When the Client Needs 10,000 Items Tomorrow, This is What Happens

Wendy Lee shares her journey from junior account manager to general manager and co-owner of Cubic Promote, revealing what it's really like to run a promotional products company in Sydney Australia.

• Wendy's approach to daily operations: 30% customers, 30% website management, 30% staff support, and 10% for unexpected challenges
• Company philosophy that "staff are the wheels" that must move in the same direction for maximum efficiency 
• Behind-the-scenes process for handling large orders including extended production hours and multiple staff rosters
• Story of delivering beach umbrellas to Bondi Beach within 24 hours using a tow truck company when standard couriers refused
• How the team handles mishaps, including replacing 4,000 worth of missing banners "no questions asked"
• The all-hands-on-deck culture where everyone, including management, helps with production tasks like packing boxes

Please tune in for upcoming episodes that will continue to explore what really goes on behind the scenes of running an effective promotional products and uniform company.

Find out more and visit our website: https://www.cubicpromote.com.au/

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to today's episode of the Promo Playbook by

(00:02):
Cubic Promote.
Today we're going to talk aboutan interesting topic.
The topic is what is it like torun a promotional products
company and a uniform company inSydney, australia?
And with me we have GeneralManager Wendy Lee.
So, wendy Lee, thank you forjoining us at the show today.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Always a pleasure.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
So, Wendy, can you share with the audience a bit
about your pedigree, yourbackground?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Sure, I joined the company back in 2010, so a good
15 years ago as a junior accountmanager, and then I worked my
way up to become a generalmanager, with a lot of sweat and
tears.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Nowadays a co-owner of the business.
What is it like, from aday-to-day perspective, for you
to share with the audience onwhat it's like to run a
promotional products company?
Is it easy, is it hard?

Speaker 2 (00:46):
It's hard for me.
So my day-to-day I don't callmyself really a general manager,
more like a helper, a generalhelper.
So my day-to-day will look likestart in the morning, look at
my inbox, do sales role, becauseI still got a few clients I
dealt with so I would make suremy client are happy with me, all

(01:12):
their orders are looked after,make sure people are happy with
the company.
And I always say to Charles andto my staff in order for a
company to grow, it's like aracing car Staff are the wheels
and all the wheels need to bemoving forward in one direction
in order for the vehicle to runat the fastest speed.
So the job of talking to staff,listen to them and listen to
their feedback, is veryimportant and I dedicated quite
a bit of time on that part aswell.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
So how do you balance our operations?
So we distinctly have customerservice elements, we have the
products that come into thewebsite.
We also have to balanceoperations to make sure that our
team runs smoothly.
What are your priorities on aday-to-day basis?

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Priority, always customer first.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yeah, me too.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
So, given a percentage 100% would you say
50% customer experience, orwould you put it less?
What is the balance for you?

Speaker 2 (01:57):
So if my day is like a 100% job, then I would say
because I handle less customer.
So my day about 30% is spent oncustomers and then 30% on
websites, 30% on staff and thenthe 10% because, you don't know,
here and there there will besome odd questions that are
outside of these three scope andI reserve my 10% capacity to

(02:18):
deal with those as well.
All right, got it.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
So we work with a lot of purchase orders, some of
them are small, very easy.
For example, if people come tous for 10 t-shirts, that's water
off a duck's back.
We can handle that very easilyOn the odd occasion on any given
day.
It could be right now, it couldbe in an hour's time.
We might get an inbound inquiryor an inbound purchase order
for 10,000 or even 20 or 50,000t-shirts.
Could you share with theaudience out there what happens

(02:43):
behind the scenes Once we have alarge purchase order?
What happens?
Do we all go frantic?
Do we need to onboard new stufffor our suppliers?
What happens behind the scenes?

Speaker 2 (02:55):
That's a very good question because it happens
quite a lot.
A client always wants thingstomorrow and it's virtually
10,000 units All wanted tomorrow.
Once the client is happy toproceed, we will produce an
artwork to them to show them howthe end product will look like
digitally within an hour,because it's an urgent order.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Even non-urgent order .

