At Main Street Software, Inc. our number-one priority is customer service. We care about your Mary Kay business because we are Mary Kay Beauty Consultants. In that spirit, we offer you this blog as a place to get the latest tips, news, and updates from Main Street Software, Inc. Stop by often, or, better yet, subscribe to get all blog posts via email or RSS feed. And if you like what you see, use the buttons at the bottom of each post to spread the word. Thank you for making Boulevard the number-one choice for Mary Kay business management! Find out more about Boulevard and Main Street Software, Inc. by visiting our website.
From time to time we get asked if our users should delete products they no longer have in stock and cannot buy from Mary Kay. You may be concerned that having these items in your program will take up too much space. In fact, they don’t take up much space at all. However, we know having a clean and concise product list can help you to be better organized, to know what you have on hand, and keep clean tax records. Plus, if Mary Kay brings one of those items or something comparable back, you will be able to retrieve reports for previous purchases.
We offer Database Makeovers for your convenience. Included in the Basic Plus, Complete, and Ultimate Makeovers, we will clean up and customize your product list for you. This is only one of the items included in our Database Makeovers. If you would prefer to take care of this step yourself, we recommend the following:
Create a new category in your product list named Old/No Inventory.
To create a new category, go to Product then Categories.
Click the Insert Category button.
Select the new line and type Old/No Inventory under Category Name.
In the Section column type 1 and in the Order column type 1150.
Click OK.
Open your Product List.
Select the Closeout Items category.
Double-click on any item with a zero quantity.
Change the category to Old/No Inventory (from Closeout Items).
Click OK.
Repeat steps 3-6 for all items you no longer have on hand in Closeout Items.
When you’re done we recommend repeating these steps each quarter when you load a new product update as new items will have been moved to the Closeout Items category. By making the adjustments quarterly, your end of the year will go much easier. The goal is for Closeout Items to contain only Section 1 products that are not a part of the current order form but you still have quantities on hand.
If you would rather “outsource” the work to our office, we’ll understand – we’ll even make it as easy as possible for you. When you order a Database Makeover, we will begin by emailing you a questionnaire. Following the directions on the questionnaire, simply circle the selections based upon what you would like us to take care of. Then fax or scan\email the questionnaire and email a backup to our office. We’ll take care of the rest. When you receive your cleaned up data, the Closeout Items category will only contain those items you have on hand. The rest will be in an Old\No Inventory category.
Either way you choose to manage this part of your Boulevard program, you won’t be sorry. Let us help you stay on track so that you can spend more time with your customers, team or unit, and family. Helping you keep your priorities is important and we’re here with services to ensure you can do just that!
Visit our website to view everything that is included in each level of our Database Makeovers.
This year Main Street Software, Inc. staff attended the US Seminar in Dallas and enjoyed meeting new customers, catching up with those who have been with us for awhile, and making new friends. What an energetic group you are! Thank you for the laughs, the love, and the loyalty!
As is usual, we could hardly beat the heat in Dallas and attendees were happy to shop, sit a spell with us, and enjoy a demonstration of Boulevard. Customer Service Manager, Kennedy, attended in Dallas along with long-time customer, Betty, and Customer Service Representatives Christy, Tami, Tricia, and Mindy. Boulevard 2011 was on display as we showed how to personalize your profiles with a picture, use the new memorized expense feature, add a family name for mailing labels, and add explanations and expiration dates to the Edit Physical Count dialog.
Attendees who stopped by took away a goodie bag complete with every woman’s best friend – chocolate! Many of you also took advantage of our cash & carry postcard special offer. Don’t worry – if you missed out on yours, you can still order our exclusive and highly professional designs in sets of 10 from the web. Your best deal is our Prepaid Postcard Service, however. Let us mail them for you! You will see easily why LuAnn recommends using our postcards as they epitomize professionalism and will definitely stand out in the recipient’s mailbox.
Of course those who stopped by also got to put a face to the voice they hear over the phone plus pick up a few tips to boost business when returning home. As always, we are so excited to be able to attend these events and bring the customer service you know us for. Until we meet again, we wish you continued success and inspiration in your businesses. Happy New Year!
In Boulevard you can enter and track business-related expenses and other income, assign categories, and view monthly expense and income totals. An abundance of report options are available to you too, so you can provide your accountant or tax preparer with the information they need.
Boulevard comes preloaded with some commonly used expense and income categories. You can change these categories and add new ones at any time so that you can customize to meet your specific needs. For example: maybe your accountant wants your commission checks broken down to show personal recruit and unit commissions separately.
If you or your accountant decide to delete a category that has expense or income transactions assigned to it, those entries become unassigned. Having each transaction properly assigned to the applicable expense or income category helps to ensure complete and accurate records for tax purposes at the end of your tax year.
You can also export expense and income information from Boulevard to financial software packages that accept QIF files such as Quicken®. Any software that can accept this file type will work with your tax or financially pertinent Boulevard information. See Exporting to financial software in the Help menu for complete instructions.
