Appearing on Season 1 of Shark Tank
In this episode, Mark Buringer of Qubit Toys shares his company’s experience and what it was like being featured on the first season of a national show like Shark Tank. Mark tells us about his path to get on the show. Mark goes on to explain how the show’s dynamic worked in his case, the contingency deal he was able to obtain, and how that initial deal developed after the show.
Mark shares about his experience and how time-consuming the preparation process was for him. He stressed not underestimating the difficulting of balancing preparing for the show while continuing to grow your company.
After The Tank
Mark cautioned that even though your episode will likely re-air many times, the biggest bolster you will get to sales and awareness happens when the episode releases. You need to be ready to ride the wave, or you will miss out on a great opportunity by not being prepared for the momentum the show generates. Taking advantage of the exposure, regardless of the outcome of the show, can be a tremendous growth factor for your company.
After his deal with Daymon John ultimately fell through, Mark ended up striking a separate deal with Discovery Toys. Since then, he has been marketing his product primarily on Amazon.
Making Your Product
Mark and Robyn go into the importance of being prepared to sell. Safety and compliance testing, insurance, and taxes, among others, are critical elements of your company’s structure. It’s essential to have these components taken care of early on in your business. Not having these key elements available may cause you to lose possible growth opportunities.
Optimizing your Amazon account is also vital to grow that sales channel. Mark notes how technical the Amazon sales channel is and how important it is to make sure that your listing, keywords, and images are all right. Mark recently updated his listings and saw a visible uptick in sales as well as increased predictability around sales of his product.
Last but not least, Mark reveals how networking and sharing information with other companies can be vital when bringing a product to market or streamlining your processes, especially if your company is in the early stages. He shares how Facebook groups such as Entrepreneur Exchange became an excellent tool for support for his company and other startups that are collaborating online.
Help Selling on Amazon
Robyn has years of experience helping with Amazon Account Management, Amazon PPC management, and Amazon Listing Management. For more information, contact Marketplace Blueprint today!
