Sales Form - Tips & Techniques

TIPS AND TECHNIQUES FOR SALES FORM USE IN A SERVICE BUSINESS

It may interest you to know that you can use these same apps for just about any service type business.  They can ALSO be used by some retail businesses that need a full page invoice instead of a "cash register receipt". 

If you want to use a "Proposal" system for really BIG JOBS where you need to do multiple purchase orders and multiple customer invoices against the SAME JOB, you will need KwikOFFICE3(tm)or KwikSALES3(tm) OR KwikSALES4(tm).  This would apply to businesses like or similar to Antique Auto Restoration Shops, small Contractors, etc...

TEACHING OUR APPLICATIONS YOUR WAY OF DOING BUSINESS

To set up any of our systems to fit a particular business, (teach them your way of doing business) you just need to:

1) Go to the Menu choice of [Setup-Maintenance] on the Main Screen or the Menu Tree:

2) Choose [Company] and you can then

3) Change the "prompt and form fields" on the "Ship To" file for the

  various tabbed forms to "fit" whatever kind of business you want to use it for.

4) Setup/teach the accounting chart of account names to fit your business. 

5) Make the generic and "phantom" items to sell. 

6) Enter the "specific" (item numbered) inventory items to sell which fits your

  particular business.  See below. 

If you are not very familiar with setting up a system like ours for an auto service business, or any other kind of service business, I have included the following in an effort to help you set up and use our system...

I was in the auto service business (we sold tires too for several years at one point) for 25 years so if you need some help in the area of getting our apps "initially set-up" for that kind of a business, just give me a phone call whenever you don't understand something or have a problem of some kind.  I can usually help with other kinds of service businesses too since they are so similar in the nature of the setup. 

DOING AN INITIAL 120 MINUTE SETUP TO GET GOING RIGHT AWAY

Doing an "initial setup" is easy to do when you understand what needs to be done AND HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS CONCEPTUALLY. 

When we have performed that job for a new Customer it usually only takes me (along with the owner or manager of the business) about two hours to do the "initial setup or application training".  That sort of a time frame for doing an initial setup also usually pertains to doing it for just about any kind of small business. 

"Initial setup" is defined as doing all or most of the company information data, prompt changes, and "phantom and generic items to sell" along with most of the entries for the "common specific items sold" in the inventory file. 

The time for taking a "physical inventory" and entering those inventory items (only specific items in stock to monitor and sell) into the inventory file, if needed, (many times it isn't necessary) can vary quite a bit. 

ENTERING ITEMS TO SELL IN THE INVENTORY ONLY AS THE "NEED" COMES UP

When first beginning to use the system you can wait and only enter inventory items when they are first sold AFTER beginning to use the system as a way to "delay or time manage" getting inventory items (things to sell in the Sales Forms) into the system. 

Doing it that way is called entering the items "as you go" or "on the fly" or "real time".  All those inventory items, regardless of when entered' are "remembered" by the system for use the next time that item is sold. 

TIPS ON ENTERING INVENTORY INTO THE INVENTORY FILE (A Control File)

Figuring out how to organize and enter the items you sell (e.g. inventory, whether "phantom", stocking, non-stocking, inactive) in the inventory system can be a bit of a challenge for someone not familiar with the way our apps work and/or a particular type of business "works".  If that is your case, give us a call and in a few minutes I/we can usually

"point" you in a good direction in just a few minutes. 

USING GENERIC INVENTORY ITEMS FOR NON-STOCK ITEMS (E.G. PHANTOM INVENTORY)

One of the best examples of entering an inventory file "phantom item" is to enter "Labor" as an item in the "inventory file" and make it a "Labor" category and give it an "item number" of "LaborA" or "LaborBill" etc...  This "phantom inventory technique" is commonly done and we call it "Phantom" since there is nothing tangible to inventory.  Since you can have as many of those phantom inventory items as you wish, you have the ability to have different "labor rates" assigned to each one.  These types of inventory items MUST also be "flagged" as a "non-stocking" thing to sell (phantom item) in the "inventory file" and using them will create negative numbers in the inventory tracking system.  Just ignore the minus sign in the inventory reports and you have a number representing how many times that phantom item was sold. 

