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.
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.
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!
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.
Our Customer Service Department is frequently asked how to handle discounts properly. We suggest a simplified, easy-to-follow method. One of two things that are most important to identify first is whether the gift is a Section 1 or a Section 2 item. Based on that, here are our suggestions.
If the item being given to the customer is a Section 1:
Add the item to the invoice.
Tab across to the Discount column and type 100 (or the applicable percent of discount being given).
a. If other discounts are being given as flat dollar amounts, such as on a discontinued product, manually calculate the total discounts and add a Dollar field in the lower left corner of the invoice.
If you collect tax on the discounted amount of product, right-click on the invoice and verify that ‘Tax Before Discounts’ is unchecked. (If you’re uncertain if your Boulevard software is set up to tax before or after discounts, go to Preferences under the File menu. Select the Sales tab. The second checkbox is ‘Compute sales tax before discounts’ on invoice. If this is checked your Boulevard will calculate tax on the retail value at all times. If the box is unchecked, your Boulevard software will calculate tax on the invoice after any discounts given.)
Using the new, 2011 feature, Discount Type, make your selection (E.g. Hostess Credit).
By following these steps, Boulevard will remove the item from inventory, show the retail value of product as a sale, and show the retail value of the product given away in the ‘Gift Section 1 column‘ on your Weekly Accomplishment Sheet. By showing the offsetting discount amount in this way, you are reducing your tax liability against money you did not collect.
If the gift is a Section 2 product, the steps are even simpler.
Add the item to the invoice.
Tab to the Type column on that line and select Gift.
That’s it – as simple as can be. By following this suggested method of handling a Section 2 gift, the customer will not see the price you paid for the item and the value of the gift will appear in the PCP column on the WAS. The reason we recommend handling the transaction this way is because the Section 2 product is a write-off when it is bought. No discount should be shown; instead, just zero the price for the customer’s benefit. Now her history will be accurate showing what Section 2 items have been given to her.
Other Types of Gifts
There are always other situations where we find ourselves giving a gift of Mary Kay product. For the best advise, make sure you check with your tax advisor. Your Help menu has a variety of topics and selections to help in the Business Tips chapter.
With the Avenue™ application for Windows® Mobile and Blackberry™ devices, you have the ability and freedom to take the most important Boulevard information with you. Why not have your business information at your fingers tips whenever and wherever you need it, even when away from your computer?
Access profile information for Customers and Address list contacts along with the ability to view up to two years of their purchase history. Need to know the production or contact information for a consultant in your team or unit? With Avenue you’ve got that too.
Dial any phone number directly from Avenue using your device dialer. And if your device has email capability, email directly from Avenue application. These convenient features make it easy to stay in touch with customers and stay on top of the details even when you’re busy.
The Trip Log is an excellent tool that allows you to record business mileage while you’re out and about without having to write anything down. We didn’t stop there. Would you like to have your inventory at your fingers tips? How about the ability to create an invoice for those spontaneous on-the-go sales we all love to get? With Main Street Software’s handheld application, that’s possible, too!
Once home, just synchronize your device and everything is updated between Avenue and the Boulevard software on your computer. No internet or browser connection is required to run or synchronize Avenue with your computer. Safe, secure, and convenient – Main Street Software makes business mobility easy!
We’re taught that setting a goal is the first step toward achievement. Follow-through is key, though. In your business, this means tracking.
Weekly Accomplishment Sheet & Personal Sales Tracking
Unit or Area recognition is often based on retail product sold during the seminar year. From Preferences inside Boulevard software, click on the Weekly Accomplishment tab and ensure Base YTD totals on Seminar Year is checked. The New Year-to-Date Sales Total on the Weekly Accomplishment Sheet will now reflect your seminar year sales.
To view your sales, from under the Utility menu select Weekly Accomplishment (or by selecting the dollar sign symbol from the main toolbar). Then File and Print Preview.
When retrieving weekly accomplishment information, if a message appears that tells you the seminar year is undefined, return to Preferences and select the Seminar tab this time.
In order to retrieve information for seminar year-to-date, the seminar year selected must be entered. For our customers on the premium Product Update Service, the summer CD will update this information for the upcoming year.
Queen’s Court of Sales Tracking
Unlike the Weekly Accomplishment Sheet, the Queen’s Court dialog shows the retail credit you have earned from Mary Kay® based on product orders placed throughout the seminar year. This is an excellent tool for tracking Queen’s Court of Personal Sales. It shows a list of all product order totals in the current or previous seminar year as well as the total retail value of all orders and the Queen’s Court qualifying amount. To view personal production entered into your Boulevard software, click on the Product menu, then Order. In the Maintain Orders dialog select the Queen’s Court button.
Additional information can be found in the Help by hitting the F1 key at any time in either of these areas of Boulevard.
We’d love to hear if you met your seminar goals and about your walk across stage in July! You can do it – and we’re here to help.
To add automatic renewal for your upgrade, you can access and update your information by logging into our website using the email address and password we have on file for you. Not sure what your password is? Your password can be emailed to you by clicking on the link on our site. If you’re not sure what email address we have on file for you, feel free to contact us directly.
We release an upgrade to your Boulevard software once a year in June. Automatic renewal is the best way to go. You not only save money, but stay up-to-date with minimal effort. This year the upgrade renewal will process on Wednesday, June 2nd. Don’t miss out – you could save up to 45%!
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
(If you’re uncertain if your Boulevard software is set up to tax before or after discounts, go to Preferences under the File menu. Select the Sales tab. The second checkbox is ‘Compute sales tax before discounts’ on invoice. If this is checked your Boulevard will calculate tax on the retail value at all times. If the box is unchecked, your Boulevard software will calculate tax on the invoice after any discounts given.)
To view your sales, from under the Utility menu select Weekly Accomplishment (or by selecting the dollar sign symbol from the main toolbar). Then File and Print Preview.
