By Mark Porter
Your business generates a great deal of information but often there are key pieces of information that you use to monitor the pulse of the company.
The Dashboard of a car is a great analogy. There are many things going on in the operation of the car but the main pieces of information Gas, Speed, Oil Pressure and Temperature can be monitored and adjusted to ensure you get to your planned destination.
Different members of your staff will have different information needs. The President may be concerned with one set of data while the Plant Manager may need to focus on different data to ensure that he can perform his tasks to maximum efficiency.
Information Technology Dashboards save you tremendous time by automatically compiling and displaying key information from different modules on one screen and refreshing that information in a timely manner.
You eliminate the need to consult with multiple people to get data or to have to access and combine information fromseveral reports.
Information is always upto date and your access to it is never dependant on the availability of other people.
Data can be accessed from anywhere via gotomypc or your smartphone.
Now at any momement you may see a breakdown of estimates that have been done by Job Type. This can predict how busy you will be in the near future. If all the estimates you have done are for work we typically don't get then we must generate more business.
Listing of Jobs Opened. If we have opened 10 jobs but they are all Perfect Bound jobs we may be in to a overload situation that must be dealt with.
Hours booked against key pieces of equipment like the Perfect Binder or Bobst press.
Jobs Invoiced and their profitability.
Each Manager is different in their information needs but the information they need to make the best business decisions should be at their finger tips.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Monday, December 20, 2010
TURNING PROBLEMS TO POSITIVES
By Mark Porter
As the old saying goes "When life gives you lemons make lemonade". This can be applied to the daily problems you encounter in your business.
Documenting and recording problems provides several benefits to your company and you can actually turn problems around to strengthen relationships with customers, vendors, employees and improve operating procedures.
Providing employees easy entry of information such as Job Number, Customer, Vendor, Employee, Department, Problem Type (Paper, MR, etc), Quantity effected, Problem Description, Problem Solution etc allows you to sort and analyze problems which can provide many benefits such as:
Don't Make The Same Mistake Twice
Becomes a Database of Problems and Solutions
Improve Relationships With Customer/Vendors/Employees
Documenting Problems Minimizes Damage
1. Don't Make The Same Mistake Twice
Another old saying goes "Your not stupid for making a mistake just for making the same mistake twice."
By recording problems against jobs you can be immediately notified when re quoting or rerunning that job of the issues incurred last time. At the estimate stage it allows you to re quote the job based on the previous information or at Order Entry you have the option to not proceed with the job if the customer is not willing to incur the extra costs this time around.
2. Becomes a Database of Problems and Solutions
Recording problems and solutions builds a knowledge base that can be accessed by employees in the future. By entering the problems with data such as department, problem type employee etc allows us to shorten the solution time to similar problems in the future.
Combine this with the ability to add video and images of the problems/solutions to the database and you can learn from your previous mistakes.
3. Improve Relationships With Customer/Vendors/Employees
Generate a list of problems you have with good customers each quarter and then discuss those issues and offer solutions with the customer. Continually refining the working relationship between your company and customers allows you to produce higher quality, better priced and better serviced products for them. This strengthens the bond with that customer ensuring it takes a bigger mistake or price difference for them to take their business elsewhere.
The same logic applies to vendors and employees. By discussing issues with people you strengthen the working relationships to the betterment of your company.
Trends can be seen with employees and certain operations. Say an employee is always having problems with MR a certain product. Additional training can be provided. Trends with Vendor materials continually causing problems can be identified and rectified.
4. Documenting Problems Minimizes Damage
If nothing else documenting problems can save money and relationships in the event of disputes. The more documentation you have the more you reinforce your position to the other party in a constructive and articulate way. This can reduce or eliminate your liability and open the possibility to future business.
So next time you make mistake make your company stronger for the experience
As the old saying goes "When life gives you lemons make lemonade". This can be applied to the daily problems you encounter in your business.
Documenting and recording problems provides several benefits to your company and you can actually turn problems around to strengthen relationships with customers, vendors, employees and improve operating procedures.
