March/April 2007

Welcome to the latest issue of Nutraceutical News from IFS.  In this issue you'll find our Client Profile, which features the new detoxification product Omage Essential Cleanse™.  As for our other columns, we address what to look for when finding a fulfillment company that's right for your business in our Fulfillment Notes section.  In our Marketing column, we discuss the importance of staying organized to keep your marketing efforts on track, and in the Customer Service Corner we talk about the importance of quality customer service.

For more information about the content found 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:

• Client Profile: Omage Essential Cleanse™
• Fulfillment Notes: Fulfill Your Fulfillment Needs
• Marketing: Staying On Track
• Customer Service Corner: Thank You for Calling
• About IFS: For More Information, Contact Us

It seems losing weight and getting healthy are always top priority for women.  Unfortunately, hectic schedules and overall stress don't exactly coordinate well with that plan.  Fad diets never seem to work and "energy pills" are simply too dangerous.  But now, a new detoxification product is making the process much easier.

Omage Essential Cleanse™ is a complete rejuvenation program to help eliminate toxins from the body.  After years of exposure to both natural and environmental toxins, the body's ability to eliminate them can slow down.  Toxins that stay in the body get re-circulated into the bloodstream or stored in the liver, fat tissues, or other parts of the body.  Eventually they cause you to store fat, slow down your metabolism and destroy healthy skin tissues.

Omage Essential Cleanse removes toxins from your body allowing your metabolism to increase and your body fat to decrease.

Dr. Cindy Woods, founder and CEO of Omage, LLC, has been working over 10 years in the nutrition industry to promote peak physical and mental natural health.

"I've been using detoxification products for years to simply keep healthy," Dr. Woods said.  "I believe just as you tune up your car, you need to tune up your body and eliminate the toxins that enter it everyday."

Dr. Woods specializes in enabling professional athletes to meet and exceed their performance goals using data driven nutrition and supplementation as the primary tools to drive changes in the mind and body.  Her method first focuses on cleansing the body, then re-building the physical and mental foundation that primes the athlete for superior performance.

While initially using her product primarily for her clients, Dr. Woods realized that all women could benefit from regular cleansing. After creating the brand Omage, Dr. Woods knew the demand would be intense and quickly needed to find a fulfillment center that could properly and promptly take care of her customers.

"I have a very close relationship with my manufacturer, Douglas Labs.  We work extremely well together and I think of us more as a team then anything else.  Therefore, I wanted to find a fulfillment center that could complement that same kind of relationship.  After Douglas Labs recommended IFS, I got the opportunity to speak with Keith Milburn and knew instantly his company would offer the partnership I was looking for."

In addition to her masters and doctorate degrees, Dr. Woods is certified in Performance Nutrition and Personal Training from the International Sports Science Association as well as a Board member of the University of California, San Francisco.  Dr. Woods is also the 1998 National Natural Body Building champion.

There are a variety of fulfillment centers across the United States but which one is the right fit for your business?  Choosing a service may seem like a simple process but it is one of the most critical decisions you will make.  Although most fulfillment centers offer the same basic services, it is important that you choose one that best fits your needs.

Our research has shown us that three key criteria for choosing a fulfillment company are:

• accuracy;
• on-time delivery; and
• measurable results.

We have often addresses these various criteria in past articles.  For this issue, we want to mention a couple of additional important criteria.

One is the size.  Fulfillment warehouses range from a few employees to hundreds, so you must select the one that can meet the needs of your daily orders.  Examine the usual activity in your orders and determine if they arrive at a consistent pace or if they're all over the map.  If you do have spikes from time to time, be sure to choose a fulfillment center that can handle the extra processing while keeping the orders accurate and on time.

Other important criteria are shipping options and turn-around-times.  Be sure to choose a fulfillment service that offers all of the shipping options you need.  You should also make sure their policy on order processing is acceptable and understood by your current customers.  For example, if a customer orders your product for next-day shipping at 4:00pm and doesn't realize the cut-off time for processing was at 2:00pm, their package will unknowingly change to second day shipping.

Perhaps most importantly, you must choose a fulfillment center that is located as close to your customers as possible.  As Ana Rincan explains in her article from OnlineBusiness.about.com, Choosing an Order Fulfillment Service, "If your warehouse is located in California, and most of your customers are located on the East coast, your shipping rates will be higher than if you had a warehouse in the Midwest.  Fulfillment centers located in the middle of the country are able to ship to both the east and west coast for similar prices."  This is one reason why IFS is an excellent choice for fulfillment.  Located in the heart of America…Kansas City, Missouri…  IFS ships across the United States for much lower rates than a warehouse located on either coast.

Have additional questions about finding the right fulfillment center? Let's talk. Call Keith Milburn at 1-888-275-3000.

One of the most important elements in the success of a business is marketing.  No matter how minimal your efforts, keeping your marketing activities on track and in check can be very difficult and confusing.

Marketing itself is complicated so in order to make effective use of its several strategies and components, organization is key.  By creating a marketing calendar, you'll find it easier to keep track of current activities as well as prepare for future developments.

Still not convinced? Here are four ways a marketing calendar can help:

• Organize, categorize, and prioritize all marketing initiatives and activities;
• keep track of your budget and understand how much you're spending, on what, and when;
• Recognize flaws in your marketing plan.  With a calendar, you can see if some marketing activities are too close together or too far apart.  You don't want priorities to overlap and you don't want prospects to go untouched;  and
• Evaluate the success of your efforts.  At the end of the quarter, you will be able to study your past calendar and evaluate how well your time was managed, how much was accomplished and how your efforts impacted sales.

Plan your calendar in whichever format works best for you but be sure not to overload.  Although it can be exciting to plan for future opportunities, keep in mind you have one other tiny job to do…run your business.  In other words, be sure to develop your calendar while keeping your other responsibilities in check.  It will help you plan for what you can do completely, not halfway.

When customers call your business, the first voice they hear automatically sets their mood for the remainder of the conversation.  You've probably had the same experience.  For example, when calling to ask a question about a new service, the tone of voice and patience on the other end of the line can make or break your future business with that company.  Short, snappy, annoyed responses reflect the operator's attitude until the caller is frustrated enough to hang up.

On the brighter side, when a customer service representative exemplifies his or her pleasure in assisting the caller, that same attitude is usually given in response.

Great customer service is one of the best marketing and selling tools you will ever have in your business.  You can spend as much money as you want on advertising but if you don't have a solid and friendly team backing it up, it means nothing.

Here are a few tips from best selling author Jay Conrad Levinson of "Guerrilla Marketing" fame on how to make your call center a marketing weapon:

• Institute a telephone training program.  In it, instruct employees how to answer and not answer the phone, how to communicate effectively with callers, how to develop a friendly phone attitude, and how to convey and specify points you wish to cover to all callers.  Don't let anyone who has not taken your training answer the phone.  Repeat the program quarterly.
• Make sure your phone is answered the same way each time to give callers the comfort of consistency.  The answer should be friendly, mention the company name and have a built-in warm smile.
• Although you may not wish to give prices over the phone for reasons of your own, try to answer the caller's questions as clearly and sincerely as possible.  If you must, quote price ranges rather than specific numbers.
• Be polite, regardless of the caller's attitude.  Talk yourself into believing that customers and prospects are always right - even when they're wrong.

That first phone call is an opportunity to offer a positive impression of not only your call center team but your entire company.  If you don't stay consistent in training your employees on good service, performance could progressively get worse and… before you know it… you've lost all respect from your customers.

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.