In your own words, what does your company do?
Cartology provides a customized done-for-you solution for brands that want to win on Amazon. We help brands who are on Amazon that are suffering from low or underperforming sales, poor conversion rates, subpar advertising results, or that can’t get profitable. We also work with brands that aren’t yet on Amazon and are missing out on the brand visibility and revenue the channel brings. It’s a complex channel so we provide a holistic approach that keeps you fully covered.
📈 Monthly revenue: $41,000
📈 ~% Churn (if applicable): 11%
📈 ~% Net profit (roughly): 5%
📈 Funding: Bootstrapped
📈 Initial cost/investment to start the company, $0.00, it was all based on my time. I did work another job while I got things up and running.
📈 Number of team members: 12
📈 Number of founders: 1
📈 Started: 2016, October
How does the company make money?
💰 We create a strategy for your brand on Amazon and then execute the entire strategy for you. All pricing is customized to the brand and its needs.
💰 We can do a full market analysis and performance audit to look at your brand and category in depth. We will determine your position in the market, what you’re up against, overall size and opportunities in the market, and recommendations for how to succeed. This price is customized based on the client and project.
💰 Michael, our Chief Idea Officer, can be hired as a consultant to guide you through your brand winning on Amazon, i.e. creating a strategy and how to implement that on your team. He has an hourly rate.
3 strategies that have worked to attract and retain customers?
✅ In Person: Being a solid council and advising on the current business problems brands are facing.
✅ YouTube/Podcasts: Going out and doing interviews with other people on their podcasts and shows to share my expertise and talk more about how to make it work for your brand on Amazon.
✅ Referral Quality Work: The best thing we do is put forth high-quality work and create clear and transparent communication with clients. This keeps them around and it gets them to refer others they know to us. It also keeps our client acquisition costs low.
3 things that you’ve learned about hiring and retaining great talent?
✅ Continuous Coaching In The Moment: Feedback is a must with our team. It won’t work out if you aren’t willing to receive or give feedback. That means being open-minded and taking direction. It also means contributing with your voice too. The feedback may seem like a lot at first but I find that people who start seeking out the feedback are the ones who excel. When people become defensive over valid coaching, it’s a barrier to their and the company’s progress.
✅ Internal Referrals: When we hire someone great, they want to refer people they know that are solid players. They won’t recommend someone who can’t perform because it makes them look bad and hurts the company. And the people that come in seem to have a stronger desire to perform and stick around.
✅ Listening: I like to ask a lot of questions and then I listen. I haven’t always been great at that but when I listen, I get goldmines of information that I can then work with. If someone is acting inappropriately, I ask them what’s up. They get a chance to share and be heard, and then we can start working on what needs to change. It’s a win-win-win.