What Can QDP Do For You?
Overstocks & Needs Online
Celebrate America in 2004
PRIORITY News
New Orleans Was OK
Enhanced, New or Coming
Order Tallying Online for Your Customers
Special Announcement
Is Your Website Working For You, or Against You?
Holiday Shops - Code or Scan?
Internet Fundraising Books Sales
Question for AFRDS Members

Welcome new AFRDS members and Atlantic City Expo attendees.

If this is your first RUNTIME newsletter, be sure to read our product and services overview and visit our website. Also, welcome to RUNTIME and PRIORITY Mr. President. Now I really have to watch what I say, right?

Note: We are constantly updating our mailing list. Stay on our RUNTIME list -- buy something.

Services

We’d love to be your Total Service Provider. Send your order forms to us for Tally Service and receive paperwork printed with YOUR COMPANY NAME. We can fax or email totals and ship printouts to be received prior to product.

Use one of our custom brochures, or one of the Scott’s of Wisconsin programs we carry and we can both Tally & Pack the order for shipment directly to the group. Included for any groups using our Tally & Pack Service is our WebUltra™ Internet Fundraising Service (Separate article).

After the sale, leave the site active as a Perpetual Fundraiser. We’ll continue to process the orders and send you checks. Take a portion to the group. Then, periodically change the brochures offered so the school has ongoing reasons to continually promote their Perpetual Fundraiser.

Consider School Survey Services as an off-season service for your better customers. We’ll design a questionnaire that you can have the school send home. They can ask questions to find out the best night of the week for parent/teacher meetings, levels of support for potential projects, what students like best for lunch, etc.

Web Design, E-Commerce and Hosting is available. (See article in this letter). We are hosting over 30 web sites now and taking on more all the time.

QDP is now an Affiliate for a national credit card processing company, so we can help you get set to accept credit cards. Some people wait until their competitors are beating them up before they consider keeping up with technology. Before long, processing credit cards will NOT be a competitive option. Learn the curve during Spring and Summer so you can be ready for the higher volume in the Fall.

In addition to our web sites, we try to stay in touch with QDP eNotes. This short, 2-minute email is sent every few weeks. It’s FREE. Sign up on our home page.

Software

WinUltra 2.0 is the latest of our complete order tally software. (See "What’s New") We continue to add features and modules to v2.0. Check our web to see if you have the latest updates. There is a Trial Version, offering you a true "try before you buy" option, and we offer Sample Printout packets for your examination.

Offer customers an opportunity to tally their own orders, or have employees tally from home with UTally and then email the results for import into WinUltra for product ordering and printouts.

Give customers a UCollect disk so they can keep track of who has paid and who still owes, including additional product, partial payments, and returns.

High volume talliers should consider TallyScan, which enables you to scan the order forms for high speed verification and processing. Then, print a picture of the order form on the back of the Pack Slip for even greater efficiency and impressiveness. If you’re using a custom tally program, we can export the data from TallyScan into your program, but act soon – as the price of the Cardiff software we use increases April 1st.

WebUltra™ allows efficient Internet Fundraising where the data from the online order can be incorporated into the fundraising reports.

If you don’t need Inventory, i.e. you carry only frozen food products and never have product in your warehouse, consider WinUltra LITE for $1000 less.

For those of you who do only Holiday Shops and NOT brochure fundraising, there will be WinUltra Holiday. Read about printouts in "What’s New".

WinScan 2.0 enables bar code scanning on the prepack line. DOUBLE your speed AND increase accuracy.

I-Scan enables you to scan the boxes off the truck and receive the merchandise into inventory – or to conduct physical inventories within the warehouse.

FREE SEARCH TO ALL
FREE POSTING TO MANY

Last Fall we offered FREE postings to any QDP software customer with FREE searching for anybody. We could have used more list contributors, but those who found what they were looking for were appreciative. We want to continue it.

Now, in addition to posting and searching for Overstocks, we’ve added the ability to post and search for NEEDS.

Details and lists at www.qdpcorp.com/overstock.

