To: Howard Brodsky

Howard, we have been using the Trax system since March 2001 with tremendous success.  I am one that believes in measuring everything.  This complete system measures my advertising, where my customers are coming from, how many customers per hour, day, month, year and a complete sales analysis so I can manage my store properly.  I can pull up many more reports to keep track of my business with this system.

I am a firm believer in setting goals for my entire staff.  The Trax system is a wonderful tool in setting goals and also providing the information to know if the goals are being met.  I love to generate the reports this system has and hand them to my employees to show them their accomplishments.

We have made some adjustments to the system to fit our store.  We use the system for simple check out, setting measures and presentation notes.

We have also found it to be valuable when a customer has not been in for a while.  My salespeople ask our receptionist what the Trax notes say and she give that to the salesperson immediately refreshing their mind instantly on what they originally were interested in so the salesperson will say something like.  "I know you were looking at the peach tile for the entry way and Hardwood in such and such a color for the living rooms.  Is this still what you are interested in?  Our customers are impressed...

I highly recommend this system for other Carpet One stores who believe in proactive management and want to enhance their business.

Sincerely,

Kirby Lammers

General Manager

From Denise Fike

Fikes Carpet one

DEAR DAVE,

FIRST OF ALL, THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING US TO PARTICIPATE IN YOUR CONTEST.  MY SALES STAFF WERE THRILLED THAT WE WON.  THEY KNEW THEY WERE DOING WELL IN THE SALES, BUT TO HAVE A 56% INCREASE OVER LAST YEAR WAS REALLY WONDERFUL.

THOUGH WE ARE NEW ON THE SYSTEM, I HAVE SEEN A VISIBLE INCREASE, NOT ONLY ON SALES, BUT ALSO IN OPPORTUNITIES.  I BELIEVE THAT THE DATA PRODUCED BY THE FEW QUESTIONS THE SALES STAFF ASKS OF OUR CUSTOMERS WILL YIELD SOME VERY VALUABLE INFORMATION.  I AM PARTICULARLY INTERESTED IN THE ADVERTISING REPORTS THAT TRACK DOLLAR AMOUNTS TO SPECIFIC FLOORING PRODUCT CATEGORIES AND TYPES OF MEDIA.

WE HAVE INCREASED THE AWARENESS IN OUR SALES STAFF THAT BY GETTING MORE PERTINENT INFORMATION FROM THE CUSTOMER THEY ARE ABLE TO CONTROL AND CLOSE THE SALE MORE OFTEN.  AFTER EXPLAINING IN DEPTH WITH OUR STAFF AS TO WHY WE
ARE ASKING THEM TO DO THIS AND WHAT THE RESULTS WILL BE, THEY HAVE EXPERIENCED A GREATER AWARENESS AS TO WHY THEY DID NOT CLOSE THE SALE AND WHAT OPPORTUNITIES ARE BEFORE THEM.  THE PAT ANSWER AS TO WHY THE CUSTOMER DID NOT BUY USE TO ALWAYS BE "IT WAS TOO EXPENSIVE".  THEY HAVE FOUND OUT THAT THIS IS NOT ALWAYS THE CASE.


I AM PLEASED WITH THE RESULTS AND FEEL THIS SYSTEM WILL BE A
VALUABLE ASSET.

 SINCERELY,

 DENISE FIKE, MANAGER
 

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From Mike McFarland, Carpet One Plus

I am very pleased with the information that I'm receiving from The Trax system; the information is real time.  I'm not spending hours running reports and then inputting the data into Microsoft excel. I'm no longer going over their performance 15 days after the close of the month.  Hence, I'm being more productive and am better able to coach my sales people.  We held our first "Dart Contest" at last weeks sales meeting and I was amazed at how excited my sales staff became over a $50.00 bill.  We are still getting into the habit of using the system, but I can already see how powerful of a tool Trax is.

We have been using the Trax system since the first of April.  Dave Mink has been more than willing to assist us every step of the way.  One thing that needs to be better stressed to prospective users of the Trax system are the hardware system requirements.  In particular the need for a resident CD-ROM drive on the "Point" machine.  If I were aware of the need for a CD-ROM at convention, I would have been using Trax immediately upon receipt of the software.

Sincerely,

Mike McFarland
Carpet One Plus

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Trax has been a very welcome part of our business.  I'm a very "numbers" oriented person and I can't tell you enough how this has helped me with my employees.  It helps me figure out my salespersons weak points and also what their strong points are too.  I like that I can show what each salespersons average sales are and how many more customers they need to talk with to arrive at their goal at the end of the month. They were a little hesitant at first to use it, but now the more they use it, the more they like it.

