Increasing Customer Satisfaction by Avoiding Stockouts (guest post)

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Lee House

Stockouts are a nuisance to both businesses and customers, creating situations where no one is happy. You now have an order sitting in limbo that cannot be filled, while your customer resents the time lost waiting for your new inventory to arrive. You’ve worked hard over the years to secure and build a positive relationship with your customers, but regardless of that long-standing relationship, if your company cannot provide what customers need on time and on budget, then they’ll take their business elsewhere.

Woman searching for products at a grocery store, Fishbowl Inventory BlogHaving a manufacturing inventory management system in place can help you manage and predict inventory patterns, eradicating consistent stockouts. The control built into the software allows users to monitor existing inventory in the warehouse, and alerts them to low levels so that crucial items can be reordered in time. Manufacturing inventory control allows organizations to maintain a complete overview of their warehouse inventory levels, avoiding both stockouts and the expenses that many organizations incur to get out-of-stock items into their warehouses quickly.

While manufacturing inventory control won’t completely eliminate stockout situations, it will reduce them significantly. That said, there is more to avoiding stockouts, and consequently increasing customer satisfaction, than simply using a manufacturing inventory management solution.

Increasing customer satisfaction must be a company-wide goal. Manufacturing inventory software is complicated, and employees must be adequately trained in the system in order to benefit from the efficiencies that it can provide. Aside from comprehensive training, there should be an open communication channel for any questions that may arise.

Manufacturing inventory control systems track and analyze inventory levels, simplifying reporting and providing insight into trends you may not otherwise notice. With a complete overview of current levels and historic stock usage, manufacturing inventory software can predict seasonal or economic fluctuations to save management teams hours that would have been spent manually poring over reports.

Inventory management is also important within your warehouse organization. Make sure that anything going in or out of your manufacturing business is tracked, whether that’s accomplished using barcodes, RFID tags, or another system. Being able to find inventory quickly and efficiently is an important part of effective manufacturing inventory management.

Employing best practices in your manufacturing business will help you avoid stockouts and ensure smooth operations. Customer satisfaction must always remain top of mind because without customers there are no orders. By properly implementing manufacturing inventory software, manufacturing businesses will be able to keep customers, employees, and management happy by making stockout scenarios a relic of the past. 

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Infographic: Positive Trends for the U.S. Manufacturing Industry

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Robert Lockard

Fishbowl recently created the following infographic. It shares some impressive facts and figures about the U.S. manufacturing industry, such as its strong unemployment rate, job growth, productivity, and more. Check it out!

The manufacturing industry is enjoying a boom in employment, productivity and more thanks to advanced software and other improvements.

Learn more about Fishbowl’s Manufacturing Software.

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What Is Going on with My Expenses? (guest blog)

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Amber Pike

Have you ever had a moment where you looked at your bank statement and said, “Well, I’m broke”? You’ve spent all your money without even realizing it, and next thing you know you’re wearing cardboard shoes and creating expense reports for quarters (or maybe that’s just me). If you don’t keep track of your business’ expenditures, it could end up the same way.

Piggy bank with bandage on face, Fishbowl Inventory BlogThere are legitimate reasons to spend company money; for example, you have to purchase travel amenities, computer supplies, and fancy pens. It’s inevitable that some purchases are going to get forgotten about, or the receipt is going to get lost, or you’ll eventually just lose track of your expenses altogether. Not knowing much money your company is spending is bad simply for the fact that you should have control over things like that. Also worth considering are issues like overspending, audit troubles, and the possibility of fraud.

So, how do you keep track of these expenses?

You could hire a scribe to follow you around and make a record of every purchase you make, but it’s so hard to find a good scribe these days. Why don’t you just use your smart phone?

There are several expense tracking apps out there that’ll do just the trick. Expense tracking apps allow you to record expenses as they happen right from your smart phone; you can even save pictures of receipts you’re amassing. You can generate reports. Some of these apps even allow you to sync those expenses to QuickBooks.

Most importantly, apps allow you to become more efficient, technologically savvy, and aware of your company’s expenses. 

