How-To – Page 4 – SE Knowledge Base

Link Multi-Door Stores

Posted on November 4, 2014 by admin

If you have a customer with several contacts, all at different locations, Showroom Exchange allows you to link them together.

To enable the “Link Customers” option (chain-link icon) use the customize this view option.

You will be able to…

View them adjacent to one-another (indented layout shown below)
For the main location, see which sub-stores are linked
For the sub-stores, see which location the main one

distro

To link customers, click on the chain-link icon in the manage column (if you don’t see the icon, check “view distro” in customize this view). A popup-wizard will lead you to define it as a main location (e.g.; headquarters) or a store location (one of the doors).

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To show the customer accounts linked layout, click “show distro” next to the pagination setting. After clicking “show distro,” the option will turn to “hide distro” so you can revert to the previous format

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Hover the cursor over the darker chain-link icon to see it’s distribution. This way you can see the distribution without using the distro-layout that is activated by “show distro”.

The dark chain-link icon with a globe icon indicates the main location.
The dark chain-link icon without a globe icon indicates the sub-store location.

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Update “Profile” and “Rating” in Bulk

Posted on November 3, 2014 by admin

If you ever need to change the “profile” or “ratings” field for multiple customers, you can do so quickly by editing those fields in bulk.

Click on the “bomb” icon next to either “rating” or “profile” to revise the contents of the respective column. The feature will edit the profiles of the customers that have been pulled-up by searches and filters, not the entire customer base.
The entire customer base WILL BE updated if no filter (search-criteria) has been entered.

There are three kinds of edits you can make:
– Find and Replace: Look for existing content and replace it with a new one.
– Replace Entire Field Contents: Replace the entire field, regardless of its current content.
– Clear All: Clear fields of all selected customers.

Click “Proceed” to save your edits.

Why the “bomb” icon?
There is no UNDO button!

How We Use SE to Track Potentials

Posted on November 3, 2014 by admin

We at Showroom Exchange use SE to manage follow-ups with our potentials.

We use Showroom Exchange in two ways to remind us to follow-up with showrooms:

1) the rating/profile fields, and
2) notes with email reminders

The rating and profile columns are great for tagging your customers. The great thing about these columns is that they are open to YOUR implementation and can be updated in BULK.
For example, after we’ve given a showroom their first training, we’ll put a “t1” in their rating profile, and a “t2” after their second. This allows us to reach out to customers that may have missed their second training session, (i.e. we’ll type “*t1*|^*t2*” into the search bar at the top of the column to see who has had their first training but not their second).

Below, we search “pot” to find customers we mark as potentials, whom we can send PBEs to, make market calls, etc.

2) Make Notes with Emailed Reminders

We also use reminders in the notes feature to be reminded of a specific action. For example, if we contact a potential and want to make sure a follow-up occurs, we’ll make a note for that customer with an email reminder. The email that we receive in a month, or a week… is the reminder to follow-up with the customer.

To make a note with a reminder:

1) Assign a due date
2) Confirm the address you want to send the reminder to
3) Check the box next to “send an email reminder to”

Market Call Labels – Make Sure You Reach Every Customer

Posted on October 21, 2014 by admin

While market call labels, like many features in Showroom Exchange, can be customized to adjust to the unique workflow of your showroom, below is one suggested use of market call labels- use it to keep track of your customers’ replies to your market (trade show) calls. Identify and follow-up with those customers that confirmed an appointment, but were unable to show.

First, make the labels you’ll need. Click here to see how to create market call labels. Add one for “attended.”

As you make your calls, mark the customers with their appropriate responses and make notes (in the market call column) when appropriate. Come up with an action plan for each label. For example, for every customer that says “follow-up,” set a reminder to follow up in 2 to 3 days before the show/market.

At the show or market, take note of who attends to mark their profile in Showroom Exchange as “attended.” After the market, you can look at who is still marked as “will attend” to see who wanted to see you but ended up missing their appointment. These customers have shown interest, so make sure to followup with them via phone call or PBE!

You can filter your customer list by market call labels. Use this to send eblasts and make notes to groups of customers based on their responses to your market calls. For the “follow-up” customers example above, filter by the “follow-up” label, click the “personalized bulk email” button at the bottom of the page, and in the popup, click on “notes for recipients” to make a note with a reminder for all “follow-up” customers (you don’t have to actually send an email).

You may also do the same by using the “add notes in bulk” icon.

When you’re done using these labels and its time to use new labels for the next market, use the market call label reset feature to reset labels and save your notes.

Compare Manufacturers’ and Customers’ Sales by Year

Posted on October 21, 2014 by admin

The manufacturer yearly comparison report and the customer yearly comparison report can examine and compare sales (for a specific period) over the last few years. Use these reports to view the ranking of custs/mfrs for each year, their % of total annual sales, their ship-thru %, and % changes between the years.

These are the perfect tools for monitoring the growth of your business, as well as the performance of your brands.

Find both the Mfr Yearly Comparison report and the Cust Yearly Comparison report on the reports tab

comparison reports3

On the Reports Criteria page, there are two important options different than the usual filters:

1. Decide if you wish to analyse sales based on order date or cancel date. Cancel date is the time frame typically used.

2. When you filter by date, the range must be within one calendar year, because that range will be analyzed in past years as well. Enter 01/01/## – 12/31/## to compare year totals, or select a smaller window of time to see how it compares to the same period in past years.

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The report results will show you customers or manufactures and their annual sales, breaking down each year by rank, active dollars, % of total sales, % shipping rate, and % change to the year prior.

