Why Your Two-Week Sample Approval Process Actually Takes Six Weeks (And How to Fix It)
The sample request seemed straightforward enough: one physical sample of the proposed custom notebook, shipped to the Auckland office for review before committing to the full production run. The supplier quoted five business days for sample production and seven days for international shipping. The procurement manager mentally allocated two weeks for the sample phase and moved on to planning the next steps. Six weeks later, the sample was still circulating through internal approvals, and the original event deadline was no longer achievable.
This scenario plays out with remarkable consistency across organisations of all sizes. The sample approval phase is treated as a brief administrative checkpoint when it is actually one of the most time-consuming stages in the entire custom stationery procurement process. The gap between expected and actual duration typically ranges from three to four weeks—enough to transform a comfortable timeline into a rushed scramble or missed deadline.
Having guided procurement teams through hundreds of custom notebook and corporate stationery projects, I've observed that the sample phase fails not because of supplier delays or shipping problems, but because of how organisations handle internal review. The cascading delays that accumulate during this phase are predictable, preventable, and almost universally underestimated.
The first delay typically occurs before the sample even arrives. Most procurement teams request a sample without first confirming who needs to see it and in what sequence. The sample arrives, sits on someone's desk for three days while they're in meetings, gets forwarded to marketing for brand compliance review, waits another four days because the brand manager is travelling, then moves to the executive who requested the project for final sign-off. Each handoff adds time, and none of these handoffs were factored into the original two-week estimate.
The second delay emerges when feedback is collected. Rarely does everyone agree on the first sample. Marketing wants the logo placement adjusted by 5mm. The executive prefers a slightly different shade of the cover colour. Someone notices the paper weight feels lighter than expected. Each piece of feedback is valid, but collectively they trigger a revision cycle that the timeline didn't anticipate. A second sample is requested, which means another five days of production and seven days of shipping—assuming the feedback is clear enough that the supplier can act on it without clarification.
This clarification step is the third common delay. Feedback like "the blue seems off" or "the texture isn't quite right" requires translation into actionable specifications. Does "the blue seems off" mean it's too dark, too light, too saturated, or simply different from what the reviewer expected based on the digital proof? The supplier needs specific direction, which means someone in the procurement chain needs to gather that specificity from the original reviewer. This back-and-forth can add three to five days to each revision cycle.
For New Zealand businesses, the geographic reality adds another layer. Physical samples from Asian manufacturers take seven to ten business days to arrive by standard courier, or three to four days by express at significantly higher cost. Each revision cycle that requires a new physical sample adds this transit time to the timeline. A project that requires two sample revisions—not unusual for custom notebooks with specific branding requirements—has already consumed four to six weeks of shipping time alone, before accounting for production or internal review.
The organisational dynamics that create these delays are rarely visible to the people experiencing them. The brand manager who takes four days to review a sample isn't being negligent—they have other priorities and the sample review wasn't scheduled into their calendar. The executive who requests a colour adjustment isn't being difficult—they're ensuring the final product meets their standards. Each individual decision is reasonable; the cumulative impact is a timeline that bears no resemblance to the original plan.
The solution isn't to pressure people to review faster or to skip the sample phase entirely. Both approaches create different problems—rushed approvals lead to production regrets, and skipping samples means committing to hundreds or thousands of units without physical verification. The solution is to build realistic time into the plan from the outset and to structure the review process to minimise handoffs.
Effective sample management starts before the sample is requested. Identify every stakeholder who will need to approve the final product and confirm their availability during the sample review window. If the brand manager is travelling for two weeks in March, don't schedule sample arrival for that period. If the executive sponsor only reviews materials on Fridays, plan the sample delivery to arrive by Thursday.
Create a single review session rather than sequential handoffs. When the sample arrives, schedule a 30-minute meeting with all decision-makers present. Collect all feedback in one session, consolidate it into a single revision request, and send it to the supplier the same day. This approach can compress a three-week sequential review into a three-day parallel review.
Establish decision authority before the sample arrives. Determine in advance which aspects of the sample are subject to revision requests and which are acceptable within a defined tolerance. If the Pantone colour match is within 5% of specification, is that acceptable? If the paper weight is 5gsm lighter than specified, does that require a new sample or can production proceed? Having these parameters defined prevents minor variations from triggering unnecessary revision cycles.
For the overall production timeline, the sample phase typically represents 20-30% of the total duration for custom corporate stationery. A project with a 12-week timeline should allocate 3-4 weeks specifically for sample review, including buffer for one revision cycle. Projects that allocate only 1-2 weeks for this phase consistently run over schedule.
The financial impact of extended sample timelines often exceeds the direct cost of the delay. When the sample phase runs long, the remaining phases get compressed. Production may need to be expedited, incurring rush fees. Shipping may need to be upgraded from sea freight to air freight, adding significant per-unit cost. Quality inspection may be abbreviated, increasing the risk of issues that only become apparent after delivery. These downstream costs are rarely attributed back to the sample phase, but they originate there.
Procurement teams that consistently deliver custom stationery projects on time share a common characteristic: they treat the sample phase as a project management challenge, not an administrative formality. They schedule reviews, set deadlines for feedback, and build contingency into their timelines. They understand that the two weeks between sample request and sample approval is a planning fiction—the reality is four to six weeks, and planning for that reality is what separates successful projects from deadline disasters.