Recording with Yoni

Leah: [00:00:00] Hey, Amazon sellers. We are here today with Yoni Mazor of GETIDA.com. Very excited that they are sponsoring Seller Velocity for, I think the fourth year in a row, possibly fifth year in a row. When was the beginning? , I think we started in the beginning.

Chris: We did New York. You were not there for that, but you've been there for every year since.

Yoni: I believe. Hold on. So Velocity 2018 was in the basement of Abigail's? We were there, definitely. We were there with Ezra from my team. Ezra from my team was the speaker there. I remember that. So we were there. We were definitely there. We sponsored it. We spoke and the whole thing. 

Chris: Yeah, Abigail's isn't there anymore. Things have changed. 

Yoni: Well, that was like a landmark place. But, I was there. But I wasn't famous enough or, or dignified enough for you to know me, meaning you were up there and I was, I was catching up to Chris.

Chris: We know you enough now. That's what matters. 

Leah: So we're back in New York for the first time since that first year. It's very exciting and this year we are focusing on optimizing your processes [00:01:00] for brand growth because, It's great to expand and spend money on things, but isn't it better to make a little bit more money on what you're already doing?

Yoni: A hundred percent. If we compare it back to 2018 or 2019, a lot of the more back then was the hack, the shortcuts of how to generate sales. Okay. Now a different evolution of the sales it's okay, but how do we create sales that are lucrative? Because we're branded and we can really control our destiny.

It's much more holistic. So, obviously COVID we had the whole story of COVID in between that gave a whole lift to the whole e commerce industry. So yeah, I think this is the most exciting time because it's so really valuable. It's not the shortcuts. It's the long, long road to really resonate with consumers out there and create something that is special, unique, differentiated, and this environment, you know, Seller Velocity and all the content around it and the activities will nourish that enhance that with, you know, the industry leaders. So that's exciting times to be in the business, but it's even more exciting time to come to New York [00:02:00] and hit up the event.

Chris: Yeah, everyone's looking for any additional value, right? Isn't this one reason why you guys have thrived in the last couple of years beyond the last four or five years, but in the last couple of years, any additional value is appreciated and people understand where those areas of additional value are better now than even two years ago, I would think. Right? 

Yoni: Yeah. Yeah. Because if I had to kind of give commentary, what happened, especially since COVID is that so many players got thrown into this industry. And a lot of these pillars are really professionals or real brands, right? So all of a sudden they have this edge, they have this advantage and being a brand.

So they're already being looked for. So the sellers who are just Amazon native or hack native. I had to level up their game or get out and that's where we are today and so they have to kind of layer it in. It's not just one hit and you're good, right? Layer after layer. 

You know, traffic from outside. There's many sources. There's TikTok. There's Facebook. There's Instagram. Twitter. Each one has its own science. It's own art form, right? Threads. We've got [00:03:00] threads now. You see, in the past, I've waited another two minutes on something else. Things are dynamic, they change. So you got to figure that out.

There's email marketing posts, post email marketing, elements. Of course, packaging, it just starts with the whole journey. So a lot of the sellers are thinking about the whole journey of their avatar, their target audience and consumer, and crafting a whole experience from top to bottom.

And that is much more professional. It takes much more time, much more resources, much more know how. So you got to be much more connected to the industry, much more than ever. 

Leah: Yeah, that's what's been fun about doing this conference for the last five years is that we've got to grow the content with the industry growing.

So, you know, a few years ago, the focus was how to get omnichannel and not just on Amazon. Now we're to the next level where everybody's pretty omnichannel at this point. So now it's well, how do you do this the best way that you possibly can. And so you're using your resources wisely. So it's nice to get to change the content as things progress.

Chris: Yeah. We witnessed the evolution. [00:04:00]

Yoni: So yeah, there's an old saying that I learned back in my university days, it just stuck with me and it's so true. And this, this little topic we're touching on now kind of illustrates that the only thing that doesn't change, is change. It's a paradox. So you know, things are changing again. But really, I think honestly, it's special. This is a special time. This is a special moment and sellers really have to understand that they have to gear up. They have to buckle up. And make a switch, instead of a side hustle, lifestyle business, they have to realize that the switches, you gotta have to professionalize in this, you don't go to med school, just, to do it as a side gig.

You're not going to invest all these resources just to then do it on the side. It's just not going to work. So you're entering into that moment. Oh, you're in that moment, but. Hopefully with this New York event you're going to elevate that moment and continue the journey.

Chris: You've done different things with Seller Velocity every year. We keep it fresh. We don't always have the same [00:05:00] speakers, we don't always have the same content. So we're evolving within the conference, the same way sellers have had to evolve and the way brands have had to evolve. And Amazon evolves really slowly, I think in a lot of ways, but they evolve too.

Yoni: Not really slowly. Amazon it's like dog years, one day is like a whole year. But Yeah, I think it's special times. 

Leah: Yeah. And last year we added the VIP day because networking is incredibly important, particularly in this industry.

And we always wanted to make a priority with these conferences to make it intimate and make it, so you leave at the end of the day with friends rather than people that you just met at a conference. So we added that VIP day to give a little bit extra time for people to really get to know each other and do it around an activity, because everybody likes activities and we try to get people to get offline for a day, right?

So they can actually focus on their business, focus on who they're talking to, rather than answering emails and calls like we all have to do all day every day. 