Nathan Geving
Advance Carpet One

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From:   Jim Nielsen, Institute Of Profit Advisors

David Mink
  
 One word WOW, I've been involved in some form of the floor covering
 industry for 25 years and believe me I've never seen anything that can
 help the floor covering retailers more than the Trax Sales system. I have 
 been a retailer and wish I still was,  just to have the fun and
 information the Trax System can provide, again WOW. I've been a Sales
 Manager with Beaulieu Of America, a Membership Director with Carpet One,
 a Independent Sales Agent,  a Sales Trainer with Mohawk, and as I
 mentioned a retailer.  I've never seen a tool better for producing
 results and profits than the Trax Sales system. Where were you when I
 had my stores?
    
 Dave I'm currently working with the Institute Of Profit Advisors, we
 are a profit consulting, and advising company that focus on helping
 companies generate more bottom line profit. We work with  business
 clients across the country to help them grow and build their companies.
 I can assure you we are building the Trax System into our core advisory
 business, it's an instant profit generator for our clients. Thank you
 for looking ahead and developing such a powerful tool for today's
 flooring retailers. And for giving those who choose to be proactive with
 their business,  and want to use a system that gives such a leg up on their competitors.
 
 
 Best Regards
 
 
 Jim S. Nielsen (PEO)
 Profit Enhancement Officer

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Dear Mr. Mink

           We at Giant Floor have been using the Trax System for three months and are happy to say that we are elated at the results.  Although we are at the infancy stage in this  "state of the art" system, we are extracting valuable data about our customer base.  It is intriguing to learn the reason for customers entering the store.  In fact, We were so convinced that a specific communication medium was responsible for our traffic prior to installing the Trax System, we were investing a large portion of our budget in that area.  After using the Trax System, we have found that we could not have been more wrong.  Once we have additional historical data from the Trax System supporting our initial findings, we will change our advertising strategy.  This is a monumental change due to the fact that we had entrusted our advertising dollars for about ten years to this medium.  Thanks to the Trax System we are receiving important and pertinent data to chart our new course.

             The various information that can be extracted from the Trax System is extremely important for any company on the retail level.  The data obtained becomes more objective and enables management to make clearer decisions on customers and advertising.  Obviously, you can see that Giant Floor is extremely happy about our business decision to buy the Trax System and recommends it to other retail vendors.

Very truly yours,

Charles J. Ferraro         

Sample Performance Letter

This report prints each Saturday morning @ 2:00 AM for each salesperson before your sales meeting.

Carpeting Industry

Hello Sally,

Performance as of Thursday September 20, 2001

Goal For The Month

Your goal for the month of September 2001 is $53,000 or 1,766.67 per day. Your current sales volume through 20 day's is $29,451.80 or $1472.59 per day.

Square Footage

You had a total of 17125 square feet of flooring sold during this period.  Your average square foot per sale is 1073 and your dollar average per square foot is $1.72.  The total for the showroom during this period is 80,875 square feet, with an average square footage per sale of 1324 and a dollar average square foot of $3.21.  This means you are below the showroom average by 251 feet per sale and below the showroom by $1.49 for dollar average per square foot.

You had a total of 12 measures and closed seven of those.  The dollar volume for these measures was 14,278.00 and your closing ratio for measures was 6 out of seven or 86%.

Sales Goals

To be on goal your volume should be $35,333, so you are $5881.20 or 17% behind target. If you maintain your current sales, your volume at month end will be $44,177.70. Which is $8,822.30 below your goal. The overall showroom is 8% below goal for the month.

Spoken With

You have spoken with 72 prospective customers and sold 16. Your Closing Ratio was 22%, which is 4% below the showroom average.  Your average sale amount is $1840.74, which is $88.73 below the showroom average of $1,926.47.  

Current Pace

If you maintain your current pace with the same closing ratio and average sales amount you will need to talk with a total of 59 more customers to attain your goal of $53,000 for the month.  Your average sales per day should be $2354.82 or $882.23 more than your current average.

Items Per Sale

Your average items per sale during this period was 2.15 units per sale.  You were 0.42 units or 24.3 % above the showroom average of 1.73.

Revenue Per Up

Your Average "RPU " Revenue Per Up is $404.96 (Closing Ratio X Average Sale Amount) this represents the sales dollar value of each individual opportunity you speak with. The overall average "RPO" for the showroom so far during this period is $446.29 so you are below by $41.33 per opportunity.

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