Demand & Fulfill Your Print!

Have you ever thought to yourself, "I know I ordered several thousand of this item, but I can't seem to find any in the storage closet" , or "...the warehouse is telling me we are out of stock on this item"? Inventory management issues are one of the most common frustrations I hear from clients. Don't let it make you feel like this!

While in one of my favorite cities, Rome, GA yesterday, I learned a lot by listening to one customer's concerns about inventory of printed products, so I thought I'd share some tips on MAM (Marketing Asset Management) and BPI's solution to help alleviate this pain point.
Concerns/Problems heard from marketers about procurement, production, storage & distribution of marketing collateral, promo items & point-of-sale displays:

1. Accountability from CFO for marketing dollars spent: Scrutinized budgets and accountability of where & how marketing dollars are being spent.

2. Obsolete materials: The days of ordering a higher volume to get a price break are over. Take advantage of BPI's print-on-demand solution to lower your costs and print only what you need when you need it.

3. Time-consuming to gather orders from different departments or sales team: It can be labor-intensive for someone to gather this information, enter the orders, and distribute the orders. BPI's storefront solution offers an automated way to simplify this process and can be customized to fit the needs of your organization, large or small.

4. Inventory control issues: When materials are ordered by various departments and salespeople, you never know how much is left in stock & when you should reorder. Our storefront solution keeps track of all orders, manages inventory levels and allows for real-time reporting of activity, so you always know exactly how much you have on hand.

5. Personalizing or versioning for various departments or locations: This can easily be done through digital printing using variable data or overprinting on shells to customize for multiple sales reps or locations.

These are all frustrations that can be alleviated by using a materials management tool such as a storefront solution. This can help improve the efficiency of marketing operations and the dollars saved can then be used to fund new campaigns or projects.

Use this basic formula to help determine how much you're really spending on collateral:

-Number of requests processed-Determine the # of requests processed/week x 52 weeks per yr = total annual requests for materials.
-Average request processing time-Assume the average request takes about 20 minutes. 20 min x # of annual requests = # of minutes each yr/60= # of hrs each yr.
-Hourly processing labor costs-Determine the salary or hourly wages of the employee(s) who process & fulfill these requests for materials x the # of hrs determined from the previous step = labor cost ea year.
-Annual request processing cost-The above 3 steps help determine how much your department spends annually to request, process & fulfill materials.
You should also consider the volume of obsolete materials that are discarded each year as well as shipping costs to get a comprehensive dollar amount for materials management.

Click here to download the Marketer's Toolkit which details this formula.

Click here to watch a short video showing BPI's mail & fulfillment team in action for one of our customers for whom we manage inventory & fulfill orders daily through storefront orders! We have a hard-working team who is conscious of the timeliness of fulfillment requests for materials.

If you'd like to schedule an online demo of our storefront solution or chat about how print-on-demand could help you & your budget, please call or email me anytime. I look forward to hearing from you! I'd love to brainstorm with you about ways to make your marketing materials management easier, even if it is as simple as labeling your last few boxes with bright-colored stickers with "time to reorder" to prevent you from depleting inventory and getting into a back-order situation. Headed out the door again tomorrow for client appointments in and around Atlanta...will report back next week with details to share!