Posts

Case Study: Ralph E. Russell Co., Inc.

“Once we used dynaMACS we were hooked. We wouldn’t use any other software for tracking sales and commissions.”

Cathy Pierstorff
Ralph E. Russell Co., Inc.

Ralph_E_Rusell_LogoClient Challenge

Back in 2002, Ralph E Russell, a sales agency in the automotive hardware, industrial and agriculture industry, had had it with their old software. “It was a custom-written program, and there were so many glitches. Nothing was easy and we spent too much time fixing mistakes,” says office manager and operator Cathy Pierstorff.

Ralph_E_Russell_StatisticsdynaMACS Solution

All that changed after Ralph E. Russell Co. saw a demo of dynaMACS. Once the agency made the switch, tracking sales and commissions was never the same. “Once we used dynaMACS, we were hooked. We wouldn’t use any other software program for tracking sales and commissions,” Pierstorff says.

She was impressed that dynaMACS seamlessly transferred a year’s worth of sales and commission numbers from the old software. The agency didn’t lose any information, and Pierstorff says the software was so user friendly, the agency was up and running with no downtime.

“dynaMACS has made sales and commission processes more organized and less time consuming,” Pierstorff, a long-time dynaMACS user, says.

With dynaMACS, the Ralph E. Russell team has instant on-screen access to all sales and commission information. The agency can analyze sales trends, choose how they want to view information, calculate commissions and customize reporting.

dynaMACS gives us the ability to access sales information, sales trends and profitability accurately throughout the year. It’s a very valuable tool for our company, said R.E. (Butch) Russell.

When the team at Ralph E. Russell agency found dynaMACS, they found an efficient and easy way to analyze sales, pay reps and track commissions.

Case Study: Atlantic Marketing Company

“We’re more efficient, better at planning and better at allocating resources to the areas where we’re earning the most income.”

Brandon Flack, President
Atlantic Marketing Company

Atlantic_Marketing_LogoClient Challenge

While Atlantic Marketing Company thrives on efficiency, the sales agency identified two areas that needed improvement. First, reduce the amount of time it took to manually enter sales and commission data. Second, communicate key sales data faster and easier to reps, regional offices and management.

Atlantic_Marketing_StatisticsdynaMACS Solution

One solution solved both challenges: dynaMACS. Brandon Flack, President of Atlantic Marketing, says of the software: “We’re more efficient, better at planning and better at allocating resources to the areas where we’re earning the most income.” dynaMACS also identifies regions that are underperforming and helps uncover trends that could be causing a territory to fall behind.

Atlantic Marketing uses dynaMACS on the cloud, so data is processed and always accessible. Flack logs in and sees the most recent information. Flack says he uses dynaMACS to:

    “Whether it’s good or bad, I can understand why.”

    Compare historical data. “I can select data for any point in time and see sales history for up to 5 years.”

    Communication tool: “I conduct conference calls with manufacturers to review and discuss performance.” 

    “I view monthly reports by sales rep.”

The agency uses eSi to process electronic files (like excel spreadsheets) provided by manufacturers. From a time-saving perspective, Office Manager Kristen Townsend, says “I’m able to maximize my time. With eSi, I don’t need to do data entry. I no longer need physical invoices for commission reconciliation. Once a manufacturer is set up in eSi, I receive an attachment, hit upload and I’m done. I can’t even calculate the amount of time I save. The difference is amazing.”

The bottom line: dynaMACS is a powerful and user friendly tool that makes it easy to receive, distribute, view, analyze and share data. What could be more efficient than that?

Case Study: Dan Beaudet Co.

“With my old software, the reporting format was less intuitive and more cumbersome. dynaMACS flows easily and has already resulted in more profitability.”

Dan Beaudet, President
Dan Beaudet Co.

Dan_Beaudet_LogoClient Challenge

With Dan Beaudet’s old sales agency software, RPMS, getting timely data was an issue. Printed reports provided by the data entry person at month-end was the only access Beaudet had to sales data. During the month, he often felt he was in the dark.

Furthermore, Beaudet says, “There was no way to manipulate the data, no way to review the information in different ways, such as looking at a particular customer’s sales figures. With my old software, the reporting format was less intuitive and cumbersome. dynaMACS flows easily and has already resulted in more profitability.”

Dan_Beaudet_StatisticsdynaMACS Solution

When the agency switched to dynaMACS, Beaudet saw an immediate difference. “dynaMACS’ Sales IQ tells me everything I need to know quickly. It cross-references everything, so no matter what screen I’m on, I can click and filter the data in many different ways. It is so easy to get the information you want.”

Because Beaudet purchased eSi, a feature that enables him to import sales and commission information that his manufacturers send electronically, data entry is a thing of the past – as is waiting for month-end to see sales figures.