CHART OF ACCOUNTS ASSIGNMENT OF INVENTORY ITEMS

All inventory items must also assigned to a "set of accounts in the chart of accounts as noted on the screen.  You can make new accounts in the chart of accounts "on the fly" while entering inventory items but it is better to have the "Chart Of Accounts" already setup before doing any of the inventory item entry.  There are sample accounts to use or modify in the demo data. 

HOW THE SYSTEM TRACKS INVENTORY ITEMS

If the item is "flagged" as a stocked item during initial entry, the system tracks it completely.  If the item is "flagged" as a non-stocked item the system tracks it for sales purposes but not for "physical" inventory purposes.  If the item is "flagged" as an inactive item, it doesn't get tracked at all and is basically ignored by the rest of the system and it can still be used by the Sales Forms as a "placemark" entry. 

Entering an inventory item in this way tells the integrated bookkeeping and accounting portions of the system the "system name" (e.g. item number) for a Sales Form line item and how to "record and apply" this "inventory" item when sold.  The description, quantity, and extended description and other fields (except for item number and category) can then be edited/changed when the user is "building" a line item in a Sales Form. 

TIPS ON MAKING GENERIC NON-STOCKED INVENTORY ITEMS

You can also make generic "non-stocked" entries for "non-stocked" parts for any other "generic items" that are "commonly sold" but not stocked.  These items are generally purchased as needed for a specific job.  Just make the inventory record's "Item Number" for such items be the same as their "generic name".  e.g. make an item number for "STRUT", "SHOCKABSORBER", "TIRE", "ALTERNATOR", "STARTER, WATER PUMP, V-BELT, TIMINGBELT, RADIATORHOSE, HEATER HOSE, GASKET, OIL, ANTIFREEZE, SPARKPLUG", etc... You should leave the "Description" field blank or you can enter some generic description into it.  I prefer to leave it blank.  You can then enter some additional lengthy explanation or a "check list" or whatever, depending on the item, into the "Extended Description" field. 

TRACKING TECHNICIAN PRODUCTIVITY USING PHANTOM INVENTORY ITEMS

Most shop owners want to track technician productivity.  To be able to do this with our system you can make a separate "phantom inventory labor record" in the inventory file for each technician.  (e.g. make an "item number" of "LaborBill" for Technician "Bill" and "LaborJohn" for Technician "John" etc... with a "Category" of "Labor" for each one.  Then use a particular technician's labor "phantom inventory record" for a particular technician's labor line items in the Sales Forms.  Doing "Labor" this way allows the system to "track" the "individual productivity" of all technicians over some time period (month/week) in the inventory recordkeeping and accounting reports.  There are examples of doing that in the demo data. 

Making and assigning a separate Chart Of Accounts account to each "Phantom Technician Tracking" inventory item will allow the accounting fuctions to track it and report on it by account number too. 

USING GENERIC AND PHANTOM INVENTORY ITEMS IN SALES FORM LINE ITEMS

Later, when making a "Sales Form" a "generic or phantom inventory item" can be selected from the inventory file. This "selection process" will "automatically copy" the phantom or generic record data into into the "new" Sales Form line item record. 

This supplies the "beginning" generic data for building the new "unique generic/phantom Sales Form line item" while making line items for the Sales Form. 

During each Sales Form line item "build process", whether phantom, generic or unique, the description field and all of the other fields except for the item number and category fields can be edited or filled in to describe that specific and unique Sales Form line item (e.g. in this case a labor entry).  There are some examples of these kinds of records/entries in the demo data. 

PHANTOM AND GENERIC INVENTORY ITEMS ARE TRACKED/MANAGED USING SELECTIVE REPORTING

And finally, this unique "edited/changed line item" in this unique Sales Form only gets put into and only shows up in that particular Sales Form's line items and in no other Sales Form.  The same principle holds true for the reports reflecting Sales Form line items.  The "original" unique phantom or generic inventory item does not get changed and can be used over and over as a "starting point or placemark" for making other unique phantom or generic line items in other Sales Forms. 

