An ALLPRO® Publication VOL. 23, ISSUE 10 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014
By: Joe Poliseo
Any Port(al) in a Storm Well, it’s not quite a storm but the forecast for the accounting conversion here at ALLPRO has been revised from partly cloudy to clear! As you know from previous issue of The Scouting Report, we have been working diligently to finalize the transition from our old accounting system to the new SAP Business One system. At the writing of this article we are pleased to announce that we’ll be live on the new system by September. The old SBT, along with the AIM program for invoice transmissions, will officially be retired. For many change is taboo, especially when referring to a long established process involving critical systems like payment processing. In this instance; however, change is a good thing because it does away with certain limitations and simplifies the overall process. Even still, much of how we handle invoice transactions, billing, and payments will be transparent for both members and supplier partners alike.
Suppliers The only real change for our supplier partners will be realigning EDI transmissions for some of our existing partners. “Some” because we’ve already realigned the vast majority. We will be reaching out to the remainder, to include our newer supplier partners, during the month of September to
provide them with the 810 specs [instructions] on setting up their respective EDI maps. We expect this portion to take approximately 60 to 90 days. Our goal is to have 100% of our invoice and credit transactions to be sent via EDI, Comma Separated Value (.CSV) format, or through our Inet Invoicing function on the website.
Members For our members the only real change will be the receipt of invoices via the new web portal (pictured here), which will be accessible via a new “Invoice Portal” tab on the ALLPRO website control panel (also pictured here). Essentially, the web portal is a password protected site where members will be able to view, print, and download invoices and real-time statements. By now each member should have received and implemented instructions on setting up their respective web portal account. Once setup the web portal will provide members an easy means of accessing their invoices in real-time. Real-time meaning invoices will be accessible as soon as they’re keyed into the system here at the ALLPRO office. Members will no longer have to wait until the end of day to review posted invoices. While this feature certainly provides a convenience it may also potentially be confusing. Since invoices are being added continually, the web portal only (continued on page 4)
Protect Your Website Domain Name! Now! I MEAN IT! By Al Kinnear, Bigeye Productions
proper domain owner had his lawyer contact the Network Solutions legal department, and worked with them to have the domain name returned to its rightful owner. This process required almost 90 days and hundreds of dollars in legal fees to remedy. Meanwhile, the new website sat on our production hard-drive waiting to launch for well over 120 days.
In February 2007, and October 2009, I wrote articles about protecting your domain name from domain piracy or loss. A portion of these articles is re-printed below. I feel it is important to repeat this information due to another scenario one of my clients ran into while trying to launch their new website. The name of the client and website is not important, what is important is that as the owner or manager of a business you need to ensure you have control of your domain name or have it safely managed by someone you trust. This is a very common problem - Take Action!
Take Action Now 1.
If possible, pick up this copy of The Scouting Report and head to your laptop or PC.
2.
Look up your registration information at www.internic.net/whois.html
3.
Type in your domain name without the www, so for example, Hirshfield’s would type in hirshfields.com to look up their domain registry info.
The most important information to review is the Registrant, Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, and the Expiry Date for the domain. Ensure that your company name or a trusted individual is entered in the Registrant Detail. Check the email addresses entered for administrative and technical contact and make sure they are valid. Lastly, look at the expiry date, if it’s within a year, renew your domain for the maximum time length possible (usually 10 years).
The Gory Details We had just finished a brand new 15 page website for our client, they had reviewed it, we made our final edits and everyone was happy. Bigeye was called on to work on this new website as the old webmaster had become unresponsive and very uncooperative with regards to maintaining the client website, and the client chose to sever all ties. As we went to launch the new site, the owner told me he was having trouble contacting the REGISTRANT of record for his domain name. The domain name is the URL or Uniform Resource Locator for your website…simply put, your domain name is the internet’s address for your website (e.g. www.allprocorp.com). The registrant was in fact the old webmaster who refused any request to transfer the domain ownership to my client.
Control your domain and its expiry and you will be able to avoid the painful process of proving the domain is rightfully yours. What follows is an excerpt from the February 2007, warning of some additional domain risks and/or piracy. Sadly this song remains the same in 2014.
The registrar company (network solutions) refused to work with my client who had lots of proof that the domain name (which matched his company name letter for letter) was his. Despite having business documents, registration, articles of incorporation and much more, Network Solutions simply would not release his domain name to him. This matter was resolved after the
www.internic.net/whois.html (continued on page 7)
2
Importance of Goals - although the previous goal statement about running a profitable operation or selling more paint does not say specifically how your company can reach it, it does serve an important purpose. Setting goals helps define the direction that your business will take. Goals should align with both your mission and vision statements.
