The basics

At its most basic, price lists are the method we use to get products into Sales on Rails. For this use, you can think of them as a product list only. In fact, if a user did not want to filter and track anything aside from totals across all products — in units, in dollars, etc — then a price list would only require an import under one name.

Planning your price lists

The first question to answer is what are the largest categories of sales tracking that you would like to monitor. In a typical wholesale business in the outdoor industry, this would be sales by country and by sales territory. In other industries it may be by country and state or province.

Using the country and territory model, we would import an identical price list for each country and territory combination. The following list is an example of some country and territory designations:

• Canada Western
• Canada Midwest
• US Northwest
• US Rockies
• …etc.

Once these price lists have been imported and some orders have been added to Sales on Rails, then the reports on the Leaderboard (a summary of sales reports) will start to rank territories according to sales performance.

What about product duplication in multiple imports?

If a product’s product ID (SKU, model number, etc) is identical in all imports, it will only be added once to the database, but will also be included for reports on all price lists it was included on. Also, this way the price for an identical product can vary by territory.

The imports were structured this way to allow for both identical products to be sold and tracked in different territories (perhaps at different prices) as well as territory-specific product to be included if required.

Why not just call them territories then?

The flexibility of price lists allows them to be created, imported and tracked for a broader application than just territory sales tracking. For example, a price list can be imported for an important customer (using the same SKUs as other price lists, but with special pricing) or for a special event within a territory.

In that case, the above list of price lists would change to:

• Canada Western
• Canada Midwest
• Mountain Equipment Co-op
• US Northwest
• US Rockies
• Recreational Equipment Limited
• New store grand openings
• …etc.

In this way, price lists can be used to track any element of your business’s sales system.

How do I get an account?

To try out the app right now, head over to the Sales on Rails site and sign up for an account. We have several different plans available depending on your needs. (And yes, we also have a free version where no credit card is required.)

This wraps up the introductions to Sales on Rails. To stay on top of new feature and product announcements, join our mailing list to receive helpful hints, product tips and notices on other goings on with Massive Mouse. The newsletter is sent out approximately once a month and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Thanks for your interest in Sales on Rails.

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The import screens

Each screen for each data type — products, customers and orders — has a big, blue “Import…” button on the upper right-hand side. For each data type, click the import button to start importing your data.

In order to start creating orders in Sales on Rails, products must already be in the system and each customer must be assigned to a price list. In order to save you a lot of set up time, it’s best to import products first, followed by customers, followed by orders. Just as in a real business, you can’t sell something unless you have a product and a customer, the same goes for creating orders in Sales on Rails.

Below is the “Import a price list” screen:

What’s a CSV file?
A Comma Separated Values file is a common file format for spreadsheets. To save a spreadsheet as a CSV file in Excel, open the File menu, click “Save As…” and then select “.csv” as the file format. More info.

What information should my imports contain?
On the right-hand side of each import screen for price lists, customers and orders is a list of the recommended fields that should be in each CSV file. Click here to download an archive of sample CSV files.

What’s a SKU number?
A SKU is a “Stock Keeping Unit”, usually identified by an alphanumeric label such as “09-1001-A” or something similar. Each SKU must be unique and represents a distinct product that can be purchased. “Part number”, “style number” and “model number” are common names for SKUs.

For example, if you sell a hat called a “Scooter” and the Scooter comes in three colors, then the Scooter product family has three SKUs, each representing a specific color. If the Scooter also comes in three sizes, then there would be three sizes per color for a total of nine SKUs. More info.

What if I already have data inside Sales on Rails?
If you already have product, customer or order data in the system, you can update that info via the Import screens. On each import screen, the second section will have options to update existing information. In order for the update to be successful, the IDs for each data type must be the same. Then when the new data is imported, it’ll overwrite the existing information.

Mandatory fields

In order for Sales on Rails to successfully manipulate and summarize your data, some fields are mandatory. An import will fail if the mandatory fields are not populated with the necessary information. The mandatory fields are indicated in the helper text on the right-hand side of the import screens.

Field matching

The second screen you’ll see during an import is the field matching screen. The field matching screen is used to ensure that the information in your CSV file ends up in the correct fields within Sales on Rails.

The field matching screen has three columns:

1) A column for selecting the appropriate field within Sales on Rails;
2) A column that shows the first row of your CSV file; and
3) A column that shows the second row of your CSV file.

Select a Sales on Rails field for each of your CSV fields and click the “Import this list” button.

Import reports

Once the import is complete, you’ll see an import summary. The import summary tells you how many records were attempted for import, how many were successful and how many failed due to import errors.

