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Sales Tracker Software – Your Business Solution

If you want to be able to close more sales and finally have the sales tracking that you need, you need to go with good sales tracker software. You see, the software that you use for your sales tracking is extremely important. Just using the right sales tracker software can make a big difference in the sales that your company is able to make. Are you ready to change your company and bring in more sales, which leads to more profit? If so, then you’ll need to find a great sales tracker software to use for your own company.

 Sales Tracker – Find Out Why You Need Sales Tracker Software Today

Sales tracker software is extremely important for your business’ success. However, you need to get the best sales tracker software out there for the best results. It’s important that you take some time and look at the various options out there on the market today when you’re looking for the best sales tracker software. So, here are some tips that can help you learn what you need to know in order to be able to choose the best sales tracker software for your business today.

Tip #1 – Find Out if the Software is Easy to Use – It is imperative that you make sure that the sales trackersoftware is going to be easy to use for you. It should be a software system that will be easy for everyone in the office to learn how to use and use on a regular basis. Be sure that the navigation is flexible, and you’ll definitely want your sales tracker software to have a help feature that is built in. See how many clicks you’re going to have to go through to create new information, fill in requests for information, or update a current record in the system. Also, take time to make sure that it has information display that is easy to see and use, so you don’t have to go through a variety of screens to get information when you need it.

Tip #2 – Be Sure You can Customize the Software - You’ll want to make sure that you can customize the sales tracker software as well when you’re looking at different options for your sales tracker software. While there are many sales tracker software options that do allow you to perform different functions, you may need a higher level of customization for your company to make sure that the software works to its’ greatest potential. Before you decide which sales tracker software is right for you, be sure it is customizable.

Tip #3 – Will it Integrate Easily into Your Current System? - Make sure that the sales tracker software you are looking for will integrate easily into the systems that you already have as well. Why spend a huge amount of time working to integrate a system that is difficult to deal with. Consider software that will integrate with accounting software that you are using, and if you’re using Outlook, it’s a great idea to look for sales tracker software that works along with Outlook.

Tip #4 – Reporting Features Should Be Included - Good sales tracker software should have some reporting features that are included with it too. It’s important that you can easily generate reports so you will be able to see how your business is really doing. Then you’ll be able to keep checking up on the reports from time to time to see where you need to work on some things and where you are really making great progress.

Now that you are aware of what great sales tracker software should contain, you should know that one software option that meets all these qualifications is Prophet software by Avidian. You’ll find it easy to use, customizable, easy to integrate, and it has excellent reporting features too. So, if you’re ready to start using sales tracker software for your business, consider trying Prophet.

Why Prophet for My Sales Software Management Program?

There are several features within the Prophet sales software management program that make it the choice for professional organizations everywhere.  The first is the Sales Dashboard.  This screen will provide you a quick snapshot of what is going on with your business.  It is a completely customizable module in the sales software management program that allows you to take a ten thousand foot look at what is going on with your sales team quickly and easily.  In addition to allowing managers to see, this portion of the sales software management is also accessible by your employees as well.  Employees will know exactly where they stand with this sales software management tool as they can log in and check there current metrics against other employees and baselines as well.

In addition the Prophet sales software management suite can keep track and aggregate all of your tasks, appointments and notes for each client and account.  In addition to doing this the sales management software can link all of this through to your Outlook program.  Unlike other clunky and foreign sales software management programs, Prophet ties everything together through familiar software so you are not losing countless months training your employees on a new program.  This integration with Outlook is key to keeping your employees on task.

You can also use this sales software management to create quotes that you can send to your customers.  These quotes will carry your custom letter head and corporate information so you can guarantee a professional and authentic appearance.  In addition the sales software management will coordinate this with your outlook so you again can use one tool for all your work.  The sales software management is smart enough to take this quote and link it with the account and all the other activities associated with that account so that you can keep and up to date and accurate record of all communications with your clients.  This quote is completely exportable to Excel for easy editing.  In addition the sales software management suite will let you adjust each quote to a client’s exacting specifications.

The next thing the sales software management suite can do for you is compile any and all of the above information into an easy to read report that managers can use to keep track of their employees, or that sales people can use to track their progress.  The sales management software will compile all of this information into diverse and easy to read charts and graphs that once configured properly can be emailed and checked online.  The sales software management will quickly and easily load these graphs and programs so that you do not waste time with significant man hours waiting for the process to complete.  Some sales software management programs will only hinder your sales team; it is Prophet’s goal to release them from the chains of inefficient software and outdated practices.

