The Fulfillment Conference
October 15 - 18, 2009
Hyatt Regency | Tampa, FL
Conference Schedule
Click on the day above to see the schedule for just that day - or scroll through the information below.
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Thursday, October 15
8:00 am - 5:00 pm | Optional Pre-Conference Workshop
Develop a Fulfillment Marketing Plan (Requires separate registration)
Co-Presenters: Mark McIntosh, Director, Fulfillment Solutions, Fusion Marketing Logistics (Cedar Graphics Inc.), and Jim Obermayer, President, Sales Leakage Consulting, Inc.
For businesses that are new to fulfillment or want to formalize a marketing process. Includes sessions on market research, SWOT analysis, 18-month strategic plan (that is updated regularly), goals, objectives, strategies, tactics, lead generation plan, budget, fulfillment plan which includes but is not limited to telephone, mail, email, nurturing (by all available means), and implementation of the plan.
8:00 – 9:45 am | Introduction
The benefits of and need for a comprehensive marketing plan in fulfillment and in being an affective marketing services provider
10:00 am – Noon | Stage 1
Evaluating your company’s skills in marketing and evaluating the market
12:00 – 12:45 pm | Lunch
12:45 – 3:45 pm | Stage 2
Writing the marketing plan
4:00 – 5:00 pm | Stage 3
Implementation and continual modification based on market realities and changes
The Pre-Conference Workshop is not included with the conference registration - it must be registered for separately.
Friday, October 16
8:00 - 9:00 am | Continental Breakfast and Box Lunch Pick-up
9:00 am – 3:00 pm | MFSA Plant Tours
4:00 – 5:00 pm | Software Vendor Presentations
Executives from top suppliers of fulfillment software to the 3PF industry will present their software to the attendees in an education format. If you are evaluating fulfillment software alternatives, you need to attend this session.
6:00 – 8:00 pm | Reception in the Vendor Forum
Relax after a busy day of plant tours in the vendor forum with refreshing food and beverages. Visit with suppliers to help you achieve your goals.
Saturday, October 17
7:30 am – 1:30 pm | Vendor Forum Open
7:30 – 8:30 am | Continental Breakfast
8:30 – 9:30 am | Keynote Speaker | Becoming a Better Marketing Service Provider
Ed Marino, President of W. A. Wilde Company, a direct marketing veteran with more than twenty years in the printing, imaging and document management sectors, presents the story of W.A. Wilde’s transition from a 140-year-old small publishing company into New England’s largest direct marketing solutions provider. W.A. Wilde now provides a comprehensive suite of direct marketing services, including strategic account planning, creative development, integrated media research and acquisition, interactive design, e-marketing, turnkey direct mail production services, database management, and fulfillment services.
9:30 – 10:30 am | General Session Thinking about Becoming a One2One Marketer?
It does not have to be intimidating. Alin Jacobs of the Direct Marketing Alliance, a recognized authority on data-driven integrated cross-media communications, shares the sales techniques and marketing disciplines for printers and fulfillment service providers wishing to differentiate themselves from a commodity-driven business model to that of a marketing solutions provider. It’s all about talking to each of your customers as if they were your only customer. From capabilities and strategy to implementation and response analytics – Jacobs shows you how to unleash the power of Variable Data Communications.
10:45 am – 12:00 noon | Beginner Session | Introduction to Fulfillment
MFSA’s Director of Fulfillment Services Tom Quinn provides an overview of fulfillment addressing the most common fulfillment services, the resources needed, and the benefits of fulfillment. He will also discuss where to find fulfillment business in your current client base and how to attract net new customers. This session is designed to give executives and key managers a thorough understanding of the fulfillment industry and to assist in the decision making process of how to add these vital services to their organization.
10:45 am – 12:00 noon | Advanced Session | Succeeding as a Marketing Solutions Provider
Connie Hill and Dave Spangler of TFC Inc. and Dick Kittle and Ed Warren of Creative Marketing Solutions discuss the capabilities necessary to become marketing services providers. They share the timelines and processes their companies undertook to make the transition, including a realignment of their service offerings, integration of mailing and fulfillment, and using PURLs and other electronic tools.
Noon – 1:30 pm | Lunch in the Vendor Forum
1:30 – 2:45 pm | Beginner Session | Getting Started Right in Fulfillment
Fulfillment operations expert Jim Rushing teaches attendees how to set up fulfillment operations to meet client needs and expectations and to implement the necessary space, equipment, personnel, customer service and IT requirements to be successful from the get-go.