In other words to recap this whole thing, you "begin" by making a "phantom labor" or "generic non-stocked" inventory records to be used as an "editable/changeable" special "placemark" line item in a Sales Form. 

SELLING AND TRACKING BULK INVENTORY ITEMS

A similar thing can also be done for any other "bulk inventory items" such as oil, antifreeze, gasoline, gear lubes, etc... and other difficult or impossible to "incrementally" track inventory items.  When done this way the physical counting and auditing of the item is done separately and manually and the selling is done using the computer system.  There are some examples of doing this in the demo data. 

FLEXIBILITY FOR DIFFERENT "TYPES" OF BUSINESSES

The reason for doing the above in that particular way is simple.  Each business sells and does things, including using different terminology, in a different way than any other businesses even other businesses in the same business niche.  So there must be a "flexible" way in the system allowing you to use "your" terminology and do business "your" way or you are forced into doing business the way the system is programmed. 

This "flexibility" in a system that is required to allow a business to do things "their way" takes a little "getting used to" and may require some altered "work habits" by the users of the system.  But the benefits of "getting used to it" FAR outweight the time it takes getting there.  All our system really does, is allow a business to emulate what they are doing manually. 

ADVANTAGES OF OUR REAL-TIME SYSTEM

Possibly the most "beneficial and important" feature of our "real time system" is that your "accounting" and "bookkeeping" records (postings) are kept up to date "real time" and you can print (demand) reports any time to see how the business is doing during any "accounting period" (day/week/month/year).  In other words, you can track your profitability on a daily basis if desired. 

Another BIG benefit of using a system like this is that items sold and labor performed are ALWAYS included in the Sales Form.  The far and away biggest feature is that the items sold are always priced properly (when setup properly of course) and the "addition of the line items" is ALWAYS correct. 

The largest single way money is "lost" in a service business is that all of the items sold are not being entered on the Sales Form and/or the "math" is not done correctly. 

When "math errors" are made, the Sales Form line item amounts are almost always added up "short" for the business and almost never "long" for the business. 

If they are added up long for the business, the Customer will usually notice the error and call your attention to it.  If it is short for the business and long for the Customer, the Customer usually "does not notice". 

That "problem" is very common and can add up to be thousands of dollars lost for even a fairly small business.  Our own experience in the auto service business proved that time and again as we always had two different people "double check" the addition of the line items and taxes on a sales order before presenting it to a Customer.  WE FOUND AND CORRECTED ERRORS ON ABOUT 25 PERCENT OF THE INVOICES.  IT GAINED US UNTOLD THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS. 

GETTING WAY BEHIND ENTERING SALES FORMS INTO THE SYSTEM MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE TO CATCH UP

Our system was designed to be used as a POS or "real time" system.  e.g. to enter them and

update them "as you do the sales and/or service processes" throughout the day. 

It will even "open" a cash drawer but we do not recommend using a cash drawer hooked to the system.  Just use a separate cash drawer with a key to open it.  Opening the cash drawer with a key is a WHOLE LOT SIMPLER AND MORE SECURE. 

The other way to do it is to enter TODAY'S Sales Form data AS THE LAST THING FOR THE DAY.  However, this is only a good way for business that "slow down" at the end of the day. 

Still another way is to enter YESTERDAY'S Sales Forms in TODAY.  If you dont "keep up" in doing it this way you will get so far behind you will not ever be able to get caught up.  Why... because most businesses run with a "skeleton crew" and are way too busy on a daily basis to be able to spend any one day just entering the Sales Forms in for a large number of days.  So they pay an Accounting Practitioner or CPA to do it. 

Accounting Practitioners or CPA's call this service a "Client Write-up" and they sometimes have special programs for doing it.  Or they simply take all the paperwork you generate and add up the totals using tally sheets and a hand calculator.  When you use our system, you can save the cost of having them do your "Client Write-up" and only use them for auditing your various tax forms and reports. They can use the totals generated with our tightly integrated application/system to fill in the forms. 

