[Voiceover]: Welcome to the checkout. We catch up with previous guests of Add to Cart where we ask them five quick questions to understand more about them and leave you with a little extra inspiration to get through your Friday. Today's checkout features brother and sister combination, Tom and Natalie Hintzer from Mr. Poolman. These siblings have taken their dad's pool store and transformed it into an e commerce powerhouse. Our final five quick fire questions. So I'm going to throw them at you both.
Tom Hintze: Yep.
[Voiceover]: Number one, what is the weirdest thing you've ever bought online?
Tom Hintze: Well, probably not quite us, but years ago, before we started on ebay, dad bought a grand piano in Adelaide and had no idea what ebay was. He thought it was great. He picked up a piano for 40 bucks. It was pick up only and he asked me how we're going to do it and I said, dad, you realize this is in Adelaide? And he goes, oh, shit, what are we going to do? So I just gave the bloke the money on ebay, told him that, yeah, Dad's just made a mistake. He's got a bit trigger happy. So that's, yeah, the weirdest thing that we've, we've bought online.
[Voiceover]: I thought he would have got you into his single man van, Tom, and just, you know, you go pick it up.
Tom Hintze: No, I don't think it would fit a grand piano.
[Voiceover]: All right, guys, who is your favorite retailer?
Natalie Hintze: Gym Sharp. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yep.
[Voiceover]: Why?
Tom Hintze: Just the, the brand, the brand is just phenomenal. We've been lucky enough to, to have a, to have a chat with Ben himself. So we've got a lot of the gymshark guys again on LinkedIn, but Nat's also friends with a couple of videographers as well. And just. Yeah, it's just the brand is just inspiring also, like whether we're selling pool equipment or gym equipment, you can just take their learnings and duplicate it.
Natalie Hintze: Yeah, yeah, Feel that hard. Yeah.
[Voiceover]: Number three, which retail fad do you wish was history?
Tom Hintze: People asking a discount for cash. Like we're in the 20th century. Like, I've got, we have guys emailing us saying, oh, if they, you know, if they can do a bank transfer, is it cheaper? Is it cheaper? They come in store and pick it up and like, 10 points for the question and trying. But mate, those days are gone.
Natalie Hintze: We're not in Bali kind of thing. Like, yeah, we're not, we're not bargaining. I didn't have, I mean, I tried to think about it but I didn't have anything in particular, did I? Like Kind of, yeah. Being in an innovative space, I guess your audience responds to that quite well.
[Voiceover]: So I'll take answer number four. Can you recommend a book or a podcast that our listeners should immediately get into?
Tom Hintze: Yeah, absolutely. One that really resonated with me and I think would. Would with for most e commerce companies would be Shoe Dog about Nike, the how the process of Nike and how that came about. I just think everyone can relate to it just being the underdog, having a go, making ups, getting burnt. And it's got a good ending too, which you won't touch on. We'll let everyone read about that. And so that would be a book. And then podcast wise for me. I like Tom Bilyeu which was the founder of Quest Nutrition bars and I think his podcast is really good because it talks on a variety of business, health and also like neuroscience. Natalie and I are real heavily into like neuroscience, understanding how people work, people think, the brain, that kind of stuff. So he also has some good pods about neuroscience, gut nutrition, that of stuff. So all around just general well being is a good pod for me.
Natalie Hintze: Yeah. And I'd come with a bit of a basic. But it's saying you revisit every year a book, the Monk who Sold His Ferrari. I think that's a really. It's an easy reading book. It's quite small but just the basic fundamentals of life that you go through in that book and it just whether you as successful as you are in business, it just reminds you of why we are here to begin with. So I found that quite moving and I tend to reread that every year.
[Voiceover]: I have to check it out.
Natalie Hintze: Yeah, the Monk who Sold His Ferrari. It's fantastic. Fantastic. Could not recommend it. And everyone who reads it is like wow, I can't believe I didn't find this sooner. How to win friends and influence people. Can't go past it, can you? Like I mean just it's the basic fundamentals of humans which is really fantastic. And you can apply it from the first chapter like straight away you jump straight like right into it. And lastly the podcast at BJ Shetty. So I think we both jump between Tom and Jay and they both share the similar pods with not only business but also. Yeah the psychology relationships which in the business space is so important when you are not only, you know, talking with your business partner every day, but your teams as well. So yeah, I'd say those are my go tos.
[Voiceover]: Awesome. And the final question, finish this sentence. The future of retail is personalization, Matt.
Natalie Hintze: Knowing what the customer needs before they need it.
[Voiceover]: Beautiful. It's very clear to me that you guys both have a relentless focus on customer and it's driven a lot of the success that you have had already and are going to have in the future. And I think he's just such an inspiration for Australian entrepreneurs who are looking to start something of their own and grow into something massive. The way you've disrupted a whole industry is fantastic. So congratulations guys and thank you so much for sharing everything that you have today.
Tom Hintze: Thanks Bushy. Thanks for having us, mate. It's unreal.
Natalie Hintze: Yeah, thanks Bushy. Pleasure being here. Thanks for having us on. Really appreciate it.
[Voiceover]: Hi guys, I want to tell you a little bit more about our new Venture E Suite. In the two and a half years I've been a consultant, I often get approached to solve a variety of problems. These could be marketing technology or user experience. Yet 9 times out of 10 it's very clear that it's not a new platform, a campaign or a new data set that's required. It's actually structure and skills. If you get your team foundations right, your subsequent investments will return for you.
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[Voiceover]: Thanks Em. To hear more from Tom and Nat, jump back into episode 20 where we speak with them both about the process of taking a pool store online. They discuss everything from split testing, free shipping to manufacturing their own product to qualifying for B Corp status. They are refreshingly candid and occasionally sweary, which I love and are very open about the mistakes they've made along the way. Thanks for listening and until next time, keep adding to cartoon.
