FredMcKinnon.Com

This post is Part 2 of a series on the story of how HPP Enterprises, an e-commerce company, was born.  Read Part 1 here.

In my search for companies that would wholesale toys I kept hitting websites that promised to sell “thousands of products” at wholesale that people would buy.  I learned about this thing called “dropshipping” – where you don’t have to stock inventory or own a warehouse.  Companies would let you sell their product and would “dropship” it to your customer.  In many cases they would ship to the customer with YOUR NAME on the box and packing slip, called a “blind drop ship”, leaving the actual supplier and shipper invisible to the customer.

I think I probably stayed up all night … reading, searching, reviewing.  Most of these sites were clearly affiliate-driven sites trying to earn money off my clicks and signups.  I found companies that wanted lots of money in monthly dues or subscription fees.  I found sites offering “lists” for a fee that would give me the secret information I needed to make millions.  Most of them felt like scams.

At the end of the night, I decided to take a gamble.  I purchased a “membership” to one of these sites.  (I keep saying I’m going to write an e-book some day with all the nitty gritty details!)  With this membership I was able to search for the products I wanted to sell and find suppliers who would dropship for me.  Within a day or so I’d chosen a few, filled out the “open an account” forms and was well on my way.

My gamble paid off.  The information I purchased was golden – the company, reputable – the suppliers, real.  Since selling video games and toys didn’t seem to fit under the original vision statement of “Highest Praise Productions” (the parent company), I created a new DBA, “HPP Enterprises” – the HPP of course, an acronym for the parent corporation.  Somehow, in the midst of this process, I learned how to upload inventory to sites like Amazon.Com and Ebay.  A day or so later we received our first “Sold:  Ship Now” email!

So that is how a business was born.  10 years later, HPP Enterprises has moved way past dropshipping a few packages to a handful of random customers.  We are networked with suppliers from across the globe, we dropship, we warehouse, and operate a handful of niche-stores online and enjoy prominent exposure on major marketplaces such as Amazon.Com, Buy.Com, Ebay, and the Sears.Com Marketplace.  We have an amazing staff who log countless hours of hard work and customer service, 365 days a year.  And looking forward, the sky is the limit.

That’s our story.  Hope it inspires you … not to become an e-commerce entrepreneur so much, but to chase your dreams.  To be willing to take risks and actions that can change lives.  That’s living life … and living it to the full.

You see this guy …

It could be you … trying to get customer service.

Good luck.

Or … it could be how the person on the other end feels, who is trying to resolve your issues.

Today, I worked from 8:30 – 5:15 in Customer Service for my e-business, HPP Enterprises.  Nikki usually handles the bulk of our customer service and returns issues but she’s off having fun.

Let’s just say that I have a greater appreciation for what that poor girls deals with on a daily basis.  At one point, I spent 40 minutes on the phone with what seemed to be an elderly man who relentlessly insisted we never sent him a return label; while, reading back to the the exact emails and even the FILE NAME of the attached return label from his email box.

I have to stay away from this stuff.  It fuels a nasty attitude in me.  I’ve learned that you can expect certain responses from certain demographics, consistently, which creates a stereotyped form of “consumer racism” in my heart that is disgusting – to me, and to God.

So, for all you folks who tend to get frustrated and demand certain things from customer service, whether it be the online store you purchased from, your cell phone carrier, your insurance agency, your waitress, or “___ insert service provider here ____” … here’s how it feels from the OTHER SIDE:

1.  If you’re polite to me, I’ll be polite back to you.
2.  If you come across professional and spell words correctly, use proper capitalization and grammar, I’ll take you more seriously.
3.  If you start out by demeaning me and making demands, you’re already at the back of the line.
4.  Refer back to #1.
5.  Don’t demand.  Ask.  With courtesy.

Granted, I have gotten to the point where #1-5 didn’t work, I was completely exasperated, and lost it.  (Visions of the Circuit City logo float through my mind and a hideous scene I caused in the store … still have a hard time regretting it, though!).  But for the most part, be as gracious as possible.