Actually, those same Accounting Practitioners COULD take your "paperwork" and use a version of our system to do their Client Write-ups.  They would actually become your "data entry" personnel that way.  We have a "multi-company" version for our KwikOFFICE(tm) series they could use to have each of their clients have a separate "data set" in their own "subdirectory". 

MAKING SALES FORMS FAST AND ACCURATELY

After using the system for a few weeks or months, most of the "regular Customers" of the business and "common items sold" have been "remembered" by the system.  After then, making another Sales Form (estimate, quote, etc...) for those previous Customers takes about 5-7 mouse clicks (20 seconds). In other words, the "service writer/salesperson" can make a complete new Sales Form for a "normal sale" very quickly and reliably by picking the appropriate data from lists in "control files" e.g. Inventory, Customer, Comments, Ship To/Vehicle/Equipment etc...  This is especially important in the "quick service" businesses such as fast oil change shops. 

The Customer can then have a printed copy of the initial "estimate" or "quote" Sales Form and the business can get a signature on a Quote or Work Order as required by regulations.  Remember you are making a contract with a customer using our (or any) system. 

FOLLOWING THE JOB IN THE SHOP/STORE BY MARKING UP A WORK ORDER

The "Sales Form" is then "flagged" as a "work order", printed and sent to the shop with all of the customer's and "service writer/salesperson" notes and instructions on it.  These "notes" can be standard notes and selected from a list of standard notes or unique ones type in by the service writer/salesperson. 

The work order is then used by the service shop and the Technicians as a way for the "recordkeeping" to "follow the job" throughout the shop.  This will also allow all of the technicians to be able to use all of the previous Technician's notes along with all of the "service writer's/salespersons" and Customer's instructions and any "check lists" required by the business for certain jobs which will appear on the "work order".  The technician(s) can also "mark up" and make notes on that "hard copy" paper work order to "record" what they "found" as needed, did or did not do, or did IN ADDITION to what is initially listed on the "work order". 

The same scenario applies for parts sales "Pick Lists". 

UPDATING FROM THE "MARKED UP ORIGINAL" PRINTED WORK ORDER ON THE COMPUTER

After all work is completed in the shop/warehouse for the job and properly noted/marked on the hard copy (printed) "work order" Sales Form, the "marked up hard copy" of the Sales Form is taken back to the computer and the "beginning" Sales Form still in the computer is "called back on the screen". 

The Sales Form is then "updated/changed" according to the marked up "hard copy/paper" work order.  This allows the proper recording of the "changed or added line items". 

The Sales Form can then be "invoiced", "totalized" and then "monies collected" and recorded.  e.g. collecting cash, doing the credit card entry or marking as a charge sale. 

The Sales Form is (can be) then "automatically" posted as a transaction in the integrated "bookkeeping" and "recordkeeping" parts of the system during the printing of an Invoice for a Sales Form.  This is done by pressing/clicking on the [Invoice] button in the lower left hand corner of the Sales Form Window. 

ONCE A SALES FORM HAS BEEN INVOICED AND POSTED IT CAN NO LONGER BE EDITED/CHANGED.   AFTER "POSTING" AN "OFFSETTING" INVOICE MUST BE MADE TO MAKE ANY "CORRECTIONS" SUCH AS "RETURNS" AND/OR "CREDITS". 

THE PAPERLESS OFFICE AND WHY WE DON'T RECOMMEND IT (YET)

If you have a networked PC in the shop, and the manager or technicians in the shop have been authorized in SECURITY and shown how to do it, the manager or technicians can also make all of the necessary "updates/changes" to a "work order" in the system.  Then the PC at the "sales counter" (POS) can be used to change the Sales From from a "work order" into (flag it as) an "order" ready for "invoicing, printing and posting" as noted above.  It is even possible to skip printing the work order and having the technicians or a manager just update the Sales Form from the computer(s) in the shop but most shops do not do it this way.  I actually do not recommend it as you lose some "control" of your invoicing when doing it that (paperless) way. 

If you also have a networked PC in the back office you can handle the "updates/changes, invoicing and posting" from there for a "charge Sale" (Receivables). 