Speaker 2 (03:15):
Within 24 hours they will receive an artwork from us
to confirm they're happy withthe final results.
Before proceeding, and oncethat, while we are waiting for
confirmation, I will need tomake some phone calls and also
checking on our system, seewhat's the production capacity
like for the day.
Because although these clientsare definitely important to us,

(03:35):
we've got always we have two orthree jobs lining ahead that are
equally important as well.
We have to hire extra staff,ask them to stay overtime
sometimes, or even ask externalcapacity to help to make us
deliver jobs on time.
So all jobs are important,10,000 coming in.
I will have to make a lot ofphone calls in order to make

(03:57):
that delivery on time.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
Yeah, we certainly do have some really large purchase
orders that do come in fromtime to time.
And for us ourselves, I canshare with you my experiences on
how we go about handling largepurchase orders.
So this is unveiling thecurtains.
This is what happens in thebackground.
So once our team goes aboutconfirming the purchase order, a
series of events happen.
It inevitably means that theprint machines need to run

(04:21):
overtime.
Now, normally the printmachines from ourselves and our
suppliers they run between thehours nine to five, but when
orders come in, typically theyneed to extend those hours.
It could be 9 to 7, 9 to 8.
At times it could be even 9 to9.
And at times we've even donejobs where it's gone through
midnight and over.
And what happens with staffingis that we roster ourselves to

(04:43):
have multiple rosters coming injust to pick up the slack for
the first roster.
That goes off and the secondroster comes on and all is in
the name of production, keepingthe print machines running.
Once the print machines haverun, we need to allow time for
the products to dry.
The only exception is when wedo embroidery.
That is when products don'tneed to dry before.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
And also labeling.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
And labeling for every print, the screen prints,
the transfer prints.
They do need to dry and cureand during this process, once
products are produced, they gothrough quality control, testing
, and at the end, once theentire job is finished, a final
inspection is done.
A manager, line manager, goesin, inspects all the products

(05:27):
and only once everything isconfirmed it is in good
condition, good quality, thenthe thing begins.
All the products get packed,yield, and then we book a
courier promptly for theproducts to be sent out.
So quite a bit happens.
So for the customer, all theysee is the words no problem For
ourselves.
That's when day one minute one,that's when the work really

(05:49):
begins.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
So, Wendy, Before you jump into the next topic, I can
share an interesting storyabout production, because
production staff is not only adedicated staff.
Sometimes, me and Charles, andeven the account manager team or
people that are not in theproduction team, will become a
product, will be work onproduction, yeah good point.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
I pack boxes every single week.
That's exactly right.
I always mention that tocustomers.
I tape them up, I fold upclothes.
A hundred percent.
It's a hands-on experience.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
That's exactly right.
You remember a year ago, acouple of years ago, we worked
till 12 o'clock.
We helped a customer label8,000 boxes and I still remember
just tearing off labelinglabeling until about 12 o'clock.
Like we said, customer isnumber one.
So whatever it takes to getgoods delivered on time, we will
do it.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely so.
Next question, wendy, is couldyou share an instance where we
worked on a campaign for a flyand it was just brilliant.
Everything went well,everything was delivered on time
, the customer received theproduct and not only that, but
he got the feedback from thecustomer where it was a success.
The use of our products led topositive outcomes.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
Oh, I remember this one that was a couple of years
ago.
The monster stick in my memoryis always the one that delivered
on time, delivered urgently,with a very short turnaround
time, and I have to make magicon that.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
So what products were you talking about?

