Route Businesses

Sales Reps Businesses

Trade Show Businesses

Any Business for Digital Sales

INTRODUCTION

In 1999, Route Manager Professional for Quickbooks Pro was released. This product, originally designed for bakeries, now supports hundreds of sales and distributions industries and integrates with multiple accounting and contact management packages.

There is no need to maintain two separate customer lists again. The Route Controller pulls all customer information from your existing accounting and distribution system. The controller detects changes in the customer database and automatically updates the Route Clients with those changes.

The Route Controller lets you select which customers go with each Route Client in your business. For both security and efficiency purposes, you may not want each route sales representative to have your entire customer list on each hand-held device. The Route Controller gives you the ability to "point and click" which customers should be on each route.

The integration goes both ways. If a sales representative signs up a new client, he need not wait for your accounting department to enter the information into the system. With the entry of a few "key" fields, the salesperson can enter critical information about the customer (name, address, etc) and enter an order or sale.

Much like customer data, inventory item information is stored on the remote device and kept current by the Route Controller. Critical item information is stored and corresponds on a one-to-one basis with your accounting and distribution system. If you add a new product or change the product’s description, the Route Controller automatically updates your remote devices with this new information.

Search for by item number or partial description. If you have your items categorized, you may also search for items in a product category. You may "Zoom" in on inventory to see what is on hand, committed, on order, backordered and in transit for any of your stocking locations.

Item notes may be viewed during "Zoom" to allow the sales representative to more fully inform the customer about the product or the use of the product. A page of notes can be automatically displayed for an item to "power sell" related items.

Depending on the pricing features of your accounting and distribution system, the Route Client can automatically price items for specific customers. Merchandise can be priced automatically based on list price, quantity breaks, customer discounts, or a markup on cost.

Special sale prices can be date (and time) activated for limited-time item promotions. View sales and special price breaks at any time during an item "Zoom."

On the road, speed of processing is critical. The Route Client gives sales representatives tools for quick ticket entry. Three key steps make up the Route Client ticket entry process…Customer Selection, Item Entry and Payment Processing.

The Route Client lets you select customers by customer number or customer name. Define the route sequence for the salesperson and simply select the next stop on the list. Once selected, "Zoom" to details about the customer and even view directions for the client. Once the customer has been serviced, the route sequence will take you to the next customer on the route.

Selecting items being sold couldn’t be easier. Enter items by their item number, search for items by their number or description or search for items by their category. Organize hot keys using the Route Controller and give salespeople the ability to touch their way to selecting items. When using the hot keys, select a category button and drill down to the item you wish to add to the order by simply touching buttons.

The Route Client stores UPC codes along with item information for easy input into store’s DEX systems. Soon to be supported by the route client will be barcode scanning and an automatic interface to DEX.

This is no standard route system. Because the Route Client supports multiple order type modes, the Route Client can be used by a variety of organizations.

Select the Quotation order type and let project managers go on-site to estimate a job for a client. Since these quotations pass directly to your accounting and distribution system, there’s no need to re-key the documents. Print the quotation immediately for the client and even capture the client’s signature for acceptance.

Send the hand-held out with sales representatives to take advance orders for customers using the Order order type. If you don’t deliver, record shipping method and any special shipping instructions specified by the customer. Take advance payment or easily record a deposit for the order.

In standard delivery mode, use the Invoice order type to record the sale and delivery of items to the customer. When the invoice passes to your accounting and distribution system, inventory is automatically relieved and the ticket is ready for posting. Immediately print a receipt for the customer and capture an authorized signature accepting the goods.

The Route Client comes with pre-defined payment types. Your sales and delivery representatives can accept cash, checks, credit cards and charge to customer accounts. If a customer is on credit hold, the Route Client disallows any charging activity by that customer.

Credit card processing is a nice option for those clients who wish to pay by credit card. With the ICVerify® add-on to the Route Controller, automatically charge credit cards when the tickets are uploaded to the home office computer. Soon to be released is the Route Client’s secured processor. This processor will use cellular technology to automatically authorize credit cards right at the client site.

An instantaneous summary of activity is available at any time from the activity view screen. This inquiry displays the day’s sales and order activity as well as the exact amounts of cash, checks, credit cards and house charge account balances. View this report at any time throughout the day or print the report to your portable printer.

Manage regular recurring orders for customers and schedule them for periodic time intervals (e.g. every other day). Attach template orders to the route schedule and use the hand-held as a delivery sheet. Simply "check off" the delivered items and add to or modify the order on-site. The template order then immediately becomes the delivery ticket.

Pull delivery orders from your accounting system to eliminate double entry. Use the quick-entry form in the Route Controller to manage phone-in orders. These orders automatically feed into the route client.

If your company regularly calls clients to get their day’s order, link the Route Controller with GoldMine® 4.0 and schedule your customer call list. This process feeds the route client and also tracks the customer’s orders in GoldMine’s history.

Keeping customers, inventory, routes, orders, invoices and quotes synchronized between your sales representatives’ devices and the home office computer couldn’t be more easy or accurate. The Route Client uses Microsoft® ActiveSync® technology to keep things up-to-date.

Bring the hand-held into the office and synchronize via a cradle or through IR communications. You may also let salespeople dial into the internet and synchronize on-line. Other options are available to have your PDA connected to the internet via a cellular modem with IP Data connection.

Does your company have specific processing needs? We provide consulting and custom programming services for your every need. With code developed in Visual Basic and Visual C++, we can respond quickly to your processing requests.

Route Management provides valuable benefits to any business that desires to:

• Provide representatives with inventory and customer information.
• Provide Internet Technology without needing a E-Commerce website.
• Provide Internet Technology with email.
• Simplify the delivery process.
• Reduce or virtually eliminate clerical processing.
• Increase time for customer contacts.
• Promote additional sales.
• Correctly price items for customers.
• Reduce errors and shrinkage.
• Improve audit controls and accounting efficiency.
• Operate profitably and securely.

Route Management integrates seamlessly with a wide variety of accounting and distribution software:

Route Management utilizes Casio hand-held PDAs and Eltron P2242 portable thermal printers. As an option, the Route Client can use Okidata serial printers for standard invoice printing on 8.5x11" paper.

The Route Client runs under Windows/CE® and is written in Visual Basic for CE, incorporating powerful ActiveX components for simplified use. The Route Manager is a 32 bit Visual Basic product that runs under Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows NT.

**NOTE: Great Plains, Macola and Mas200 MSSQL Versions of the Integration software are $7,995.

PDA's start at $495 each and up. Printers vary Starting around $350 Oki 9pin, Monarch 6017, and other printers also available please call .