The Prophet software has features in it that allow it to automatically be updated whenever a new release is available.  Sales software management program suites will frequently need to be updated as new patches, drivers and other updates come out for operating systems and the other programs that it integrates with.  It is reassuring to know that your sales software management program is on top of these updates and will update itself without any intervention by you or you IT team.

The sales software management program will also integrate and bring over all of your current contacts from Outlook, so if you are currently using this program you can quickly and easily make the switch to Prophet.

There is not a better sales software management program that you can get today.  There is bad sales software management, and then there is Prophet sales software management.

Author Bio: James Wong is the co-founder and CEO of Avidian Technologies, makers of Prophet, the easiest  Sales Software Management Program for Outlook. For more information about Avidian, visit http://www.avidian.com

Why Is Prophet the Right Contact Management Sales Software for Me?

The only way to truly know whether Prophet is the right content management sales software for you is to install it and see how it works.  Short of that you can read on to get some of the key benefits and features of this highly adaptable and utilitarian content management sales software.

The first thing you notice when you get into the Prophet content management sales software is the sales dashboard.  This main screen provides a quick snapshot of everything that content management sales software has to offer.  From here you can get a far out look of everything that is going on with your sales team.  This section also allows not only your managers but your sales people to access and examine so that everything is out on the table.  Employees will know exactly where they stand with this content management sales software as all of there activities can be quickly loaded and checked.

The next thing you can do with this content management sales software is aggregate all the different tasks, appointments and quotes that your salespeople create so that they all appear together concurrently.  This portion of the content management sales software is linkable to your Outlook software so that you will have everything tied together through a familiar program.  This allows new and old employees to get up to speed with the content management sales software as opposed to losing countless months of productivity to the learning curve of other software.  This integration is absolutely key to making a seamless adjustment to the right content management sales software.

Through the content management sales software you can also create custom quotes for your customers.  These quotes will carry your custom letter head and corporate information so you can guarantee a professional and authentic appearance.  In addition the content management sales software will coordinate this with your outlook program so you again can use one tool for all your work.  The content management sales software is smart enough to take this quote and link it with the account and all the other activities associated with that account so that you can keep and up to date and accurate record of all communications with your clients.  This quote is completely exportable to Excel for easy editing.  In addition the content management sales software suite will let you adjust each quote to a client’s exacting specifications.

This content management sales software can also take any of the above information and put it together into and easy to understand report that managers and employees can use to keep track of their progress.  The content management sales software will compile all of this information in easy to read charts and graphs so that you and your employees will be able to understand it without having to do any additional interpretations.     Because of all these features the Prophet content management sales software from Avidian will help your sales team to grow revenue and not waste their time with non sales activities like learning new software and trying to interpret data.  This content management sales software will improve the overall workflow of your entire organization.

The Prophet software has features in it that allow it to automatically be updated whenever a new release is available.  Any content management sales software program suites will frequently need to be updated as new patches, drivers and other updates come out for operating systems and the other programs that it integrates with.  It is reassuring to know that your content management sales software is on top of these updates and will update itself without any intervention by you or you IT team.

The content management sales software will also integrate and bring over all of your current contacts from Outlook, so if you are currently using this program you can quickly and easily make the switch to Prophet.

There is not a better content management sales software that you can get today.  There is bad content management sales software, and then there is Prophet content management sales software.

Each business must work hard to keep their current customers as well as working to bring in new customers as well. You can get information about your customers in a variety of ways. You can get this information from networking, previous customers, among other ways. It is important that every business can get this information and analyze it efficiently to help them get quality leads for their business. You should remember to find sales leads software that is cost effective as well as easy to use. You can find many different versions of sales leads software on the market but none are as good as Prophet sales leads software, which is made by Avidian.

What is sales leads software and why is it important?

Sales leads software can help businesses get date and then helps them to use it to generate new leads and effectively pursue them to promote more sales for their company. This sales leads software helps you to find and keep track of new leads and helps you with follow up as well. You do not want to lose new customers due to the fact that someone forgot to follow up on the lead so sales leads software is important to every company.

