PMA Fulfillment Blog

What’s a Referral Worth?

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:32:02 GMT

How valuable is a referral to your business?

If you are selling a product, a referral from an existing customer instantly removes all of the barriers to purchase. Your soon-to-be new customer isn’t questioning your claims, isn’t looking for testimonials and isn’t price shopping your competition.

The recommendation of someone they know, like and trust translates to instant credibility for your company and your products. Word of mouth trumps all.

Why Worry?

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:56:03 GMT

You can tell we’re in the middle of winter. Almost everyone around me has been sick with the flu or some other bug in the past few weeks.

Even our fearless leader, Lloyd Barger, President of PMA Fulfillment, missed a day yesterday. Lloyd is one of those people who never, ever misses a day of work.

I’ve been fighting pertussis for a month now … and it really is even worse than it sounds if I’ve had a coughing fit when we were visiting about your fulfillment needs.

One of my colleagues was commenting on my cough and suggested I had nothing to worry about. He told me that if I get better, I’ll have nothing to worry about. Then he added, of course if you don’t get better, you’ll have nothing to worry about then either.

The Power to Choose

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:18:08 GMT

The Power to Choose

Perhaps the greatest power you have as a business owner is the power to choose – the power to make decisions. Much responsibility is associated with that power, as your decisions ultimately determine the success or failure of your business.

Quite often, we make decisions in business, then move on to the next opportunity or crisis. We simply live with the consequences for years and seldom reflect on our decisions.

In many successful large enterprises, formal processes are established to review prior decisions from time-to-time and evaluate if those choices are still the right choice as circumstances change.

One area that is particularly challenging for any business to reexamine is a decision that resulted in a large capital investment. We recently worked with a company who had made a significant infrastructure investment and were quite resistant to the idea of looking back and evaluating this decision.

This company had invested in a large warehouse operation to support fulfilling product orders to their customers. Once that decision was made, it resulted in creating the following fixed cost infrastructure:

• Warehouse rent

• Warehouse utilities

• Warehouse maintenance

• Warehouse security

• Equipment, including racking, pallets, forklifts and trucks

• Information systems development and maintenance

• Personnel costs, including recruiting, hiring, training, management and firing

• Significant management time and money

• And much, much more!

As we reviewed this decision with them, we introduced the idea of outsourcing their warehousing and fulfillment operations. Although there was great resistance to change, the possibilities of converting fixed infrastructure expenses to variable expenses was too compelling not to pursue.

In this case, we were able to reduce their fixed costs from about $1 per item shipped to less than 50 cents per item shipped, resulting in a savings of several hundred thousand dollars annually.

You too have the power to choose. You can choose when you are going to reexamine some of your previous decisions to see if you would make the same decision in your current circumstances.

Need help examining your previous decisions? Give us a call. We’re happy to help!

Quite often, we make decisions in business, then move on to the next opportunity or crisis. We simply live with the consequences for years and seldom reflect on our decisions.

Self Fulfilling Fallacy

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:09:06 GMT

You’ve started your business, developed your product, and people are buying it! Thats's great!

So ... you may begin to consider expanding your space so that you can hold more inventory to meet the demand. You'll need equipment, of course, and supplies. Then you will need to hire someone to manage that inventory, package and ship your products.

Do you really want to live this self-fulfilling fantasy? There are a few things to think about before you do.

Credit Card Processing

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:43:09 GMT

You've worked hard to attract a customer and get them to purchase your products. The last thing you need is to have their credit card declined because you failed to fulfill their order.

To Box or Not to Box. That is the Question

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 19:50:45 GMT

While pondering this question for the packaging of your direct response product may not be as philosophical as Shakespeare’s question of “To Be or Not to Be,” your philosophy must be considered when deciding what is right for you and your direct response product .

Inventory Management and Control

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 07:01:31 GMT

Do you remember when you first started your business with just an idea?

Your first product success! The orders rolling in! The shipments rolling out!

Your success led to more products, more success and even more products.

Eventually, inventory control became an oxymoron. You spent more and more time on operations and less and less time on marketing and innovation.

With PMA Fulfillment, your inventory is always in control, so you can spend your time doing what you do best!

Discover Your Hidden Profits!

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 06:13:01 GMT

Not long ago, business success was judged by the strength of your balance sheet.

But we have all learned through the recent economic crisis that it is not what you make, it's what you keep that counts.

It's not a revelation that variable costs are better than fixed costs. But ... you may be surprised exactly where profits are actually hiding in your business.

Don't you want to know?

Integrating Your Data

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 06:13:01 GMT

Not long ago, the information technology solution to your information needs was to provide you with more data, more data and ... more data!

More data, of course, was the last thing you really needed. What you did need was information that was integrated into your existing management processes.

PMA Fulfillment seamlessly integrates your order, payment and shipping data, providing you with data security, data transparency and data integrity that is seamlessly integrated into your existing business processes.

Work ON, not IN Your Business!

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 06:13:01 GMT

As an entrepreneur, your most vital resource is your time!

The more time you spend on marketing and innovation, the greater results you can generate.

Unfortunately, far too many entrepreneurs watch their valuable time be eaten away by the trivial and mundane, stealing time away from what's really important.

Today is a great day to get your time back and start working ON, not IN your business.

Green Shipping

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 12:28:28 GMT

Greener Shipping!

Doing business in a more thoughtful and responsible manner that respects our environment as well as your bottom line and ours.

PMA CARES is a Company Acting Responsibly for the Environment & Sustainability

Make all of your packages CARE packages with PMA.

Price vs Cost

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:47:50 GMT

Legendary sales trainer and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar handled the price objection with this question:

Well, sir, are you concerned about the price, or are you concerned about the cost?

Zig would appropriately pause and watch the puzzled look on the face of his prospect. Regardless of their answer, Zig would encourage them to understand the costs associated with making a decision solely on price.

Direct Response Post Sale Customer Service

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:47:50 GMT

Congratulations! You have the greatest new idea in Direct Response, your site is up and your affiliate marketing team is fired up and chomping at the bit to push out your campaign.

What could stop you now?

How to Choose a Fulfillment Company

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:47:50 GMT

There are many fulfillment houses out there to choose from, with many different specialties.

How do you choose the best one for you? Is there a comprehensive list available so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel?

Yes!