Complexities of store automation and tips on how to overcome them
12.09.2023 14:55
What happens when you decide to change your lifestyle, for example, to get rid of some bad habits - quit smoking, eating fast food, swearing a lot - and add healthy habits - start exercising, determine the right diet, learn how to manage your time?
When a person feels the need for renewal and begins to break the usual way of life, the first thing they feel is pain and disappointment. Because it's easier to live with old habits. The old "cockroaches" are clearer and closer. But you have to get used to the new, it is alien, and its benefits are blurred.
Yes, at first, the new life will seem difficult and gloomy. You'll want to give up on the set of exercises you paid 10,000 UAH for and go back to the familiar back pain.
However, the desired result comes only with the realization of the need for renewal. Usually, people let changes into their lives when they can no longer live the old way.
Automation is a way to change life for the better
Automation of processes in commerce is as much a revolution as a gym membership. At first, you don't understand why you need it, you go through all the stages of protest - resistance, despair, laziness, apathy, but after a few months of training or testing the new program, you start to notice positive changes. You start to admire your own appearance in the mirror - or the long-awaited order in the store's accounting, which makes everything fall into place, and you feel calm and confident.
When entrepreneurs realize the reasons that impede business development, they feel the relief and satisfaction that often comes after solving a difficult problem.
Typical fears and misconceptions of owners
The first barrier: exaggerating the complexity of automation
Business owners often consider the automation process too complicated and incomprehensible and are sure that it will be difficult in any case: the reorganization will affect the usual rhythm of the store, everything will go wrong as soon as they install the accounting program.
We do not want to convince you that it will be easy. However, we want to remove unreasonable worries and help you to switch to automated business management painlessly. Having a clear sequence of actions, you will be able to adjust the trading processes to your type of business and see the first positive results very soon. No one will let you drive without prior training.
"It is only with experience that entrepreneurs begin to understand that accounting in each store is very individual - it is not a standardized process and can be done in different ways, as convenient, with varying degrees of detail. This is not accounting, and mistakes are much easier to correct," says Victoria, editor of Torgsoft."I have talked to some of our clients who installed the program but refused to work with it because they encountered problems, found them too difficult, and returned to their old life. If a person hears an incomprehensible word and sets a limit of "I can't do it," it's hard to convince them otherwise," Yana, Head of Sales at Torgsoft.
2. Resistance, laziness
There are always more important things to do. Procrastination is our everything, and an old coat always seems more comfortable than a new one. The main thing is to understand that all these states at the beginning of change implementation are normal. But you must have a clear decision to implement them.
"A fairly typical trait for many businessmen is to place high hopes on a kind of super-specialist who will 'come and save' (and preferably for free). People don't realize that they can do a lot on their own: at least watch a video tutorial on the website or call technical support. It is important for many people to have someone "on hand," although in reality it is absolutely unimportant - it is much easier to call the account manager and solve the issue than to ask Ivan and humiliate yourself to come because he is the only one." - Victoria, editor of Torgsoft.
3. Old accounting habits
90% of the accounting functions available in the program are not used at all in life without accounting and are considered unnecessary. However, understanding of their importance comes only with full mastery and acceptance of the program.
It is difficult for some entrepreneurs to move away from accounting in a notebook or Excel spreadsheet. And in the transitional period of entering goods until they fully master the program, they keep double records: they enter sales both in a notebook and in Torgsoft.
"The other day I was buying my son's golf clubs, and the salesperson recorded the sale in the notebook: full name, size, color, price... I haven't felt such pain for a long time," says Maria, a technical documentation developer.
To make the system work like clockwork, you need to train both yourself and your staff to be disciplined: when you receive goods, don't delay posting them to the program. Do not make transactions retroactively. Immediately enter your expenses and payments to suppliers.
Record everything in the program: spending or receiving money, moving, selling, giving out goods without payment, every cash withdrawal from the cash register. Then you will always have a consistent inventory, no confusion in payments to suppliers, and you will see accurate profit figures.
4. Receipt of goods
This is the biggest pain for sellers who are just getting acquainted with computerized accounting. You should allocate maximum time for the arrival of goods. Some entrepreneurs "fall off" because they expect that the program will enter everything by itself and thus simplify accounting in the notebook.
It should be emphasized that posting goods is a one-time operation, which is done and then you only add to the assortment as it expands. The speed of the process depends on the area of the store, the quantity of goods, and the "hands" of the sellers who will do it.
On average, a warehouse of about 1,500 items is stocked in 3-4 days without closing the store. Fast product entry is complicated if the warehouse is a "mess", if the same product is in different parts of the warehouse, if you don't know what you have in boxes and bags.
A few weeks after arriving, the work starts to go faster. The goods are quickly and accurately written off when sold, and when returned, they are automatically returned to the warehouse. You know without a calculator how much money you earned today, what goods were sold, and how much is still in stock.
5. The need to pay taxes
People have a hard time saying goodbye to money, especially when it has to be given to the state. Therefore, for many people, the question of whether it is better (read cheaper) to automate accounting or stay with a notebook is rhetorical.