Case 1:
We are allowed to charge a restocking fee if we choose.  Many of our suppliers charge it to us, so we can recoup that.

Person 1: this product is worthless.  I’m offended you wasted my time sending me such a worthless product.   I hope you’re happy you got your money.  I should file a lawsuit for consumer fraud.  We were not happy with this at all – i am returning it and I demand you send a return label and give me my money NOW.

Person 2: Thanks for getting the product here so quickly.  Unfortunately, we weren’t happy with the quality of the product.  I’m sure you are only the reseller and have no control over the quality of the product.  I just felt you should know how poorly this is made – maybe you could pass this along to your manufacturer or supplier.  Regardless, we’d like to return this if possible.  Any help you can give us on the restocking fee or return freight would be greatly appreciated.

Resolution:

Person 1: stick it to them.  They pay return postage.  And by golly, we’re deducting the 15% restocking fee.  They are going to leave a negative review anyway.

Person 2: thank the person for being so gracious.  While you’re at it, send them a prepaid label, and no matter what – waive that restocking fee.

Conclusion:

I suppose it’s common sense – but there’s this thing we call the “Golden Rule” – remember learning it as a kid?  “Treat others the way you’d like to be treated”.

Discussion:

Nothing profound here, but I’m curious – how does this relate to you?  Are you the demanding person, or the courteous one?  (Does anyone really confess to be the jerk?  I do.)  How can this apply outside of business customer service?  Leave some comments and discuss.

The last 7 days have been …

Exhilerating
Exhausting
Sad
Encouraging

and more.  How do I describe it?

Last Friday kicked off the holiday shopping season.  Thank God, we’ve enjoyed a very successful first week of online shopping for HPP Enterprises, our internet e-commerce company.  Even with the hiring of several additional folks during the holiday season it’s been taxing.  I’ve even enlisted my beautiful wife who has learned how to “confirm shipments” by pasting in tracking numbers.  So our evening sit-down-and-watch-tv-time is now “sit-down-and-work-on-orders” time.

Last Friday also brought shock, unbelief, and grief as I learned of the passing of Mike McClure.  Mike is a dear friend – like a brother to me.  He’d just celebrated his 40th birthday and had a massive heart attack.  Mike and I were college roommates, did worship together and eventually lived on St. Simons Island together for several years – up until my wedding day.  I played for Mike’s wedding.  We hunted together, fished together, played music together, invested money together, built businesses together, rode jet skis together … and now he’s gone.  I was part of the funeral yesterday – and the great comfort was that the body in that casket is just a tent – Mike is in heaven.

Even now, I’m praying for another dear friend, more like a Daddy … who is battling for his life.  Don is his name and he’s battling the final stages of pulminatry fibrosis.  Selfishly, I can’t stand the thought of losing two loved ones this close together.

We celebrated our HPP-staff Christmas party Monday night and our SSCC-staff Christmas party last night.  Joy and I nearly won the “cup game” – Joy had to lay on her back and I had to kneel down behind her, lean over, and put my forehead on a cup that was on HER forehead.  She had to get up, stand, and then I had to lay back down, and she had to get down – all without letting the cup fall of our forehead.  We were beaten down to the wire with only a second to spare by the legendary Chris and Amanda Moncus.

One of our guitarists at church was accidentally shot in the back and arm by his young son in a hunting accident. His life was spared, thanks be to God.  We could have lost him easily.  He needs a lot of prayer but he’ll be OK and I hope he’s playing music again with us soon.

So … this has been a taxing week.  The insane blowup in e-sales has been exhilerating but managing it, even with great workers, is exhausting.  The entire week was an emotional roller coaster, dealing with loss – loss of a friend, loss of sleep …

All the while, I’m reminded of this one thing …. God … He is Good.

How is your December going so far?