Providing employees easy entry of information such as Job Number, Customer, Vendor, Employee, Department, Problem Type (Paper, MR, etc), Quantity effected, Problem Description, Problem Solution etc allows you to sort and analyze problems which can provide many benefits such as:
Don't Make The Same Mistake Twice
Becomes a Database of Problems and Solutions
Improve Relationships With Customer/Vendors/Employees
Documenting Problems Minimizes Damage
1. Don't Make The Same Mistake Twice
Another old saying goes "Your not stupid for making a mistake just for making the same mistake twice."
By recording problems against jobs you can be immediately notified when re quoting or rerunning that job of the issues incurred last time. At the estimate stage it allows you to re quote the job based on the previous information or at Order Entry you have the option to not proceed with the job if the customer is not willing to incur the extra costs this time around.
2. Becomes a Database of Problems and Solutions
Recording problems and solutions builds a knowledge base that can be accessed by employees in the future. By entering the problems with data such as department, problem type employee etc allows us to shorten the solution time to similar problems in the future.
Combine this with the ability to add video and images of the problems/solutions to the database and you can learn from your previous mistakes.
3. Improve Relationships With Customer/Vendors/Employees
Generate a list of problems you have with good customers each quarter and then discuss those issues and offer solutions with the customer. Continually refining the working relationship between your company and customers allows you to produce higher quality, better priced and better serviced products for them. This strengthens the bond with that customer ensuring it takes a bigger mistake or price difference for them to take their business elsewhere.
The same logic applies to vendors and employees. By discussing issues with people you strengthen the working relationships to the betterment of your company.
Trends can be seen with employees and certain operations. Say an employee is always having problems with MR a certain product. Additional training can be provided. Trends with Vendor materials continually causing problems can be identified and rectified.
4. Documenting Problems Minimizes Damage
If nothing else documenting problems can save money and relationships in the event of disputes. The more documentation you have the more you reinforce your position to the other party in a constructive and articulate way. This can reduce or eliminate your liability and open the possibility to future business.
So next time you make mistake make your company stronger for the experience
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
CASH IS KING
By Mark Porter
Controlling your cash is vital in today's economy but you are probably also under staffed and over worked - a perfect combination that can lead to missing items that can greatly effect your cash flow.
Therefore it is vital that you have the check and balances built into your operations that will help avoid bad customers, missed charges, paying too much to vendors and maintaining cash flow.
We are not going to look at this topic from the accounting side. We will assume that everyone has an accounting system such as Quickbooks or Peachtree etc and is watching their aging process (the accounts not themselves). We will deal with the management side in this Blog.
Avoid Bad Customers: Debt from one Bad Customer can wipe out profit from a lot of Good Jobs so it is vital that you stay on top of COD and delinquent customers. These days this information can be continually changing and it is important that everyone is aware of a customer's status. There is nothing worse then shipping a job to a customer on COD before getting the money or calling a customer to tell them you are holding their job back only to find out they sent you a check earlier.
Allowing Management to make credit decisions on customers and to convey that decision immediately to other staff is very important. Management can simply flag a customer as COD or On Hold and immediately order entry people cannot open orders without a security password and shipping people cannot create packing slips without a security password.
Chargeable Changes: Profit margins on jobs are so thin these days that any extra work can turn a job from money maker to money loser. It is vital that you track your chargeable changes and collect them from your customer. Implement a system that will document all changes made to the order from the time you agree to do the job until you ship that job to the customer. The changes should be Date / Time / Employee and Reason stamped. Change Orders should be sent and immediately email notification to the customers of the changes. These changes should be immediately reflected on the invoice but allow for changes at that time.
If you keep record of every change and document the reasons for the changes you will collect your legitimate extra fees.
Start Your Aging As Soon As Possible: We all know that customers are going to take their time paying you whether that is 30, 60, 90, 120 days so the sooner you can start the clock the better. When you generate your physical invoice automatically email a pdf copy of it to your customer at the same time. This avoids any delay in mailing invoices and allows you to collect your money days earlier.