Three configurations available and FREE Internet Fundraising with all sales we tally and pack.

4-pg. 34 items. All made in USA. Up to 5.76x mark to the piece. All products are small, lightweight, non-perishable, and non-breakable – making it "Home Delivery Friendly". It is also heavy in child-oriented items and good for Day Cares. Q04CA04 – Now only $.15.

8-pg. 74 items. 100% USA. Q04CA08 – Now only $.40.

12-pg. 107 items. Q04CA12 is only $.50.

While RUNTIME is our promotional letter mailed to the industry, PRIORITY is a subscription providing the best, newest, least edited, cutting edge industry information.

Fundamentals: A New (?) player for Fall 2005. With some impressive names from the past, Fundamentals is like the Phoenix rising from the ashes of what was destroyed. Included is my cautious warning to our current vendors about competitive customer support, dependable product delivery and a fair bang for the buck.

Atlantic City Fundraising Expo. I share my perspectives after a decade away from any AC show and my first time participating in this version. Included is a bulleted list of 1) This is a good show for Distributors who and 2) Attendees at this show who don’t also attend the AFRDS show miss out.

Holiday Shop Thoughts

• Price cards and product coding
• Mark-ups and margins
• Close-outs and alternate sources
• The nightmare myth
• Software ideas we brought back

Thermal Labels on the Packing Line

The Perpetual Fundraiser

Order Form on the back of the Pack Slip

Have our Trade Shows lost the Spark? This article was sparked by a distributor’s comments about her first AFRDS show ten years ago in Nashville compared to the most recent show and the show next year that will be back in Nashville.

Private discounts for Priority Subscribers

PRIORITY News is just $49/yr for 8+ issues. How much is one good idea worth?

In years past there was the Car Wars show, where we had the yellow bug competing with 57 Chevy, other classic-type cars and even an RV. I recall a Mercedes give-away too. Other vendor vehicle competitions have included full-sized sleighs and full-sized 18-wheeler complete with pre-pack line. Where’d they go?

There was the Soda Competition with Pepsi at one vendor and Coke at another. Do we even get water, now?

We’ve had Community Competitions with one vendor using street signs and bridges to connect its different brand subsidiaries while another had a super-sized wooden town complete with old-fashioned storefronts.

A feature of this letter after several AFRDS shows was our booth ratings and recognitions. Spectacularism wasn’t a feature in this year’s show. The major players didn’t have to compete as hard to get your attention ... and they didn’t. I wonder if they will next year when a new major player hits the floor.

Booth placement had some problems in New Orleans. We weren’t next door or across from our competitor, but our booths were in plain sight and it was fairly difficult not to notice who was in the other booth. Pine River was next to Pine Valley, both selling food. Yeah, next isle over, but hey! Boston’s Best Coffee was right across from Seattle’s Best Coffee. I know there’s some fancy point system and we typically get our selected spot (we’re Charter Members and we co-op with the vendor next to us so we’re both asking for the same thing – thank you very much), but it seems like location considerations slipped a bit this year. No, I don’t want that job. Just an observation.

We went back to two booths. Last year, I only had one, partially as my personal protest to the outrageous cost of a vendor booth space. We were crowded though, so we paid double for some extra room.

We were encouraged from this show. In recent years, we were noticing fewer new people coming into the business, but there were several people stopping by to ask us who we were or what we did. Refreshing.

How will be our return to Nashville in 2005?

WinUltra 2.0

Importing Custom Brochures. You already have the ability to download major vendor inventory and brochure lists from our web site, but NOW you can download information and quickly build your custom brochures.

Split brochures for scanning. Increasingly, distributors are combining frozen programs with shopper brochures and want to scan and pack the shopper brochure but not the frozen. You’ve already had the capability with WinUltra to print separate pack slips per brochure so that you could send the frozen product pack slips to the group for distribution off the truck. But now, you can tell WinScan that you are scanning brochure #1 but not brochure #2. Or scanning #1 and #2, but not #3, etc.

