We have been having some interesting discussions around our fulfilment business, The Fulfilment People (TFP), this week. TFP was set up some years ago in response to a need our nozzles business, the Spray Nozzle People (SNP), had.
SNP distributes a range of highly technical spray nozzles which we import from US nozzle experts BETE and from a number of other manufacturers who are based overseas. For many years the business handled fulfilment itself without specialist intervention but as it grew and as the range of products became more extensive and complicated, it was apparent we needed a more professional solution. We could see that a completely different skill set was needed to run a truly great logistics operation.
The problem was the very complexity of the SNP product range. There are up to 40,000 different nozzles or nozzle combinations that SNP supplies and one nozzle can look very like another. Even more important is the fact that, while a nozzle may seem to be a small and innocuous 'thing', it is used in some extremely critical applications and industries. From dust suppression, to spray coating, to gas cooling to fire protection all these and many more processes and systems need spray nozzles. And if SNP doesn't get them to its customers on time, it can impact those very critical operations, costing the client time, money and the potential safety of whatever process it is they are undertaking. We needed someone who could see this bigger picture.
Handing over fulfilment to a third party is scary. A small business owner has intimate knowledge and control over every aspect of his or her business and to relinquish this takes a great leap of faith. SNP researched the options and chose what it thought was the right partner. It soon became apparent that this partner did not share SNP's values of caring about its cutomers. Orders got lost or were delayed and the wrong nozzles were frequently sent out. SNP visited other fulfilment houses and soon became frustrated. It realised the two essential elements it needed from a fulfilment operation were: deep knowledge of the business and products; and trustworthy, switched-on and above all CARING people who would be undertaking the day-to-day job of managing stock, processing orders and getting the product where it needed to go and there just didn't seem to be a good fit in terms of a fulfilment house.
When some warehouse space became available near SNP's sales office, the company decided to take the leap and set up its own fulfilment operation, employing (initally only a few) committed, expert and smart individuals who we could see would care about our business. Our expert sales engineers would be on hand to advise when orders were complex, helping the fulfilment team learn as they went along and vice versa - if a sales engineer needed to know what had been sent out and when and who had received the package, the warehouse team could tell them. As the need for more space grew, we realised that if SNP needed a specialised fulfilment service, it was likely other SMEs and start-ups might too. SNP had needed a fulfilment operation that was an extension of SNP but which freed it up to focus on other key aspects of its business as the company grew. SNP couldn't be unique in this.
Complex or critical products need extra care
And so it proved. Looking at the thriving business that TFP is today, and analysing it this week, we can see there is a common theme among the products of the customers we work for: what they sell are not pile 'em high and sell 'em cheap kinds of products. They tend to be more complex (this could mean they need assembling or they need careful packaging or, like SNP, they are B2B products which can critically impact their end users' businesses), they are higher margin and they need extra care. Our customers themselves care deeply about their products and the relationships they had (before we came on the scene), have and continue to nurture with their own customers and they need reassurance that we will not compromise these relationships with a poor service. For us to be able to give - and demonstrate in our daily execution of the fulfilment process - that reassurance means having to properly understand and care about each of our customers' businesses.
And, just as with SNP's sales engineers and warehouse team in the early days, it is important for our customers to feel they have a strong and easy line of communication with the TFP team and the team with them. Even if it's just to be able to speak to your account manager to be reassured something is where it's supposed to be when it's supposed to be, the fact that someone picks up the 'phone, knows instantly who you are, what you do and how and why you do it is worth its weight in gold. As one of our customers said of a previous fulfilment partner: 'I felt like a spot on a cow's backside'!
For people to care, relationships have to be strong and how you empower staff to deliver that level of care by caring about them is key. The theme of developing fulfilling relationships in fulfilment is one for another day but it is something that is fundamental to how TFP does business.
For now, if you are a small or medium business or a start-up with complex products and needs and you are thinking about outsourcing your fulfilment or are just plain frustrated with your current supplier, pick up the phone and talk to TFP or drop them an email.
About TFP
The Fulfilment People offer outsourced warehousing and fulfilment services for SMEs, start-ups and fast-growing businesses. We do not offer a one-size-fits-all service but rather a bespoke offering made up of the service or services that fit each customer's unique needs. We build long-term relationships with our customers - and suppliers - through a proper understanding of their businesses. We can do this because we have smart, committed people who we care about and who will care about you. Our strength is our people, underpinned of course by superb systems, technology and processes.
Tel: 01273 408 914
www.fulfilmentpeople.co.uk
info@fulfilmentpeople.co.uk
