ONE GIANT LEAP
Business relationships often start out small. Later, when trust is established, the parties may embark on a giant leap together. In this particular case, our client*, one of the world's leading cosmetics manufacturers, asked us in 1999 (after a series of small successful projects) to pack and ship 50,000 participant goody bags for a special event they sponsor: one of New York City's largest annual fundraising events devoted to women's cancer research.
Though Fulfillment Works had never handled an assignment of this size and scope before, we eagerly accepted the challenge of packing 600,000 sponsorship items including t-shirts, energy bars, and bottles of water into 50,000 bags. (i.e. 12 items per bag.) After successfully completing this stage, we then had to figure out how to deliver the entire shipment into New York City, making sure to comply with all NYC Transportation Department and NYPD codes. For a young and emerging company such as ours (not even in business one year at this point) this definitely was a steep learning curve. But, as always, we figured it out and delivered on time without a hitch.
Most satisfying of all, however, was our client's reaction: they were thrilled. We not only saved them from having to work their staff around the clock as in previous years; we saved them thousands of dollars, too. The ultimate compliment came at their year-end meeting when, after analyzing Fulfillment Work's performance, they turned to us and said: "We can't believe how much time and money you saved us! What else can you do?"
FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER
The following year, in addition to packing out all participant goody bags, Fulfillment Works was also tasked with assembling and sending out 50,000 participant registration packets — a significant increase in our level of involvement, requiring Fulfillment Works personnel to go into our client's database each day to access the previous 24-hour's registrations — sometimes as many as 2,000 — each awaiting fulfillment.
Therefore our daily roster of duties now included downloading all pending registrations, matching the bib numbers that were already packed into registration packets to the participant's pre-assigned registration/bib number, preparing all address labels, and, last but not least, mailing out the registrations to the participants. In previous years, our client had performed all these time-consuming tasks themselves, necessitating a veritable army of employees and volunteers.
In spite of the complexity of the project, everything ran like clockwork. And once again at our client's year-end meeting, they turned to us and said: "We can't believe how much time and money you saved us! What else can you do?"
AND ANOTHER
The following year saw an even bigger increase in our level of responsibilities. Now we were tasked with all of our previous duties, plus opening and processing all of the mail-in registration packets. (Previously performed by our client.) This involved us opening the envelopes, extracting the registration forms and entering the participant information into the event database, extracting the registration fee and or/pledge money, and preparing it for deposit into the event bank account. On average, this meant we were processing nearly 20,000 pieces of mail every month for three months.
And, to top it all off, Fulfillment Works also managed the event's entire print and promotional campaign, including everything from the printing of bus cards and subway posters, to POP displays, event brochures and posters, event letterhead and envelopes, and much more that blanketed the entire Tri-State area.
THE JOURNEY CONTINUES
Fulfillment Works is now proudly involved in our sixth year of this tremendous event. A terrific client, a fantastic cause, and a real opportunity for us to show what we're made of. The journey continues.
*Our client is in fact two separate entities: a cosmetics manufacturer plus their production company. For purposes of clarity, we have combined them as one entity in this case study.
When one of Fulfillment's Works' most dynamic clients, an international cosmeceutical company with a high profile customer base and enormous exposure, tripled in size virtually overnight, we were faced with a critical choice: adapt immediately, or wave our client goodbye.
Always eager to rise to the challenge, and push ourselves to new levels of excellence, we chose the option we know best: adapt. And adapt we did. In the first year alone, our client grew at the almost unheard-of rate of 350%, sparking, not unsurprisingly, enormous changes on our end.
Our first critical step was to double our staff. This allowed us to process each order (hundreds per day) quickly and efficiently, right around the clock. Best of all, it meant there were now more sets of eyeballs available to oversee outgoing shipments, which in turn lead to an increase in quality control — despite the heavy volume.
Our second critical step was to double the size of our facility to 40,000-square feet. Where other fulfillment companies might have balked at such a vast capital outlay, we recognized that such a move would enable us to stock twice as much inventory, reduce shortages to a statistical rarity, and thereby ensure the continued speedy processing of our client's orders. Which is exactly what happened.
Three successful years later, the results speak for themselves: our client is still growing and thriving, and we are matching their growth stride for stride. A vindication of Fulfillment Works' willingness to "stretch" ourselves and our staff. And one of the most satisfying accounts we've had the honor of serving.
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