DP Tool Club 15/CD_ASCQ_15_070894.iso/vrac/tps10.zip/PRO~HLP.DAT

Text File | 1994-05-09 | 18KB | 419 lines

                             THE PROPOSAL SYSTEM
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HOW TO USE THIS BUILT-IN USERS MANUAL
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The entire "The Proposal System" (TPS) manual is contained here.



TO READ THE MANUAL:
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  Press <PAGE DOWN> to move down through the manual
  Press <PAGE UP> to move back up through previously read material
  Press <Esc> to exit the manual and return to where you left off in TPS.




                             TABLE OF CONTENTS
    TOPIC                                                     PAGE #
    ----------------------------------------------------------------
    HOW TO USE THIS BUILT-IN USERS MANUAL ........................ 1
    TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................ 2
    WHO NEEDS THE PROPOSAL SYSTEM? ............................... 3
    WHAT DOES THE PROPOSAL SYSTEM DO? ............................ 3
    » HOW TO REGISTER YOUR COPY OF THE PROPOSAL SYSTEM « ......... 4
    GETTING STARTED WITH THE "EXAMPLE" PROPOSAL .................. 6
    YOUR FIRST PROPOSAL .......................................... 7
    FUNCTION KEYS ................................................ 11
    HOW DO I? .................................................... 13
     └ Print out a proposal
       Print a second (or reverse) page of information
       Print a work order
       Determine how much profit I made on a particular proposal
       Add a .99 or .95 to my final price
       Put in a price without a mark-up, for instance:  labor
       Find a proposal I saved six months ago
    TECHNICAL SUPPORT ........................................... 19
    IN CLOSING .................................................. 20
WHO NEEDS THE PROPOSAL SYSTEM?
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If your business gives price quotes to prospective customers/clients, then
you need The Proposal System!

You may be someone who currently scratches out a proposal onto a piece of
paper.  Or perhaps you type in a proposal on a word processor.  Or maybe you
just tell the customer a price orally.  NO MATTER WHAT METHOD YOU ARE USING,
TPS CAN BRING YOU MORE SALES!

WHAT DOES THE PROPOSAL SYSTEM DO?
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The proposal system handles every aspect of the proposal:
  The customer's name & address
  The customer's phone number
  The date of the proposal
  The salesman name
  The proposal #
  (continued...)
  The proposal items including description, place of purchase, cost, % of
    mark-up, quantity, single price, and net price.
  The grand total of the proposal
  The bottom line profit if this proposal becomes a sale
  Track customer contact with the pop-up Notepad
  Expert designed printing of your proposals to give a professional
    appearance to your proposals; they'll even print on letterhead.
  Printing of Dealers Orders for ordering of parts and customer tracking.
  Optional reverse page or 2nd page printing capability for Terms, Warranty
    Info, Conditions of Sale, or any other information you wish to add.

HOW TO REGISTER YOUR COPY OF THE PROPOSAL SYSTEM
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The large majority of people who use The Proposal System will see increased
sales and increased profits over the manual or less-productive methods they
may have previously been using.  In fact, you may make up the registration
price of The Proposal System in your very first sale made with it!


(continued...)
Not only that, but in most businesses, purchase of The Proposal System is
fully tax-deductible.  It will pay for itself one way or another!

Registered users of The Proposal System receive Toll-Free technical support,
notification of future updates (we have ideas currently in the works for the
next version...) and access to PC Specialists Online, our online network you
access with a modem to reach over 20,000 programs available for download.

To register your copy of The Proposal System, start the program and press
<spacebar> at the Title Screen.  This will take you to the Shareware Infor-
mation screen giving you our phone number, address, and full ordering
information.  We hope you register today!

Keep reading to find out how to load in the "EXAMPLE" Proposal which will
give you a good overview as to how The Proposal System works...