Branding Your Business, Part 3: Execution
Objectives Objectives are the exact steps your company must take to reach its goals. They are written without emotion, are typically measurable and quantifiable. They also are realistic and attainable and have an associated timeline. For example, an objective for the goal statement of running a profitable retail location, or one that sells the most paint might be we will increase our annual sales by 8-10 percent, while decreasing expenses by 10 percent. Another objective might be - we will open another location by the 4th quarter of this year. Importance of Objectives – successful businesses use objectives to measure their success and progress toward their goals. Without them, goals seem out of reach. Objectives are often motivational to business owners and employees, as attaining provides a sense of accomplishment.
By: Matt Docherty, VP of Sales HERO Products Previously we discussed why ALLPRO members need a plan to market their business, and why this business plan should include; Defining a marketing strategy or roadmap that creates a path toward Implementing the plan, then establishing a timeline that measures the Execution against your objectives. Without these three critical components, your company will not survive & D.I.E. in the business world. We reviewed creating your roadmap toward success, beginning with a Brand Assessment of your business, and then defining where your company ‘fits’ in the marketplace. The implementation phase referenced how you can inform your customers about the products & services you offer, including your Communication Objective, Strategy, & Core Messaging Points toward getting people to buy more of your products and services. The final step in the process is Execution of your objectives, or roadmap of how to get there. Every year when planning the future of your business, you create list of potential achievements you want to reach. These are commonly referred to as your GOALS, whereas the specific steps taken toward these achievements are your OBJECTIVES.
So if we take the primary objective of running a profitable retail operation, means that you would intend to maximize profitability. Thus your business should identify methods toward gaining incremental sales, in addition to the primary purchase/sale. Simply put, an incremental sale is a sale in which the customer buys more than originally intended, ideally spending money on more expensive and profitable products. Increasing incremental sales is not that difficult to do. Some common methods toward generating and driving incremental sales include the following:
Goals
Customer Relationships
Goals are statements you make about the future for your business, representing your aspirations. You might say - I want to run a profitable retail location, or one that sells the most paint in the area. This statement demonstrates that you have an overall plan for your business, but it does not say specifically how you can meet your goal.
Taking time to establish customer relationships, creates the potential to increase incremental sales among your existing customers. A very simple way is to thank them for their business. This can go a long way toward increasing customer loyalty, is most often overlooked and typically leads to them buying more products from you in the future. 3
Add-On Sales
retailer or a large corporation, needs a plan to market its business. This plan should include; Defining your marketing strategy, creating a roadmap or path toward Implementing, and Executing your objectives via timeline that is measurable. This strategy will allow you to achieve your main objective of informing your community about all of the products & services that you offer & that you have available for them. Now it’s time to put your strategy to work toward generating incremental sales to both existing and new customers.
Whenever a customer comes into your store to buy a product, provide them with an incentive to buy both the original product they intended to purchase, plus additional products at an added or bundled incentive. Set up your displays so that complementary products are located near one another and use this as a path to increase additional sales. For instance, a customer buying a paint brush might be enticed to also purchase roller cover, tape or drop cloth when all items are placed together. If you offered an additional savings on additional items purchased as a bundle after buying two gallons of paint, you could increase the amount of paint purchased while simultaneously selling additional related sundry items.
Matt Docherty is Vice President of Sales at HERO Products and has over 25 years serving the independent paint retailer. If you have any questions regarding this series of articles, or HERO’s line of products please contact Matt at mdocherty@hero.ca or phone (803) 979-5808. HERO Products will also be exhibiting at the upcoming Stockholder Meeting in Chicago, and invite you to visit our booth.
Branded Products You can increase incremental sales by offering ALLPRO branded products. In having products available with the ALLPRO label, it creates a specific product & brand image that supports the logo toward driving more profitable sales. Use this method to increase sales of products similar to what your customer may already be purchasing.
