5 Mistakes to Avoid While Selecting A Long Service Awards Partner Especially in India

Not every runner can finish a marathon successfully. Runners have to do special training before they can succeed in a marathon. We learnt this lesson at Pinnacle when we first extended our business from regular awards to Long Service Awards. 

We have learnt and improved with every order and every customer. After shipping over 3 million customised awards in 22 years to 3000 brands, we have learnt the common traps that some companies fall into while selecting their LSA partner.  The most common mistakes companies make while selecting their LSA partner in India are: 

1. Selecting a Partner who is dependent on importing goods from another country or is dependent on another manufacturer for award supply. 

For Long Service Awards maintaining consistency in award design and quality is preferred. No one should ever feel that someone else got a better award in a previous year. Therefore, most customers like to maintain the Long Service Award design for a few years. This becomes difficult when the Award Supplier is importing the awards from overseas, or is buying them from another distributor, who is either manufacturing it, or importing it.

The more the degrees of separation between an LSA Fulfilment Partner and the manufacturer, the greater the risk that the supply of the award itself can stop at anytime and the company would be forced to change either the design or the supplier altogether.
Such risks are abated by selecting partners who are also manufacturers of the awards. 

This also supports ‘Made in India’ drive and greater employment for blue collar workers. It is always a great idea to check with your award supplier about where the awards are being manufactured and about their ability to deliver the same design, year after year. 

2. Not Including a Price Guarantee in your Agreement.

One of our customers was forced to change their LSA Partner mid-year, because of a sudden increase in the price of the Award. The award was being imported from overseas and the supplier had little control over the price changes. Because our customer had not fixed a price guarantee in the agreement with their previous supplier, they were asked to bear the price change or cancel the agreement. 

We recommend that especially for Long Service Awards, customers may like to create an annual contract that protects them against price increase.

3. Not Including a Penalty Clause for Delayed Deliveries.

The joy of a Long Service Award is that it recognizes and celebrates the work anniversaries of employees who are investing their precious years in the success of a company. If their Service Anniversary Awards are given much after their actual work anniversary, then the award loses impact.

At Pinnacle, we do something uncommon which is greatly appreciated by our customers. We voluntarily offer a penalty clause in our agreements, for delayed deliveries. We take 100% ownership of deliveries and don’t like to just pin the blame on delivery partners. Yes, this is a big one but it shows the confidence a supplier has on their systems and processes. 

4. Not Including 100% Replacement in Broken or Missing Awards in the Agreement. 

Since the delivery systems in India are still improving, from time to time, deliveries go missing, in some cases there are breakages and very rarely, even thefts. Such mishaps are inevitable, no matter the quality of packaging and it is best to be prepared for such eventualities.

The question inevitably comes down to who will fix the problem and pay for it. It is best to discuss these scenarios with an Award Fulfilment Partner prior to signing on the dotted line. Who will bear the loss in the event of breakage or theft during transit? How soon will a replacement award be provided? 

An experienced LSA Fulfilment Partner would have a policy regarding this in place already. For instance, at Pinnacle, we provide 100% replacement for broken or missing awards at our cost. We also have a policy of sending out the replacement award at the earliest possible, so that the anniversary date for which the award has been shipped is not missed.

It is worth mentioning here that unfortunately Logistic Partner Insurance does not work out that well in India in reality, for the rules and compliances are immense and invariably most applicants will fall short of their approval.

5. Not asking whether the prospective Fulfilment Partner Can Accommodate Last Minute Changes to specific awards, shipping addresses, even for large consignments.

Another essential strategy that also tests the robustness of a potential Fulfilment Partner for an LSA programme, is to assess how they handle last minute changes. If names or other information on some awards have to be changed last minute, can they do it? If the shipping addresses are to be changed to residential addresses, or if the residential address has changed, can the changes be incorporated? Would the delivery timelines get affected and if so by how long? 

While it sounds like asking for too much, an experienced LSA Fulfilment Partner is actually prepared for such requests. They would have systems in place where the requests can be fulfilled and the awards sent out with the corrections, with hardly any loss of time or money. An LSA fulfilment partner who has everything available in-house has better control over the process. When things are outsourced then last minute changes are harder to accommodate.

In conclusion, we hope that the above lessons we have learnt will help you make the best decisions for yourself and your precious employees.  

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