Blog Archives

With warmer weather comes more social gatherings, and this is no different in the business world. This is apparent from the number of conventions that take place in the early spring. At these conventions, professionals gather to exchange information within their industry.

Those in product fulfillment stand to obtain a good advantage by attending conventions. Whether there to learn or to actively participate, you can gain the info and skills to help your business generate more clients—and with them, more profit.

Ideas are a business’ lifeblood. If you’re having trouble generating new ideas, product fulfillment offers several opportunities to think some up and get back on track. Here’s what you can do to get your creative juices flowing.

Brainstorming

A good start is to simply assess your current situation: what areas of your business need new ideas, which ideas didn’t work in the first place, and what all this means for your business.

Change is a part of life, and there’s often only one appropriate response: embracing it. However, change can often be inconvenient, happening when we least expect it. Many companies spend a lot of cash on coping with changes, but in product fulfillment, change occurs so often that constant preparation is a necessity.

All in Your Hands

Dealing with change requires preparation, followed by action. Negative changes usually require some sort of damage control, so it’s vital that you’re ready to respond to them in order to minimize the potential damage.

Reaching Out

In a perfect world, having regular business ought to be the norm, but alas, it’s often anything but. While some in product fulfillment have this luxury, they are often in the minority.

The truth is that if you’re your own boss in any business, you have to regularly be reaching out for new clients to keep your business going strong. Only as you work to market your business more can you score the big-paying clients.

It’s Here

Halloween has passed, but there are many festivities still on the horizon. Winter is coming, and with it, the winter holidays.

Excited? You should be. After a whirlwind year of pumping all your efforts into your product fulfillment business, you deserve the chance to relax and enjoy time with family and friends. The big winter holidays—Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s—remind us of the good in our lives while giving us some time to enjoy the fruits of our labors.

However, your business requires you to prepare for the holidays. As a product fulfillment pro, you have to be in tune with the season, as the weeks preceding the holidays are when to cash in. If you haven’t started thinking about it already, you should start; it’s a busy period that requires your full attention before you can enjoy the holidays fully.

There’s no reason to panic, but you need to investigate which areas you can take advantage of this holiday season. Remember that people will look to you for products and services for their own holiday needs, and by catering to clients, you’re making their lives better. It’s just a matter of how you are going to do it.

Deck the Halls

The start of your product fulfillment holiday business preparation has you seeing what clients want, then offering it the best way you can. Then comes adding the “holiday magic,” doing what you can to please your clients even more.

Using the average direct mailing service in Florida as an example, consider rolling out discounts in advance. Seasonal promotions and price reductions via your catalogues, brochures, and flyers let clients know that you’re prepared for the holidays and are able to make their shopping easier. You should do this for all of your clients, whether you’re dealing with individual clients or doing B2B direct marketing for big businesses.

Speaking of large companies, you ought to contact your supply chain services to see what product lines are offered during the holiday season. You might notice they experiment with their product lineup during the holidays or add specialty items; if they do, inquire about offering those products yourself. Holiday clients always appreciate a pleasant surprise, especially during the stressful holiday season, and they will remember your efforts in the future.

Holiday Magic

There’s nothing like getting someone to go the extra mile for you during the holidays. If you’re in product fulfillment, this is a credo to live by; offering your own specialty services for clients over the holiday period will broaden your success and bring clients back long after the holidays are over.

There are so many things you can do for success during the holidays: offering assembly services for bigger products, free delivery for certain products, or including free gifts in your kitting and assembly packages are just a few examples. Going the extra step for the best possible product fulfillment services can bring an extra touch of holiday magic to your clients.

Need solutions to your product fulfillment problems? Advanced Product Solutions has the knowledge and services to make your direct mail and product fulfillment ventures more successful. Contact Advanced Product Solutions by e-mail at [email protected], visit their web site at www.apsfulfillment.com, or phone at (954) 582-7450.

Uncertainty Principles

In the end, we can know only so much. That’s why when we try something new, we often don’t know what the end result will be. While we can certainly expect a certain result, we’ll never know for sure what will happen until it does.

There’s nothing wrong with this, especially if you work in product fulfillment. In fact, it’s likely a good thing that you understand that not everything you do for your business will be successful. There will be failures, and you will have to do a lot of learning from your mistakes.

Honest Reflections

It’s not uncommon for a major company to try and predict what products will be successful, with everyone from beverage companies to music executives going to great lengths to see if they can figure out what the public will like next. They rarely get results, and when they do, the success is often fleeting.

Being in business means gambling; you have to be willing to stick your neck out and try new things to see what works. And if you work hard enough, you may begin to understand what clients might enjoy.

What You Got

Learning, studying, applying, taking courses, building skills, and trial and error. If these words sound familiar to what your job entails, you are in good company. There seems to be a large emphasis these days on pros putting all their skills in one basket in regards to what they know, what they can learn, and how they can apply it all.

For product fulfillment pros, this accumulation of skills and knowledge is crucial—it’s how you attract both clients and colleagues.

Who’s Who

There are few things greater than meeting good people. Even the more stoic types, despite their love for solitude and independence, will likely concede that the right conversation, debate, and/or romance can’t be topped. If you’ve found those that make your life better, then everyone benefits in the end.

In business, having the right people in tow is essential. Obviously, you need clients to buy your products and secure your livelihood.

Linking Together

There’s nothing better than being in control of your own business. These days, there are all kinds of stories of people being able to work on their own to great success, often as lone wolves in their living rooms with only a laptop and Internet connection. Technology and new business practices have brought about new ways of doing business that didn’t exist before, often with as little human interaction as possible.