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Leonardo da Vinci – Artist or Scientist? (guest post)

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Steve, The Inventory Dude

Inventory – probably the largest asset on your balance sheet and the one thing that makes your business go. You depend on your inventory control group to have the right combination of pieces and parts to keep production running smoothly. This inventory lump needs to be constantly shaped, molded, trimmed, carved, and tweaked until you get that useful, glorious mix of profitability that shapes your bottom line.

Portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, Fishbowl Inventory BlogInventory management requires a Leonardo da Vinci – part artist, part scientist to be successful. Your DaVinci needs the right tools to be successful in his role. Don’t be the kid in art class who pounds his fist into the middle of a lump of clay, pinches the edges and calls it an ashtray – that’s not really the best use of your inventory.

Starting Point

Okay, so what kinds of tools do you need for inventory management? The first thing you need is an accurate starting point. A precise count of exactly what you have in your inventory – by each unique item. You can attempt to perform this count on your own or you can utilize a third party inventory service.

A professional inventory service provides the best tools – trained auditors and programmable data collection machines, to perform the most efficient and accurate count. In addition, an inventory service can capture and provide the count data in the best format for your inventory management systems. Without an accurate starting point, your DaVinci is going to struggle to create anything useful.

Next Step

Now you have accurate data to continue the inventory management process – let’s produce something. In order to manage this process properly you will need another tool to turn this inventory lump into the products your customers desire. If your organization currently uses QuickBooks for your accounting needs, then consider the Fishbowl Inventory tool. Again, you could try to do it yourself, but here’s a proven tool, specifically designed to integrate into your current software environment. Accurate starting point, inventory management software – almost ready to create.

Final Piece

The final piece you need is your Leonardo da Vinci. This is a tricky piece of the equation to fill. Like the original, the person who fills this role has to be part artist and part scientist to properly manage your inventory. True, the inventory management software can track and produce analytics, but you need someone who can interpret the data, tweak the min / max parameters, create various production scenarios, and develop what-if relationships within the data sets. The right mix of art and science directly impacts your bottom line.

In summary, your tools are an inventory service to provide periodic accurate inventory counts, inventory management software to track and analyze the data, and a modern-day DaVinci to plan, organize, direct, and control the process. Put them all together and you create something useful, not just a fist pounded ashtray.

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Nerd Enterprises’ Seth David Explains Fishbowl Inventory

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Robert Lockard

On Monday, May 7, 2012 at 5 p.m. PDT Seth David, an expert on QuickBooks, will do a live interview with John David King, Fishbowl’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. He’ll explain how Fishbowl Inventory works with QuickBooks and the inventory management features it offers QuickBooks users. Be sure to tune in!

Seth is the founder and owner of Nerd Enterprises, Inc., which offers QuickBooks training, consulting and other services to businesses. He’s interviewed dozens of experts in many different fields to give his viewers useful information that can help them run their businesses more efficiently. He archives all of his interviews on his blog, so you can check out his interview with John David any time after it’s recorded, too.

In the video below, Seth goes through the process of downloading a free 14-day trial of Fishbowl Inventory, and he explains how to get started with the software. He introduces many of Fishbowl’s features, and he promises to explain more in future videos, especially about how Fishbowl integrates with QuickBooks.

Check it out, and don’t forget to watch his interview with John David King live on Seth’s YouTube channel!

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Get Fishbowl’s Point of Sale Solution Free Through June 31

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Robert Lockard

Fishbowl is offering a great deal to its customers in the second quarter of 2012. If you buy Fishbowl Inventory through June 31, 2012, you’ll get SalesPoint for free! This is part of Fishbowl’s sponsorship of Grow America, an initiative to help small businesses in Utah and across the country gain access to the tools and funding they need to succeed.

What SalesPoint Is

SalesPoint is Fishbowl's point of sale software, Fishbowl Inventory Blog

SalesPoint is a point of sale system that integrates directly with Fishbowl Inventory. That means that when you sell products to customers at the checkout stand, your inventory records are automatically updated to reflect the reduction in inventory levels. When they get low enough on a certain product, Fishbowl can alert you and automatically reorder it before it runs out.