GETTING STARTED WITH THE "EXAMPLE" PROPOSAL
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To get a quick feel for how the system works, at the Entry Screen (the main
screen where you enter in all of the information about the proposal) press
the <F9> key.  This executes the LOAD command.  At this point all proposals
in the current directory will be displayed.  You should see a proposal named
EXAMPLE.PRO.  (If not, you may have an incomplete copy of TPS).  Enter the
name EXAMPLE (you don't need to put the .PRO) and press <Enter>.  The
proposal will be loaded and displayed on the screen.

The EXAMPLE proposal shows you all of the components of a proposal.  It
shows the area for the Customer's name and address, proposal #, telephone
numbers, date of proposal, and sales person name.  Below that is the area
where you put in Descriptions, Distributor (where you get the parts/items
from), Percent of mark-up, Quantities, Price Each, and Net Price.




(continued...)
Use the up and down arrow keys to move through the EXAMPLE proposal.  Try
changing around the text, quantities, prices, etc. and watch how it affects
the proposal.  Experiment with the function keys listed at the bottom of the
screen.  You can print, insert or delete lines, load, save, and more.  Make
sure to press ALT-N to bring up the Notepad.

When you have fully experimented with the EXAMPLE proposal and have gotten
the feel for how The Proposal System works, press the <F8> (NEW) key to
start a new proposal.  And proceed to the next topic:

YOUR FIRST PROPOSAL
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Let's say you quote a computer printer to Joe Jones.  First type in the
customer's name "Joe Jones".  You may then, optionally, put in the
customer's address.  This is good to do so that later you will have that
information on hand in case you want to print out a mailing list.

The next item is the proposal #.  Every time you save a proposal, the
proposal # increases by 1.  However, you can manually override the proposal
# to any number you want by typing it in here.
Next enter the telephone number(s).  The numbers are set up for (Wk) - WORK
and (Hm) - HOME, but you could change that to (Bp) - BEEPER, (Fx) - FAX, or
whatever abbreviation you want to use.

Now for the date.  If your computer's date is correct, it will be shown
automatically.  If it is incorrect, or you want to override the date,
simply type the new date in over the old one.  It defaults to using "-"
as a separator, but you could use "/" or whatever you wanted.

Sales Person.  If you have several people using The Proposal System, it can
be helpful to have the person who types in the proposal place their name
under Sales Person.  This way the customer will know who to contact because
the Sales Person name will appear on the final printed proposal.

The main components:
--------------------

Description:  Here is where you put in information about the product.  In
our example we'll put:  B.I.M. HI-SPEED LASER PRINTER

(continued...)
Distrib.:  (Distributor)  This allows you to track where you will purchase
the items you are selling.  This can be helpful later if you print up a
work order.  When you first start out, there won't be any distributors in
the list.  You can choose ADD DIST to add one to the list.  Each name can
be up to 8 characters, so you may need to abbreviate or use codes.  Just
highlight the distributor name and press <enter>.  That name will pop into
the Distrib. column.  (This information does not print on the customer's
proposal).

Cost:  Here is where you'll put YOUR cost on the item.  Let's say the
computer printer costs you $535.  Put in that amount.  (This information
does not print on the customer's proposal).

%:  The fun part...  Here you can type in a percentage of mark-up from 0
to 99%.  The default is 25%, but there is such a wide range of products
that your business may see a much higher, or much lower, average percent
of markup.  Just type in the number that you think will make the sale!
Try 20 for our example.  (This information does not print on the customer's
proposal).

(continued...)
Qty:  You can propose from 1 to 999 of the same item.  In our example put
in 2.  TO ENTER THE 2:  Use the right arrow key to move to the 1, then type
the 2 right over it.

Each:  The each column is automatically calculated as Cost + % of mark-up.
This will show how much 1 of each item will cost the customer.  In our
example the amount is 642.00, the result of $535 (our cost) + a 20% mark-
up.  This column can handle amounts up to $99,999.00.