Customer Entry is back and enhanced. Several years ago there was interest in tallying individual customer orders. Bright of America used to do that, for example. Interest dropped and we eventually dropped that feature. But more recently, with Internet Fundraising and the concept of Home Delivery, we’ve brought it back, including the capability to enter shipping information and print an address label.

WebUltra™. The WebUltra™ optional add-on module enables you to import Internet Sales Data and include that data in the computer reports provided to the customer.

Itemized Links with QuickBooks Accounting (and others). More than sending a total sales amount to print a single transaction invoice...

• Use WinUltra’s "Purchase Order" list to generate an itemized QB Purchase Order.
• Send WinUltra’s Tally Results to generate an itemized QB Sales Order or Invoice.

WinUltra LITE is designed for those who deal with frozen food. This version (at $1000 LESS) will work for anyone not needing to keep itemized track of their inventory (on order, on hand, available, tallied, to order).

Kit Sales / Holiday Shop Module. It’s back.

• Inventory Worksheets show only the items that were in this group’s particular kit. No items show with zero quantities so customers aren’t asking why they didn’t receive something. Customize per school. Add columns for additional product sent and product received. And, if you are counting it at the end, fill in the quantities quickly and provide a detailed final billing.
• Price Sheets printed by Description or by Price. If you are you using Coded merchandise, include the code in the name and print in Coded order. Show the group two suggested percentage markup prices – they can select one or enter their own. If you know what their prices will be you can print the product/price labels for the tables.
• Pack Slips per box.
• Product/Price table labels. Compare with cost of price cards, a label is about $.0025. Print the product name with or without the price.
• Bar code scanning? (See separate article).

WinScan 2.0

More Reports. We’ve increased the information you can get after you’ve scanned a group’s order.

Thermal label on the pack line. New add-on for WinScan. Using a thermal printer, the operator at the order accuracy verification station enters a number of labels to print. Those are printed instantly (just like the labels on your UPS program), are torn off and put on the top of the scanned product to be bagged and tagged.

IScan

With this battery recharged scanner, you can scan the boxes off the truck to get the box count to sign the Bill of Lading for the driver – and at the same time, receive the merchandise into your inventory.

TELEform™ / TallyScan

Picture of the Seller’s Order Form on the back of the Pack Slip (TallyScan only). Do you pay someone to get a copy of the Order Form (you probably even staple them together, don’t you?) back with the printed Pack Slip prior to pulling the order? WHAT IF... you could simultaneously print the Pack Slip AND a picture of the Order form on the back? You’ve eliminated an entire step in your process (and the expense of that person). Calculate how much you pay that person over the course of a Fall season. (See Software and Special Announcement).

... and these are just the NEW features. For a more complete list of features, visit www.qdpcorp.com/products/winultra20 or call for a sample info packet with sample printouts.

Here’s the concept presented on the floor by a non-supplier member in New Orleans. You purchase a setup and pay a per tally fee. As the group runs the fundraiser, you provide the group volunteer access information. He/she goes online and enters sellers’ orders and money collection.

If you ARE using that concept, we’d like to hear from you, especially if you are using that concept AND are a WinUltra user. We’ve been approached by the vendor who wants to link our system to that one – and we’re trying to determine the interest level. Email John@QDPCorp.com or get to our mini-survey from www.QDPCorp.com.

There is another way. Groups can use UTally to enter their own data and then transmit that data via email to you. Or.... after you tally their orders, you can provide them a UCollect disk to use to keep track of money coming in.

Cardiff Software, our selected One Source Partner vendor for the software we incorporate into our TallyScan system, will be RAISING THE PRICE of their software by $2000 on April 1 (no foolin’). If you’re considering scanning order forms, you’ll save yourself $2000 by moving NOW! We don’t have to complete your installation by April 1, but do have to order the software.

All quote amounts, including quotes outstanding, will CHANGE April 1st.