Chris: Networking requires focus too, by the way. If you're constantly looking at your [00:06:00] phone or making calls outside of an event, then you might lose an hour that you could have spent productively networking at the event itself. I mean, I hope people don't do that too much when they pay to attend, but some people do sometimes you see them, even outside, like you were mentioning Las Vegas a minute ago. Sometimes you see people outside the Prosper show who aren't really taking advantage of networking there, which is a much larger event. 

Leah: They're not taking it in. They're not making that switch that I'm going to professionalize that I'm I'm in the university or whatnot. And I got to hone in on my educational elements and it's important to make that switch.

 GETIDA have always been very good at that. You guys always have a very good booth for hanging out and networking. 

Yoni: Yeah, we like to create a kind of usually the lounge effect where you sit down because it can be overwhelming, sensational, Vegas, which is sensational. Then the show, all the booths, all the swag and all the kind of right in a moment, in a moment.

So we try to create those moments of okay, I can take a breath, but I want to [00:07:00] touch, to what you said earlier, Chris, where people have to kind of make that switch. It reminds me of the Matrix, the movie, we have to kind of pull them out of the Matrix into the real world, right? I have to go to you know, heading into Zion.

I think that was Jerusalem or something like that over there. The other Zion. Yes. The other Zion in the Matrix movie. So you got to unplug yourself, put your phone on fly mode. Once you're in the session, once you're in the zone, five minute session, an hour session. I'm setting the obvious.

But it's not so obvious anymore because we're so wired in. So I think that's important that sellers to get out of their comfort zone, travel, zoom out. Of the regular stuff and zoom into educational, then you absorb this, you soak it in, but also people soaking it with you, you, the natural bonding will happen and then one good relationship or one good connection with one seller, they give the one advice that one can make a big difference for you and that's always a super valuable. Now the first day is going to be New York city, Manhattan, right? Yes. The second day is not going to be there, correct? 

Leah: It is not. And I'll tell you a secret, which we have not actually posted anywhere publicly yet. The venue on the second day. It does not have [00:08:00] phone reception, so people will not have a choice. They are offline. 

Chris: You are going to be networking. I like what you said about their booth though, because I can give you a testimonial in terms of a GETIDA booth at the average conference, which is you guys are friendly, you're engaging, you show up ready to talk to people about a variety of issues. You have a sense of humor. And also I think sometimes sellers forget that you can network even within a booth because you can meet other people that have a shared or similar problem. And they're waiting to talk to you just like they are. Right. And they can share some notes too. So interacting with sponsors results in networking that's worthwhile as well.

Leah: Yeah. We also, in the last couple of years, I know of at least five major business deals that have happened at our conference that either resulted in a merger or an acquisition or some sort of partnership going forward. So, we try to make an environment for that to work for everybody and yeah, this year for the VIP day, people will not be able to be on their phones. Because we [00:09:00] are transporting everybody out in the middle of nowhere. 

Yoni: But I love it. 

Chris: It's not just a field trip for fun and to rent a kayak and splish splash on the water. It's to get you away from your day to day grind so that you can focus on these concepts. Otherwise, what are you doing here and will you get the most out of the conference?

Probably not. 

Yoni: Yeah, the beautiful thing is you get a double dip. You get the New York City, Manhattan vibe. Yeah, exactly. And you get the outside. I don't want to say where we're going to go. But it's outside and just a beautiful region, beautiful air. So it's a thing, maybe once in a lifetime opportunity to see what's around.

Cause you'll ask many Manhattan New Yorkers. They never go to the Statue of Liberty. They never go anywhere. They just go to a few blocks. They go too much north, it's a nosebleed. If you go too south, they need some oxygen. 

Chris: And by the way, we're not taking everyone into the Australian outback or the wilderness.

We're talking about an hour and change from the city. So it's not a ridiculous amount of time to get there and distance, but who knows in the future we'll do something in Australia. 

Yoni: I'm [00:10:00] looking forward to that. I've never been there. 

Leah: Next time. No promises. 

Chris: All right. Well, thanks for joining us for this. We will see you of course, October 11th and 12th for Seller Velocity, hopefully before then too. Any words of wisdom you would like to leave people for in terms of what you would like to talk to them about when you get to Seller Velocity in october. 

Yoni: I'm a sponge, whatever they're really experiencing. I just want to hear it. I want to soak it in. And of course, if I'm, I've heard somebody else experiencing that and they found the way out, I was happy to share that in, in a variety of issues and topics. But of course, on the Amazon app, on the Amazon FBA auditing and reimbursements, bring it on.

As they say, just always looking to learn something new or solve something new, a new challenge. So bring your challenges, really bring, flush it out. We're here for you guys, you know, as GETIDA. As Leah and Chris and Seller Velocity is just really, we're very passionate about solving problems.

 I feel [00:11:00] fulfilled. I'm sure you guys feel the same way because your specialty is even more fulfilling you're saving businesses, which is like, we're just nourishing businesses with cash. They never imagined that they can have. But you're saving them. That's like talking about med school, you guys are brain surgeons and taking tumors left and right.

So the passion is here. We're ready for you guys. We're looking forward to see you and let's also have a little fun with this. It'll be great. 

Chris: Absolutely. We'll see you in the matrix. All right. Take care,