However, if you calculate how much money an entrepreneur loses due to constant shortages, theft of goods by staff, wrong arrivals, unsystematic payment of salaries to sellers, etc., it becomes obvious that automation is the only solution that will improve the state of the business in the long run.
And if you trade legally, you have fewer additional fears of inspections and fines.
6. Reluctance to spend money on equipment
It's the same as buying an expensive device, such as a dishwasher. Along with convenience, you also buy a "headache" associated with maintaining the performance of a new device.
You also need to periodically update the accounting program, buy an antivirus, an operating system, and monitor the health of the local network and the Internet. You also need to purchase the necessary trade equipment - a barcode scanner, a printer of checks, labels, and a fiscal registrar.
Everything is thought out in Torgsoft so that you do not have to constantly spend money on equipment maintenance. The program has several versions that are designed for different needs and business volumes.
For example, the Torgsoft-Online license does not require the purchase of a server for exchanging sales data. Everything is stored on a remote server that is fully maintained by the company's specialists. You pay only the rental fee for its use and manage your business online, from any location.
If you have several cash registers in your store, or several stores, you need to extend the local network, purchase a WI-FI router or wireless modem.
When choosing commercial equipment, you should not look for the cheapest, especially for "unknown" Chinese manufacturers, which often lack components. Choose more common and popular models - it will be easier with warranty repairs, consumables, maintenance, and connection.
7. Staff training
The reasons for the resistance of sellers to automated accounting can be both selfish (the program will not allow them to cheat with the goods) and age-related (senior sellers are often not flexible to change).
Some employees openly sabotage the changes and blame the accounting program for all mistakes, thus covering up their dishonest intentions.
In this case, there is only one way out - to organize a system of motivation and penalties for salespeople. Before implementing changes, employees need to be prepared, warned about the installation of the program in advance and several times so that employees get used to the idea. Give them clear instructions on who is responsible for what, how to start and end the working day in the program, and how to turn on/off the equipment correctly.
Torgsoft has a series of video tutorials and instructions on how to use all modes of the program. Take the time to train your staff - it will pay off both the money invested and help you avoid mistakes in the future.
"The program itself will not correct all accounting errors - it greatly simplifies the life of an entrepreneur, removes routine, suggests the right ways, but does not think for him or her and his or her staff. First, business processes must be established. It's impossible to automate chaos," Anna, Deputy Head of Programming.
8. Unclear perspectives
Those who have had something stolen from them (and there are many of them) understand why accounting is needed. But they also don't understand the prospects it offers: online trading, entering new markets and marketplaces, increasing sales by creating promotions and analyzing marketing activities.
This may be a revelation to you, but business development is directly related to accounting. And with well-established business processes, on which the quality of accounting depends.
What should you pay attention to before starting automation?
Automation time
It is important to remember the time of automation. It is a 100% failure to set up the program the day before the opening, during the season of active sales, or the day before the start of inspections.
At the very least, this will lead to extreme stress, and at most, to the abandonment of the invested funds and a promising future.
"My recommendation is to start automation at least 2 weeks to a month before important events, such as holidays. You need to have time to enter the goods, make mistakes, correct them, and be confident in your actions. But this recommendation is adjusted for business scaling.If everything is done in advance, the process will be new, sometimes incomprehensible, but calm. Usually, such customers call technical support in a good mood, and everything goes well. Otherwise, we get a wave of negativity, additional questions from our specialists, which cause stress, complaints, and accusations. And the automation process itself becomes as hardcore as possible for such a client," Yana, Head of Sales at Torgsoft.
Preparation of processes and equipment
Buying new equipment, installing an accounting program - these changes require time to adapt to your business. Situations are inevitable when the money is paid, the supplier has fulfilled its obligations, and the end result is not visible - only chaos, confusion, and employee dissatisfaction.
Therefore, to avoid negative scenarios, clearly define the scheme of your store and business processes.
- Where do the goods go?
- How, where, and who receives, evaluates, and marks it?
- How do you plan to keep track of your expenses?
- Will you do everything yourself or will you hire an accountant (commodity expert, manager)?
- How do you want to analyze your warehouse balances - all the goods or by department?
All this information will allow a Torgsoft specialist to choose the optimal method of work and the version of the program that suits your needs. Then you will move to a new quality level of control and accounting much faster.
Torgsoft allows you to make the transition to computerized accounting as quickly as possible. Usually, the implementation of the program takes 1 day, without stopping trading. Training and setup take place in the mode of real work of the store - so the staff is quickly involved in the work.
We work out typical situations in the work of a seller: arrival, sale, return, printing a receipt, selling on credit, selling goods for bonuses, etc. Also, after the first purchase of the program, a Torgsoft customer receives 2 hours of free technical support, which can be used during the first month. Later, you can ask for help 7 days a week via a remote connection.
For self-study, there are video tutorials and a full-fledged electronic help on how to use the program.
Automation is becoming an integral and necessary part of running a successful and stable business. Computerized accounting helps entrepreneurs to optimize business processes, increase productivity and profitability of the store, reduce risks and increase competitiveness in the modern market.
However, to see the positive results of changes, it takes time and the owner's desire to improve and develop the business.
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