Posts

Tip #1407 – Evaluating True Agency Performance

/in /by

Often times an agency picks up new lines and also loses lines.  When looking at sales numbers in Sales IQ, these numbers can often be distorted when you display both new manufacturers and lost manufacturers along with your active manufacturers.  The following examples will help you to identify your true sales numbers by excluding these manufacturers.  Also, modifying the manufacturers name with a symbol provides a quick visual when displaying all manufacturers in a list.

Classifying a Manufacturer Status

When adding a manufacturer the status is set to “New” by default.  Once a “New” manufacturer has met the agency’s requirements for categorizing the manufacturer as “Active”, the status should be updated.   Many agencies make this change after 1 year.  The following example shows how to change a manufacturer’s status.

  1. From the Manufacturer Maintenance screen, select Active from the drop down list in the Status field.
  2. Select the Save button and then the Exit button.Manufacturer Maint Screen

Adding a Symbol to the Manufacturer Name for an Easy Visual of New or Lost Lines

For a quick visual of “New” or “Lost” lines in your Sales IQ display list, you can modify the manufacturer name with a symbol that is easily identifiable such as “<-“ for a lost manufacturer or “<+” for a new manufacturer.   Once you change the status from “New” to “Active”, then you can remove the symbol from the manufacturer.

Note_Tip1407

In the following example you can see the new manufacturer Simplex Manufacturing which has the “<+” in front of the name and you’ll see that there are sales in the column Jan-Oct14 but no sales in previous years.  You will also see the inactive manufacturer S P & P Inc. which has the “<-“ in front of the name and no sales in Oct 14 or this YTD Jan-Oct 14  but sales in previous years indicating a lost manufacturer.

Sales IQ Screen 1

Excluding New and Inactive (lost) Manufacturers from the Sales IQ Display

You can remove “New” and “Inactive” manufacturers from the Sales IQ display by using the Filters button in Sales IQ.  This method will remove these sales numbers from the display showing you only the agency sales for “Active” manufacturers eliminating the new and lost lines.

  1. Select the Filter button from the Sales IQ screen.Filters Screen 1
  2. From the Filters screen select Active from the Status drop down list under Manufacturer.
  3. Select the Apply button.Filters Screen 2
  4. After filtering you can see that only ”Active” manufacturers are displayed in the Sales IQ screen.Sales IQ Screen 2

Case Study: C. R. Kinsman & Associates, Inc.

/in , /by

“All of our data is on the cloud, so we never have to worry about losing invaluable sales and commission information.”

Craig Kinsman, CPMR & President
C.R. Kinsman & Associates, Inc.

Client Challenge

Technology has changed the world since C.R. Kinsman & Associates Inc. (CRK) was founded in 1976. At the time, data was recorded 100% manually on paper. When computers were introduced, the agency was an early adopter. A custom sales and commission software was developed, and at the time it was cutting edge.

But as technology continued to evolve, the software became outdated. “Running reports was labor intensive, data entry was still manual and the reports were archaic.” says Craig Kinsman, CPMR and President. Like so many agencies, CRK continued to use it because “that’s the way it had always been done.”

CRK_StatisticsdynaMACS Solution

As the agency expanded its executive team, it was the perfect time to look into new sales and commission software. “We asked other agencies. dynaMACS was the software of choice,” Kinsman says.

dynaMACS transferred a two-year history of CRK’s data from Microsoft Access system with no loss of information.

The team was apprehensive about the learning curve in using new software, but Kinsman says, “We were shocked at how easy dynaMACS was. We wish we’d gotten it years ago.”

The agency chose to process on the cloud, giving the sales agency access to data anytime, from anywhere. Cloud processing also protects data because all sales and commission data is backed up on the cloud.

The days of archaic reports are ancient history. CRK generates the reports from more than 5,000 choices – or customizes reports for their specific needs. “The possibilities are endless,” Kinsman says. “We can get reports on any aspect of our sales and commission data and overall agency performance.”

With dynaMACS, inefficiency and costly downtime are a thing of the past for CRK.

Case Study: Sullivan & Associates

/in /by

“dynaMACS has made my job so much more efficient. ”

Reyna Vargas, Office Manager
Sullivan & Associates, Inc.

Sullivan_Associates_LogoClient Challenge

Cumbersome and time consuming. That was the problem with Sullivan & Associates Sales, Inc.’s former sales and commission software.

The team knew time was being wasted on outdated software that was difficult to use and required the agency to enter non-essential information. But they didn’t realize the extent of the lost time until they used dynaMACS.




Sullivan_Associates_StatisticsdynaMACS Solution

A referral led Sullivan & Associates to dynaMACS, and they liked what they saw from the start. The first time-saver was the ease of use and intuitive screens that made the implementation simple. “We really didn’t need any assistance. We were up and running in no time,” says office manager Reyna Vargas.

Shortly after the agency began using dynaMACS it became even more apparent how much more efficient dynaMACS is than their prior software. “The amount of time it takes to enter commission statements has dropped from two weeks to four days,” Vargas says. That’s 112 hours of data entry time reduced to 32 – one third of the time it previously took!

One reason for the time savings: the old software required the agency to enter extraneous data. “We had to enter a lot of data that we didn’t need, but it was mandatory.”

