When is an Amazon Guru a Guru? – RR002

Richard Morgan
December 8, 2017

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Rate and Rant is a new sub-show to Seller Sessions.

Anthony Lee the self-proclaimed anti-guru has something to say on when is an Amazon Guru a Guru.

Calling someone a Guru can be negative

We share what we’ve learnt, we offer a framework based on our understanding – we’re not Gurus
Guru comes from India referring to religious leaders
A lot of that came to the US as spiritual leaders and referred to themselves as gurus but they were cult leaders and the term became negative
In our industry today someone is an Amazon guru when they proclaim or appear to agree with the view that they have all the answers and if you follow their path then you will be doing no wrong
In no way is that positive especially in this industry as you’ll never have anyone who knows every single thing and able to steer you to do no wrong
What determines an Amazon Guru?

Danny doesn’t sell courses or consultancy, he does public speaking and shares his knowledge

Danny’s view of a guru is you do all this, do 6-8 figures, sell your coaching then your courses and then you’re put on a pedestal for doing those things which you then make money off as you put yourself in a position of authority
Danny sees it more as an educational thing – he’s keeping himself on his toes through sharing
Anthony and Danny are not saying people that sell courses area bad thing at all
But to become a guru do you need to have coaching, a course, etc?

Anthony sees it as…

There are three instances that could constitute an Amazon Guru:
- 1. Internet marketing guys – made their money off affiliate deals and only wanted to learn enough to launch a course (only figured out enough to launch a course)
- But their knowledge was limited to the experience they gained before stopping to sell courses
- 2. Those who accidentally become very successful very fast – they think they got there by being a genius but they aren’t and they don’t know enough and so spread false learning.
  - This happened to Anthony and he went back and corrected himself and his posts. They learn the hard way that they aren’t as smart as they thought they were
- 3.An Amazon Guru can emerge from Services that disseminate information with their own agenda in mind, with disregard as to whether that info is true

How to weed out the good, the bad and the ugly ones

You have to have higher standards
We’re all human but we see the screenshot of a 30 day huge sales figures and we decide we need to follow that person
There are lots of people who are making lots of money but are not the brightest bulbs so you wouldn’t want to take advice but they have great teams and systems in place that are making them money
Look at the information they are giving and fact-check it
If they are giving consistent information and has 7 brands in different categories and a ton of 1st hand knowledge and data then maybe you take him/her seriously
It’s quite easy to manipulate some of these big sales numbers so we can’t just trust the figures in a one-off
Someone could be hemorrhaging cash but have fantastic sales numbers

What other ways to filter Amazon Guru out and get to the right people

There are a lot of credible service providers out there
Anthony has a lot of respect for the living case studies that Jungle Scout does
Have to admire Greg Mercer and what he does, really great content being produced with high quality guests
There are a lot of guys out there with great experience, Kevin Riser and his Private Label Movement podcast
You can look at big figures and service providers and you can tell from the quality of the content
Also, having the thirst for knowledge themselves
When you get busy, learning drops by the wayside, you need to stick with it and find that good content
Danny received a message from a seller in the UK who wanted someone to sit and watch 3hrs of webinars and make notes for him as he doesn’t have the time to watch them – amazing!
The people who are really successful have taken an interest in understanding their business and being present to know it from all aspects

Going to Conferences and Meeting Thought Leaders

You go to these conferences and meet great thinkers and you can share ideas and conversations
The Fake it before you Make It culture – know only 5% more than the people you are selling to
Our FBA industry has attracted this kind of service provider unfortunately
If you try and attract the 4hr work week, successful in 3 months customers then you’re selling them a lifestyle rather than skills and knowledge
FBA is like any other business and you NEED to put the time in and grind
When the people love the process they are going through in their business then you can see it and they are dedicated to putting that quality forward
You need to be able to trust people you are taking knowledge from
We like to work with people we like in business
Will Tjernlund does not push with any sales push or techniques but he has people knocking his doors down
Will goes out there with a presentation that he thinks people will realise value from and he gives it to them
There are some guys out there with heavy marketing tactics and they are doing very well – and good luck to them
Our approach is to take a quiet intensity approach – if Danny says something you know he’s experienced it or knows first-hand someone who has gone through it

With so much experience of products going sideways – Danny and Anthony could probably run a ‘failure series’ to share their experience of ‘How Not To FBA’.