Beaudet now spends less time managing invoices and commission statements and more time with his customers. In fact, his sales information enhances his meeting with customers.

“It’s very impressive to a customer when you can pull up sales information at his desk, on your laptop. I bring up data on the lines I represent, and show how each did year-to-date this year versus last. Then with a mouse click, I show a graph illustrating that data. The response is always a “wow.” They know that I am on top of what’s happening and that’s very reassuring to them.”

When asked to rate his old software with dynaMACS, Beaudet says, “It doesn’t compare.”

Case Study: Gulf Atlantic Marketing, Inc.

dynaMACS has made a world of difference in how efficiently our agency operates.

Jim Warner, Sales Manager
Gulf Atlantic Marketing, Inc.

Gulf_Atlantic_LogoClient Challenge

Gulf Atlantic Marketing battled with a custom software program for years. “Getting information was always a chore; the reports were clumsy and hard to format. Every week, we ran into things the system couldn’t do,” says Sales Manager Jim Warner. Another big frustration: the many hours spent manually keying in thousands of sales invoices from factories. “With paper invoices, we always had a stack that was a foot high waiting to be entered.”








Gulf_Atlantic_StatisticsdynaMACS Solution

dynaMACS changed all that. “When it comes to getting factories’ sales information into the computer with no manual keying, nothing beats eSi,” Warner says. “It’s quick and easy and there are no errors.” The agency receives the information electronically on the same day that the manufacturer sends it and can process the information immediately – taking just minutes and requiring no manual entry.

Warner says the transition to dynaMACS couldn’t have been easier. “dynaMACS moved five years worth of data with no errors and no problems. We had a very useable tool instantly.” The agency has comprehensive sales and commission data at their fingertips – no more struggling with formatting reports. “Everything we need is right there on the screen. We can instantly find the answers we need.” Warner says he is quickly able to answer day-to-day questions and is that come up, such as “where can a prospect buy in Tennessee; did a customer purchase from a certain factory last year; or what invoices haven’t been paid and how old are they?”

Warner goes on to say, “Today, we operate in a proactive mode, whereas before, everything was reactive. dynaMACS has made a world of difference in how efficiently our sales agency operates.”

Tip #1307 – Analyzing Top and Bottom Performing Accounts

The Sales Analysis Report Generator is a powerful feature of dynaMACS that provides you with virtually limitless possibilities for generating vital sales and commission reports.

Using the Sales Analysis Report Generator we will demonstrate how you can create a sales and commission report that will summarize total agency performance and identify the top and bottom 20 customers based on year-to-date sales increase/decrease.

  1. From the dynaMACS main screen select the Reporticon and then the Sales Analysis icon.Main Screen
  2. Select Shipment for the Source of Data.
  3. Select the Column Set of Sales and Agency Commission then highlight G4.
  4. Select Sub-Totals Group of Customer then highlight C1
  5. Check the Descend By box
  6. Select Option 9 – Sales-Comp YTDs from the Descend By Options List.Sales Analysis Reports Screen 1
  7. In the Select Range or Top/Bottom dialog box select the Select Top/Bottom Range radio button.
  8. Enter 20 in the Top field and in the Bottom field and select the OK button.Select Range Dialog Box Note
  9. Check the Summarize Locations box.  This will combine individual locations into a total for the headquarters for customers with multiple locations.Sales Analysis Reports Screen 2
  10. Select the Print button.Sales Analysis Reports Screen 3
  11. The Top 20 customers are displayed with the greatest Y-T-D sales increase.
  12. A Summary of “All Other” customers is displayed
  13. The Bottom 20 customers are displayed with the greatest Y-T-D sales decrease.Sample Report

Tip #1306 – Using dynaMACS Mailing List Export

The dynaMACS Mailing List Export is a simple feature that allows you to create a customer list that can be exported for use in another program. This feature lets you target specific customers by filtering on data fields from the customer records in dynaMACS. You can also include or exclude customers that purchase from certain manufacturers.

The following example explains how to select the mailing list options in dynaMACS and export the file. In this example we will create a list of all customers in sales rep Jim Blacks territory.

Creating a List from the Mailing List Export Screen

  1. From the dynaMACS main screen select Tools>Mailing List ExportdynaMACS Main Screen
  2. In the Mailing List Export screen enter JB in the Rep field.
  3. Select the Proceed button.Mail List Export Screen
  4. The following dialog box will appear providing you with the export file location and the details of the records in the file.Export Complete Dialog Box  Note_Revised
  5. Next a Printing Options dialog box will appear. This is a confirmation of the file location and details which was displayed in the previous dialog box. You can select the Preview button to preview the details, the Print button to print the details or the Exit button to close the dialog box. Printing Options Screen
  6. To retrieve your file go to the file location which will be in the DYNAMACS/WORKING directory called DM_EXP.Filter_List