Customers will want your invoice asap so that they can bill their customers and keep their cash flow going. You may not get your money any sooner but you will become a more desirable vendor for them.
Don't Miss Any Jobs: Reduced staffs and hurried work schedules can lead to people doing things they forget about. Maybe a job is shipped and then your plant manager pulls the Job Bag to write something on it and then forgets to but it back in the billing file. Or maybe the job bag fell behind the shippers desk. The end result is a shipped job that isn't billed at all or billed at a much later date when it is found which is uncomfortable and embarrassing.
Run reports each Friday that provide a list of jobs shipped but not invoiced. Don't let any hard earned money slip through your fingers.
Don't Over Pay Purchases: Everyone makes mistakes including suppliers but you shouldn't have to pay for their mistakes. By issuing POs, recording receipts and entering Vendor Invoices you can be instantly flagged when the invoice price varies from the PO and the Quantity billed exceeds the Quantity received. You work hard for your money don't give it away to suppliers.
Other Production Tips There many other production ways to watch your cash but we covered those in our May Blog.
Controlling your cash is vital in today's economy but you are probably also under staffed and over worked - a perfect combination that can lead to missing items that can greatly effect your cash flow.
Therefore it is vital that you have the check and balances built into your operations that will help avoid bad customers, missed charges, paying too much to vendors and maintaining cash flow.
We are not going to look at this topic from the accounting side. We will assume that everyone has an accounting system such as Quickbooks or Peachtree etc and is watching their aging process (the accounts not themselves). We will deal with the management side in this Blog.
Avoid Bad Customers: Debt from one Bad Customer can wipe out profit from a lot of Good Jobs so it is vital that you stay on top of COD and delinquent customers. These days this information can be continually changing and it is important that everyone is aware of a customer's status. There is nothing worse then shipping a job to a customer on COD before getting the money or calling a customer to tell them you are holding their job back only to find out they sent you a check earlier.
Allowing Management to make credit decisions on customers and to convey that decision immediately to other staff is very important. Management can simply flag a customer as COD or On Hold and immediately order entry people cannot open orders without a security password and shipping people cannot create packing slips without a security password.
Chargeable Changes: Profit margins on jobs are so thin these days that any extra work can turn a job from money maker to money loser. It is vital that you track your chargeable changes and collect them from your customer. Implement a system that will document all changes made to the order from the time you agree to do the job until you ship that job to the customer. The changes should be Date / Time / Employee and Reason stamped. Change Orders should be sent and immediately email notification to the customers of the changes. These changes should be immediately reflected on the invoice but allow for changes at that time.
If you keep record of every change and document the reasons for the changes you will collect your legitimate extra fees.
Start Your Aging As Soon As Possible: We all know that customers are going to take their time paying you whether that is 30, 60, 90, 120 days so the sooner you can start the clock the better. When you generate your physical invoice automatically email a pdf copy of it to your customer at the same time. This avoids any delay in mailing invoices and allows you to collect your money days earlier.
Customers will want your invoice asap so that they can bill their customers and keep their cash flow going. You may not get your money any sooner but you will become a more desirable vendor for them.
Don't Miss Any Jobs: Reduced staffs and hurried work schedules can lead to people doing things they forget about. Maybe a job is shipped and then your plant manager pulls the Job Bag to write something on it and then forgets to but it back in the billing file. Or maybe the job bag fell behind the shippers desk. The end result is a shipped job that isn't billed at all or billed at a much later date when it is found which is uncomfortable and embarrassing.
Run reports each Friday that provide a list of jobs shipped but not invoiced. Don't let any hard earned money slip through your fingers.
Don't Over Pay Purchases: Everyone makes mistakes including suppliers but you shouldn't have to pay for their mistakes. By issuing POs, recording receipts and entering Vendor Invoices you can be instantly flagged when the invoice price varies from the PO and the Quantity billed exceeds the Quantity received. You work hard for your money don't give it away to suppliers.