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Is my web site still showing brochures from Fall 2003 (or even Fall 2002)?
2. Has my web developer disappeared?
3. Is it difficult to find time to update my web site?
4. Have I lost groups because I did not have a web site or an online store?
5. Do I need a web site?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, give us a call. Yes, there really are fund raising web sites out there showing brochures from Fall 2002. Yes, web developers have disappeared (or take way too long to respond to update requests). Yes, many people are finding it difficult to find the time to update their own web sites. Yes, fundraisers are losing groups to their competitors’ sites. And yes, you really do need one.

It’s not a question anymore of whether or not you need a web site. At the AFRDS show in January, several came to our booth saying, I need a website (and an online store) – I’m losing business to my competition. And from what we saw last fall, adding online sales to your fundraisers can mean a tremendous boost to your sales. One user was downloading 50 orders a day. Another told us we really underestimated the system as he was doing $2000 per week in online sales. That is significant.

So, how can we help you? If you don’t have a web site, we can get you set up. If you aren’t ready to add online sales, that’s okay. Your web site can grow when you are ready. If you are a WinUltra 2.0 user, your sales can be imported into the tally and the information will appear on reports so that sellers receive prize credits. Or, if you have your own custom-designed tally program, we have an export routine that will allow the information to import into your own program.

Maybe you want to do your own thing. That’s fine too. You will need a web host and we can set you up so that you have complete access to your web site (we can even register your domain for you).

If you’ve been thinking about a site, the time is now to get started. Give us a call at 1-800-347-7865.

Many in the Holiday Shop business offer "Coding" to their customers. Most coding involves a 1-2 digit number on all merchandise that corresponds to a price list at the check out station. All retail stores scan bar codes at checkout. Can we scan at checkout in Holiday Shops?

We’re interested in talking with those of you heavy into holiday shops to see if our ideas are on track. Our idea involves using a wand-type scanner connected to a computer. Watch our web or subscribe to PRIORITY for questions, answers and updates.

Groups are beginning to expect it and are signing based on who has it – but how many hoops must they jump through to do it your way?

We’ve been studying web sites and some of them are amazing (not a compliment) in what they ask (and expect?) potential participants to do.

There are some vendors out there offering to process and ship your online orders. Instead of telling you what I may or may not know about their process, let me tell you ours and then you can make an informed decision...

When you sign a group, you give them a Group ID. You need to describe that in your seller letter and in your kick off presentation. We do it with a half sheet of green paper that says, "It’s as easy as 1-2-3". For the seller:

Step 1 – Go to the site.

Step 2 – Click on Sellers Register Here. Sellers enter a Group ID and register. He/she types a personal message to be read by each recipient.

Step 3 – List email addresses of family and friends.

As soon as the seller "sends" his/her invitations, the system sends a confirmation email listing the recipients’ email addresses. That is so the seller has confirmation that the invitations went (and doesn’t duplicate) and also to encourage follow-up before the end of the sale.

Cross-country grandma receives an email from "Joey", which she will open because she recognizes the sender. The first thing she reads is Joey’s personal message, followed by our automatic instructions including the link to take her to a specific page with the name of Joey’s School and a picture of the brochure(s) he is selling.

She can view all the merchandise (or the merchandise you want her to see), make her selections, pay with a credit card and receive her order shipped directly to her.

Joey receives an email from the system informing him a sale has been made. After all, you want him to know how it is going, right?

At the end of the order-taking portion of the sale, the data is imported and included into the tally reports for the group, showing internet sales per individual seller and also overall.

Since you’ve already been paid for the Internet Orders, you can simply deduct the group’s "profit" amount earned from the product invoice for the local fundraising merchandise.

For a sample, visit www.QDPCorp.com/store. To see what the seller sees, use www.QDPCorp.com/sellers.

We’re so convinced this is how it should be that our WebUltra™ process is patent pending.

As a co-chair of the Technology Committee, I was in favor of the creation of the Distributor Bulletin Board. It is not being used, however, and I promised our President that I would ask what type of information would you want access to or want to post – that would get you to the Bulletin Board.

I have a strong opinion, but before I share it, I’d like to ask YOU to suggest to ME either why you are not using it or what type of information would encourage you to do so. I’ll appreciate any comments or suggestions sent to John@QDPCorp.com.

Last Modified:& 01/03/2005