Anatoliy Labinskiy is an entrepreneur, eCommerce expert, salesman, holder of 4-time Two Comma Club awards. His story is a perfect example of life when everything goes against us to become successful. In less than 5 years, he went from a simple waiter to a successful businessman and an owner of an 8 figure winner awards in the ecommerce space.
Anatoliy is the founder of GSM Growth agency that helps ecom entrepreneurs grow to 6-7 figures in revenue. He is included in the Forbes Business Council and featured as one of the Top 10 eCommerce Entrepreneurs helping people during the COVID-19 recession.
Questions
• So, we always like to start off by finding out from our guests a little bit about their journey in your own words. Could you tell us a little bit about how you got to where you are today?
• Now along that journey that took you to where you are today, what are maybe two to three things that you believe has contributed to your success that you believe if other people employ those three skills or competencies, they will achieve success as well?
• Can you also share with us Anatoliy, in your experience, maybe two or three tips that you believe will help to enhance sales and customer service skills as an entrepreneur?
• Could you also share with us what’s the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely cannot live without in your business?
• Could you also share with our listeners what’s the one thing that’s going on in your life right now that you’re really excited about? Either something you’re working on to develop yourself or your people.
• Where can listeners find you online?
• Now, before we wrap our episodes up, we always like to ask our guests, do you have a quote or saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you will tend to revert to this quote if for any reason you get derailed or demotivated the quote kind of helps to get you back on track. Do you have one of those?
Highlights
Anatoliy’s Journey
Anatoliy shared that his journey is quite long and he will try to be as short as possible because it’s a lot of factors which has brought him where he is today. But basically, back in 2013, he went to UAE Abu Dhabi with no cash and he didn’t know English at all, had nothing behind him and just start working there as a like food runner, cleaning dirty plate from the restaurant but dreaming a lot as a simple Ukrainian guy that what he can have in this world when he has seen Abu Dhabi because Abu Dhabi is kind of a rich city in Arabic Emirates. So, it’s something what motivates him.
And after several years of failing, finding the better work, the better opportunities in life, he got married during that time. And back in 2017, he was already renting like small master bedroom, not even apartment, small room with his wife. And his wife said to him that she is pregnant. And that day, he really was scared like never before because he has seen her how she’s crying. And not because she’s happy, because she was terrified, like what’s going to happen with them, they don’t have their own apartment, rented apartments, they just rent in the room.
And he promised to himself that he will not allow his kid to come in this world in the way where how he’s living and how he grew up with financial troubles. So, he sent his wife back to Ukraine and start like move to even smaller apartment with two bedroom apartment with 7 other people rented just the bed space to save some money and start searching for opportunities and find out what is eCommerce all about. Give it a shot, spend everything what he had, nothing workout, and style start like becoming a zombie. Because I got addicted to the ecommerce and said to himself, 99% of people are failing, because they’re quitting, he will never quit, he will never give up and he will make it work and he will become the top one person who will succeed. And this is exactly what happened after several months of fail and lost everything that he had.
In February 2018, he finally got his first $8,000 in 15 days of sales in his Shopify store. And like step by step, October 2018, his first $50,000, November $150,000 and so on, so on. So, for the next couple of years, he was doing coaching of how to succeed in eCommerce. And in 2020, opened his eCommerce agency because there was a lot of requests from his students, “Can you manage ads, not with me, for me?” And he was like, “Wow, that’s something interesting!” And they tested it out, one of the stores they made over $6.5 Million in two and a half years. And they were like, “Wow, that’s really insane!” And in the same time when they were building all this process, they decided to switch from the mentorship to the agency side. And so, from March 2020, they are operating GSM Growth Agency and now have multiple businesses which is operating with different business partners.
Me: Wow, that’s a fulsome story Anatoliy, really, really powerful.
Skills and Competencies Needed to Achieve Success
Me: Now along that journey that took you to where you are today, what are maybe two to three things that you believe has contributed to your success that you believe if other people employ those three skills or competencies, they will achieve success as well?