Other Production Tips There many other production ways to watch your cash but we covered those in our May Blog.
Monday, October 25, 2010
CUSTOMER PROFILING LEADS TO CUSTOMER PROFITS
By Mark Porter
It has always been important to treat every customer as if they are your best customer. These days it is even more important that all customers are handled with the greatest of care.
There is no room for error because there is always another company down the street willing to pounce on your mistakes.
Great customer service does many good things
1. Avoid embarrassing Mistakes that lose Customers
2. Avoid re-doing work that costs you money
3. Avoid Production Delays that cost money and miss deadlines
4. Fends off competition that is willing to do a job for slightly less than your price.
The problem is that part of great customer service is knowing all the different details on how a customer likes to operate. What we call the Customer Profile.
This is often a knowledge base accumulated in a CSR or owner's head that cannot be easily dispersed to other members of your staff.
Samples of this type of information are:
Must have PO to Start Job
Must provide 2 samples to President
No Deliveries after 5pm, must use their truck
Dies for Bobst Press must use 3pt rule, Birch Board, Red Rhino Rubber
Never more than 35lbs per carton
Always Wrap skids
By making this knowledge base accessible to all staff members it means that Good Customer Service is not dependant on the availability of one person.
When a database of this knowledge or Customer Profile is accumulated it can be accessed by:
Estimating - Ensuring they have all details at the beginning of the estimate avoids embarrassing extra charges or worse additional costs you can't get back when the job is produced.
Order Entry - Access to the Customer Profile when a job is opened ensures production has a solid foundation to produce a profitable job. Changes to jobs once production begins leads to costs, production delays and missed deadlines.
Production - Production Employee access to the Customer Profile allows staff to make educated decisions on situations that occur in non office hours or when the CSR or owner are not available.
Administration - Office Staff can work with clients in terms of samples, deliveries invoices etc exactly as the customer demands.
Sales - Your knowledge base of customers can be a sales tool to gain more customers. When you do your plant tours and show prospects the equipment and employees that will produce their jobs, show a sample of the knowledge base and help support your claims of quality and customer service.
Companies find the Customer Profiling so important that the knowledge base is employee and date stamped whenever a change is made to it. This provides complete accountability to your customer service process.
Accumulating Customer Profile Information and making it accessible throughout your company leads to accumulating Customer Profits.
It has always been important to treat every customer as if they are your best customer. These days it is even more important that all customers are handled with the greatest of care.
There is no room for error because there is always another company down the street willing to pounce on your mistakes.
Great customer service does many good things
1. Avoid embarrassing Mistakes that lose Customers
2. Avoid re-doing work that costs you money
3. Avoid Production Delays that cost money and miss deadlines
4. Fends off competition that is willing to do a job for slightly less than your price.
The problem is that part of great customer service is knowing all the different details on how a customer likes to operate. What we call the Customer Profile.
This is often a knowledge base accumulated in a CSR or owner's head that cannot be easily dispersed to other members of your staff.
Samples of this type of information are:
Must have PO to Start Job
Must provide 2 samples to President
No Deliveries after 5pm, must use their truck
Dies for Bobst Press must use 3pt rule, Birch Board, Red Rhino Rubber
Never more than 35lbs per carton
Always Wrap skids
By making this knowledge base accessible to all staff members it means that Good Customer Service is not dependant on the availability of one person.
When a database of this knowledge or Customer Profile is accumulated it can be accessed by:
Estimating - Ensuring they have all details at the beginning of the estimate avoids embarrassing extra charges or worse additional costs you can't get back when the job is produced.
Order Entry - Access to the Customer Profile when a job is opened ensures production has a solid foundation to produce a profitable job. Changes to jobs once production begins leads to costs, production delays and missed deadlines.
Production - Production Employee access to the Customer Profile allows staff to make educated decisions on situations that occur in non office hours or when the CSR or owner are not available.