Price:  This is the Net Price column and shows Cost + % of mark-up X Qty.
If you propose several items, the grand total of those items appears here.
In our example you'll see 1284.00, the customer's price for 2 Printers @
$642 each.  This column can handle amounts up to $99,999.00.

TOTAL:  Note the TOTAL line at the bottom right of the screen.  It now shows
$1,284.00, the grand total of the proposal.  If you add new items & prices,
the total will continually be updated automatically.  It can handle amounts
up to $999,999.00.


(continued...)
NOTEPAD:  Each proposal includes a notepad for notes.  Hold down the ALT key
and press N (Alt-N) to access the Notepad.  Inside the notepad you can type
in information about the customer, the sale, prices, notes, whatever.  When
you are done, press <Esc> and anything you have typed will automatically be
saved.  NOTE that you must save the proposal for the notepad to permanently
be saved.

Now let's take a brief look at each function key listed at the bottom of the
screen:

FUNCTION KEYS
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<F2> - Print.  Use this key to print the customer's proposal, the second
page (optional), and/or the Dealer Cost/Parts List.

<F3> - Up Row.  To quickly move up the screen, use this key.  It is faster
than using the up arrow key.

<F4> - Down Row.  To quickly move down the screen, use this key.  It is
faster than using the down arrow key.
<F5> - Insert Line.  If you wish to insert a line, perhaps to add a new
item or some new information, press this key.  Anything on the bottom line
of your proposal will be inserted off the page and lost.  Only use insert
line if you have free space at the bottom of your proposal.

<F6> - Delete Line.  To remove a line or lines from your proposal, press
this key.  The line where the cursor is at will be blanked out, and the
lines below the cursor will all be moved up one.

<F8> - New.  To abandon the proposal you are working on and start a brand
new proposal, use this key.

<F9> - Load.  To load in a previously saved proposal use this key.  You
will be given a list of all proposals in the current directory.

<F10> - Save.  To save your proposal press this key.  This saves the entire
proposal, including the notepad.

<Esc> - Exit.  When you are finished using The Proposal System press this
key to exit the program.

HOW DO I?
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Print out a proposal
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First, get your proposal ready on the screen.  Then press <F2> for the
Printing Menu.  Now insert a sheet of letterhead.  If your business does
not use letterhead, we suggest that you obtain some because it really
will give a professional appearance to your proposals.  Standard 8 1/2"
x 11" letterhead with about an 1 1/2" at the top for the letterhead is
what we suggest.  Long letterhead may force the printing to start too
low on the page and some of the proposal may be lost.

When your letterhead is ready, press <spacebar> or <enter>.  You will
then be asked How Many Top Margin Lines?  The default is 7 lines, or
just over an inch.  You will need to experiment with this setting because
every printer is different and you'll need the printing to start below
your letterhead.  Once you find the correct value, make a note of it and
enter it in whenever you print a proposal.

Print a second (or reverse) page of information
───────────────────────────────────────────────

As soon as the first page has been sent to the printer, a message will
appear saying you can print the PROBACK.DAT text file.  THIS MESSAGE
WILL ONLY APPEAR IF THE PROBACK.DAT TEXT FILE EXISTS.

You create the PROBACK.DAT text file in a text editor like DOS's EDIT or in
a word processor that will save the file in ASCII format.

What do you put into PROBACK.DAT?  Anything you want!  Many people use this
feature to discuss their TERMS, CONDITIONS, WARRANTY, GUARANTEE, or even to
advertise other products or services.

After you have created your own PROBACK.DAT text file, there are a couple of
ways to print it.  You can either re-insert Proposal Page 1 upside-down into
the printer and have the PROBACK.DAT file print on the back, or you can
insert a second sheet of letterhead (or plain paper) to have it print onto a
separate page.

(continued...)
If printing it on a separate sheet of letterhead, you will need to place
several blank lines in the top of PROBACK.DAT to avoid printing over your
letterhead.

PROBACK.DAT can contain any information you want, but try not to overwhelm
the customer with more than they can possibly read.  Just a brief overview
of terms and conditions will usually do the trick.

