not be able to find something, and there were roadblocks.
- There was a virtual assistant put in place, but it was not very accurate.
Were your processes originally given to virtual assistants or was it something you were having to do?
- Carlson says that originally he had to be doing the processes, and it was only later passed on to a virtual; assistant.
- It was passed off without any real good standard operating procedure in place.
Are you using Zapier or using Integra Mat? What are you using to fire off and trigger this automation?
- Carlson’s automation is all done with Zapier, and they only started using Integra Mat about four months ago.
Was this something you automated all at once? What was it like?
- Carlson says that everything was automated at once, but they changed software over time.
- Improvements were made to their processes, and they ensure they were kept updated.
- Carlson says that the magic of having five or six different software all talking to each other is very valuable.
Where is the data now?
- The data is now in their checkout software called Service Provider Pro - where all the client invoicing, order management and everything lives in there.
- Clients have to fill in a detailed intake form of their project data.
- It then goes into one Google Drive, slides and sheets, and then goes to specified Trello boards.
- It then gets sent to Gmail and then back to Service Provider Pro.
Tell me a little more about how your operating standard a procedure wasn’t very well written out at first.
- Carlson says they did not have things figured out in their system and had very little of the basic details figured out.
- Manual templates and time tracking took a large amount of time to complete.
- Emails were not set up very well either, they only had about a welcome email when they began, but they added in a lot of tweaks that made it better.
Zapier has integration tools with Google Docs. Are you using that functionality to create some of these templates?
- Carlson says that they do use these templates, and it removes one less thing for virtual assistants to mess up.
Why are folder structures a pain?
- Carlson says that if you don’t have proper folder structures your automation will not be as clean as it can be.
- Zapier automation creates files for all of the teams and they can then work within those folders and not need to go through everyone’s files.
- It is also very useful for training new people joining the company because they can be sent to a training folder.
Are there any random tips that you have that you use to name things?
- Carlson says they use the ZZ tip when archiving portfolios for Amazon ads.
- For naming structures, they use letters to signify what the folders are for.
You mentioned several different pieces of software. What pieces of software are you using that you found have helped you automate, delegate, or eliminate?
- Trello and Service Provider Pro is used for 80% of business management.
- Service Provider Pro is useful for client communication and order management, but it does not offer very good granular management, which is where Trello comes in play.
- Trello can be used to create automation and keeps boards from being messy and difficult managing.
When customers ask you if you can do “XYZ new thing”, do you tell them you can, or do you look for something you have already productized?
- Carlson says that they are asking for something that they can’t do, they will refer them to a company that can do what the customers ask.
- The second way Carlson deals with customers that are searching for XYZ, they will be sent to packages that are priced higher.
Tell me more about what it looks like for you as you jump into the more systemized of custom work.
- It takes more time for custom works, and may slow down the team, and are taken into pricing.
- Productized services are very rigid and standardized and the team already knows how to do it, and is more efficient and lower costs for the team.
- There is also a larger sales process by just creating the quote for a custom project.
How much time are you saving, having had the 27 steps inside Zapiers?
- Carlson says they save almost 30 hours a month.
Is there any parting but of wisdom you want to share with entrepreneurs?
- Carlson says that people have the tendency to go towards complicated solutions because there is os much fancy software out there, but it is better taking the route of the simpler solution.
Resources:
Facebook: Danny Carlson
Google Docs Tempalte Zapier: Zapier
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