Why You Need SalesPoint

If you’re a wholesale distributor or manufacturer, you might not think you need to have a point of sale solution. Only retailers need that, right? But what if a customer comes to your warehouse with cash in hand and says he really wants to buy some of your products right there? Would you just turn him away, or have him fill out a sales order and then wait a few days to have his order processed? No!

You don’t have to make your customers wait if you have a POS system set up right there in your warehouse. Why not gather revenue from every source possible? By using SalesPoint, you won’t miss out on these customers anymore.

Many small businesses fail because of cash-flow problems. Even a company that is profitable can suddenly crumble if it doesn’t have enough cash to meet its immediate obligations. Unfortunately, it can take a few weeks to receive payment for the products you sell to customers through invoices.

With a point of sale solution, you can get money coming in to replenish your company’s reservoirs and prevent short-term cash flow problems. That’s quite a relief for small businesses, especially when your finances are tight.

Limited-Time Offer

Sign up for a free inventory software demo to learn more about Fishbowl Inventory and SalesPoint. Remember, if you purchase a Fishbowl package by June 31, we’ll give you our point of sale solution for free. Take advantage of this offer soon!

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How to Be a Great Leader: Work in Pairs

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Robert Lockard

Paired leadership is the way to go in business. Working in pairs, Fishbowl team leaders have been able to come up with creative solutions to big problems, create new products, and maintain the company’s ambitious growth goals.

Two dogs swimming with a stick in their mouths, Fishbowl Inventory BlogYou can read all about this in a blog post on the Harvard Business Review written by Fishbowl CEO David Williams and President Mary Michelle Scott. It’s entitled “Leadership Teams: Why Two Are Better Than One.” I love how they even exemplified the principle of teamwork in the creation of this post. They worked together to make it happen and to make it better than it would have been if just one of them had written it.

Benefits of Paired Leadership

Why would a company want to hire two people to do the same job? Wouldn’t it make more sense to halve your costs by just hiring one? Yes, you could look at it that way. But at Fishbowl, we’ve decided that it’s worth it to invest in multiple leaders for the following reasons:

  • Balance of Power. When you have someone who you need to agree with to move forward, you have to think harder about your decisions and make sure they not only pass your judgment, but your partner’s. You can also speak up as a counterbalance to your partner’s ideas, if you have something to add or change.
  • New Perspective. Sometimes you need a fresh perspective on a situation to see the solution. You may find that your brilliant ideas can be even better if you listen to someone else’s opinions on them. This is how the most innovative products and services come about.
  • Smooth Transitions. I’ve heard that a good leader is always grooming his or her successor. When you’re working in a pair, you don’t have to worry about that as much. If your partner suddenly moves up or goes to a different department, you can simply bring another member of your team up to speed and make them a new leader.
  • No Downtime. On a more practical note, no one can be at work every single day. You need to take time off for vacations, illnesses, etc. It sure is nice to have someone in the office who can cover for you while you’re away.

Learn More

It might be risky to spend more on your workforce, but Fishbowl is proving that the benefits far outweigh the costs. Fishbowl Inventory is the No. 1 inventory management software for QuickBooks users. Learn more about how it can help your business here.

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What Makes Fishbowl Different Than Other Companies

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Robert Lockard

I recently visited the website of a company that I know to be a bit dishonest. I found a lot of big, bold promises, like “Save money with our services!” and “You can’t afford not to work with us!” I realized that anyone can say that if you buy their product, you’ll enjoy incredible benefits, but few can back up that claim with actual data and customer testimonials.

Fish swimming against the current, Fishbowl Inventory BlogIn today’s high-pressure world where it seems like everyone is scrambling to get you to spend money as quickly as possible before you have a chance to really reason it out in your mind, it’s refreshing to talk to a company like Fishbowl. We don’t just tell you our product is great and you should buy it right now; we show you clear evidence of what it can do for your business.

Fishbowl has many resources to help you see the value of its inventory management software, and I’ll focus on two: Fishbowl’s ROI Tool and case studies.

ROI Tool

Fishbowl’s ROI Tool allows you to see exactly how much time and money you will save by using Fishbowl Inventory before you even buy the software. Simply plug in some information about your finances and the way you currently do business, and the ROI Tool will show you how quickly Fishbowl Inventory will pay for itself and continue saving you money month after month.