Administration - Office Staff can work with clients in terms of samples, deliveries invoices etc exactly as the customer demands.
Sales - Your knowledge base of customers can be a sales tool to gain more customers. When you do your plant tours and show prospects the equipment and employees that will produce their jobs, show a sample of the knowledge base and help support your claims of quality and customer service.
Companies find the Customer Profiling so important that the knowledge base is employee and date stamped whenever a change is made to it. This provides complete accountability to your customer service process.
Accumulating Customer Profile Information and making it accessible throughout your company leads to accumulating Customer Profits.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
KNOWING WHATS NOT HAPPENING IS IMPORTANT TOO
By Mark Porter
Information is obviously very valuable because it identifies what is happening in your business.
For example how many estimates did you do last month. What did it cost you to run that job. How much revenue was generated by different job types. etc.
But Information can also provide tremendous value by telling you what is not happening in your business.
We often call these Exception Reports. They identify things that didn't or aren't happening in your company and this can be invaluable information.
Lets look at some examples.
What if every Friday afternoon you could get a list of all jobs shipped last week but not billed. This information can be determined very quickly and avoids the potential situation of losing revenue or the embarassement of billing a customer much later when the mistake is evetually discovered.
You can also avoid the even more embarrassing situation of Jobs Billed but Not Shipped.
Another example of identifying things that are not happening in your business can be in the area of No Recent Estimates or No Recent jobs.
You can identify when a customer is starting to move his business to another supplier. The sooner your company can identify this trend the greater your chance of correcting the situation and gaining back the customer's confidence and revenue.
It is great to know what jobs were shipped today but it is just as important to know which jobs were scheduled to be shipped to day and weren't.
Won/Loss Estimate Reports not only tell you the customers and job types you are doing well with but also identify customers and job types that are fading and again allowing you to identify that trend as soon as possible so that you can take corrective action.
It is always good to know what goods you received today but it is tremendous value to know as soon as possible which goods didn't show up. Goods that didn't arrive on time threaten delivery times and throw off production schedules.
Knowing which employees on the first shift clocked in can be useful but the real value is identifying how many and which employees didn't clock in so that you can adjust the production schedule accordingly or call in more help.
It is great to know which dies were used but it is also good to know which dies have not been used in the last 2 years so that they can be destroyed or sent back to the customer.
So we can see that Information can bring tremendous benefits by telling you what is happening in your business but it can also bring tremendous benefit by telling you what is not happening in your business
Information is obviously very valuable because it identifies what is happening in your business.
For example how many estimates did you do last month. What did it cost you to run that job. How much revenue was generated by different job types. etc.
But Information can also provide tremendous value by telling you what is not happening in your business.
We often call these Exception Reports. They identify things that didn't or aren't happening in your company and this can be invaluable information.
Lets look at some examples.
What if every Friday afternoon you could get a list of all jobs shipped last week but not billed. This information can be determined very quickly and avoids the potential situation of losing revenue or the embarassement of billing a customer much later when the mistake is evetually discovered.
You can also avoid the even more embarrassing situation of Jobs Billed but Not Shipped.
Another example of identifying things that are not happening in your business can be in the area of No Recent Estimates or No Recent jobs.
You can identify when a customer is starting to move his business to another supplier. The sooner your company can identify this trend the greater your chance of correcting the situation and gaining back the customer's confidence and revenue.
It is great to know what jobs were shipped today but it is just as important to know which jobs were scheduled to be shipped to day and weren't.
Won/Loss Estimate Reports not only tell you the customers and job types you are doing well with but also identify customers and job types that are fading and again allowing you to identify that trend as soon as possible so that you can take corrective action.
It is always good to know what goods you received today but it is tremendous value to know as soon as possible which goods didn't show up. Goods that didn't arrive on time threaten delivery times and throw off production schedules.
Knowing which employees on the first shift clocked in can be useful but the real value is identifying how many and which employees didn't clock in so that you can adjust the production schedule accordingly or call in more help.