If there were any import errors, there will be a download link for a list that shows what the problems were.

Typically import errors are triggered by mandatory information not being included in your CSV file. If other error types occur, please email Sales on Rails support with the details.

How do I get an account?

To try out the app right now, head over to the Sales on Rails site and sign up for an account. We have several different plans available depending on your needs. (And yes, we also have a free version where no credit card is required.)

Stay tuned for the next intro of Sales on Rails. To join our mailing list, sign up for the Massive Mouse newsletter.

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Overview screens

Each category of record — whether products, customers or orders — has a summary screen that shows the most recent activity in that category as well as the most relevant information per record. For example, the customer index shows a list of customers, including email addresses and the pricelist that the customer is assigned to. In the sidebar, there are two buttons for adding single customers or importing a list of customers via a CSV file.

Screens for single records

Each record for products, customers and orders also has its own screen that details the important information per record and any recent order activity. For example, the single product screen shows a listing of each SKU within that product family, followed by a list of the orders that contain that product.

The single order screen starts with important order information (total value, number of SKUs, ship dates, cancel dates), followed by a list of the product in that order, ship-to and bill-to information, as well as order notes.

In Sales on Rails, each category of records — whether for products, customers or orders — has both single record screens that summarize the details of each record as well as index screens that list all of the records and activity for their respective categories.

How do I get an account?

To try out the app right now, head over to the Sales on Rails site and sign up for an account. We have several different plans available depending on your needs. (And yes, we also have a free version where no credit card is required.)

Stay tuned for the next intro of Sales on Rails. To join our mailing list, sign up for the Massive Mouse newsletter.

No related posts.

With Intro 3, we’ll have a look at the most important part of Sales on Rails, the leaderboard.

The Leaderboard

The Leaderboard is the screen that brings it all together. It shows your latest sales data for any orders that have been entered into Sales on Rails in the last two calendar years. Each report within the Leaderboard breaks down sales statistics into two columns for this year and the previous year. That way you can make informed comparisons at a glance.

It’s important to be able to make quick comparisons between different sets of sales data, so that you can act quickly if something in your business needs to change, or if you need to further promote something that is working well.

The Leaderboard consists of four important reports:

• The sales summary;
• Sales by pricelist;
• Sales by customer; and
• Sales by product;

Let’s start by looking at the sales summary.

The sales summary

The sales summary includes four important metrics: total sales, number of orders, average order size and the number of active customers. All four metrics compare data between the current year and the previous year.

The first metric in the sales summary is total sales. Although not as important as tracking profit, tracking total sales is important. Over time, trends in total sales can demonstrate the growth and popularity of your business and products.

The second metric is your number of orders. Comparing your number of orders on a year-to-year basis can tell you if your customer base is consolidating or expanding. By reviewing your total sales and the number of orders per year, you can tell if you’re:

• Selling more product to more customers (ideal);
• Selling more product, but to fewer customers;
• Your customer base is consolidating and you may becoming dependent on fewer, but larger customers);
• Selling less product to more customers; or
• Your customer base is expanding, but you’re average order size may be shrinking;
• Selling less product to fewer customers. (Not so good.)

The third and fourth metrics are your average order size and your number of active customers. Similar to the number of orders, these metrics can tell you if your sales growth is based on expansion or consolidation.

Again, the most important part of tracking sales is identifying long-term trends that are either going to help your business or that you need to turnaround. These four metrics is the Sales on Rails sales summary can help you do that.

Sales by price list

The next report on the Leaderboard is sales by price list. Price lists are one of Sales on Rails most flexible features, allowing you to track your sales for both the big picture (by country or by sales territory) or more closely (on a per customer basis or perhaps for a special event).

I’ll go into more detail on setting up price lists in a future intro.

Sales by customer

Beside sales by price list, you’ll find sales by customer. Sales by customer lists your highest grossing customers in descending order and compares their current year sales to the previous year. The sales by customer report is important, because it can indicate growth trends with customers as well as a good tool to determine where your sales force’s priorities should be? Is your sales team spending time with the right customers?

Sales by product

The final report on the Leaderboard is sales by product. Sales by product lists your highest grossing products for the past two years in terms of dollars and also by the total number of units sold.

Sales by product is an important report because it reveals which products have been the most instrumental in driving your sales. Having this information is important so that your sales team knows which products should receive the most attention, which products have been the best-received by your customers, and which products you should consider carrying over into future sales seasons.

That wraps up our introduction to the Leaderboard. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at scott[at]massivemouse.com.

How do I get an account?