Case Studies

Fishbowl has been in business for more than 10 years, and we’ve accumulated quite a few success stories in that time. Manufacturers, wholesale distributors, retailers and other businesses have seen big improvements in their operations by using Fishbowl Inventory. You should to check out these companies’ experiences in our Case Studies section to see specific ways of how Fishbowl can help you.

At Fishbowl, we encourage you to study our software and make a decision that is right for your business. We offer a generous return policy, in-depth training tools, and many other things to resolve any concerns you might have. So take a minute to use our ROI Tool, read through our case studies, and sign up for a free trial of Fishbowl Inventory to see how powerful our software can be for your business.

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Be a Part of Utah’s 1st Native American Job Fair

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Robert Lockard

Poster for the first Native American Job Fair in Utah, Fishbowl Inventory BlogOn Tuesday, April 24, 2012, the first-ever job fair for Native Americans in Utah will be hosted at Utah Valley University in Orem. And you’re invited to attend! The event will go from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Sorensen Student Center’s Grande Ballroom.

Fishbowl, Zions Bank, American Express and 100 other companies will be at this event, offering jobs and services. Fishbowl sponsors the Courage Above Mountains (CAM) Foundation, which helps Native Americans get certified on a variety of software, among other things. Many of the Native Americans who will be in attendance have already benefited from the CAM Foundation’s services.

More than just an opportunity to find a job, the Native American Job Fair will allow Native Americans to:

  • Gain new job skills
  • Create plans to become qualified for the careers they want
  • Discuss cultural differences in order to succeed in diverse work environments
  • And much more

For more information about this historic event, call Brad Denver at 801-830-4150 or email jobfairs@jobsfornatives.com.

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What Is the Best Way to Manage Inventory?

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Robert Lockard

Welcome to the 200th blog post on the Fishbowl Inventory Blog! I’ve been responsible for 187 of those posts so far. I’ve been amazed by how many guest bloggers have published great content on this blog over the past two years, as well. We’ve had QuickBooks expert Shannon Tucker, several Fishbowl employees, and a number of other industry experts on here.

Business crossroads, Fishbowl Inventory BlogWhen I reached the 100th blog post in May 2011, I celebrated by asking the question: Is Fishbowl a Good Inventory Management System? In keeping with that tradition, this time around I’ll ask: What is the best way to manage inventory?

There are three main ways I’ll talk about. So let’s see which one is the best:

By Hand – Some businesses actually manage their inventory by writing down inventory counts, supplier information and other data on paper. This inventory management method is deceptively simple and extremely cumbersome. Startups with a tiny amount of inventory might be able to get away with this for a while, but they’ll have to start using some kind of software as they grow. After all, when was the last time you saw a big business keeping track of its inventory in a notebook?

Excel Spreadsheets – This is a little better. Excel inventory management is helpful because it lets small businesses set up a crude inventory management system without having to learn a new software program. However, Excel is an improvised solution, at best. It doesn’t allow you to track products with barcode scanners and it doesn’t automatically sync with QuickBooks, so you’ll have to enter the same information in two different places whenever you order, ship and/or sell products. It’s a good first step, but Excel isn’t ideal for most businesses.

Inventory Management Software – Now we’re talking. This is by far the best method for managing inventory. Inventory management software gives you the tools you need to scan products’ barcodes, balance inventory levels, track products by lot number, serial number, etc., manage multiple warehouses, and so much more.

Fishbowl Inventory is a great inventory management solution for small and midsize businesses. Its features are customizable, so you can start small and as your revenues and needs grow, you can add more tools. That way, you won’t have to switch software every few years. You can stay with the same one and avoid expensive and time-consuming re-training. In addition, Fishbowl integrates seamlessly with QuickBooks. This means that you don’t have to enter the same data in your inventory management and accounting software. So errors will be much less likely to creep into your data, and you’ll save time.

There you go. The best way to manage your inventory is to use inventory management software, specifically Fishbowl Inventory. Sign up for a free inventory software demo, and keep coming back to the Fishbowl Inventory Blog because we’ve got another 100 blog posts coming your way this year!

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