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| Issue 20 |
July 3, 2008 |
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Things Happen
Mortality is a fact of life. Most of us are not very comfortable dealing with the ramifications of it, but the reality is that proper planning now can help ensure that your family and your business are taken care of in the way you desire, rather than being subjected to the mandates of the State or other government authority. |
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The first and arguably the most important step in that planning is the creation of a will. You may already have a will. If you do, when was the last time you reviewed it? If you don't have an up-to-date will, there will be no better time than now to remedy that situation.
Today's link, "Wills can save your business," will give you some other thoughts about the necessity of a will. It's a short read, so visit there now while the issue is fresh in your mind.
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Inspirational Words of the Day
"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”
- Bill Gates
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Sometimes it's hard to view an angry customer as a resource. Yet, extensive research has shown that companies who take a proactive approach to resolving customer complaints are often able to turn these potentially lost customers into patrons who will be among your most loyal customers for years to come. In addition, the positive word of mouth from these people who now extol the benefits of doing business with you is priceless.
Dealing with an irate person is not a skill that most salespeople naturally possess. It is a skill that can be mastered however, and there are numerous online resources to help teach it. While you're at it, how skilled are you in turning negative into positive? You may want to better your ability in this area and handle these sensitive situations yourself. Consider for a moment the impression you would give to an unhappy customer by sending him directly to top management for issue resolution. You can then make instant decisions that may be beyond the authority of your staff. In addition, you will have removed the tension of dealing with the situation from your sales staff. Finally, by example, you can teach your employees how to defuse an angry customer and come away with a positive result. |
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Monitor the Value Of Your Inventory
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Most Roundtable members subscribe to Checkmate's "Advanced Management Reports." One of those reports is an enhanced version of the standard Inventory Value Report (5,7). You will find the advanced "Inventory Valuation Analysis" report at (5,12, 14). This report gives you numerous additional options over the standard report. One of those is the ability to set the date ranges you want to use for "ageing" your inventory rather than using the default ranges. You enter that table by selecting "(D) Set Defaults" and then "(D)ate Ranges." You can then insert the ranges you choose. The ones in the screenshot on the left have been changed slightly from the default values. |
You also have the option of defining the ageing factors. These are the percentages that will be applied to your inventory in each of the defined age brackets to depreciate the value of older inventory. The number you enter will be the percentage to which the value of the remaining inventory in that age bracket will be reduced. For example, if you enter 75% for the 181-365 days-in-stock range, the report will reduce the value of your total inventory of that age by 25% in the calculation of its value in this report. You can manually enter the various percentages for each date range. Unlike the standard report, the advanced report also allows you to simply select "(A)utomatic" to have Checkmate® calculate percentages based on your historical sales of inventory in those various ranges. The screenshot below shows an example of ageing rates calculated by Checkmate.
Note that as your inventory gets older the value is reduced more because the likelihood of selling a given part is less the longer it is in stock.
The Inventory Valuation Analysis report is a valuable tool for tracking the quality of your inventory. Future Roundtable meetings will delve further into the various numbers in this report and how to use them in managing your business.
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New Roundtable Being Formed
We are currently recruiting members for a new Roundtable group primarily comprised of recyclers in the New England and Mid-Atlantic areas. If you know of someone who might be interested in this group please refer them to Jim Schneider. He can be reached at (877) 333-6152 or email to jims@car-part.com.
©2008 Car-Part.com. All rights reserved.
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