Grant Bros Sales - wondering when we get a visit ?

Called up Grant Bros to see if Terry Bax is still our rep for Grant Bros Sales - came across an older e-mail that reminded us he hasn't been in ( or at least to see me ) --check our green book ( that reps sign in - an idea we 'borrowed' from Ideal Supply over 30 years ago ) ---was March of 2010 ... guess we might be due sometime ??

Was talking with Fiona at Grant Bros -she has always been a source of helpful info to supplement the many Grant Bros reps over the years that felt we were too far away to bother to call on in a regular manner ... something she said hit a nerve .... 'have you seen the GREEN GRASS at Toronto Airport .... because they use Everything Cleaner

CCM 100001 4 L jug with extra spray bottle

CCM 100990 990 ml spray ( some store still have older 600 ml size - to clear out #100600

CCM 100020 20 liter pail.

Only D&T has done anything with this line- Petes & Auto Barn have stalled. In part because we all liked the product that EVERYTHING had replaced ... and that is why I have used the OLD GRUPPY GUYS image from the muppets -- maybe that is us -- crabby -- and holding a gru

dge ... maybe it is time for us to get over that and to TRY the everything cleaner ONE MORE TIME.

PS - this line is also a DS line in AS - supplier #1-272

Time to clean up ????

POPULARITY LISTS ON INDUSTRIAL CAT

The Auto Sense Industrial - Commercial catalogue should be a great sales builder ... but managers are not setting the stock levels that I might have expected ... so I will and then tell you -- anyone who wants to over rule my work can - but do it within the period that you set for your stocking orders

Example - Shop Vac - added the top 5 items - see image - click to enlarge

Will do more as we get these updates

Testing the Nex-Gen e-cat -- IMPORTANT

It is IMPORTANT for someone at each store to be in charge of the 'official' testing for the beta on the NEX-GEN E-CAT

Ken at D&T was mentioning that 'recently' the NEX-GEN was asking more and more questions that seem 'DUMB' and not required for the product we are selling. Well -- he found a really good example ( that we have made Raleigh aware of as of yesterday ) -- 97 Honda Accord hub bearings

Use ACTIVANT AND YOU ARE ASKED ONE QUESTION -- USE NEX-GEN AND IF YOU ANSWE 'DON'T KNOW -- YOU WILL GET APPROX 8 QUESTIONS .....

EVEN MORE IMPORTANT --THESE SAME POOR QUESTIONS show up on WEB-LINK2 for our customers .... that is a SOLID reason why all salesmen should be watching the new e-cat .... our customers will only handle dumbness for so long ...

POINT -- use the PRS ( Product Resolution System ) to report problems .... get the problems back to Toronto or Raleigh....

Thank you

Payroll

Please have payroll data to me for Tuesday, March 29th for 8AM. Payroll will be deposited on March 31st IF everything is here on time for Tuesday.

little things piss me off - sorry --character flaw ....

Yep -- little things piss me off .... and I accept that is is just a character flaw on my part .... but things like this below -- fudging the percentages just get me annoyed all to hell.

Background - if you see a hotel room advertised at $100 regular and now save 25% percent ... you would assume you are paying $75 ...right ?

Well - CARQUEST doesn't think so ( at least CARQUEST Canada ) --they show the normal jobber net cost --and the new sale net cost --and fudge the percentage .... how you ask- glad you asked ...they take the savings ( old cost minus new cost ) and divide by the NEW COST.

The example of the hotel room used above -- $100 now $80 .... saving of $20 / divided by $80 == and voila ... your saving of 25% ..... well in my book that is only a savings of 20% ( 20/100 )

Why CARQUEST does this is way beyond my ... we have mentioned this several times over the years ... they must assume that the average jobber is a dunce on percentages .... the error gets MUCH larger as the number gets bigger ... just try a 50% off price - become a 100% in their minds ... what bull shit ....

IATN continue to improve

I have forwarded an e-mail to the salesmen - but thought that all staff should be aware of how IATN web site continues to improve ... they have added helpful quicky video's on to how to best use the tools they have available.

We are a sponsoring member for many years and continue to encourage our customers to also use and become a sponsor member for a very reasonable price....