Speaker 2 (07:12):
That was a beach umbrella, so the umbrella itself
coming from interstate and Ihave to engage like we have to
print ourselves.
It only left about within 24hours.
We have to print them anddeliver it in Sydney.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
So print them with our client's logo.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yes, of course.
Printing with client's logo,dry them and deliver it in
Sydney.
So print them with our client'slogo.
Yes, of course.
Yeah, printing with client'slogo, dry them, deliver it in
Sydney within 24 hours.
A point receipt of good, and Iremember beach umbrella being so
bulky.
No standard same-day courierwould accept that job.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
So end up, we found In a ute something that size.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
Oh, you know what I did.
We finished the printing atabout 5 pm, at night time.
We were calling a tow truckcompany because it's too bulky.
A tow truck company, yes.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
I must have been on vacation.
I don't remember that, butcarry on.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yeah.
So we called up a tow truckcompany because it's so bulky
and they were like, is itpossible to put in these boxes
in a tow truck so you can sendthem to the location in Sydney?
I got turned down quite a lotand then another.
Finally, one tow truck companywas kind enough to offer a bulk
same-day delivery courier for methat can deliver the job on

(08:19):
time, and that courier arrivedat client location at 11 pm.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
I'm surprised the client's even awake to receive
the product, it's a marketingcompany.
So it's not just our industrythat really pulls out all the
stops in order to make thingshappen.
It's industries like themarketing company they do that.
They really go over and aboveand beyond for that.

Speaker 2 (08:36):
Because the event is tomorrow.
They can't afford to have thislocation not set up so they
don't have a second chance,exactly right.
So at 11 pm, staff are stillthere and they open courier,
deliver the goods.
They're opening the box,setting up all the beach
umbrellas on the beach, and openit and take a photo for me the
next day with sunsets, withsunrise, sorry, and I was like,

(08:58):
wow, they stay overnight todecorate the sites with our
beach umbrella and we pull magic, pull things off like that
Within 24 hours, print, try,deliver.
That's not happened regularlybut definitely was stuck in my
mind.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
I assume that was a Sydney company that plays a
precious role yes.
I'm assuming the conference wasin ICC.

Speaker 2 (09:18):
No, it's Beach Umbrella, so it's actually
they're using it on.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
Bondi At a location in Bondi.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
Yeah, that's around the beach area.
Set up all the beachside to anoutdoor event.
It was a great success.

Speaker 1 (09:29):
Amazing, amazing.
Now, on the flip side, thingsdo go wrong Because when we
stretch our supply chains tosuch a degree, things inevitably
break.
So, wendy, was there a timewhen something went wrong, and
how did we respond?
I could actually answer thatThings do go wrong.
It means us replacing products.
That's exactly right In orderto make things right.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
Even though the mistake is not from our end, we
will replace it with ourquestionnaires.
That's just recently happened.
We delivered 4,000 words ofbanners to a location in
Queensland.
The courier just dropped offthe box in the location.
They took a picture, but no onecan identify that location at
all around the building and theboxes went missing.

(10:11):
I remember that, Alda yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
And we called.
I believe what happened was.
I ended up calling up theneighbor of that building.
Yes, I did a Google search.
I called up all the neighborsto find.
We called up the security Tofind out if they took hold of
the boxes.
The security To find out ifthey took hold of the boxes.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
None of them, none of them can locate a box.
So, ended up, we replaced a fewthousand dollars worth of
banner for the client.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
No question asked.
It also means that some othercompany is now in possession of
four thousand dollars worth ofbanners.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
That are not being owned to them and printed with
someone else's logo.
So I will feel that, or maybethey can use it for other
purposes, you know.
Restructure the banner to makewho knows what Of course.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
Well, there's a lot to talk about in our industry.
The honest truth is ourindustry.
There's a lot of complexity.
We're going to be creating apart two and a part three what
really goes behind the scenes ofrunning a promotional products
and uniform company.
Behind the scenes of running apromotional products and uniform
company.
We have lots of stories toshare with the team, but
appreciate you tuning in to thisepisode and please tune in for
upcoming episode two, three andpossibly even four on how we go

(11:17):
about running a company in astrain that is effective.
Thank you so much for listening.

Speaker 2 (11:22):
Thank you.