1:30 – 2:45 pm | Advanced Session | Negotiating Small Parcel Shipment Rates
Mike Erickson, President, AFMS Logistics Management, shares advice in negotiating lower small-package rates, including residential delivery. There is still competition among small package carriers (e.g. UPS, FedEx, and USPS) and the opportunity to negotiate carrier contracts beneficial to your company still exists. Learn how to negotiate and better position your company.
3:00 – 4:15 pm | General Session | Converting Print and Mailing Sales People to MSP Sales
MFSA’s Director of Fulfillment Services Tom Quinn and Jason Quinn of Edwards Graphic Arts partner to present a powerful session on how a printers and mailers have enabled their sales people to excel as full-service sales professionals. This father and son team will discuss methods for educating, staffing and motivating the sales personnel from print, mail and 3PF backgrounds to successfully sell additional services. Tom will present an industry overview of the problems encountered and potential solutions. Jason, Director of Marketing & Distribution Services, will discuss a case study on how Edwards Graphic Arts as has adopted new software and successfully sold new and profitable services with the existing sales force. This is a must presentation, if you ant to grow your company as an MSP.
4:15 – 5:00 pm | General Session | Building Customer Loyalty
Brett Olszewski, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, K/P Corporation, offers advice and tactics in how today's fulfillment service providers prove value to their customers. He does not simply share his marketing approaches but also provides detail on the particular approaches in service offerings, operations and data management to strengthen customer loyalty and to make it more difficult for a customer to leave.
6:30 – 9:00 pm | Dine Around
This popular event allows you to experience several different dining options – all in the same place! Themed food stations allow you to sample food from one area and then move on to another, without leaving the comfort of the conference hotel. This popular networking event is fun, filling and not to be missed!
Sunday, October 18
7:45 – 8:45 am | Open Forums with Continental Breakfast
Forum #1: Operations
For beginners and advanced fulfillment companies alike. Attendees from the operations side of the business get together to share ideas, seek advice, and get tips from their peers.
Forum #2: Marketing Service Providers
For beginners and advanced fulfillment companies alike. Attendees from the executive management and marketing sides of the business get together to share ideas, seek advice, and get tips from their peers in how to become marketing services providers.
8:45 – 9:45 am | General Session | How to use Social Media to Build Business
LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook – these sites are growing in popularity and are being leveraged to promote fulfillment services. In this session John Foley, President of interLINKOne, presents advice in how to use these media to grow your fulfillment business. He presents real-world scenarios and share the pros and cons of each of these popular social media sites.
9:45 – 11:00 am | Beginner Session | Mailing Services and the Fulfillment / MSP Industry
An industry leader discusses the synergies and differences between mailing and fulfillment and how to begin down the road of mailing. What are the postal regulations? What equipment, staffing and resources are needed? How to fit this into an overall strategy of becoming an MSP?
9:45 – 11:00 am | Advanced Session | Benchmarking Your Company for Success
Accreditation auditor Jim Rushing and operations expert Dave Spangler from TFC shares some of the results of the MFSA Fulfillment Benchmarking study and what members should do develop their own benchmarks by which to measure performance. They address the areas that need the greatest attention and will have the greatest impact on the bottomline.
11:00 am – 12:00 noon | Beginner Session | How to Price Fulfillment and MSP
This comprehensive course is designed for owners, vice presidents of sales, sales managers and sales personnel from mailing, printing or 3PF companies who are new to the fulfillment industry or those who have been struggling with profitable growth in fulfillment. A sales cycle model will be introduced and presented by four (4) seasoned veterans of the fulfillment industry who will equally share this feature rich program. The program will be delivered by Tom Quinn – Director of Fulfillment Services, MFSA.
11:00 am – 12:00 noon | Advanced Session | Selling the Value of Print-on-Demand (POD) and Web-to-Print
Howie Fenton, NAPL’s expert printing consultant, discusses the value and pricing strategies for selling print-on-demand and the associated web to print solutions, which f or some is very profitable and for others is becoming more of a “commodity” in the eyes of customers. Howie outlines the advantages of POD and its particular benefits to customers. He also provides some key negotiating tips when it comes to pricing.
Conference Concludes
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