September / October 2005

Welcome to the latest edition of Nutraceutical News from IFS!

In this issue, you'll read about successful direct marketing client Health Advantage. In Fulfillment Notes you'll learn how package insert programs can be profitable ventures, and in the Marketing column you'll see why it's so important to promote benefits vs. features when it comes to your advertising and marketing copy. Plus, this issue's Customer Service Corner stresses the importance of consistency in your customer service efforts.

Also, if you're not familiar with the Vitamin Angel Alliance, you should be! It is a non-profit, non-sectarian organization created in 1994 to fight malnutrition and childhood blindness around the world. If you run a nutraceutical company, you'll want to know how you can support the organization's efforts in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. You can find out by visiting www.vitaminangel.org.

For additional information about what we write here or about any of our products and services, you can always visit our website, www.ifssolutions.com. To share your feedback about this newsletter, please click here. To unsubscribe, please use the link at the end of this issue.

In this issue:

INDUSTRY UPDATE: Health Advantage
Growing Through Quality Products, Good Marketing

Health Advantage, based in Carmel, New York, offers all-natural supplements to restore and maintain good health for adults of all ages. Just a few of its popular products include:

  • Follinex - a capsule to restore and strengthen thinning hair;
  • ComFlex - potent pain relief for joints and muscles; and
  • Sharp Mind - a supplement to help you think more clearly and concentrate with less effort.

The company has grown consistently over the years, thanks in part to the thorough descriptions and well-written copy provided on each of its products (see The Importance of Stressing Benefits Instead of Features later in this issue). Because of the company's solid growth, earlier this year Health Advantage began a search for a new full-service fulfillment firm.

Company execs spent about six months doing an extensive review of several fulfillment firms as they searched for a provider that could meet several important criteria including:

  • managing inventory;
  • providing appropriate reports;
  • ensuring efficiencies; and
  • continuing to support the company as it grows.

Innovative Fulfillment Solutions (IFS) was the clear winner, since it had all those required capabilities, and more. Health Advantage spokesperson Richard Rubin says the company has been very pleased with the service it is receiving at IFS. "The IFS team pays attention to the details, works hard to ensure we're satisfied and is very good at resolving any questions or challenges that arise."

IFS President Keith Milburn is pleased to have Health Advantage aboard. "We're delighted to have Health Advantage as a client of IFS. The company runs a good business and we appreciate having been chosen as its full service fulfillment provider."

For more information on Health Advantage, visit www.healthmd.com.

 


FULFILLMENT NOTES
Package Inserts Can Offset Your Fulfillment Costs

If you're not familiar with the opportunities available through Package Insert programs, now is the time to check them out. Although catalogers have engaged in package insert programs for years, it appears that few Nutraceutical companies have tested the waters.

How does a package insert program work? Basically, it is when a direct-to-consumer company pays another non-competitive direct-to-consumer company to have information about its products and/or services included in the second company's orders.

A good example of a hypothetical package insert program would be when a major food cataloger - let's use Omaha Steaks - pays to have inserts included in orders being shipped by another respected but non-competitive food company such as Williams Sonoma, which sells more cookware than food. What a great match! In this case, Williams Sonoma can receive income that offsets its fulfillment costs, while Omaha Steaks reaches high-end cookware customers it might not otherwise be able to identify.

A hypothetical example of a package insert program in the Nutraceutical industry might be if a nutrition company paid to have information about its vitamins and supplements included in orders being shipped by a company that publishes healthy cook books and/or magazines. The nutraceutical company would reach customers interested in healthy eating, while the publication generates an income to offset its fulfillment. Another great match!

So if you haven't yet pursued a package insert program, it's something you should consider.

 


MAXIMIZE YOUR MARKETING EFFECTIVENESS
The Importance of Focusing on Benefits Instead of Features

When writing copy for your marketing materials - which includes everything from brochures and sales letters to trade show materials and website content - it's easy to focus on the features of your product as opposed to the benefits. But it is definitely the benefits that will bring in more sales than the features ever will.

To clarify, features are simply selected points or "characteristics" of a product. Examples of features include things like size, color or content. Benefits, on the other hand, explain why the product should be valuable to you. Examples of benefits within the nutraceutical industry might include improved skin tone, increased energy, reduced joint pain, etc.

An old acronym often used to keep you thinking benefits instead of features is WIFM. (What's in it for me?) In other words, don't just describe something. Tell me (the reader) how it benefits me and why I should think it's important. Let's consider a couple of nutraceutical products as examples:

  • Is your product a multi-vitamin? Don't just relate the fact that it has plenty of vitamins C, E and folic acid (or other ingredients) in it. Instead say, "You'll get 100% of the nutritional ingredients needed every day for optimal energy!"
  • Is your product for improved heart health? Instead of just talking about a healthier heart, consider saying "You'll look forward to living a longer and more active life for many years to come."

So remember WIFM and you'll always remember to highlight benefits that show "what's in it for me!"

 


CUSTOMER SERVICE CORNER
Are Your Customers Getting Consistent Messages and Service? Training is the Key.

How consistent are you with your customers? One sure way to watch your customers quietly leave is to give them one answer the first time they call and a different answer on subsequent calls.

And don't forget the importance of consistency of service. Did they receive their product in 10 days the first time they ordered, but the second time it took three weeks? That will confuse them! And if they are on a "continuity program", it will get the product to them either too "early" or too "late". It's very import to be consistent.

Customers deserve to know that the company they are dealing with has a consistent approach to taking care of their customers. And the secret to making that happen? Train. Train. Then train some more! Set the standard and live up to the standard.

Training is critical to customer service. Training keeps everyone "on the same page" and in the know about your customers and the products they order. And since many companies don't have an in-house training department, it's important to find someone who can devote the appropriate time and attention to training your staff, whether that's an in-house person or an experienced, independent professional trainer.

And finding time to train is often difficult, too. Employees have busier and busier workloads, but that doesn't diminish the need. There's never a good time to be out of the office for training. But training today can often be done over the lunch hour, in the evenings or even remotely. And some companies will rotate their employees through the training process to ensure their phones still get answered and customers are still taken care of properly.

So if you want to offer the best possible customer service experience, be sure to be consistent!

 

IFS is a world class, full service fulfillment operation with a track record of success. A woman-owned business, we proudly serve some of the country's most respected corporations. With a special expertise in the fulfillment of nutraceuticals, we can help you run your nutraceuticals business more efficiently and more cost effectively.



Innovative Fulfillment Solutions
210 NW Plaza Drive
Kansas City, MO 64150
www.ifssolutions.com
Toll Free: 1-888-275-3000
Local: 816-587-5880
Fax: 816-587-5881