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Best practices for the manufacturer yearly comparison report:

run this report annually to help plan your sales projections for the new year
compare manufacturers over the past several years to see which manufacturers have gained traction and which are falling behind

Sales by Mfr/Customer & Sales by Customer/Mfr Reports

Posted on October 21, 2014 by admin

The Sales by Mfr/Customer report and the Sales by Customer/Mfr report are simple reports that break down your sales by manufacturer or by customer.

Know which manufacturers each customer has purchased before with the Sales by Customer/Mfr report. See which customers buy for each manufacturer with the Sales by Mfr/Customer Report. Both can be found in the Basics section on the Reports tab.

sales by reports

The report criteria for these 2 reports are very similar and straightforward. With report format, select “detail” to see every order organized by mfr and customer, or select “summary” to see totals for each mfr or customer. Enter filters to make the report more specific, or don’t to see all of your sales.

Note: more often than not you will want the order status to be “active,” to show values your showroom is actually dealing with, i.e.; original booking minus any revisions, e.g.; a cancelled order.

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Once the report is generated, you can see every order organized by customer and manufacturer.

Example of a detailed Sales by Mfr/Customer report

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Example of a detailed Sales by Customer/Mfr report

Commissions Report

Posted on October 14, 2014 by admin

Use the commissions report to determine what is owed to you (the showroom) and what has to be paid out to your reps. The commissions report depends on consistent entry of commission statements (as invoices in Showroom Exchange). The commission entry process is VERY important as the information is used to determine the mfr’s ship-thru %, help determine what is still left open (more on open orders report), and ultimately showroom’s total earnings.

If your brands send commission statements without a payment, just to report their shipments, you would have entered the commission statements with the invoices ‘pdate’ left blank. The same report can be used to filter “Unpaid” invoices.

On the criteria page, you can enter filters to create very specific reports, such as those analyzing just one rep, just the showroom, or just one manufacturer. Note that you can also filter by paid/unpaid status.

Click “generate report” to see the result of the commission report, like the one below. The report shows commissions broken down by rep (including the showroom rep, i.e. the showroom as a whole) and manufacturer. A summary report only shows reps and the totals of how much they made from each line, while the detailed version lists invoices with their relevant information.

Aiming for Zero – Open Orders Report

Posted on October 14, 2014 by admin

The open orders report lists all orders that have not yet completely shipped (i.e.; more than 1% open).

The accuracy of the open order report is dependent on the consistent entry of commission statements (as invoices in Showroom Exchange).

Maximize your revenue!
Use this regularly to followup on open orders (especially after entering commission statements).

The report criteria page of the open orders report is very similar to other reports (select the filters to define what open orders you want to see).

You can filter by how “open” an order is based on $s (i.e. $500-%1000 open) or % (i.e. over 50% open).

Couple of important noteworthy filters to consider:

“show commission calculation”
Use this check-box to let the brand know the exact commission $ amount due for an outstanding open order. Use “Open $” and “show comm for SR rep only.”

“Show invoice info (detailed only)”
This is helpful to show existing invoices that you may have already entered from past commission statements.

Click generate report to see the report result like the detailed report shown below. Detailed reports show specific PO’s that are still open, broken down by manufacturer and rep, and other relevant information about the order.

The summary report show general shipping statistics for each brand.

Best practices for the Open Order report:

run open order reports after invoice entry
look at orders 10%-100% open if orders >10% open are not of interest
catch open orders from previous months (or years) by using an earlier date, i.e. 01/01/2001
remove open balances that will never ship using bulk cancellation to keep your records clean

Hindsight is Definitely 20/20 – Missed Bookings Report

Posted on October 14, 2014 by admin

The missed bookings report analyzes your orders and based on your search criteria, finds customers who have missed bookings. This report is perfect for finding those customers who still need a follow up to make a sale.
Find the Missed Bookings report in the Analysis section of the Reports tab.

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Here are the essential steps for entering your report criteria:

1) Select the manufacturer(s) you are finding missed bookings for

2) Select if you are looking for orders based on order date or cancel date. Cancel date is the option most commonly used.

3) Enter the date range you are looking for missed bookings in. In the example below, we are looking for customers without orders between July 1st and September 30th.

4) Clarify if you are analyzing the period as a whole. This options allows you to specify if you’re satisfied with a customer placing an order for 1 of the 3 months (Jul, Aug & Sep). If so, set to “Yes.”
example: A customer has placed an order for Aug, will not appear in the report.

…or if you would like to see a booking for each month, set to “No”.
example: The same customer will appear in Jul & Sep.

5) This second date range is to help specify which customers you would like to consider. In the example below, the report will 1st pull up customers who have orders between January 1st and June 30th, and will only display those who have not placed an order between July 1st and September 30th. This date range selection helps focus on “active” customers, those with recent bookings and exclude customers that had purchased from the selected brand sometime in the not so recent past.

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After clicking “generate report” the results will look like the example below. Customers with missing orders are listed with their last order/cancel date and their contact info under manufacturers and date ranges.

The next step will be any combination of the following for contacting the customer:

Call them.
Create a note entry.
Tag them for market call (if applicable).
Send a personalized bulk email.

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Recall My Criteria Selections: Don’t Lose What You Were Searching For

Posted on October 6, 2014 by admin

With “recall my criteria selections,” you can enter a search/filter on one page, leave the page, and when you come back to it, the search will still be there. “Recall my criteria selections” prevents having to re-enter your search/filter.

For example, if there’s a search for all stores in the zip code 90210 and the page is left to see the orders of one of those stores, the page can be returned to and it will still show all of the stores in 90210.

To enable/disable “recall my criteria selections,” click “customize this view,” the check-box for the feature is at the top of the window. Make sure to click “save selections” when you’re done!