Featured Articles at TFC

Is Your Fulfillment Service Fulfilling Its Promise? Five Key Warning Signs!

By Connie Hill

After 12 years in the fulfillment business, I know from experience that glitches sometimes occur. Savvy fulfillment professionals, though, keep close track of any disruptions to be sure they aren’t symptomatic of deeper problems.

Use this checklist to smoke out issues that may be plaguing your fulfillment operation. If you find too many, and don’t find a ready solution, maybe it’s time to consider new procedures or a new fulfillment service altogether.

Warning Sign #1: You’re experiencing delays and missed deadlines.
To pinpoint the cause of delays, you may have to examine the entire distribution process. For example: are you experiencing problems in order placement? Are the problems related to inventory? Could delays be a result of lack of training? Can you trace the delay to delivery?

If you cannot find one particular source of delay, or if missed deadlines are persistent, consider the possibility that your fulfillment requirements are expanding beyond the capabilities of your fulfillment department or service to perform.

Warning Sign #2: Your account representative is consistently unavailable when you call.
If you find calls repeatedly going unanswered, your rep may be overworked, under-trained or both. Before you complain, examine the attitude of your fulfillment company’s top management about this aspect of their business. If fulfillment is considered an “add-on” or a “necessary evil,” you’ll have trouble requiring the pro-active service you deserve. Is it time to look for a dedicated fulfillment operation?

Warning Sign #3: You're getting complaints from field offices or from the sales force.
Take the time to discover what kinds of complaints you’re receiving. Were sales materials delayed? Were wrong materials delivered? Were there too many items delivered? Were items arriving damaged? Are items improperly grouped requiring extra work on the part of the sales force? Is it addressing or personalization errors?

Each of these complaints suggests a different problem, and requires a different solution. And sooner, rather than later.

Warning Sign #4: Service invoices are over budget.
Are you experiencing more rush orders?
Have storage costs increased? Are cost increases attributable to additional, unanticipated labor? What about technology? In many cases, gaining control by taking better advantage of technology can lower costs instead of raising them.

Warning Sign #5: You're operating with inaccurate or incomplete information.
Some companies simply inherit fulfillment duties. If you think this may have happened to your fulfillment operation, start asking questions: what systems are they using for ordering, tracking and reporting? Generally, a fulfillment operation playing “catch up” will never compete effectively with a professional service using dedicated systems, procedures and facilities.

If you find yourself or your organization fielding complaints or jumping to solve fulfillment problems like those listed above,
start immediately to document them. Call a meeting to compare current fulfillment requirements with the capabilities of your current fulfillment department. Should you be outsourcing to a professional service? If you’re already outsourcing, should you be looking at a new service with dedicated systems, more experience, or technological capacity, or simply more or better-designed space? In the fulfillment business, problems never go away of their own accord. Ignoring any of these warning signs is a recipe for disaster.

Connie Hill is president of The Fulfillment Center. These are excerpts from a ten-page Report on Warning Signs, with more than 40 questions designed to uncover serious fulfillment weaknesses. To request your free copy, call The Fulfillment Center at 707 224-6161.