Why Prophet sales leads software is the best.

The best sales leads software is Prophet, which is made by Avidian. Prophet sales leads software has many important features that help make it the best sales leads software available. Prophet sales leads software is based on Microsoft Outlook, which makes it easy to incorporate into your company. You will be able to keep track of customer information, schedule appointments, and even share your data among sales team members when you use Prophet sales leads software. You will never lose your data and you will not have to worry about forgetting to follow up on important leads with Prophet sales leads software. You will find Prophet sales leads software to be easy to use and easy to install.

Prophet sales leads software works hand in hand with Microsoft Outlook.

There are many more reasons that Prophet sales leads software is the best sales leads software available today. One of the best features is that Prophet sales leads software works so well with Microsoft Outlook. Because you can use it with Microsoft Outlook it is a sales leads software that is very easy for people to use. As you use your sales leads management consistently you will see the best results within your company. Prophet sales leads software is so great because you can actually update your software by going through Outlook and making updates there. Outlook and Prophet communicate together to make things easier for you. Other sales leads software do not offer this great option. Prophet sales leads software will help you not only save money, but will also help you save time as well.

Prophet sales leads software helps you collect customer data.

It is important that you collect customer data and lead date and sales leads software can help you accomplish this task quickly and easily. Prophet sales leads software has quick forms that you can fill out to be sure you miss no important information about your customers. You can actually go on to schedule follow ups, look at previous sales, and other data when you use Prophet sales leads software. These forms are easy to use and you can actually access them from Microsoft Outlook making your tasks easy and efficient.

You can have Prophet sales leads software customized to fit your business.

You will find that Prophet sales leads software is also very flexible. Each business is different and will have different needs and it is important to be able to find sales leads software that fits your company’s individual needs. Prophet has basic sales leads software that has simple contact information and you can add more fields according to the needs of your company. Since every company is going to be different Prophet sales leads software allows you to customize your software so that your specific needs are met. You will be able to have sales leads software that meets every need of your company without having to pay for features your company does not need.

Sharing data is important and Prophet sales leads software allows you to do this easily.

Prophet sales leads software also allows you to share your company’s data. Sometimes you will need to share your data among employees to handle a customer or sale in the best way. If you have sales leads software that does not share it makes it difficult to get that data around to the correct people. This can result in delays in contacting a prospective customer and that can lead to loss of a sale. If you use Prophet sales leads software you will be able to share your information quickly so the appropriate person can follow up with the customer as soon as possible. You can use Outlook to email information from Prophet sales leads software since the two are directly connected.

Prophet sales leads software can help you generate important reports for your company.

You will also find that Prophet sales leads software has a great reporting feature. Many businesses like reports that help them see what is being accomplished and what may need to be changed to make things run better. Prophet sales leads software helps to track information and generate reports. You can use this sales leads software to report on an individual sales person or the sales team as a whole. Prophet sales leads software comes with 30 reports already in the system for you to use. If you need to customize reports for your company, Prophet sales leads software offers this option as well.

Check out Prophet sales leads software and get on your way to success.

If you want to help your business continue to grow then incorporating sales leads software can help you accomplish this goal. You will find that Prophet sales leads software is the best sales leads software available and can help you in a variety of ways. Prophet has won many awards for its’ excellent sales leads software and you can trust the company that makes the software, Avidian. If you want to see an increase in sales for your company and you want to enjoy more profit then go to Avidian.com and check out Prophet sales leads software today.

About Avidian Technologies:

Avidian Technologies is a software company specializing in creating software solutions for users of Outlook and Exchange. Prophet, developed by Avidian Technologies on the .NET platform, is the leading contact management and sales CRM software built in Outlook. The company is headquartered in Redmond, Washington. For more information, please visit http://www.avidian.com or call 1-800-860-5534.

One of the most important aspects of any business is sales. Without sales there is no revenue and without revenue the company ceases to exist. This is why so many executives and managers are focused on generating the most sales possible. One of the tools they are using to do this is sales management software. Sales management software is software that can be used by employees to track and improve their sales and sales opportunities. There are many different types of sales management software available on the market today, but one of the best sales management software is Prophet.

Prophet sales management software is easy to learn and easy to use.