Anatoliy stated that it’s a great question. And it’s like good sounds too basic, but it is the fundamental of success. So, first of all, Never Give Up. You can turn left and right if something straight doesn’t work. Like for example, he was always teaching his students that okay, if dropshipping eCommerce won’t work for you, listen, in this couple of months, you’ve got insane experience in eCommerce industry, in Shopify, like affirmations of different processes and all marketing, find out just different sub niche in eCommerce and test it out that as well and see that maybe there you’ll get more luck with that.
So, some of the people who are listening to him that they quit on the dropshipping, but one of them actually told their partners, in couple years, come back to him and say that they now operate in email marketing agency successfully. Another person came back to him after one and half year and said, “Anatoliy, I follow your steps and now I’m living in Abu Dhabi. And he was in France before as an immigrant, and now I’m running like, YouTube automation advertising agency.”
And there is several stories like that, one person just go out as a head of marketing department position in his city, just because he was smartest guy in the room on the interview, because he just used that experience, which he got in the couple of months of mentorship. And he just implemented as like life experience to his own needs. And he became like in some local company, marketing expert and got the head of marketing department. So never give up, like adapt and try something else. This is number one thing which he would say for sure.
The second thing, You Have to Know Your Why. If your why is just finances, you just follow the cash, you will fail, you will never build a strong business, never. You will make money here and now most probably, and that’s fine. But at the end, you’ll stay with nothing because when you don’t have your strong why, you won’t to be able to build anything sustainable, and for the long run, you’re going to be just going to make quick cash and that’s it.
So, think about your why, his why, for example, it was his son, when he found out that his wife is pregnant as she delivered the baby, he still haven’t made anything, he lost already everything by that moment when baby has been delivered. But it was his strong why that he has no chance to lose. He have no chances to quit and his why was so strong that it was pushing him forward and it’s continued pushing him because he knows that he has higher responsibilities now and kids are growing and you need universities to think about, you need schools to think about, you need to think about your own life, retirement and all that stuff. So, you’re basically building your own life under your own rules, it’s your why. You have to think of your why which is going to let you wake up earlier, going to sleep later, this is the second thing.
And number three, Don’t Be Scared to Hire People, to Build a Team. So many people stay in as a small business owners, small intrapreneurs just because first of all, they don’t want to lose the profitability, “Oh my god, if I hire him, I cannot afford it. I will lose like instead of 40% profit, I will be on 20% profit, it’s not possible. No, no, no how will I pay my bills.”
They think so small and they look so straight like he’s always saying oh look wider on it. When you start looking wider on the things, you understand by hiring technical person who are going to be able to reduce the busy work from you on the technical stuff, your brain will start functionalities of how to create more business to your company. And will be a CEO of your company, chief executive officer, which is the goal is to bring more businesses to your business.
So, by hiring one more or couple of people, you will lose profitability at the beginning, you will reduce the profitability but it will allow you by having one technical person, one salesperson, it will allow you to bring more businesses and operate more customers, a salesperson will bring you more people, more clients and the technical person will be operating and managing them while you’re thinking about new channels for getting more customers, for improving the skills of your employers and so on, by having this kind of team, or by having this kind of three rules in your life to follow, you will be able to grow so fast, this is what he has done.
He’s been a mentor for couple of years, and he reached his ceiling of income and I couldn’t grow because he has only 24 hours a day and he’s alone, when he hires one person for testing like agency stuff and after that switch to completely agency model, they made four weeks in the first month of starting agency to compare when he was alone, that’s the example. And it’s always like that, don’t be scared to hire a team, find your why and never give up, these three things, which he would highly recommend to follow, it simple, but it is the true.
Tips to Enhance Sales and Customer Service Skills as an Entrepreneur
Me: Can you also share with us Anatoliy, in your experience, maybe two or three tips that you believe will help to enhance sales and customer service skills as an entrepreneur? What are some of the things that you’ve done to enhance customer service to deliver that amazing, fantastic experience that your customers want to come back, not just buy from you once, but come back again and again?
Anatoliy stated that it’s a great question. Because he will tell you honestly, result in great customer service, your company will not survive as well. Like if you don’t have a goal in life, and if you don’t have a customer service in company, as it is good customer service. So, by that being said, by working in eCommerce, they are not dealing with people straight away, face to face, they are dealing online and online to make the person calm, it’s harder than you are face to face with them on the phone, because they don’t see your reactions, they don’t see who you are, they don’t feel the emotions, they are just angry and you need to deal with that by using the right words and right techniques.