Hey Gang,

CONFESSION: this is one of those blog posts that is different, and I hesitated to even do this.   But, I’m going to put this out there, for whoever is interested.  This blog is usually visited by friends, family, and those who share similar ministry positions.  So why mix up my business affairs with that?  Well, because it’s a huge part of who I am.

As many of you know (anyone who has followed me via blog, facebook, or twitter for very long), I have a flourishing “e-business”.  To summarize, my company (HPP Enterprises) pulls wholesale pricing from a handful of huge distributors and we resell over 125,000 products on the internet.  About 95% of our sales volume is through Amazon.Com where we’re one of the highest ranked sellers.  In addition, we sell on Buy.Com, Sears.Com, Ebay, and on several custom “niche sites”:

GetSkinsNow.Com (laptop, phone, MP3, electronic skins, cases, accessories)
HPPEnterprises.Com (consumer electronics – TVs, BluRay, Phones, Marine Electronics, MP3, Laptops, Accessories)
DiscountKidsGames.Com (computer games, video games, accessories)
McKinnonOutdoors.Com (outdoors, hunting/shooting products)

One of the things we are trying to do is create a special “E-Blast” about 3-4 times per month, featuring some of our deals, discount codes, etc.

That’s the purpose of this email.  If you’d like to get on that mailing list and perhaps “become a customer” at some point … please do so.  It would be totally cool to actually pass along these products and prices to people we know.

What do we sell?  HAHA – just about anything.  TVs.  Home Accessories.  (we just shipped a whole pallet of Lasco Fans to Amazon.Com).  Video Games (50 of the in-demand “Wii Wipeout” on the way!).  Laptops.  Computers.  Hard Drives. Hardware.  Tents.  Games.  Software.  Accessories.  Hunting Products.  DVD Players.  and the list goes on and on.

When we are able to bulk buy a product or get special pricing .. we’ll send an E-Blast.  If you’d like to be on that list, go for it.  Just fill out the form below, then click the link in the confirmation email.  And hey, spread the word!

Hey Folks,

I am actively searching for someone who would be interested in a part-time position in my internet business, HPP Enterprises.  I have an incredible assistant right now but she was offered a great full-time job and needed it … so, I’m back to “asking, seeking, and knocking”.  I’ll be quick to say that for now, the compensation (see below) is not high, and probably equates to around $5/hour, but can increase dramatically once a certain sales threshold has been reached.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO MAKE SALES CALLS.

Suitable for:

* a stay-at-home mom, or self-employed person with extra time during business hours
* someone who is online a lot, and has a few hours per day

Basic Daily Tasks:

* entering orders into distributors’ websites
* entering tracking numbers into order confirmations
* replying to customer inquiries via email
* setting up and managing returns and refunds

Additional Opportunities:

My desire is to find someone who will want to partner to grow this business.  I’m not interested in someone who will only do data entry but in someone who can learn the in’s and out’s of the e-biz (apprenticed by yours truly!) and add revenue.  There are a number of things that can be done to increase revenue that I am aware of, but simply don’t have time to devote to it.

Compensation:

This is a “very-part-time” position for now, meaning you should be able to complete the required tasks in 2-3 hours per day.  (It may take longer when learning, but gets quicker as you get more familiar with the processes and protocols).  Compensation is based on a % of revenue, with tiered commissions.  That means the more revenue the company brings in, the higher % of revenue sharing you earn.  Absolute minimum of $200/month.

Skills Needed:

* Online skills (web browsing, email, IM)
* Excel proficiency (basic knowledge of spreadsheet)
* Available to check on system, M-F during business hours, 9-5 EST.  Could be an hour in the AM, an hour in the afternoon, etc.  Ideal to be available to check and process orders each day, trying to have any open orders submitted by 3:00 PM EST.
* Good computer with monitor, mouse, etc.  (lots of copy/paste, if you are working on a laptop with trackpad, it will be slower and tedious)
* HTML/Web Design skills are a huge plus, and would be used in creating promo mailings, etc.

Interested?  Leave a comment below, or contact me directly.  I will get more info to you and setup an online interview via IM.