THE SAME PRINCIPLES APPLY FOR PURCHASE ORDERS

These same principles also apply when making Purchase Orders as do when making Sales Forms.  It's just that the bookkeeping and accounting math is "the opposite" from Sales Forms throughout the system. 

LINKS FOR EMAIL AND WEB SITES IN OUR SYSTEM

We have included fields for eMail and Web Sites for you, Customers, Vendors and us throughout our system.  If your computer is hooked up to the web, you can click on their links that were entered into their records and your system will then automatically use your "default" email or web browser to go to whatever link you clicked on. 

SENDING SALES FORMS AND PURCHASE ORDERS OR REPORTS BY FAX

If you set up a "fax manager" such as WinFax Pro and a fax modem, or a printer with built-in faxing, you can change the "printer driver" during the "preview of a report" to be the "fax manager".  The report will then be sent via fax modem to the fax phone number set up and used in the Fax Manager for that Customer or Vendor.  The document is actually "inserted" into the Fax Managers file of faxes to send as a .wmf (Windows Meta File) and then sent by the the Fax Manager. 

The Fax Manager will wait until "told" to send the fax according to how the Fax Manager's "delayed send" feature is "set up" so as to take advantage of cheaper phone rates late at night.  The Fax Manager will then "batch send" all documents to each recipient and make a report telling which ones were completed, how many tries to send were made, which ones were not sent etc... 

OR... The user can also have the Fax Manager send the document as a fax immediately.  When a Fax Manager is used to send a report, the permanent record "files" are stored and later viewed or printed in the Fax Manager's file system.

SENDING SALES FORMS AND PURCHASE ORDERS BY EMAIL OVER THE INTERNET

If you set up a "PDF Printer Driver" on your computer, you can make any report (especially a Sales Form, Statement or Purchase Order) "write" the report to a "PDF" (Printed Document Format) file, which is a defacto-standard used by a lot of businesses.  It is done by changing the "printer driver" during the "preview" of the report.  A preview with this feature in it for all reports is a standard feature in our systems. 

The document is then "saved" in a "special place" (sub-directory) the user determines manually as a .pdf file.  The user is then able to "attach" the .pdf file to an email which is then sent to the recipient. 

The user must know how to manually send the .pdf file to a special subdirectory for these reports.  They will then know where the report file is located so they will be able to "browse" to the subdirectory and find the file and "attach" it to an eMail. 

I would suggest making a subdirectory directly under the C:\OPAUTO directory (which is the "standard" sub-directory name as installed by our installation - or whatever it is if you change it) as SALESFORM, STATEMENT, and PURCHASEORDER etc... subdirectories. In other words, a separate sub-directory for each "type" of .pdf file report.  By locating those subdirectories directly "under" our system subdirectory, they will be easy to "find" and also be "backed up" when using the systems backup utility. 

CHANGE THE PRINTER DRIVER BACK TO THE STANDARD ONE IMMEDIATELY

THE PRINTER DRIVER MUST BE CHANGED BACK TO THE STANDARD PRINTER DRIVER FOR PRINTING HARD COPIES BEFORE THE NEXT HARD COPY IS TO BE PRINTED. 

Therefore, the user should change it back right away "before" sending the report attached to an email. 

Anyone can download and use the free Acrobat Reader to "read and print" those .pdf reports (files).  You can also use those .pdf files as a permanent record of the transaction.  It is even possible to password and encrypt those .pdf files. 

Not all reports need to use these special .PDF and FAX printer drivers. Therefore doing this is a "manual" process and the user must know when and how to do it although doing it is not all that difficult after the "special" printer drivers have been set up.  The applications for doing the setup actually act as a guide for the user just like our system does. 

WHERE TO GET THESE SPECIAL PRINTER DRIVERS

Many of these "special printer drivers" come already installed on a computer so they are in effect free.  If you don't have them already on your system or do not have access to them let us know. 

Regards,

Earl R. Coker

KwikSYSTEMS(tm) ASSOCIATES

1-563-388-9483 Voice

1-563-388-9172 24hr FAX

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Sales and Business Management Systems.

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