So, he’s really grateful for his past experience being a waiter in back in 2014, 2015, 2016. Like in Dubai, he moved from Abu Dhabi to Dubai, where he got to experience in the top Italian restaurants of Abu Dhabi. And after that top Italian restaurant in Dubai, where he learned a lot of customer service tactics and sales tactics, how to sell someone who is already full, how to sell dessert or coffee, or how to sell $3,000 wine, it is storytelling, and it is a great language, how to produce the right wipes that person would love to buy from you and come back again because they enjoy the service.
So, by that being said, when he started coaching, he got 100% of success in terms of customer service by implementing exactly the same structure. Even if it wasn’t work for person, he never got anyone left him with angry face, even if they were not satisfied with something after conversation with him and customer service, which he provided during the journey, they were leaving with smile and wishing him all the best.
So, when he opened the agency, he was training his company, his team, it being him. So, he was sharing with them all the golden nuggets and all his experience, how to speak with their customers for buying from website, clients for using their service in the agency and so on. So, one of the tactics which he learned so now he coming to the answer. It was just a story before.
You’re supposed to always introduce yourself as a middleman. What does it mean?
Even if you’re CEO of your company, you’re proud of it, and you want to show that yeah, I’m a decision maker. I’m the main guy here, I’m the main lady here and I’m going to be making decision if I will give you a discount, refund, will solve your problem or no, then this person will know that it will become even matter because okay, this is the guy who I will screw now, who I will get paid from. So, in our industry, very important, do not allow this to happen. So, that’s why.
Usually how it works, he will give you an example of like email marketing when speaking to someone who just purchased from you and they said, “Hey, it’s the wrong size” or like, “Hey, I changed my mind, I want blue not red t shirt, and it’s already on the way so it’s already shipped, it’s not possible to be done.” You can provide discount, but not exchange only if they will return the item.
So, basically, how to handle that, are you introduce yourself let’s say, “My name is Misty, I’m a customer service specialist in the XYZ store. I’m here to support you with any kind of questions which you have. I have noticed that you send it to us these kinds of requests.” And obviously asking for tracking number, this is one of the parts of their business, but the main point, you introduce yourself not as an authority, you introduce yourself as a customer service specialist, who is not responsible for decision making.
And saying, “Please clarify for me all the details of your problem. And I will do my best to forward that to the top management and ask them to support you in this situation. And again, I’m not making any decisions but I know that your case completely can be managed in somehow and I will be fighting for you because I feel what is going on. I feel your pain. I feel what you’re saying.” use these kinds of words, it makes people calm. It makes people feeling that someone is taking care of them.
And it’s good to implementable even better in the local shop, in the local business because when you are saying to them, even they know that you’re the one they stand face to face to but you’re saying and they say, “Oh my god, you paint my car and my car looks disaster. Give my $3,000 back. I want refund.” And you know that it’s not possible but maybe you can give some small, we refund that they will be happier but if you will be decision maker in front of them, they will squeeze you. But if you say, “Hey, I completely understand what you’re saying, oh my god, really, it’s never happened before. But I’m here to help you out. Even you know that I’m the owner of the place. But the thing is that we have a structure. We have an accounting department, we have lawyers, we have agreements which has been signed, I need to figure it out how I can help you out to overtake all those bit of variety of stuff, and making sure that I will be able to provide you the best possible solution. Are you with me with that?”
And this person is feeling like, “Oh my god, he’s awesome.” He’s pointed out he’s the owner, but he’s not able to help because there is several bureaucratic steps, which he needs to take over and find out the solution. But he’s more than sure that by his personal approach, he’ll find out the best possible option. But even you pointed out that you need to go through the heads and finding out, they know that decision maker somewhere there. And you’ll come back in some time if it’s locally on the phone or in the mail and saying, “Hey, I just spoke to the management and as I said to you, we have a like non-refundable agreement which just has been signed, but listen, I was talking to them and I was really pushing them hard to make the things different. That’s why I made it happen and my pressure allows me to squeeze this deal as much as possible and they agreed to give you a full refund of your request by 20% of the deal which you have made let’s say $3,000 painting the car it’s like 20% $600 plus you can receive from us XYZ in the future, so all it depends on your business.”