It is great to know which dies were used but it is also good to know which dies have not been used in the last 2 years so that they can be destroyed or sent back to the customer.
So we can see that Information can bring tremendous benefits by telling you what is happening in your business but it can also bring tremendous benefit by telling you what is not happening in your business
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
DOING EVEN MORE WITH LESS
By Mark Porter
Summer is winding down and hopefully we will be starting a busy fall season. My last issue dealt with Doing More With Less and this month we want to continue with the theme of using technology to increase productivity.
Many if not most companies have reduced their staffing and other resources in order to cope with the tough economic times but this has put them in a vulnerable position when sales have spiked. The nature of this downturn has also left companies reluctuant to add more staff and therefore struggling to cope through prolonged periods of increased sales until the recovery is well established.
This obviously results in reduced customer service and strained production resources just as we need them most.
Technology allows consistent levels of service and although requires upgrading the majority of its cost is a one time investment.
Last month we discussed the benefits an Estimating and Management Information System(MIS) can provide in helping you cope with strained customer service.
A MIS system is integrated meaning that data is entered once and transfered throughout the plant. An estimate is quickly turned into an order, an order to a packing slip and an invoice. No double entry - avoids mistakes.
A MIS System puts information at your finger tips. You can save hours each day by providing customers with instant answers rather than having to look up information and calling them back.
A MIS System provides instant communications between you and your employees and your company and your customers. This results in less mistakes and more efficient production. (Please see July Blog for full article)
What other technologies can be used to help companies with their reduced staffing? The internet can provide huge advantages.
1. On Line Inquiries
The internet can be used to increase communications with customers. Allowing customers to answer their own questions regarding their jobs frees up your staff to focus on producing the jobs. Provide a customer password protected access to the data specific to their jobs. Questions such as the following can be answered by customers themselves 24/7:
Has my job been shipped ?
What was I invoiced ?
Is my estimate ready ?
When did I last run this job ?
Carry this further and allow customers to pre open their own jobs, enter information on printed goods they are sending you and pre enter estimate specifications. This maximizes the time you are aware of jobs and allows you to make more productive decisions.
This type of 24/7 convenience and service increases customer loyality and ensures it will take a bigger price difference or bigger mistake for that customer to go elsewhere.
2. Remote Access
The internet also allows you to access your system from anywhere. Software such as gotomypc can allow you to operate your computer from any web browser as if you were in your office. I am sure you are all spending too much time at the office but still we can't afford to lose valuable hours. If you are at a customers, the airport or end up having some spare time you can be in your office immediately with services such as gotomypc. This can work on production computer such as CAD/CAM as well.
Dienamic uses gotomypc to service our clients and requires only 1 connection but in most cases our customers will have several gotomypc connections for their own uses shortly after the installation.
Other products such as gotomymeeting can also be excellent for training and webinars. Putting on webinars for your customers and prospects can be an excellent way to increase your exposure and direct business your way. It could also be used for quick proofing or inquiries without having to wait for customers to come to your plant or for you to take time to visit them.
3. Blackberries and iphones
Any email based phone allows you to access and respond to your messages immediately.
A text based phone results in delays getting your emails and forces you to respond from your computer which accessing can be time consuming.
4. Generate Sales from Websites, Blogs and Email Mail Blasts
There is no business if there is no sales.
Many Finishers, Binderies and Diemakers don't have sales staff so as production increases sales effort decreases. The internet can help provide additional exposure.
The use of websites, blogs and email blasts can help keep your company's name in front of your customers and prospects and provide valuable information that will enhance your prescence in the marketplace. This can often be done with minimal effort.
Technology is an affordable one time cost option that will allow you to maintain a consistent and reliable level of service until business is sufficient to re-evaluate your staffing needs.
Summer is winding down and hopefully we will be starting a busy fall season. My last issue dealt with Doing More With Less and this month we want to continue with the theme of using technology to increase productivity.
