Accounting Literacy

Red Belt

Sales System Introduction via Software

For your Red Belt, you are going to do an immersive dive into a semi-automated sales system software program built in a Google Sheet.

Learning about business processes new to you from "well designed open source software" is often a better way to initiate learning in a digital age. It allows for "doing" before "learning", both of which are required to master any trade.

Open source software is software that allows you to see all the "mechanations" it does with data and information. That's why it can be a good tool for learning. Closed source software can be beneficial for learning too, but it depends now much "magic" it's doing behind the scenes that needs to be understood to grasp the processes in play.

The Software comes with sample data. This image is of one of two standard statement/invoice/receipt formats available by default, and both are fully customizable.

This Sales System Software can be used to create invoices, statements, and receipts. A properly used sales system will store all sales related transaction information for any type of commercial business you engage in.

Modified versions of this simple software template you'll engage with for this Belt have been used for small businesses that did $175,000 and $400,000 per year in sales. They can be used for far larger businesses as well.

For most of you who may someday need sales system software for your own small business, this is all you may need for that for life. For those of you destined for Bigger Business, Corporate Work or Government Service, this provides foundational education that you will find exceptional for understanding process and software needs for any size system.

This spreadsheet based software system includes ways to store transaction details, produce PDFs from your stored data and email or save those in automated ways not traditionally associated with a spreadsheet platform.

This sales system you will learn on also includes a payment journal.

A Payment Journal is an advanced sales system feature that was seldom found in entry level digital sales systems prior.

This spreadsheet based software system does not integrate directly with your credit card processing systems. It will not update with payments received automatically, but as we've indicated already, we generally do not suggest that level of integrated service for various reasons.

With sales systems like this, which stand separate from your credit card processing or other e-billing options, you can send include links to a payment processing page where they key in the amount due and make payment to you. It's easy and most of you can likely imagine how you could do that already.

Do not under-estimate what we are sharing with you here as it is, in fact, paradigm altering.

Others didn't get access to this type of system after semesters of expensive education nor years in business, for various reasons. The fact that you are you are getting it in hour or two into your Accounting Literacy Training Program will make them envious.

This step in your educational process has been designed with very specific goals.

It's designed to get you to think about commercial transactions from the perspective of a small business person, as well as a consumer.
It's designed to allow your eyes to fill with images that replace 1000's of words required to describe what software screens can convey better, when they are properly designed.
It's designed to get you to think about transactions, where the exchange of money may happen before, during, or after the exchange of goods or services.
It's designed to get you to realize you need to track all relevant sales transaction related information in an efficient manner in a single location. It's designed to show you how that can be used for sales and production reports easily, if it's all stored together properly.

This simple software system is a universal system that can meet any type of sales tracking need.

This is a fully functional "database driven system" with robust emailing and pdf saving functionality.

The emailing and saving functionality required custom programming in a spreadsheet interface.

You get to see the programming code and learn about that too, if you are interested.

All BRICs Sales Systems have a fully functional Payment Journal that is automatically linked to the Accounts Receivable Report and Header Record status field(s) automatically --- This is an Advanced Feature not found in most entry level Sales Systems -- This functionality requires duplication of work in a manual Sales Systems that leads to errors. This is one of the best features of any digital Sales System, when it is included.

When compared to other simple or entry level sales systems, you will find this system is in fact extremely robust. It's not sexy, but it's very powerful.

The "payments journal" is one feature that separates it from most entry level billing systems.

In most entry level billing systems, you will simply check off if an invoice or statement has been paid with a "paid" checkbox or comparable. If it's been paid partially, or if it was overpaid, you might just toggle that somehow, but you'll have to make notes about the details. Such systems are designed to keep the systems "simple", but invariably, that shortcut creates more complexity, when anything about a payment is special.

The full benefits of a digital Payment Journal will make sense when you see it in action.

Most will never outgrow these BRICs systems once you know how they work.

Support Documents and Details

On another website we are not going to reveal now, we detail 5 or more of these systems. We also provide in depth user manuals, reference manuals and other resources. You will get to that later in the belt process.

Excercises

1) Sales System Screen Shots and Intro Document view/copy

Click on the link to open that document. Then skim/read the entire document. You don't need to master the info. The document will always be available to you. You could print it out and put it in a binder if you prefer to read from paper. In fact we suggest that for learning and long term reference. Familiarize yourself quickly with the software that way first.

2) Group Exercises

At this point it's important to engage in a short group exercise to go over software flow, details, and that scary file sharing message, if you can. In person is great if you can find local people to support you, but if not, we'll be trying to provide some videos to help with your orientation.

NOTE: Don't try to "master the software" right now. You just want to get the feel for it. There are more documents on another website that will help you master it when the time comes.

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