App, Website or Tool that Anatoliy Absolutely Can’t Live Without in His Business
When asked about an online resource that he cannot live without in his business, Anatoliy shared that because his business is online, they use advertising platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, Google. So, Shopify, he would say in his particular direction, right now, if they will lose Shopify, it will be huge trouble for the company, because they don’t have business. All of their customers on Shopify stores. But since he’s living in eCommerce direction, they have a lot of alternatives, which is WooCommerce, Corra, a lot of different alternatives so they’ll switch their direction and move there.
But he would say it’s will affect them a lot the same, like if Facebook won’t work, they’ll have Tik Tok, Tik Tok not work, they have Google. So, they have different options of the softwares to exchange in case something is happening, but different tools. But seriously, like if Shopify goes down, it’s definitely will hold their business for a while to fix the problem.
What Anatoliy is Really Excited About Now!
Anatoliy shared that he would say that right now, they have two new directions, which is he’s really excited about to grow them. And one is his personal and one is about the team, and he’s excited to bring that to his team as fast as possible and get results because it will be new era for his team of the interesting projects.
So, first one is for the company for the team, it’s like IUL telesales mastery direction, which is for the insurance agents who are dealing with the insurance packages for nurses for life insurance. And it’s incredible valuable product which is they are teaching them, they have a 20 years plus coach with 23 year plus experienced coaches who are going to be coaching those salespeople how to sell successfully life insurance for a particular niche, like a nurse’s niche. But it is useful for nurses because they won’t be paying taxes from their retirement when they retire and their insurance will be there.
With these kinds of IUL insurance, they will be able to save all the cost on taxes and avoid pay taxes legally and build their bigger wealth for the retirement process in the future. So, it’s like super useful product for the end user and super cool and powerful product for the insurance agents. So, this is something that he’s excited to bring in the mass from the company side as a different project.
And something personal, which is he’s like really cannot sleep and excited every single day. It was back in 2017, eCommerce, the same work he’s now excited about this one for himself. It’s a real estate investments in Section 8, so they are buying houses in bad shape, doing full rehab and providing for the Section 8 people like rental agreements with the government and provided for the Section 8 people who are having low income, not able to rent by themselves be signing contracts with the government and providing them the place to live and it’s not the cheapest or bad shape houses, they are actually going to be doing full rehab and these kinds of people can live in the normal condition house and build their life in the way how they wish to.
So, it’s super useful for the end user who are going to be staying there as a tenant. And it’s a great business model since they’re going to be dealing with the government and getting the consistent cash flow from the government checks. So, providing the place where to live physical conditions for people. And so, growing business there, it’s one of the incredible things which just makes him excited like never before.
Where Can We Find Anatoliy Online
Instagram – @ecombyanatoliy
YouTube – Anatoliy Labinskiy E-com business encyclopedia
Website – www.gsmgrowthagency.com
Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Anatoliy Uses
When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Anatoliy shared that he has one, “No matter what’s happening in life, we are always able to manage.” He proved that to himself 1000s of times, and whatever was happening in life and what looks like it cannot be managed, it’s not possible to fix. They were fixing, they were managed and they will always move forward. Everything is manageable guys. So, if you’re in struggle right now in a bad condition, in a bad situation, remember, you always can change that for better. Just start searching for solution, solutions always there.
Me: Thank you so much, Anatoly. So, just want to remind our listeners that you can follow us on Twitter @navigatingCX and feel free to join our Private Facebook group @navigatingthecustomerexperiencecommunity.
Thank you so much, Anatoliy for joining us here today on this podcast, taking time out of your very busy schedule and sharing all of these great insights about your journey, about tips that you’ve learned. I’m sure that our listeners would have gained great value from what you shared with us and hopefully, there’s a few nuggets in there that they can take back and apply in their day to day interactions either on a professional level or on a personal level. So, thank you so much.
Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest
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