Category Archives: customer service

Help is on the Way!

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October 1st! It is hard to believe we are 9 months into the year of 2009. This year has been a blur to me and it has passed me by all too quickly. Soon, it will be time to make our New Years resolutions once again.

Before we can make resolutions for the New Year, we need to look at where we stand, look at where we are going and decide how we will get there. Now is the time to consider whether you are suffering from job burn-out. Here are a few ways to know if the stresses of the job are getting you down.

  • Do you feel you have little or no control over your work?
  • Do you have a hard time saying no?
  • Do you identify so strongly with the work that you do that you lack a reasonable balance between work and your personal life?
  • Do you suffer from lack of sleep?
  • Are you feeling stretched to your limits every day?
  • Do you feel you are pulled in every direction?

If you have answered YES! to many of these questions, perhaps it is time to seek help. Being an independent publisher does not mean having to do it all by yourself.  Order fulfillment companies  can support you administratively. Find a company that can tailor their services to your needs. Seek and ye shall find that there are many freelance services available just for independent publishers. Start by using your favorite search engine and look for order fulfillment for independent publishers.

The year 2010 looks to be a very promising year for independent publishers. Maybe your time for change has come. Regain your balance by reassessing your priorities, delegate the tasks that someone else can do for you and seek support. Work smart, the obstacles will disappear and you will be able to see much more clearly.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com

Up on A Pedestal

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“Don’t place your mistakes on your head, their weight may crush you. Instead, place them under your feet and use them as a platform to view your horizons.”  ~ Author unknown

One of the conditions of being human, is imperfection – like it or not!  I don’t know about you, but I try my best from day to day to change this well known fact of life. Our company is diligent in it’s work, we try all ways to stick to our promises, we strive for excellence and reach for the highest standards.

Our shipping policy is to process all orders on a timely basis. But, everyonce in a while, our best laid plans go awry. Late one afternoon a few weeks ago, I received a book order throught the internet from a fine art gallery on the East Coast. We reached our goal of shipping the very next day. About seven days later, I received a call from the art gallery owner that he had yet to receive the order. We discussed the fact that the order was sent standard shipping, as requested, and the weekend may have delayed it’s delivery. We jointly decided to give it a few more days with the agreement that he call me if he did not receive it.

Three or four days later, I heard again from the customer that the order still had not arrived at his doorstep. I told him “you have waited long enough, I will send a second book via expedited shipping.”  To shorten the story, the first shipment arrived long after the second one arrived. I don’t know what happened. Each time I tracked the order, the only message available was the date the shipment was picked up by the carrier. Once a shipment leaves our fulfillment company’s doors, it is out of our hands.

But – I beat myself up, feeling we had let our customer down, even though we shipped the order within 18 hours of having received it. I knew there was nothing I could do about the lost order other than try to satisfy the customer the very best I could by sending another shipment – PRONTO!

As much as we strive for perfection, other influences, people and situations often get in the way. The only thing we have true control over is ourselves. For those in the customer service side of things, if we have done everything we possibly can to satisfy our customers, sometimes we have to accept the fact that we are all human beings in an imperfect world, and sometimes things just run amuck!

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com

It is a Tricky Business

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One of the comments I hear from self publishing authors or independent publishers is “I had no idea what I was getting myself into!”  But this comment is not unique to the publishing industry. I have often heard the same comment from those who have renovated a house or had a house custom built! Sometimes, we just do not know all the facets of a project until  we roll up our sleeves and jump in!

This same comment can be heard from those selling independently published books, videos, DVDs and journals through e-commerce (internet sales). Independent publishers think “how hard can it be to put a book in the mail to someone?” What independent publishers fail to consider is this:

  • Is there time in your day to invoice the orders and record payments?
  • Do you have a reliable method for tracking your inventory?
  • Are you ready to deal with wholesale orders from bookstores, universities, libraries and other organizations?
  • Will you be able to handle customer service inquiries and calls regarding lost shipments or shipment tracking?

This is only surface stuff. Once you roll up your sleeves and jump in, I can assure you order fulfillment is a whole lot more time consuming and detailed than one can imagine. Just keeping track of what the most economical and most efficient way of shipping is, is a job in itself.

Thankfully, there are companies out there that can assist with the business end of shipping so you can focus on writing and publishing. The best way to find the support services you need is use your favorite seach engine and search the terms:  Order Fulfillment for Independent Publishers or Order Fulfillment for Independent Filmmakers or Order Fulfillment for Independently Published Books, Videos, DVDs and Journals. That part is not tricky!

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.