Monday, May 28, 2012

another chapter in the storey .... Wordpress







PLEASE CLICK HERE ..... to see the new home for this blog .....





Blogspot has been good - but we need an excuse to learn Wordpress ...


click here for a NEW BLOG on Internet issues with CARQUEST ...


click here for the NEW BLOG for EXPLORIS issues with CARQUEST


Why Wordpress ... we keep hearing how Wordpress is a good solution for building a web presence so content can be updated ( unlike our existing web pages that are way out of date ) ...stay tuned --more stuff coming .... in the meantime --thank you bloodspot ...

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

how do stores learn to sell wheel weights ?????

so - what does it take to get salesmen to sell wheel weights ??  D&T does OK --but Petes & Auto Barn a distant 2nd and 3rd ????


I was talking with a partner and mentioned I see 'resistance to change' in many places .... why ?

Payroll

I will be doing payroll on Tuesday, May 29th.  Please make sure that all timesheets and vacation/sick days are sent in for first thing in the morning.  Payroll will be deposited on Thursday, May 31st.

Thank-you.

Monday, May 14, 2012

The most underused SCREEN in EXPLORIS ... is....

I think the most underused screen in EXPLORIS ( eBay nee WHI's Nexpart ) is the Multi-Store Creator-Editor ... assuming you are a multi-store jobber

It SUCKS big time -- to add a part to your store ... trust me -- it misses key items that makes the part stand out like an orphan ... BUT ...what it is good at .... by default ...since we have nothing else like it  .... is in LOOKING to see how you stores order point ( stock level at which the system re-orders ) ... does you store have ENOUGH ... if you try to stock just one --and you sell it often -- and you are always running out .... hmm ... time to INCREASE the stock level ....

One small point -- when you change the ORDER PNT ( order point ) -- from say 1 to 2 .... HIT the RETURN BUTTON ....you will see the cell turns a slight different colour of green --and the system will update the change ... try it both ways ... only one way works ... got to love the programmers at EXPLORIS WHI head office ....

Case in point --does Petes and Auto Barn have enough of PLB 194B2 ?????  How many other parts are like this ??  For this example I have collapsed some fields so you can see Qty Available ... Order Point ... and a few of the SALES Hist ( Hist1 is last month ...Hist24 is 2 years ago ... only months with data shows ... so no store sold 2 months ago -as there is no Hist2 showing )

A sign of a KEY STAFF MEMBER would ( and should be ) the ability top look at this screen and make a decision ,....

This is being cross posted to our EXPLORIS blog ...


CORNERSTONES -- ??

You have to wonder where the 'spirit' is at CARQUEST these days .... when is the last time they tried to help jobbers get smarter ??  They seem just happy being a WAREHOUSE and forgetting they are running a chain of Auto Parts stores ....  and I hate to admit it -- we need to re-minded of things we already know .. but have forgotten ....

BUT --wait there is hope -- CORNERSTONES -- a publication from 1970's ?? is on the link -- heavily buried and  rarely reviewed ( until now ) ....  

Mike Parker writes ....

 During our meeting this week you inquired about the “Cornerstones” you will find them on the CQ Link under Communications>Handbooks and manuals> cornerstones.

Mike Parker
Account Executive

buried and  rarely reviewed ( until now ) ....   go try one --and rate it ... print it off and bring it to a staff meeting ... and use this as your whats new .... all we ask is that you have read it --and see if you agree with what it says ....

The driving force behind these is very much missed ...and no one has yet to improve upon these ..but in fact most of these stand the test of time very well ...  and just smile that something that was originally typewritten is still current ...  oh ...forgot -- many of you don;t know what a typewriter is ( or was ).

Thursday, May 10, 2012

how often should we review OLD STUFF

How often to go thru OLD STUFF ( see image ) and repeat ..many idea's are timeless .... the young the customer the less likely they understand markup and margin ...eh ?

How many other idea's have we had that are worth repeating more often ?

IF you can;t figure this out - it is the MS Word template to print avery labels for MARKUP & MARGIN


Monday, May 07, 2012

good YouTube help videos

you can log in ( once you register ) with youtube and subscribe to various 'channels' ... we also list suppliers that support youtube video's on the googledoc page for supplier e-cat ... here is an example