Obviously one of the things executives and managers take into consideration before purchasing new software for their company or business is how easy the software is to learn and use. Prophet is one of the best sales management software available on the market today that meets both of these requirements. It is so easy to use that many executives and managers who were using competitor brands of sales management software have switched to Prophet sales management software simply because of this. In addition, Prophet sales management software is easy to learn, as most users can learn the software just by using it for a little while. However, Prophet sales management software does offer a tutorial that shows all of its features quickly, so employees can learn what they need to know about the sales management software even faster.

Prophet sales management software works with Outlook.

One of the most popular software programs used for email is Microsoft Outlook, and like most sales management software programs, Prophet works with Outlook and the information within it. Sales management software programs work with Outlook to maintain information on clients, business contacts, and sales opportunities. However, Prophet sales management software differs from its competitors, as it allows information to flow back and forth between the two programs much easier than other sales management software programs. For example, with Goldmine and Act sales management software, information in these programs must match the information in Outlook in order for it to be compatible, but this is not the case with Prophet sales management software. In addition, Prophet sales management software works with more versions of Outlook than any of its competitors.

Prophet sales management software makes adding and changing information easy.

Things are rapidly changing in today’s world, and nothing stays the same. It is important that companies and businesses have sales management software that is flexible and can adapt to these changes. Prophet sales management software does just that through its toolbar located in Outlook. This toolbar allows employees to change and add information with just a click of the mouse. Prophet’s competitors don’t offer this in their sales management software. Instead, employees must open up the sales management software program each time they want to make changes and manually do so. This is not only frustrating, but it makes employees less efficient.

Prophet sales management software is made to be customized.

Companies and businesses aren’t identical, thus the sales management software they use shouldn’t be either. Some information that is important for one organization is not important for another, thus they don’t need their sales management software to track it or include it in reports. Prophet sales management software recognizes this and allows for more customization with their sales management software than any of their competitors. This way businesses and companies can get only the information they want, and should they need to get different information at another time, they can simply change the customization in their sales management software and access what they need.

Prophet sales management software makes sharing information with others easy.

One of the best features of Prophet sales management software is that it is designed to make sharing information with internal and external individuals very easy. Prophet sales management software is the only sales management software to offer peer to peer sharing, which allows information to be easily shared and used by multiple individuals in a company or organization. This is a great feature as most employees work in a team or group and not in isolation as they might have done in the past. Sharing information with individuals outside the company or organization is also easy with Prophet sales management software. Obviously information in the Prophet sales management software program can’t be sent directly to outside individuals as they don’t have the sales management software. However, Prophet sales management software allows you to save, print, and send information to others in a variety of file formats including aspx, PDF, Word, and Excel. This way individuals can view it and use it no matter what software programs they have on their computers.

You can begin using Prophet sales management software today.

For more information about Prophet sales management software, simply visit Avidian Technologies website, Avidian.com. If after reviewing the information and learning more about Prophet sales management software you would like to purchase the sales management software, you can do so on avidian.com. Your purchase can be of either actual physical software that is mailed to your company or business postal address or you can download the sales management software from the website for immediate use. This means that you can start using Prophet sales management software today!

If you are an executive or manager of a business or company that is looking to take their sales to the next level consider purchasing a sales management software program such as Prophet. Prophet sales management software is not only easy to learn and easy to use, but it also makes employees more efficient as it makes adding and changing information much easier than competing sales management software programs. In addition, with Prophet sales management software sharing information with both internal and external individuals is much easier than competitors’ sales management software programs. If you are interested in purchasing Prophet sales management software to help your employees manage your clients and business contacts and to improve your sales and customer service, visit the website of Avidian Technologies today at www.avidian.com

About Avidian Technologies:

Avidian Technologies is a software company specializing in creating software solutions for users of Outlook and Exchange. Prophet, developed by Avidian Technologies on the .NET platform, is the leading contact management and sales CRM software built in Outlook. The company is headquartered in Redmond, Washington. For more information, please visit http://www.avidian.com or call 1-800-860-5534.

Keeping track of sales, sales leads and sales calls in extremely important for every business. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a sales marketing software program to do it for you? In the past, you know the ol pencil and paper days, this was done by using ledgers, and address books. Now, thanks to the electronic age, all of that can be done on a computer using some type of sales marketing software. Sales marketing software can be used to keep track of incoming, and outgoing merchandise if you are a retail or wholesale storeowner. If you are a sales person, sales marketing software can be used to keep client lists, appointments, and even help generate new leads

Prophet has been developed by Avidian and can improve your business.