Any Port(al) in a Storm
Increased Focus
(continued from cover)
Another way to increase incremental sales is to find a product that sets you apart from competitors. In simply finding a niche product that you can gain the exclusive rights to sell in your area, this accomplishes two things. First, it drives additional customers to your business if they are seeking to purchase the product in the first place. Secondly, it increases in-store sales with new customers who may be unaware of your niche. Create signage with large letters pointing customers to your exclusive product, so they are aware of what makes your business different than others.
provides a live statement – not a month-end statement. While a month-end statement will still be generated (beginning with the September billing cycle) it’s important not to confuse the web portal “statement” with the month-end statement you’ll receive. Otherwise, you [the member] may think your balance is greater than what is actually owed.
Customer Service
We realize that any system migration is fertile ground for unanticipated issues and questions. For that reason Jonathan Garrett and John Shingledecker will host a joint Q&A session at the upcoming Stockholder Meeting in Chicago. During this session both Johns will be available to field questions and provide individual support as needed. This will be an optional session, which will be held immediately after the conclusion of the Stockholder General Session on Friday at 3pm. Please refer to the agenda posted online for more details.
The big plus to the web portal feature is that it’s a cloud based system. Members will no longer need to install customized software that may or may not be compatible with a given version of Microsoft Windows.
Take the time to briefly ask them about their shopping experience. Leave the question at that, as you don't want to dilute their response during your thank-you question. Some examples of customer service goals are to develop a perception that your company is easy to do business with or to improve your response time to customer complaints. Objectives to help meet these goals could be increasing your customer service staff or implementing a policy where customers are guaranteed to receive a return phone call before the end of the business day.
In conclusion, we’re confident this new system will be a welcome change for members and vendors alike. If at any time during this process you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact your account representative at the ALLPRO office.
So in summary, remember that every business; whether an individual retail location, multiple outlet 4
ALLPRO® Company Profiles ALLPRO has had the good fortune to add the highest quality companies in the industry to the group. We are pleased to profile some of our member companies and supplier partners.
PAINT DISTRIBUTORS, INC. • Founded: 1996 Fisherman’s Wharf, the Port of Los Angeles, and countless other private and municipal projects.
• Location: Evansville, IN • Telephone: (812) 471-7070
• The Encore product line has expanded to include an acrylic rust converter & primer; a direct-to-rust, waterbased coating; a salt-based concrete cleaner; a clear, nano-particle sealer/sealer base; and a paint additive that significantly improves the performance and service life of acrylic paints.
• Website: www.paintdistributors.com • Current President: Brian McCain • ALLPRO Contact: Brian McCain • # Full-Time Employees: 3 • Paint Distributors is a single line, Benjamin Moore, full service retail paint store. With over 84 years of combined experience, the staff specializes in customer service. We also offer in-home and instore interior design services.
FRESH AMERICAN • Founded: 2013 • Location: Pittsfield, MA
• Paint Distributors was founded in the 1970’s as Koressel Wallpaper and Paint. In 1996, Brian McCain purchased the store and changed the name to Paint Distributors, Inc. In October of 1999, Brian opened a second store across town. The original location was closed in January of 2009.
• Telephone: (413) 629-2300 • Website: www.ascowholesale.com • Current President: Annie Selke • ALLPRO Contact: Kim Cobb • We believe your home should make you happy. For 20 years, we’ve applied our spirited, design-driven approach to creating bedding, rugs, sleepwear, and home furnishings for you to love – stylish pieces that stand out and stand the test of time. We’re committed to quality – from the design and choice of materials to our exceptional customer service and fast delivery. We take pride in each step of the process and the people who make it happen.
ENCORE COATINGS • Founded: 2010 • Location: Cartersville, GA • Telephone: (888) 776-2242 • Website: www.encorecoatings.com
• Color, comfort, and approachable elegance – these are the hallmarks of visionary designer Annie Selke. A consummate traveler, Annie gathers inspiration wherever she goes. She distills her ideas into fabulous and functional products for the home, available through her acclaimed companies Pine Cone Hill (founded 1994), Dash & Albert Rug Company (founded 2003) and Fresh American (founded 2013). Annie’s designs are featured in dozens of magazines, blog posts, and TV segments per year. The 2010 Small Business Administration’s Massachusetts Small Business Person of the Year, Annie is the founder of the informative and irreverent design and lifestyles blog Fresh American Style.
