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If you’ve had the chance to talk with inFlow’s Customer Champion, Siobhan, you know that she has a laser-like focus on helping you solve your problems.  When she picks up the office phone or enters a live-chat with you, you can feel that all she cares about at that moment is helping you.  We often have trouble dragging her away to take a much-needed lunch break!

It’s no wonder that after a few short months, she’s become so essential that we wanted to show her our trust by sharing more company information with her.  It’s part of the philosophy of open-book management; if you let your employees know traditionally sensitive information like profit levels, they’ll appreciate and return that trust.  What’s more, this helps them understand things that are important to the company beyond their immediate responsibilities, so that they can make better-informed decisions.

Sounds easy, but for Siobhan, there was one thing worrying me.  Scientific studies have shown that if you force people to think about money, they’ll be less outgoing and less willing to help other people.  One of the things that makes Siobhan so great is that she cares about you, not getting money out of you.  Would knowledge of our company finances be a forbidden fruit that detracted from her focus on what’s good for our customers?

We debated this for a while.  Finally, we decided to go with our hearts, trust her and share everything with her.  Not just the financial numbers, but how much we valued her input, why we wanted her to keep working on our customers behalf, and the whole thought process behind this.  She probably won’t care to check that information much, but she certainly appreciates our trust in her.

I believe we’ve come a long way from the old top-down management style where company secrets are jealously guarded.  I want to work in a company where everyone is trusted and able to make decisions intelligently.  This is hard if people in your company don’t trust each other completely, but that’s a sign that you need to weed out the bad apples and share the fruits of knowledge.



Siobhan, our inFlow Customers Champion!

For those who wishes to resell inFlow and make some money while doing it, now there is an easy way to do it!

We have started the inFlow Inventory Resellers Community on our LinkedIn network: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2984487

This reseller community is free and easy to join and provides your company with the following benefits:

- Access to our Reseller price list (available exclusively on LinkedIn)
- Latest product and company news (prior to public release)
- Share leads & sales techniques with other resellers around the world
- Direct chat to our inFlow’s staff to answer all your questions
- Network with other resellers and grow your business!

To join, simply go to this link and sign up on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2984487

See you soon in the community!

Sincerely,
-The inFlow Inventory Team

In business, it’s a sad but true fact. Many profitable companies fail because they cannot meet their commitments with readily available funds and failure to control credit is the prime cause of this situation.

As we all know, offering credit terms is a common and often necessary practice designed to allow customers and clients to defer payment for goods and services. If you’ve ever considered offering credit terms to your customers but didn’t like the thought of putting your business on the line here’s a step by step guide for doing it right.

Recognize the Effects of Bad Debt - Ensure everyone within your company understands the consequences of bad debt. Stress the reduced bottom line profits and what it would actually take in additional sales to generate those profits back. Don’t forget to communicate the resources involved in recovering bad debts too. The time, energy and effort it requires and how it may lead to difficult relations and the loss of customers long term.

Introduce a Policy - Make it clear cut! Focus on both duration and amount of credit. Put it in writing and be sure to circulate it to anybody who may potential issue credit at your orgnaization. Communicate any changes internally & externally immediately.

Assign Responsibility - Ensure that one senior person is tasked with the responsibility of negotiating, granting and supervising credit and its collection. Ensure that by exercising their authority the selected individual does not detract from the hard earned relationships they may have established (for example try to avoid using sales staff)

Assess Risk - Have a well thought through procedure as to how you assess and impose credit risks for new and existing customers and clients. Resist the temptation to offer credit based on the potential turnover volume a client can achieve. Definitely don’t forget to consult independent sources of information before increasing or establishing credit facilities. Good credible sources include credit agencies, ratings organizations and trade/bank references.

Review your Terms of Sale - If you are serious about credit control, don’t be afraid of telling your customers your terms. Re-examine all invoices, price-lists, quotations and other documents. Make sure your terms are clearly stated and in line with your current policies.

Monitor your Customers - Systematically review the financial standing of all your customers - especially when business shows a sudden increase. Its always worth comforting yourself in the fact that any increase in business is attributed to your wonderful product, service or sales staff and not because your competitor is refusing to supply because of bad debt.

Look at your Invoicing and Statement Process - Look again at the interval between the supply of goods and services and the submission of invoices. Can the process be speeded up? Remember, the date on which a customer receives an invoice or statement has a critical impact on when they make payment.

Start a Collection Procedure - Introduce a collection timetable and systematically follow it. Be politely firm and always record details of all contact during your collection routine.

Follow these steps and you’ll reward those customers who genuinely appreciate and respect your credit practices and procedures. Moreover, you’ll eliminate those that seek to use your funds to finance their business.

To better serve the Hispanic community in the US and Latin America, inFlow have launched a Spanish language version of its inventory management software and website. You can now learn about inFlow “en espanol” by visiting http://www.inflowinventory.com/ES

The new, user friendly web site provides visitors the opportunity to learn about inFlow and download our software in Spanish. By translating the software and launching a Spanish website we hope to extend our commitment to better serve the Latino community.

Providing free, easy to use inventory management software to Spanish speaking businesses has been one of our objectives for some time. Requests from the Latino Community (in the US and Latin America) for a Spanish language solution have been coming thick and fast ever since we launched.

Talih Safadi, owner of Global Negocios 2008 recently downloaded inFlow and typifies our growing Latin American customer base. Determined to optimize his business, work smarter and serve his customers better he found inFlow just what he was looking for.