The Avidian Company has developed sales marketing software program called Prophet.Prophet sales marketing software works with Microsoft Outlook. It’s easy to use, pretty much just download it into your current Outlook program and the Prophet sales marketing software does the rest. The Avidian Company has developed 3 versions of the Prophet sales marketing software to fit every business need no matter how big or small.

Prophet Standard sales marketing software.

The Standard version of the Prophet sales marketing software is the first and most basic of the Prophet software system. It allows you to manage or track your existing contact information from your current Microsoft Outlook program, search for any communications such as emails, or appointments for any of your clients. The Prophet Standard Sales marketing software allows for tracking the stage and revenue for every sale, create activity reports, and comes with a Prophet dashboard one click ProphetBar. Prophet standard sales marketing software also allows for sharing sales data through you outlook email or peer-to-peer sharing. These are all perfect tools to use help increase your sales clients. The standard version of the Prophet sales marketing software even comes with a report wizard to help with those all-important sales reports. This sales marketing software program even allows those sales reports to be saved in 4 different formats! What could be better?

The Prophet Professional Sales Marketing Software.

How about the next level of the Prophet sales marketing software called The Professional? The Profession sales marketing software has all the features of the standard version plus more. With the Professional sales marketing software it’s possible to share sales data through a central server. This sales marketing software allows you to automate follow-ups with a sales assistant. Last but certainly not least the Professional Prophet sales marketing software gives you the ability to use centralized reporting for a sales team.

Enterprise sales marketing software.

The Avidian company has yet another level of the Prophet sales marketing software available. The most complete Prophet version of the sales marketing software is called Enterprise. The Enterprise sales marketing software includes everything from the standard and professional versions plus a few extras that make it the best sales marketing software program available. The Avidian Company has thought of everything with the Enterprise sales marketing software version. This version of sales marketing software allows you to automate your workflow activities and gives you advanced user permissions.

Prophet sales marketing software in a nutshell.

The Prophet sales marketing software is easy to use, affordable and fully integrated to work with your current Microsoft outlook program. Three versions of the Prophet sales marketing software programs are available through the Avidian Company. Prophet Standard sales marketing software for the beginning business or small business owner, Prophet Professional sales marketing software for the mid-level business and Prophet Professional sales marketing software for the big businesses.

Finding more information about the Prophet sales marketing software system.

Check out the Avidian Company and Prophet sales marketing software program at the Avidian Company website, Avidian.com. The website offers a demo of the Prophet sales marketing software along with an in-depth look at each different Prophet sales marketing software program. It also gives an overview of the Avidian Company, outlining services, customer support, news, and even a list of existing customers. These aren’t unknown customer names either! These customers can attest to the reliability of the Prophet sales marketing software program to anyone who asks. Guess what else the Avidian Company has to offer? A version of the Prophet sales marketing software to use with your handheld device.

Type of customer support for the Prophet sales marketing software program.

The Prophet sales marketing software program comes with installation instructions, a quick start guide and an online self-service tutorial. It even has a free self-service flash tutorial to learn how to best use Prophet as part of your sales marketing software program. Of course the Avidian Company offers customer service call representatives who can be reached by email, and phone, toll free.

Other services offered by Avidian.

Along with the Prophet sales marketing software program, the Avidian Company also offers technological services. Technological services are always important to any sales marketing software program. Avidian offers a Prophet Start Right Training program. It is designed to get small businesses or individual users up to speed quickly so they can use their Prophet sales marketing software right away. They also offer services such as Sales Process Optimization, Custom Corporate sales management training and consulting services.

A little about the company.

The Avidian Company is an award winning company and has received accolades from the mayor of Seattle. They have been named one of the fastest growing companies in Washington State for the year of 2006 for their sales marketing software program called Prophet. With over 10,000 companies worldwide using the Prophet sales marketing software program, you know the product has to be great! When you join the Avidian Company by purchasing one of their Prophet sales marketing software programs you become part of their family. The Avidian Company’s highest priority for the sales marketing software called Prophet is ease of use. Along with the importance of value and integrity of their products, the Avidian Company IS your family. If you can’t trust your family then whom can you trust?