Not so with dynaMACS. Agencies can customize data entry fields to collect only relevant information. For example, Vargas can set up her system to enter customer name, date, part number, quantity, sales rep split, PO number and more. Or if she doesn’t need some of that information, the fields are not required. They will be automatically skipped as she enters data.

Vargas’ overall impression of dynaMACS? “It’s made my job so much more efficient.”

Tip #1406 – dynaMACS Software Start Options

/in /by

You can set your preferences in dynaMACS so that either the Sales IQ, Process, eSi or cRm screens open first upon launching dynaMACS.  You can also set preferences so that when your Sales IQ screen opens, the Source field defaults to Sales or Commission Received.  The following explains how to set these preferences.

Setting the dynaMACS Main Screen Focus

You can select what screen you would like to appear when first launching dynaMACS by selecting it in the Preferences screen.  In the following example we will change the start screen from the dynaMACS Home screen to the Sales IQ screen.

  1. From the main dynaMACS screen select File>Preferences.Main Screen
  2. From the User Preferences screen go to field 29 – Start screen.  Select the down arrow to the right under the Preference column.  This will display all of the start options available.  Select SalesIQ from the drop down list and select the Save button and then the Exit button.  The next time you log into dynaMACS you will be in the Sales IQ screen.User Pref Screen 1

Setting the Sales IQ Screen Source Default

You can choose to have the Sales IQ screen start with the Source field defaulted to Sales OR Commission Received by setting it in the Preferences screen.  In the following example we will change the preference to start Sales IQ with the source of Commission Recd.

  1. From the main dynaMACS screen select File>Preferences.Main Screen
  2. From the User Preferences screen go to field 28 – Start Sales IQ As:.  Select the down arrow to the right under the Preference column.  This will display all of the start options available.  Select Commission Recd from the drop down list and select the Save button and then the Exit button.  The next time you log into Sales IQ the source will be defaulted to Commission Recd.User Pref Screen 2

Tip #1405 – Maximize the dynaMACS State/Region Zip Code Feature

/in /by

dynaMACS has a powerful feature that automatically populates the State/Region field based on the Zip Code entered when adding or updating customer records (provided a valid 5 digit zip code is used).  The use of the State/Region code is beneficial when generating reports in either Sales IQ or a Sales Analysis report.  The following instructions show you how to activate this feature.

***IMPORTANT!  PLEASE create a restore point before activating this feature and running the utilities!***

Example of a State/Region Report printed from Sales Analysis Rpt Generator:

Report Sample

Step 1:  Turn on the Auto Build State/Region Feature in System Information Setup

  1. From the dynaMACS main screen select Other Functions>Administration>System Information Setup.dynaMACS Main Screen 1
  2. Select the System Options tab.
  3. Check the box Automatically build State/Region upon Zip Code Change?
  4. Select the Save button.Sys Info Setup Screen

Step 2:  Run System Utility 1007 (Creates Customer State/Region codes table)

  1. From the dynaMACS main screen select Other Functions>Utilities>System UtilitiesdynaMACS Main Screen 3
  2. Select Utility #1007
  3. Select the Run buttonSys Utilities Screen 1
  4. Select the Yes button on the Confirmation dialog box.Confirmation Dialog Box  Delete Confirmation Box

Step 3:  Run System Utility 1008 (Replaces Customer State/Region codes in customer records)

  1. From the dynaMACS main screen select Other Functions>Utilities>System UtilitiesdynaMACS Main Screen 2
  2. Select Utility #1008
  3. Select the Run button to complete the update.Sys Utilities Screen 2

Case Study: Bowerman Marketing Group

/in /by

“dynaMACS takes reporting capabilities to new levels.”

Judy Tingley, Office Manager
Jane Janosik, Customer Service
Bowerman Marketing Group

Bowerman_Marketing_Group_LogoClient Challenge

In 2004, Bowerman Marketing Group learned that the sales agency software they had been using was discontinued. The software had been sufficient and provided the agency with good information about sales and commissions. When seeking new software, Office Manager Judy Tingley visited dynaMACS at a trade show. She quickly realized that dynaMACS provided everything that their old software did and much more.

Bowerman_Marketing_Group_Statistics

dynaMACS Solution

“I was pleased with the reporting capabilities. The number of choices to sort sales and commission information was greatly enhanced,” she says. “dynaMACS provides the flexibility in reporting that we need. Our sales force benefits from territorial reports by salesman. The specific agency reports provide valuable overall information by manufacturers and customers. It enables us to view where the most activity is, where we need to improve our efforts and to cover our territory more effectively and efficiently”.

Jane Janosik, primary user of dynaMACS, provides the owner with weekly and monthly reports. She notes, “The software helps us run the business.”Janosik likes the monthly and year-to-year comparison data and uses this to assess reports from the manufacturers.

Tingley recalls the process of transferring data from the old software to dynaMACS. “dynaMACS customer service helped us every step of the way and nothing was lost in the process.”

Now, years later, dynaMACS is there whenever the agency needs assistance. “We always get a timely response and the representatives are very helpful and patient. They answer our questions, resolve our issues and continue to make improvements to the software.