• Current President: Jeff Moreau, Sr. • ALLPRO Contacts: Taylor Zaganas, Peggy Cross, and Jeff Moreau II • # Full-Time Employees: varies on season • Encore Coatings is a boutique coatings company that produces unique, one-of-a-kind coatings for wood, concrete, and steel. The company founders have over 80 years of combined experience in formulating polyurethane, polyuria, and water-based acrylic coating products. The company is now 100% focused on water-based, environmentally-friendly coatings. Our coatings can be found on the Statue of Liberty Pier,
5
Member Happenings Congratulations to CanPro who recently added Balance Paint & Décor and Colour Explosions Decorating Centre 2 to its roster of member retailers. Johnson Paint Company also recently added a new location to its growing number of stores. The new store is located in Yarmouth, Maine and is Johnson Paint’s seventh location. ALLPRO “U” is officially on the calendar for another round of Outside Sales training, scheduled for January 2015. The training will once again feature Kelly Riggs as our keynote speaker. Unlike this year; however, Kelly’s session entitled “Quit Whining and Start Selling” will be expanded from four hours to a full day. As with this year, the training will be limited to 40 attendees and be on a first come first served basis. We’ll release more information in the weeks ahead once we finalize the event agenda.
Supplier Happenings HERO – recently announced the appointment of Carlos de Melo to the position of VP and General Manager, HERO Products Group, North America and Terry Newton as Sr. VP of Global Sales. Carlos has been involved in the automated dispenser industry for over 35 years and for the past 15 with HERO as VP, Customer Service. Terry has been involved in the delivery of custom colour, most recently with X-Rite as their VP of Sales & Business Development. PPG – recently announced a definitive agreement to acquire Consorcio Comex, an architectural and industrial coatings company headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico. Comex sells its products through regional retailers, wholesalers and direct sales to customers, reaching approximately 3,600 independently owned stores throughout Mexico and Central America. Rust-Oleum – announced the acquisition of Krud Kutter, Inc., manufacturers of environmentally friendly cleaners and removers for home and industry. Krud Kutter is also a supplier partner to ALLPRO. Rust-Oleum and Krud Kutter’s respective ALLPRO programs will continue as-is for the foreseeable future.
In Memoriam We would like to express our condolences to the family and friends of Haig Kasparian, who passed away on July 29th at the age of 80. Haig’s career in the paint industry spanned 55 years. He began his career in 1959 when he took a job in a PPG Industries warehouse. He worked his way up to Outside Sales before he founded Kasparian’s Paint, an independent PPG retailer, in 1986. Haig regularly attended the ALLPRO shows where you could always find him playing, and usually winning, table tennis matches. He was a longtime friend and colleague to many in our industry and will be sorely missed.
2014 Stockholder Meeting
2015 Stockholder Meeting
The Westin Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL, Oct 23rd – 25th
Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead Atlanta, GA, Nov 4th – 7th
2015 ALLPRO “U”
2016 Spring Show & Sales Meeting
Benjamin Moore Facility Flanders, NJ Jan 20th – 22nd
JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa Palm Desert, CA, Mar 16th – 20th
2015 Spring Show & Sales Meeting
2016 Stockholder Meeting
Rosen Shingle Creek Orlando, FL, Mar 18th – 22nd
The Westin Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL, Nov 3rd – 6th
6
Loss of Domain Control and/or Piracy
3 Easy Steps to Avoid Domain Piracy
One of the biggest issues relating to internet scams is the inadvertent loss or piracy of website domain names. There is no question, protecting your domain name is the single most important thing you can do for your website, and this is an action you should consider taking TODAY.
• Renew Your Domain For 10 Years ASAP • Ensure Your Domain Contact Information Is Accurate & Complete • Place A Transfer Lock On Your Domain The biggest problem with domain piracy, apart from the fact that your website is down or has unwanted material posted on it, is the fact that even though you may be within your legal rights to reverse the domain expiry or transfer, it will take both time and money to do so. Often the pirates will not respond to any inquiry, and just send you to a domain auction where they price out the purchase to meet their ransom demands. Simply put, domain piracy is to be avoided at all costs.