How to order the Prophet Sales marketing software.

The Prophet sales marketing software programs can be ordered online or by phone. Go toAvidian.com. The order form is simple and easy to use. Just click on the version you wish to buy, ad it to your shopping cart and check out. Remember to check out some of the Avidian professional services available for order while you are there as well. When you purchase the Prophet sales marketing software program and you’ll be on your way to a better business.

About Avidian Technologies:

Avidian Technologies is a software company specializing in creating software solutions for users of Outlook and Exchange. Prophet, developed by Avidian Technologies on the .NET platform, is the leading contact management and sales CRM software built in Outlook. The company is headquartered in Redmond, Washington. For more information, please visit http://www.avidian.com or call 1-800-860-5534.

The town I grew up in has a small main street with over ten surf shops selling the same merchandise. This makes it very convenient for me to run down during my lunch hour and grab whatever I may need very quickly. On this occasion I needed a specific size of wetsuit so I made a few phone calls to make sure they had my size. I found two stores right across the street from one another that had my size. The first store couldn’t tell me the color of the wetsuit. The other store told me they had one in black after they put me on hold and physically checked. When I asked each of them if their other store locations had any in stock, rather than looking up stock balances on their point-of-sale systems, they gave me the phone numbers to the other stores and told me to call myself.

Feeling confident, I headed down during my lunch hour to buy my new wetsuit. When I walked into the first store, they had my size, as they told me they did on the phone, but the only color they had was red! Their point-of-sale software couldn’t give them that important information and so they couldn’t relay it to me. I shot the sales person an unhappy look, and he simply said, “I know”. So I left that store with my $400.00 and walked across the street to the second store that had my size and in the standard black color that I wanted.

I found the wetsuit in the second store right away. The time limit on my parking meter and lunch hour were expiring so I was in a hurry. I took the wetsuit to the first counter and the clerk told me the system was down; and then asked if I could move to another checkout counter. At the next one, the girl said the receipt printer was out of paper and she didn’t know how to replace it. At the third counter, the clerk could ring me up but only if I were paying cash because they were trying to fix a credit card machine batch error. Each of their checkout counters are in different places throughout the store, so at that point I was done. They also lost a $400.00 purchase due to their point-of-sale system.

Walking back to my car, I decided to quickly check a smaller store on the same street. Rather than searching myself, I simply walked up to the counter and asked them if they had the black wetsuit I wanted in my size. The clerk looked it up on the screen and then brought it back to me while I never left the counter. That’s service! Their point-of-sale system was quick and efficient. Since I’m in the point-of-sale industry, I also noticed that they had up-to-date hardware, software, and credit card processing. The efficiency of their point-of-sale system made it easy for me to buy and earned them the $400.00 sale.

 Driving back to the office, I wondered how many times sales simply walk out of stores because of their point-of-sale systems. The products most retailers sell aren’t unique so the emphasis should be on customer service and making it easy for a customer to buy. Otherwise, a customer can simply walk to another retailer and buy the same item. Follow these tips to insure your point-of-sale system isn’t costing you sales.

 Training – Training your front line employees on the proper use of the point-of-sale system should be a top priority. This training should include all aspects of the system that allow them to serve the customer more efficiently. Most clerks seem to know just the basics, and any anomaly forces them to stop production (sales) and wait for help. Just think about how many times you’ve been in a line and are forced to wait while a customer pulls out a coupon, is exchanging merchandise, or is trying to buy an item without a barcode.  And these are just the basics.

Cashier training should also include advanced functions such as checking stock levels for in-store customers as well as call-in customers, checking stock levels at other stores, initiating a store transfer, searching for merchandise in the system, ringing items with missing bar code tags, and any simple hardware malfunctions that may occur (these would include changing receipt paper, rebooting a computer, and so on).

 Accurate Inventory – The accuracy of the point-of-sale information is only reliable when the users are reliable and disciplined. Unreliable information is an indication of an undisciplined user. How many times have you heard store employees say “the system shows we have one, but I’d call first to verify.”? Or worse, a store tells you the system confirms they have several, and you make the trip, only to find they have none.

To insure accurate and reliable on-hand inventory levels within the point-of-sale software, the user must:

1.       Perform a regular physical inventory. These should be performed quarterly as part of the auditing process when preparing quarterly financial statements.