Remember, you don't have to print PROBACK.DAT, even if it exists.  And if it
doesn't exist, you won't even be asked about it.

Print a work order
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Let's say you put in a proposal with 10 different items from 5 different
distributors and the sale goes through.  By printing a work order you can
simply call the distributors, place the orders, and mark off each item or
jot down any notes as you order it.


(continued...)
At the Printing Menu, press D for Dealer cost/parts list.  This is the
work order.  You can print this on letterhead, but most people just use
plain paper as this will just be for your files.

The Dealer cost/parts list will print out all of the information included
Distributor, your cost, percent of mark-up, quantity, price each, net price,
and more.  This makes it easy to fulfill the customer's order.

Determine how much profit I made on a particular proposal
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The great thing about the proposal system is that it AUTOMATICALLY figures
out your total profit on a sale.  When you print the Dealer cost/parts list
the bottom of the page will show TOTAL: (that's what the customer pays),
TOTAL COST: (that's what you pay), and TOTAL PROFIT: (the bottom line money
you'll make on that sale.)

Of course you may have commission to pay and there may be other overhead,
but it will give you a good idea as to how profitable a particular sale
really is.

Add a .99 or .95 to my final price
──────────────────────────────────

Many businesses add a catchy ending to their price tag like 9.99, 5.95, etc.
Doing this in The Proposal System requires you to alter the cents in the
COST column.

For instance:  Let's say the cost is $5.25 and the % is 30.  That gives a
customer price of $6.82.  By increasing the cost to $5.35 the customer price
becomes $6.95.  Increase it to $5.38 for a $6.99 price tag.  Of course this
throws off your TOTAL PROFIT calculation somewhat, but generally it's just a
few cents off, and almost always in your favor.

Put in a price without a mark-up, for instance:  labor
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Do you propose services like labor?  In a garage, the hourly rate might be
$30 an hour.  Let's say the customer will need 2 hours of time.  To enter
this, simply place $30 as your cost, 0% mark-up, and 2 Quantity.  This
shows the customer $30 an hour, $60 total.

Or, you may simply know that an item is $12.99 and you aren't concerned with
your cost.  Just type in $12.99 in the COST category, with a 0% mark-up.
Remember, your TOTAL PROFIT calculation will not be correct this way, but it
does allow you to quickly propose a list of known prices.

Find a proposal I saved six months ago
──────────────────────────────────────

To be flexible, The Proposal System allows you to name each proposal
anything you want.  This leaves it up to you to determine a naming scheme
that will make it easy to find a proposal later on.

Some people save each proposal by its proposal number.  That way if the
customer brings in their proposal (for instance #1559), you just LOAD the
filename 1559.

But what if they loose their proposal?  Many businesses use the customer's
name instead of the proposal #.  For instance:  JOHN SMITH could become a
filename of SMITHJ1 (SMITH, JOHN, PROPOSAL #1 TO HIM).

(continued...)
By developing a naming scheme and sticking to it, you'll easily be able to
locate your proposals down the line.

Another thing that can really help is to use a directory sorting program
to sort the directory by name or date.  By periodically using such a
program, you can keep the proposal in the order that will help you the
most.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT
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Registered users of The Proposal System can obtain free technical support
by calling our toll-free number, (800)-625-7214 (or (904)-625-7214) and
asking for technical support.

We also give limited support to new, unregistered users, to get them up
to speed with the product so that they can register.



(continued...)
You may also write to us at:
  PC SPECIALISTS
  POST OFFICE BOX 4522
  OCALA, FL 34478

Or call our Online network PC SPECIALISTS ONLINE with a modem at:
  (904)-625-7719

Many times we will post technical information, bug fixes, and updates
online so that you can quickly call in and get what you need.

IN CLOSING
──────────

We hope you find The Proposal System to be a true money maker and that
you'll register your copy today!


[end of manual]