Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Production time, policies, procedures, etc.

While we are in the midst of another busy holiday rush, I thought I would take this time to thank all of my customers for keeping this business afloat & busy!  So much is going on around here! We have been working very hard to introduce many new items as well as freshening up some old favorites.  It truly means the world to me that you’ve continued to support my growing business all these years & I want to be sure I continue to thank you for that support.

I also wanted to bring up a little bit about what goes on behind the scenes here at Laurie’s Lagniappe to bring to light some of the “issues” we’ve been hearing about from a few of our customers.  We receive anywhere between 5 & 70 orders a day – this can fluctuate season to season, day to day and right now, since we are approaching Easter, we are getting a large volume of orders.  Production can range from 5-15 business days for most items.  While we would like to turn things around much quicker than that, time does not always allow.

Our business is fully custom.  You have the luxury of picking out a FULLY CUSTOMIZED item which, in most cases, is less expensive than the “off the shelf” items you find in your local gift or stationery shop.  We rarely charge for custom requests (which we get around 10 custom invite requests per week) & have been told time & time again how well-executed our designs are.  We hand create every single item that comes our way!  On each order, there are different patterns, fonts & icons… & then move on to the next order which has a completely different set of combinations.  This concept was developed at the inception of our business & is what sets us apart from our competition.  This process takes TIME.

Think of it this way… if you walked in to a local deli & placed 50 separate orders, each order is paid separately, has a different item in each order, different sides, different toppings, some orders have three items, some have one, some 15.  Can you imagine how long this would take the kitchen to prepare?  Would you fuss at the checkout guy if it was taking too long? 

This business has been SO rewarding in so many ways.  One thing I have learned however is that fussy customers will be there – they will always want their voices heard.  99.9% of the time, they are right & we will ALWAYS go the extra mile to make up for whatever mistakes are made or if timeliness of an order is an issue.  Sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done that is thrown our way.  We do our VERY best to get to every single request, every single email (today alone, I received 70 – just counted!) & nearly every one has been answered. We have filled over 50 orders today (2 buckets full outside plus 5 packages to the USPS) & will continue to work tirelessly until it is all DONE!

We are a two person operation – we are human – we are mothers – we are wives – WE LOVE OUR CUSTOMERS - we love our jobs – we are happy to do what we do every day – we are BLESSED – we are excited to hear that “ding” from the email inbox when a new order comes in – we are MOTIVATED!

we are NOT superhuman!

WE ARE GRATEFUL TO HAVE YOU SUPPORTING US!!!!

I hope each & every one of you has a wonderful Easter!  Look for more wonderful new items coming this summer!  We will be taking a little break after Easter so please bear with us as we reconnect w our families & our lives :)

hugs.. Laurie & Emily