At Spectra, we are well aware of the tendency of outsourced service providers to overpromise. When a 3PL company, for instance, is consulting with a potential client about what their team and their facility are capable of, the temptation is to answer “yes” to every inquiry.
Usually the intention is not to deceive the potential client, but rather to get the contract signed and then figure out the details later. Once the new client is out the door or off the phone, internal conversations at the fulfillment provider may include statements like:
“We can learn how to do that in a couple of weeks, right?”
“I guess we need to buy a new piece of equipment to do what we promised we could do.”
“Is anyone on our team familiar with that software platform?”
If the brand new client could hear those conversations taking place, he would most likely reverse direction as soon as possible and see about canceling that new contract. Instead, what usually happens is that the 3PL team tries hard to follow through on their dubious promises, but the results simply don’t live up to the expectations.
After a few months or years, the frustrated client recognizes that the 3PL provider didn’t have the infrastructure in place to handle his projects and was trying to make it up as they went along. The client then has to start from square one and restart the search for a fulfillment provider that really is equipped and staffed to meet his needs.
Getting the Basics Right
At bare minimum, a fulfillment services provider needs to be able to give a client excellent service in the area of inventory management. When the client sends a shipment of their products to the fulfillment provider, those products should be received in an efficient, organized manner, placed in a designated spot on the shelf, and entered into inventory right away. When an order comes in from a customer, the inventory should be updated immediately to reflect the fulfilled order.
This is the minimum expectation, but a truly great fulfillment provider does much more in the area of inventory management. For instance, one of the biggest hurdles to organizations that use outsourced fulfillment has been a lack of visibility into inventory. Stakeholders in the organization need to make decisions about continuing/discontinuing production of certain SKUs, focusing marketing on various categories, and meeting customer expectations. But that’s hard to do when reports on inventory lag behind by days or weeks.
Spectra is proud to give its fulfillment clients greater visibility into their current inventory than they’ve ever had before. Each Spectra client has access to their own dedicated online portal, which securely connects to our inventory management system. Through this portal, the client can see exactly what is in inventory at that moment, as well as generate reports to show how products have been moving in and out of inventory.
No Empty Promises
Let’s go back to that scenario with a potential client discussing special needs with a fulfillment provider. If that fulfillment provider is Spectra, then the client will hear a lot of “yes” answers when they ask about what Spectra can do to manage their inventory. The difference from the nightmare scenario we presented earlier, though, is that Spectra actually has the ability to follow through on those promises.
How can you tell for sure? Because we’ve been proving our ability to fulfill our fulfillment capability claims for more than 20 years. In that time we have developed and maintained great long-term relationships with clients in some very technical, demanding fields, providing them with fulfillment services that meet the rigorous requirements of their industries.
Inspections and Testing Procedures
One of the most common services that potential clients ask us about is the ability to inspect and test products while they are stored in our warehouse. Many outsourced fulfillment providers are simply not staffed or equipped to accomplish these processes; instead, they focus on receiving, storing, and shipping items as simply and efficiently as possible.
Spectra meets a critical need for clients who need to monitor the quality and condition of their products while they are waiting to be ordered by customers. We offer inspection and testing services that flex to fit the requirements that each client brings to us. Rather than simply saying, “Yes, we can do that,” then figuring the details out later, we put everything into an SOP contract so that everyone knows exactly what happens, when, and how.
Dependability Leads to Savings
Clients that trust Spectra with their inventory management, including special requests that most of our competitors aren’t able to accommodate, enjoy advantages that lead to real savings. A huge example is lost product.
One client scheduled a consultation with us to ask about our inventory management services, specifically with regard to climate control. Their former 3PL provider had stored their product in a warehouse that was not climate controlled, which led to the loss of thousands of dollars’ worth of product. Much of this client’s inventory consists of cosmetics and other beauty products, which deteriorate in quality if they are not stored under certain conditions.
Today, we are proud to enjoy a great working relationship with this client, providing climate controlled storage for their products, as well as spot testing, labeling, and other services that the client was having a hard time finding anywhere else.
Print Services
Another category of savings is increased efficiency. Not only does Spectra’s team save clients money through their deep knowledge of the fulfillment industry, but we also offer integrated print services. Our in-house print facility is available to produce postcards, flyers, promotional materials, marketing collateral, catalogs, pamphlets, books, and many other types of printed materials, all at professional quality levels.
We integrate our print and fulfillment divisions to give clients an incredibly efficient way to combine these two outsourced services under one roof. To learn more about how integrated print, expert inventory management, and our value add services can benefit your organization, contact us today.