To try out the app right now, head over to the Sales on Rails site and sign up for an account. We have several different plans available depending on your needs. (And yes, we also have a free version where no credit card is required.)

Stay tuned for the next intro of Sales on Rails. To join our mailing list, sign up for the Massive Mouse newsletter.

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With Intro 2, we’ll have a look at the welcome screen and Sales on Rails navigation.

The welcome screen

The welcome screen is the first thing that someone sees when they log into Sales on Rails. Because the welcome screen is a user’s first encounter with Sales on Rails, it’s important that it immediately convey some helpful information, namely how to best set up products, customers and orders.

The Sales on Rails welcome screen.
(Click the image to see a larger version.)

1. Import price lists into their account;
2. Add some customers; and then
3. Add some orders.

It’s simple and straightforward, but getting things set up properly right from the beginning will make things easier down the road. That’s the main purpose of the welcome screen.

And rather than have the welcome screen disappear right away, we left it up to the user. Once a user is comfortable that they know how Sales on Rails works and how to set it up, they can click the “Stop showing…” link and the welcome screen will permanently disappear, getting it out of their way.

Main navigation

In order to keep the interface clean, we’ve used a drop-down hover menu rather than cluttering up the menu bar with a lot of links to other pages.

Whenever you visit a page within Sales on Rails, the menu list in the upper lift-hand corner will only show the name of the page that you’re on. Here’s what the menu shows when on the welcome screen:

When you move your mouse and hover over the up-down arrow to the right of the page title, the menu will expand, showing you the full list of screens that you can change to.

We set up the menus this way to keep things clean and to leave room for some important features down the road. I hope you like it.

How do I get an account?

To try out the app right now, head over to the Sales on Rails site and sign up for an account. We have several different plans available depending on your needs. (And yes, we also have a free version where no credit card is required.)

Stay tuned for the next intro of Sales on Rails. To join our mailing list, sign up for the Massive Mouse newsletter.

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We’re almost there. I’ve put the finishing touches on the interface, and the developers are implementing it this week. I’ve also fleshed out a solid roadmap of upcoming features. Time to start describing the application in advance of its official launch.

What’s with the name?

Sales on Rails is the name, and it’s also a concise description of the product. Sales on Rails is a simple product intended to make your life easier when you need to keep track of sales orders and sales performance for your business. It’s simple, fast and easy, so “Sales on Rails” was a natural fit.

When is it available?

Over the next few weeks I’ll be describing how it works, what it looks like and how to use it. After that, We’ll launch it. We’ve been developing Sales on Rails for quite a while now, and as it matures even further, it’ll become exactly what I wished I had when I was in your shoes, running a wholesale business that sells a physical product. I look forward to showing it to you.

So what is Sales on Rails?

Sales on Rails is a simple sales order management system. For now, it’s a straightforward database of orders, customers and products that combine to produce several useful reports. It’s ideal for “one-man brands” and other small businesses that need to track their sales and learn from them in order to plan the next selling season.

Why did you build it?

I used to run Ambler Mountain Works, a winter headwear brand in the outdoor retail industry. I used to track sales, study product popularity and build reports using Excel. Using Excel sucked. Whenever new information needed to be added, I had to update several different spreadsheets and I sometimes missed a few. I often had a sinking feeling that my information wasn’t accurate. It was a pain.

I wanted a simple, affordable solution to my problems. I went looking for a web-based sales order management system, but everything I found was either bloated, cumbersome or obscenely priced. Sometimes all of the above. I got fed up looking for something that didn’t exist. From that, Sales on Rails was born.

Scenarios

Sales on Rails was built to answer common questions like:

• What did Joe’s Outdoor Store order last year?
• How many did we sell last year of SKU #12345?
• What were our top ten products in Fall 2008? How popular were they?
• What was our average order size for the Fall 2009 catalog?
• What would it mean for our business to increase that number by 5%?
• What was the average number of SKUs per order?
• What would our sales be if we could add 10 SKUs per order his year?
• What percentage of customers generate most of our sales? Are we focusing on the right customers?
• What percentage of products generate most of our sales? Are we selling the right stuff?

Sales on Rails helps you keep track of orders and related performance. Sales revenue, customer retention and product performance are the keys to a viable business. Sales on Rails helps you keep track of these orders, customers and products, and it gives you the information you need to make good decisions down the road.

How do I get an account?

To try out the app right now, head over to the Sales on Rails site and sign up for an account. We have several different plans available depending on your needs. (And yes, we also have a free version where no credit card is required.)

Stay tuned for the next intro of Sales on Rails. To join our mailing list, sign up for the Massive Mouse newsletter.

No related posts.