3 Backend Systems you must setup before Q4

What's going on, guys? So Q4 is an amazing time of the year, right? You get more volume, you have more demand, and it's a really good time to capitalize and make a bunch of profit if you do it right. But a lot of you guys are not going to be doing it right because you don't set up your backend properly. So in this video, I'm going to be showing you guys and kind of going over what I do to set up my backend properly so I don't have to run into any issues. So During Q4, obviously there's an increase in volume, right? A lot of people end up getting a high chargeback rate. They end up getting processor bans, you know, terrible reviews, Trustpilot scores, and everything that comes with it simply because they don't follow these steps. And so if you guys are running a brand, especially a brand with significant volume right now, you need to lock in on your backend. And there's a few things you need to do and a few systems you need to incorporate that are actually going to get you there. They're going to lower your chargeback rates, right? They're going to make sure your shipping's really fast. It's going to make sure that your overall brand experience and your customers are actually being served in a way that's actually good for them and that they're actually going to be happy with. And overall, a happy customer is a happy business, right? So we need to get into it straight away. So you have the potential, like I said, to make the most profit, the most equity, and have momentum going to 2027 if you guys actually do this. So number one, without a freaking doubt, and so many people don't do this, get a freaking USA 3PL. It is like the most common sense thing you can do because having your product in bulk in the USA is going to reduce your shipping times by at least 10 days. You're gonna have like 3 to 5 day shipping times. How much more of a happy customer and less less chargebacks, less refunds, and all these stupid issues that we have to deal with in e-com, right, are simply because of shipping time. And so having a USA 3PL just obliterates any of that. Having 3 to 5 day shipping, as long as your product's actually good, is going to remove almost all of these problems that you have. And so if you guys don't know about a USA 3PL, it's basically you have a fulfillment center here in the United States You get your inventory from China, you buy it in bulk, you ship it on a boat. It usually takes around 2 to 3 weeks, um, depending on, you know, if the Strait of Hormuz is open. And then from there, you have it in the States, and it's just simple as just dropping it off at USPS and shipping it to your customers. So it's much faster, much better, much more efficient. And usually buying your product in bulk as well helps a little bit with the cost of goods, I believe. Also, I forgot to mention that Max Dropshipping is the USA 3PL I currently use. I've been using them for like 2 years now. Um, they have obviously a USA 3PL, they have a Chinese 3PL, they have a lot of flexibility in between, and they're just a great partner. They have really good and low MOQs. Um, they can cash flow you, I'm sure, if you're doing some decent volume. So definitely check out Max Dropshipping, link is in the description. Okay, next thing you want to incorporate along with the USA 3PL, especially if you're doing a lot of volume You need to be doing forecasting. So this is forecasting inventory. So basically you're trying to predict and kind of understand how much inventory you're going to need in the months ahead. Right. And so you usually want to be planning at least a couple of months ahead, especially for Q4. You know, in Q4, you can see anywhere from doubling your sales volume to quadrupling to even more. And so like I've literally had times where I've went from maybe like consistently like $200,000 to $300,000 a month to doing $1 million a month. Just in December because of the volume. And so I need to be prepared for that, right? I need to make sure that I have enough product in the States so that these customers are still getting these fast shipping times, right? And they're actually getting the product before Christmas, especially if it's some sort of gifting product, right? Or something like that. This is a really important part of the process. There are some softwares out there, I'm sure, for this. I currently just kind of have a spreadsheet that I would use and stuff like that. Um, so I don't really have any software to point you guys to, but this is a good thing to implement in your business is forecasting. Okay, so next thing that we're going to be talking about is hiring an amazing VA and customer service, and as well having good refund policies. Policies are really good, and refund policies, like, I think people really underrate them. And then with amazing VAs, this is like the lifeblood of your backend. And I do think within the near future we're actually going to see where You know, VAs are going to be AI. Unfortunately, right now, like, I don't think— I think you do still have to have at least one head VA. I'm going to talk about that later. But the ones under them that are just doing the busywork of replying to emails, potentially, I think you can get those somehow done with AI. I haven't done it yet, but I'm pretty sure there's ways out there. And so this is what I'm talking about here. So we got the head VA up top and the 2 junior VAs working under them. This is what I usually do. I have 2 or more junior VAs working under one head VA. This head VA has got to be experienced. They got to understand all these different softwares, chargebacks, pie charts, right? They can make reports. Like they got to be like a pretty good employee. And so this is someone that you should be vetting, preferably someone that you have some sort of history with. So you just already know if they're reliable or not. I am very happy to have my head VA named Dana. And I've been working with her for basically since the jump and she's just been amazing. And I've never really had to worry about that side of the business because she is kind of like just, you know, the manager of all of the customer support. So I don't really have to think about it. All she does is send me a report at the end of the week. And from then, I'm basically chilling. I just got to look at the report. And so where you can find them and where I found her, Upwork, onlinejobs.ph. These are really good websites to find them. I recommend going to the Philippines, not going there physically, but like hiring from the Philippines. They just speak much better English than all these other countries. And that's really important. Okay. So last but not least, these are some softwares I recommend for you guys. So these are the softwares that I recommend for you guys. So Zendesk is the first one. Zendesk is a software where basically it's an email ticketing software. So basically you, your VAs can go in and they can see how many new emails they have, and then they can sort them into different inboxes, refund inbox, or like a chargeback inbox or a shipping timeframe inbox or a shipping update, I should say. And so it's just a really good way to manage your emails and to categorize stuff. And so it's more efficient for your team to actually execute that way. You're not just spending a bunch on labor. Next is ChargeBlast. It's just a chargeback platform software. Um, that will help you eliminate 90% of your chargebacks. The Visa ones do show up now, unfortunately, or a lot of them do, especially fraudulent chargebacks. So, but a big part of fraudulent chargebacks is just shipping time. So if you go and do the USA3PL like we talked about, you should be doing okay with that. And the next thing is update emails. So these are emails that like tell the customer when their product was shipped out. When it's out for delivery, you know, when the order was packaged or anything like that. Overall, I think it's just good to give your customers in the loop. You keep them updated and so they're assured and they can rest peacefully. Guys, without further ado, that is how to prepare for Q4 and lock in your backend so you don't end up losing your entire brand and all your profits go through just the drain with chargebacks and stuff. So You know, Q4 is a really exciting time. So I really hope a lot of you guys are able to print and change your guys's life. Um, without further ado, thank you guys and peace out.