“inFlow is perfect for my sports apparel distribution and retail business. I found it incredibly easy to use and implementing it was a breeze. My business in Venezuela has definitely benefited since we installed the software. In fact, I’m so impressed I just installed inFlow at my company in Ecuador too”

Download a version of inFlow in Spanish HERE

For some organizations in South Africa, World Cup fever may have meant a slow down in productivity as the host nation and its people enjoys a month long, once in a lifetime experience. But for one company in Gauteng (the smallest, most populous province in the country) things have never been busier!

Dev 9, a small customized software & web development company and recent addition to the inFlow reseller community is celebrating a big win. An order to supply a leading pharmaceutical company with inFlow software, implementation and support services.

The story began earlier this year when Craig Robinson, Managing Director of Dev 9 was approached by a client looking for an inventory management software solution. Scouring the market for options he struggled to find a local solution he felt happy recommending.

As a software developer himself (Dev 9 designs and sells its own financial services software) Craig has an eye for knowing what well designed, intuitive and user friendly software should look like. So he set about finding a program that delivered the best possible customer experience at a fair and reasonable price. When he discovered inFlow, he knew he had found just what he was looking for – an opportunity to expand his business.

“inFlow is a superb product and the price point is amazing! Its much more affordable than the competition offer here in South Africa” After joining the inFlow reseller community, Dev 9 immediately started to reap the rewards.  Focusing on the needs of Small to Medium Enterprises (SME) in and around Johannesburg and Pretoria area, Dev 9 was perfectly positioned when Sanofi Aventis came calling, seeking a quality but affordable cost inventory management solution.

Sanofi, a leading pharmaceutical company in South Africa is part of one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies. With locations in 100 countries it employs around 11,000 scientists and 100,000 employees that work to meet the needs of healthcare professionals and their patients globally.

In the midst of organizing implementation with his new client, Craig said last week “Its been a fantastic
experience working with inFlow so far. I’m really excited about working together to capitalize on the demand here in South Africa”

Congratulations to Craig and his team at Dev 9. The local support and expertise you bring inFlow customers in the Rainbow Nation is greatly appreciated.

To find out more about how to join the inFlow reseller contact us here

It’s time to get excited folks! We’ve got the brand spanking new version of the inFlow that you all know and love. This is the final result of the beta releases we’ve been making such a fuss about and Version 2.1.1.6 is ready and willing to help you make even more improvements to the way that you manage your inventory.

With this release you will be able to customize your invoices and other documents, giving you more choices than ever about how your business communicates your message. You can now choose from our three template styles available through the Print Settings, and shown below:

What’s more, if you have Microsoft Word, you can create your own custom documents (e.g. envelopes or custom invoices) and have inFlow integrate them using mail merge. More info is available here: http://www.inflowinventory.com/KnowledgeBase/categories/User+Manual/General/

We’ve also made inFlow easier to use by giving you an option to automatically save customer information entered into a Sales Order to be used as the default next time.

Download this new release for free now! http://www.inflowinventory.com/software-download.aspx

And while you’re at it, why not suggest an inspirational quote in our Inspire Thousands Contest. Your quote could be featured in an upcoming release of our software, reaching other inFlow users all over the world! Entry is free and you could win the chance to become inFamous! Enter now by posting to our contest thread: http://getsatisfaction.com/inflow_inventory/topics/inspire_thousands_worldwide

Those familiar with inFlow know our software homepage features inspirational quotes from some of the wisest, most respected people in business history – Richard Branson, Bill Gates & Sam Walton to name a few.  Seen by thousands of people worldwide every day these quotes provide motivation and wisdom to small to mid-sized business from Australia to Zimbabwe.

Now it’s YOUR CHANCE to immortalize your favorite inspirational quotes on our software homepage for the world to see.  Share with us your personal or business mantra - The one piece of advice or motivational phrase that has had the biggest impact on your own personal or professional success.

Maybe it was something passed on by your Grandfather, Mother, Friend, Mentor or Colleague.  Perhaps you even came up with your own personal or company motto drawn from your own life and business experience?

Become inFamous in the inFlow community by submitting your favorite quote to us here or email james.haydock@archonsystems.com before June 16th.   We’ll include the best quotes in our software plus we’ll name check YOU or YOUR COMPANY (and the original author of the quote if necessary)

Here’s one to get the ball rolling…..

“Wisdom  alone is true ambition’s aim, wisdom is the source of virtue and of fame; obtained with labour, for mankind employed, and then, when most you share it, best enjoyed.”

Alfred North Whitehead (British Mathematician and Philosopher, 1861-1947)

Congratulations to the lucky winner of our “Talk & Win Survey Contest” Vicki Klein of Thermasource Cementing Inc.

Earlier this month we asked our customers to complete a brief survey as part of our continued search to improve our software and the customer experience we offer. Vicki was chosen at random from the hundreds of people who took part -  She wins $100 in gift certificates.

Thermasource Cementing Inc is part of Thermasource group, a worldwide leader in Geothermal drilling and consulting. It was recently recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in the North Bay area.

Based in Arbuckle, California. 40 miles north of Sacramento its perfectly situated near the geysers and geothermal fields in Nevada where it conducts much of its business.

Thermasource specifically purchased inFlow in September “09 to specifically track incoming ingredient deliveries and enable better managed transfers between job sites. Office Manager Vicki, is one of seven people at the company who use inFlow daily.

inFlow’s streamlined and easy data entry plus the affordability for this relatively young company have won over her team and ensured they’ll never go back to the excel spreadsheets they used to contend with.

Thanks to everyone who took part and well done Vicki!

P.S The survey’s still open, if you didn’t complete it already we’d love to get your thoughts - Take the survey here