Just think of the consequences of domain piracy. You come to work one day and a staff member tells you they cannot access the company website. After some brief investigation you or your computer consultant determine that you no longer control your domain, all email accounts are permanently down, and some internet pirate has posted a message where your website was demanding payment of $5000 US to return your domain name to you or worse, they have posted obscene materials in an attempt to extort a return fee. The main causes of domain piracy are as follows:
Domain Expiry Once a domain expires, it is open for registration by any individual following a hold period of 30 to 90 days depending on the registrar policy. Once the domain is available, the internet pirates can backorder the domain and then take over control should the owner not notice the expiry. To avoid domain expiry, ensure the contact information on file with your domain registrar is up to date. If your email account listed is incorrect, you will not receive notice of the pending expiration of your domain name. The best way to avoid domain expiry is to register your website for the maximum 10 Year period. Also, make sure that as the owner of your business, that your name or the name of a trusted consultant is listed as the registrant of your domain. Look up your registration information at www.internic.net/whois.html
Fraudulent Transfer Request Internet Pirates will send out legitimate looking emails and letters to your place of business requesting your authorization to transfer your domain to another domain registrar offering yearly discounts on re-registering or other enticing offers. If you authorize the transfer, you will lose control of your domain. Do not reply to transfer requests of any kind, unless you are positive you have requested that action. Avoid these false requests and ensure that your registrar has placed a domain lock on your account to prevent transfer requests. 7
Consumer Confidence Continues its Upward Trend According to The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index consumer confidence continues to increase. In July the index rose to 90.9, up from 86.4 in June. This marks the third consecutive month of consumer confidence increase, which is now at its highest level since October of 2007 when it measured 95.2. Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at the board, attributes much of the upward trend to strong job growth and brighter short-term outlooks for the economy and jobs. To a lesser extent personal income has also driven the gain in consumer expectations. Almost two-thirds (64%) of those surveyed by Nielsen said their personal finances are in good order. This reflects a 5% increase from the first quarter of 2014. Per the report, this suggests the recent strengthening in growth is likely to continue into the 2nd half of this year.
Jobs and Wages The Kiplinger Letter substantiates part of Nielsen’s findings in its August 1st issue. It reported the US economy added another 209,000 jobs during the month of July. While this is a smaller increase than the month of June, it nonetheless “confirms the durability of the stronger uptrend this year.” According to Kiplinger, since February the monthly gains have exceeded 200,000, averaging 244,000. This is compared with just 187,000 a month in the previous 36 months. Additionally, the gains in jobs are widespread across industries. Kiplinger also forecasts this trend will continue through the 2nd half of this year.
Where do New Home Sales and Remodeling Fall? Unfortunately, new homes sales declined again in June, falling 8.1% from a revised May rate to a seasonally adjusted pace of 406,000. This is according to data from the Census Bureau and HUD. While this is the second consecutive monthly decline, construction spending is up year-over-year by 7.4%. Single family construction spending is up 8.5% and multi-family construction spending is up 33.2%. Conversely, the NAHB Remodeling Market Index (RMI) jumped from 53 in the 1st Quarter to 56 in the second. The RMI is scaled so that 50 means more remodelers reported market activity was higher (compared to the first quarter) than reported it was lower. In general, gains are expected for both new home sales and remodeling in the months ahead as the labor market and the overall economy improve.
Facebook Ads Fall Short on ROI
Editor/Production Scott Morath
Proofers Julia Thomas Susan Nichols Susanne Fontana
Contributing Writers Joe Poliseo, - ALLPRO Al Kinnear, Bigeye Productions Matt Docherty, - HERO Products
ALLPRO® President Michael Gleason
Exec. Vice President Joe Poliseo
SUGGESTIONS WELCOME Your suggestions, ideas, articles and comments are encouraged. The Scouting Report is an important communications media for ALLPRO®.
Mail all correspondence to:
The Scouting Report c /o ALLPRO® Corporation 4946 Joanne Kearney Blvd. Tampa, FL 33619 • (813) 628-4800 Website: www.allprocorp.com The Scouting Report is a bimonthly publication of the ALLPRO® Corporation.
In the last issue of The Scouting Report we discussed how Facebook’s organic reach for business pages was getting shorter and shorter. It Printed on recycled paper would seem this diminished reach extends to the website’s advertising feature as well, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. In an earnings statement from the social-networking site it disclosed that the average price per ad has increased 123% in the most recent quarter compared to a year ago. Unfortunately, ad impressions declined by 25%. The diminished effectiveness at the higher cost hasn’t gone unnoticed. A survey of 728 small business owners revealed that 83% expected to spend nothing this year on Facebook ads. Only 14% indicated they would continue advertising through the social media site. Additionally, of those who previously paid for ads, 55% did not see a quantifiable increase in sales, revenue or brand awareness from those ads. 26% weren’t sure and only 19% indicated they had seen an increase in sales. In a separate but related survey of 1,008 firms with fewer than 500 employees, only 27% of respondents indicated Facebook and/or other social media sites were the most effective marketing method for them. 50% indicated their company website was their most effective marketing method. Food for thought when preparing your marketing budget for 2015.