2.       Cycle Counts – If a quarterly inventory process is too much of a challenge, perform cycle counts within the best selling departments or vendors lines.

3.       Do not allow employees to sell goods classified with a miscellaneous SKU (Stock Keeping Unit). Inventory levels will never be adjusted properly.

4.       Scan the bar code of every item sold. Entering an item number manually into the system will never account for size and color based items. An item UPC (Universal Product Code) bar code is different for each size and color.

5.       Insure the store locations are communicating with each other flawlessly. Whether your system is a real-time configuration or a polling configuration; proper communications will either make or break the reliability of the point-of-sale information. Sales, returns, receiving, adjustments, and transfers all affect stock levels. A store location can never know if an item is in inventory or has sold out unless it is communicated to them.

 Modern Hardware – You should pay attention to the aesthetics of the point-of-sale hardware just as you would to any other store fixture. You will interact with customers more at the cash wrap than any other area in the store; so make sure to make it a pleasant experience.

Most name brand hardware today is a bargain compared to a few years ago. It also gives your store an updated appearance. Although it will cost slightly more than “cheap” hardware, it will more than pay for itself with the reliability it offers. Modern hardware also requires less real-estate at the cash wrap; touch screens and flat screens don’t require a mouse and take up less space. An all-in-one type of unit offers all of the components, including the computer, built into the monitor.

The best part of name brand point-of-sale hardware is that it works reliably. POS hardware companies have industrialized their computers and peripherals to meet the rigorous demands of the retail environment. These types of computers and printers will cost more, but their duty cycles vastly outperform any comparable consumer level device. Consumer level computers are not designed to operate non-stop for 12-24 hours per day.

 Integrated Credit Card Processing – Save yourself and your customers the frustration of those little grey boxes. Anytime you can minimize devices or suppliers, your quality will always improve. Most point-of-sale systems today offer a credit card processing feature within the application. Using the software versus dedicated hardware allows you to speed transaction times, reduce costs for paper and dedicated phone lines, decrease training confusion, reduce theft, and free up valuable counter space. It’s a winner on all levels.

 Easy To Load Receipt Printers – The days of 2-ply and 3-ply receipt paper are long gone. Most point-of-sale software today allows you to recall a receipt onto the screen for reprints. If your software has this feature, dump the slow dot-matrix printer and get one of the faster thermal printers on the market today. In addition to being fast and quiet, they also offer lower paper costs and can be loaded with the press of a button. When the paper runs out, cashiers simply press the open button and drop in a new roll. Anyone can learn this within seconds, and they will no longer have to wait for a manager to perform the old task of threading multi-part paper through the maze of spools.

Having a point-of-sale system and using it strategically are two very different things. Rather than using the point-of-sale system as a glorified cash register; use it to provide superior customer service. The difference will earn you the sales that are walking out of your competitor’s doors.

Earlier this year, DFC Intelligence, expert in video game and entertainment market research, released their forecasts for the gaming industry. Different sources make it quite clear that Nintendo Wii is whizzing past its competition in terms of sales but Microsoftâ??s horse follows close behind. DFC analyst David Cole pointed out how likely Sony will be leading in the console race even if Nintendoâ??s console continues to sell.

Every year thereâ??s a toy that sells out almost overnight. Worried parents spend days trying to track one down, and in the run-up to Christmas it becomes a must-have with children. Retailers in England have said that the following items are vanishing fast:

1) Nintendo Wii

2) HomerSapien â?? a robotic toy that looks and speaks like Homer Simpson

3) Xbox 360 Core

4) iTeddy â?? a teddy bear with a media playing device in its stomach

The Nintendo Wii managed to reclaim its number 1 position last October due to the release of Halo 3, after being consigned to second place by the Xbox 360 in hardware sales in September, according to the NPD results on the NeoGAF forums. The Wii sold 519,000 units in October, with the DS coming in second with 458,000 sold. In terms of software sales, Halo 3 was still on top of the pile, selling 433,800 copies, and the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock selling 383,200 copies.

On â??Cyber-Monday,â? the Monday after Thanksgiving, consumers spent $733 million bargain hunting, up 21 percent from a year earlier, and some analysts expect that one-day tally to be topped as Christmas nears. Wal-Mart Stores, Best Buy Company and Amazon.com Inc. were among the principal online traffic winners the Monday after Thanksgiving, according to stats from Internet research firm comScore Inc.

Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org, said in a prepared statement, â??on Cyber Monday, consumers remind retailers that thereâ??s nothing like a bargain to motivate people to spend.â? Shop.org coined the term â??Cyber Mondayâ? in 2005, after vendors observed a trend of people shopping online on the Monday after Thanksgiving. The website with the same name â?? CyberMonday.com â?? drew more than 1.5 million unique visitors on Cyber Monday, five times more than last year, according to Mall Networks, which powers the site.

ComScore is predicting that while Cyber Monday represented online retailâ??s first $700 million day, several days this holiday season will see even heavier performances. Senior comScore Analyst Andrew Lipsman told InternetNews.com, â??I think we can expect Monday [Dec. 10] to be one of the bigger days, if not the biggest.â? That could be the day when e-commerce hits the $800 million mark.

Cyber Monday has become the traditional kick-off to the online holiday shopping season. Coremetrics wagered that the top sales day would occur on Dec. 4. For its part, CyberSource forecast the heaviest volume of online holiday shopping would take place on Dec. 18. Still, there is an abundance of Web deals available to holiday shoppers, regardless of which day rings in record-breaking sales.

The marketing manager from company “A” might try to convince the finance department to increase its budget or try to invoke a jolt of energy into the sales force via pep talks or threats to increase sales for the upcoming quarter.

This approach, though sometimes work in the short-term, is generally very stressful and less predictable in the long-term. When quotas aren’t met everyone usually trades blame which leads to more frustrations.

Is their another way?

Enter the world of company “B” where incremental innovation is ongoing. Company “B” knows the importance of incremental innovation and thereby makes it a part of the job description. When applied to sales and marketing the result is a system that converts more prospects and turn the competition into followers.

This is the approach company “B” uses to thrive and lead the market.

Professional marketers use incremental innovation all the time to increase conversion rate. An example would be testing which headline in a split test converts more prospects.

So how would you go about getting your employees in sales and marketing to commit to your incremental innovation program? Remember, incremental innovation occurs by making a small change then conducting a test against the control then making another change and conducting another test then repeat until you have a well optimized process.

First, your employees need to know how to use their imaginations. Without the use of their imaginations breakthroughs aren’t possible. It is the thinking tool that makes innovation possible. It’s the most potent tool everyone has at their disposal. It’s not money or even superior products.

Second, they need to know how to ask the most appropriate question at each step. Using your imagination is all about asking the right questions at each step of the way which naturally leads to small breakthroughs. Each of these small breakthroughs gives you greater insights into your prospects mind which leads to better marketing and increases in sales.

Third, the incentive for following the innovation program should be one that motivates the staff to act in the way you want them to.

One might ask, why doesn’t company “A” implement the incremental innovation approach? There are several reasons, such as ignorance of the alternatives and ignorance of the ease with which any alternative can be implemented.

A marketing manager from company “A” might state, I know it’s important to innovate but how do I get my employees to innovate and how much will it cost in time and real dollars? Other obstacles include employees who are reluctant to committing themselves to an innovation program. However, if the right incentives are in place few would object.

Imagine if the sales manager had to lay off a few workers in a short while and were to say to them, if you can find a unique way to improve sales, then the additional revenues would help to justify to the higher-ups to keep everyone. In fact, this example was used in Ray Giles book “Turn Your Imagination Into Money”, one of the best books on the use of the imagination in incremental innovation. It’s available at http://www.ImaginationBook.com. Giles shows in an example how quickly sales rose by 20% when one sales manager tried this approach. And best of all it didn’t cost much – no money, only a little time. This is the kind of virtually-cost-free innovation that causes company “B” to excel.

Company “B” excels because it’s committed to an incremental innovations program and your people will take innovation seriously if they realize that as innovation increases so do sales, their commissions and bonuses.

So company “B” has a successful feedback mechanism where everyone wins. The company wins with additional revenues, the marketing manager wins with a bigger bonus, less headache and less pep talk and the sales force wins with greater commissions.

Over time, company “B” will have well tested and highly optimized marketing and sales processes that yield great results. Aren’t these the processes that every company wants? They can be implemented and best of all they are cost-free.