The image shown links HERE -- click here -- try the one I circled or one of the others -- impressive

The perils of using NEW TECHNOLOGY .....

We are experimenting with doing things smarter ..... by using CLOUD COMPUTING for various multi-store info... we use google doc's to share smaller excel & word type files - here we can set the permissions to EDIT or just LOOK.

For larger more complex files we use DROPBOX ... but one of the problems we have is ... they (at this time ) do NOT have an option to just LOOK -- so if you get permission for a file -- YOU can DELETE IT .... you should NOT drag it to your desktop --as that will remove it from the dropbox and it is NOW only on your computer. On a Mac you could OPTION & drag --I assume that windows has something similar .... but if in doubt -- double click and open it ... and then SAVE AS (hint -add the word copy somewhere ) to your proper spot ... or if you are a typical windows user --you proper spot seems to be the desktop ... ( sorry -- just a Mac user rant here ... )

If this is new to you -- here is what we have done so far

-salesmen use Google Doc's to post their sales calls and to update their monthly sales sheets

-our billing exception spreadsheet is on Dropbox ...so managers can always have a NEW up to date copy of how we IMPROVE the standard CARQUEST billing schedule

-our complete inventory data dump ( now split into X lines and CQ lines ) are available on DROPBOX for store managers - if they want to do some work by line or on any kind of sort ( example - we cleaned up a file for all parts on hand with a REPLACED BY data )

-our wage surplus data is on Google Doc's -- so your manager can encourage you to work smarter so we have larger year end bonuses ... and the list goes on and on ... all this new tech stuff allows us to save paper and to provide you more timely data.

BUT -- we really get fouled up on the learning curve ... smile

Also - your log-in to either Dropbox or Google Doc's are extremely confidential ... do NOT share. If a staff member needs access-- have him contact Greg H for his/her own user name & password.

CARQUEST Link - we can trip up ourselves

Yep -- we all HATE the CARQUEST Link -- but this dislike can trip us up -- sure--the USA guys have something that at least LOOKS like it belongs on the year 2000 while we are stuck in 1990's looking internet .... but lets look at what we might have forgotten

1) REMEMBER that we do NOT get any reminders ( the red number indicating NEW unread items ) like we get in classgrams and below .... so for announcements and promotions -== we have to click --and wait ( yep - slow server ) ---and look to see if anything is new

2) REMEMBER --if you only go to the link once a week--the HEADLINE items fall off after 2-3 days --we have repeatedly urged CARQUEST to fix this ... but ... they are here today and not tomorrow - if you see something of interest -- PLEASE tell your fellow staff members as a nice gesture.

3) REMEMBER ---well - not a remember --this is NEW for me .... see the larger image -- at the BOTTOM of the promotions is an upcoming FUTURE PROMOTIONS info --- gee ... I have been in CQ since Jan 2004 --this is new for me -- normally at the bottom of the page is just OLDER stuff .... I will have to watch for this

Now --some house keeping points

-the 6 battery display info WAS posted in early March .... and no one from any of our stores found it ...that doesn't speak well of our training to READ the link --even if it does SUCK --we have to get better at READING ..... myself especially

-the U1 and marine promo is posted ( see point made on UPCOMING PROMOTIONS ) - we have urged CQ to remind their staff ( since it was unknown at the meeting yesterday by a CQ rep ) ... we all need to improve our ability to find data on the link

-the inof on e-sales and WPC sales have bad links - I have asked them ?? they either posted by mistake and we are not intended to see this or they are getting there data out faster ( I think the first is the fact ... but will see)

Police Pads and Rotors

Ken at yesterdays staff meeting showed an example of the Raybestos police pads ( GDP1040A ) --the normal Raybestos part number appears to be ATD1040AP ... in case we run low on stock from CARQUEST ( watch price - this example was MORE MONEY from another source using the ATD part # )

Here is the link to the Raybestos web based e-cat for police parts -- get a minute and compare to our e-cat (click here ) .....

Click here for a PR piece on how the police pads are tested ......

Why vacations get in the way of helping CHANGE

the last 2 months have been quiet on this blog -- gee ... can it have a bearing on the fact that Greg H was on vacation in Calif for that period ... well ... I am back ... lets see how we can get the ball rolling again. Once I clear some ...err ...paper work...