Last time we sent you an update, we were expecting ProPay® to launch their new service to the Mary Kay® community in the month of July. Here is the latest….
ProPay did release their Virtual Terminal ProtectPay system the first week of Seminar. This service allows you to enter and save credit card information through ProPay. Since ProPay meets the standards required by the credit card companies, you are assured your customer credit card information is safe and protected.
As reported in the Banking Business Review,
The sensitive cardholder data never resides [on the user’s computer]. The merchant receives a unique identifier that can be used for reporting purposes or repeat transactions, claims ProPay.
Of course the next most important piece of information you want to know is when will this work with Boulevard. In talking with a Vice President at ProPay, they were unable to provide to us an estimated date when Virtual Terminal ProtectPay will be ready for integration with other software programs. Rest assured – we will remain in contact and plan on working with them at such a time as their systems are ready.
As a reminder, the safest storage method for credit card data until you sign up for Virtual Terminal ProtectPay is on paper in a locking drawer or cabinet. The chances of your home being broken into as opposed to your computer compromised are much lower. When the credit card was stored in the credit card field in Boulevard, the card number was encrypted within the data file. Even encrypted we were told the data was no longer considered safe enough.
If you enter the full card number into any area of the program, it will not be encrypted. If you’re syncing with a handheld device, you may now be carrying complete credit card numbers with you. In order to minimize your liability, we strongly suggest heeding the recommendations of the credit card industry and ProPay.
If you have not yet loaded your copy of Boulevard 2011, here are a few tips for retrieving the credit card information you have stored.
Only write down and save credit card numbers with current expiration dates.
Begin with your first customer in Boulevard. Click on the Add’l Info tab. Write down the card number and name for each customer with current information.
Store all credit card numbers (even handwritten pink tickets) in a locking drawer or cabinet. You could also take the time to register for Virtual Terminal ProtectPay and record the information there.
Take a backup of your Boulevard information then load 2011.
As promised, we are keeping you updated every step of the way and will continue to do so. As a company and as consultants, we are grateful to the credit card industry and ProPay for doing what it takes to protect us. Please know that Main Street Software staff is available to answer questions and assist you in whatever way we can. As we correspond with ProPay and obtain any updated information, we will continue to keep you informed.
We added this awesome new feature and designed it to be as simple as possible. Have you ever had one of those great weeks/months where you’ve held so many parties you can’t even keep all the new customers straight? Now there’s a solution! Take a picture of your new clients after you’ve given them a makeover and when you enter their information into Boulevard (or we do it for you with our Virtual Assistant service), you can add the picture to their profile too! Plus, with such a personal business, it’s nice to have a face in front of you even when making phone calls. Seeing your customer’s smiling face may trigger memories from previous encounters that help you to best service her and suggest the products that meet her needs.
Here are a few tips to help you select the right pictures:
The maximum allowable size for each picture is 600kB. To check the size of a picture, browse to its location on your computer then right-click and select Properties.
If the picture you want to use is too large, you can use image-editing software on your computer (E.g. Microsoft Picture Manager) to compress or reduce the size of the image.
If you intend to use the original picture for anything else (E.g. printing), we suggest making a copy of the picture before cropping or compressing.
Once you have cropped and compressed the picture to Boulevard’s specifications and the image view you would like, you’re ready to upload to Boulevard.
Open the Customer, Recruit, or Address profile.
Click the Main tab.
In the top right section, click the image box.
In the dialog box that appears, navigate to the location on your computer containing the image file you want to add.
Click the image and click the Open button or double-click the image file.
In the Customer Profile, click OK to save.
Boulevard will scale the image to the allowable area in the profile for you.
There are so many reasons why this addition to Boulevard is so great! We know you’re as excited as we are. Let us know how this has helped your business and if you’ve taken some of our suggestions and tips. Your feedback helps us to make sure we continue to provide the tools that work best for your business. You never know – your idea may appear in a future Product Update Service newsletter!
LuAnn Darling, President of Main Street Software, Inc. and long-time Mary Kay Beauty Consultant, conducts training sessions around the US and internationally. These training sessions cover getting the most out of Boulevard to maximize your Mary Kay business. You’ll learn how to put Boulevard to work increasing your work efficiency, servicing your customers, and increasing your sales.
Anyone whose name appears in your Boulevard software (in either the Customer, Unit, or Address lists) can be added to a Name List in the List Builder. Creating Name Lists simplifies mailing labels, call notes and group email. LuAnn also uses this list to enter the same call note for all recipients of this postcard.
Boulevard® at Seminar!
If you or your accountant decide to delete a category that has expense or income transactions assigned to it, those entries become unassigned. Having each transaction properly assigned to the applicable expense or income category helps to ensure complete and accurate records for tax purposes at the end of your tax year.
Click here to watch a movie tutorial about the List Builder feature