Many if not most companies have reduced their staffing and other resources in order to cope with the tough economic times but this has put them in a vulnerable position when sales have spiked. The nature of this downturn has also left companies reluctuant to add more staff and therefore struggling to cope through prolonged periods of increased sales until the recovery is well established.
This obviously results in reduced customer service and strained production resources just as we need them most.
Technology allows consistent levels of service and although requires upgrading the majority of its cost is a one time investment.
Last month we discussed the benefits an Estimating and Management Information System(MIS) can provide in helping you cope with strained customer service.
A MIS system is integrated meaning that data is entered once and transfered throughout the plant. An estimate is quickly turned into an order, an order to a packing slip and an invoice. No double entry - avoids mistakes.
A MIS System puts information at your finger tips. You can save hours each day by providing customers with instant answers rather than having to look up information and calling them back.
A MIS System provides instant communications between you and your employees and your company and your customers. This results in less mistakes and more efficient production. (Please see July Blog for full article)
What other technologies can be used to help companies with their reduced staffing? The internet can provide huge advantages.
1. On Line Inquiries
The internet can be used to increase communications with customers. Allowing customers to answer their own questions regarding their jobs frees up your staff to focus on producing the jobs. Provide a customer password protected access to the data specific to their jobs. Questions such as the following can be answered by customers themselves 24/7:
Has my job been shipped ?
What was I invoiced ?
Is my estimate ready ?
When did I last run this job ?
Carry this further and allow customers to pre open their own jobs, enter information on printed goods they are sending you and pre enter estimate specifications. This maximizes the time you are aware of jobs and allows you to make more productive decisions.
This type of 24/7 convenience and service increases customer loyality and ensures it will take a bigger price difference or bigger mistake for that customer to go elsewhere.
2. Remote Access
The internet also allows you to access your system from anywhere. Software such as gotomypc can allow you to operate your computer from any web browser as if you were in your office. I am sure you are all spending too much time at the office but still we can't afford to lose valuable hours. If you are at a customers, the airport or end up having some spare time you can be in your office immediately with services such as gotomypc. This can work on production computer such as CAD/CAM as well.
Dienamic uses gotomypc to service our clients and requires only 1 connection but in most cases our customers will have several gotomypc connections for their own uses shortly after the installation.
Other products such as gotomymeeting can also be excellent for training and webinars. Putting on webinars for your customers and prospects can be an excellent way to increase your exposure and direct business your way. It could also be used for quick proofing or inquiries without having to wait for customers to come to your plant or for you to take time to visit them.
3. Blackberries and iphones
Any email based phone allows you to access and respond to your messages immediately.
A text based phone results in delays getting your emails and forces you to respond from your computer which accessing can be time consuming.
4. Generate Sales from Websites, Blogs and Email Mail Blasts
There is no business if there is no sales.
Many Finishers, Binderies and Diemakers don't have sales staff so as production increases sales effort decreases. The internet can help provide additional exposure.
The use of websites, blogs and email blasts can help keep your company's name in front of your customers and prospects and provide valuable information that will enhance your prescence in the marketplace. This can often be done with minimal effort.
Technology is an affordable one time cost option that will allow you to maintain a consistent and reliable level of service until business is sufficient to re-evaluate your staffing needs.
Friday, July 30, 2010
DOING MORE WITH LESS
By Mark Porter
As business picks up many companies, whether in the short term or permanently, need to be able to handle the increased workload with their reduced staffs.
A solid estimating and Management Information Software System can be of tremendous help with this.
There are many ways that each individual software module can bring benefits to your company but lets look at the major benefits of having an integrated system that can help you cope with the increased pressure of servicing your customers needs with reduced staffing.
An Integrated System
A software system is an integrated system. This means that data is entered once. Unlike manual systems where data is constantly re written from document to document. An integrated system transfers information automatically through the job processing routine.
This means that as you do the estimate you are creating the information for order entry, costing, shipping, invoicing and accounting.
Estimates that become jobs are simply retrieved at the Order entry stage and automatically converted into the Job Specifications. Some additions maybe required but the majority of the information is immediately prepared.
