Fulfillment Services: Are Printers Getting It?

THE SOLUTION: Keep a close watch on direct labor head count and do not exceed the guidelines that a fulfillment specialist should complete eight to 10 orders per hour. Until you exceed 64 to 80 orders in a day, do not add any permanent personnel. Also establish a monthly P&L for the operation.

[3] SALES NOT ENGAGED IN BUSINESS. It seems that no matter which printer I visit or how many salespeople the company employs, I usually find only two or three salespeople engaged in providing business to the fulfillment center. I have visited with sales teams with as few as five and as high as 28, and come up with the same very poor percentage of print sales personnel selling fulfillment. These same trends hold true for selling digital printing, variable color printing and mailing services.