Special instructions or needs this customer has can be accessed from the customer profile and are placed on the order. Addresses can be selected directly from the customer file to ready the shipping documents. Estimated costs are transfered to the Invoice.
As the job proceeds through production job changes and additional charges are automatically appended to the invoice.
One time entry from Estimating to Accounting leads to efficiency and less mistakes both necesarry requirements during busy times.
Information at Your Finger Tips
Just think how much of your day is spent looking up information and getting back to customers. Probably several hours a day. An integrated Software system ensures that all the data you need to answer customer's questions has been entered and is easily accessible by you and your staff.
If a Customer calls and wants to know if their job is shipped simply click on the Packing Slip button and get a complete listing of all Packing Slips issued for that job. Was he Invoiced - Click on the Invoice Button and get a list of Invoices. Have you received his printed goods to start working on his job - click on the receipts button and see if his goods have arrived. The customer has a question about the job - click on the Electronic Order and see a copy of the Ticket on the Screen. Don't waste time finding documents, calling customers back and getting voice mail. Answer your customers questions immediately and save many hours each day.
Instant Communications
An integrated Management Information System provides instant communications with automatic email notification when events happen such as openning orders, changing orders, receiving customer goods, creating shipping documents, creating invoices, problems encountered and dies needing sharpening.
Instant communications with both your customers and your own staff decrease mistakes and make operations more efficient.
This can be carried as far as the internet by allowing your customers to check job status and even open their own orders via your web site 24/7. This further frees up your time to focus on job production.
There are many benefits to Management Information Systems but these 3 alone will allow you to service your increased workload with your existing staff.
As business picks up many companies, whether in the short term or permanently, need to be able to handle the increased workload with their reduced staffs.
A solid estimating and Management Information Software System can be of tremendous help with this.
There are many ways that each individual software module can bring benefits to your company but lets look at the major benefits of having an integrated system that can help you cope with the increased pressure of servicing your customers needs with reduced staffing.
An Integrated System
A software system is an integrated system. This means that data is entered once. Unlike manual systems where data is constantly re written from document to document. An integrated system transfers information automatically through the job processing routine.
This means that as you do the estimate you are creating the information for order entry, costing, shipping, invoicing and accounting.
Estimates that become jobs are simply retrieved at the Order entry stage and automatically converted into the Job Specifications. Some additions maybe required but the majority of the information is immediately prepared.
Special instructions or needs this customer has can be accessed from the customer profile and are placed on the order. Addresses can be selected directly from the customer file to ready the shipping documents. Estimated costs are transfered to the Invoice.
As the job proceeds through production job changes and additional charges are automatically appended to the invoice.
One time entry from Estimating to Accounting leads to efficiency and less mistakes both necesarry requirements during busy times.
Information at Your Finger Tips
Just think how much of your day is spent looking up information and getting back to customers. Probably several hours a day. An integrated Software system ensures that all the data you need to answer customer's questions has been entered and is easily accessible by you and your staff.
If a Customer calls and wants to know if their job is shipped simply click on the Packing Slip button and get a complete listing of all Packing Slips issued for that job. Was he Invoiced - Click on the Invoice Button and get a list of Invoices. Have you received his printed goods to start working on his job - click on the receipts button and see if his goods have arrived. The customer has a question about the job - click on the Electronic Order and see a copy of the Ticket on the Screen. Don't waste time finding documents, calling customers back and getting voice mail. Answer your customers questions immediately and save many hours each day.
Instant Communications
An integrated Management Information System provides instant communications with automatic email notification when events happen such as openning orders, changing orders, receiving customer goods, creating shipping documents, creating invoices, problems encountered and dies needing sharpening.
Instant communications with both your customers and your own staff decrease mistakes and make operations more efficient.
This can be carried as far as the internet by allowing your customers to check job status and even open their own orders via your web site 24/7. This further frees up your time to focus on job production.
There are many benefits to Management Information Systems but these 3 alone will allow you to service your increased workload with your existing staff.
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