Extra Extra
Read all about it!!
Bracelets Bracelets and More Bracelets!!!!
Yes, that is right! The long awaited day has finally come! We have news on our bracelets!!! All of our November items including the bracelets will be available to order this Friday, November 8th at Midnight - Eastern!!!!
I also want to commend my whole entire team for their grace and patience during our transition this weekend. No change is easy and without flaws, and I am really proud of the way everyone handled any frustrations they encountered. Overall everyone is really loving the new system, once they understand it! I can't express how bright our futures are! I keep saying it, but you have not seen anything yet! O2 has our infrastructure here now - imagine what is to come!!!!
{Hugs}
Michelle Freatman
Senior Director
Team Freatman Inspired Fortune Cookies
SYSTEM UPDATES
I am excited to announce that we have successfully transitioned to our new operating system/backoffice which is now controlling our automated warehouse! Please check out tonights webinar for more information on this amazing warehouse which is going to be able to get all those bracelets out for you!
We do have some updates to share on a few items with the conversion that are still being ironed out. The order process is working fine though. The vast majority of concerns/questions we are seeing come through are simply misunderstandings, so please refer to the training videos when stuck or before trying to enter your first order.
As with all new things, there is of course a learning curve and the nest is working as we speak on additional training videos to provide more detail on some of the areas you are getting stuck. These should be available on Wednesday. You will find the videos and our resources now in the O2 Lounge. The O2 Lounge is also where you will see your newsfeed - it has not gone away so be sure to check it frequently. It is on the right hand side of the page. If you are on a tablet or phone, these features might not appear. You will want to check your computer if this is the case for you.
PV Totals - Personal Volume totals update throughout the whole system and currently this process can take up to 20 minutes. So you may not see your PV update instantly when entering a party. This is something that they are currently working on improving the time of.
Sales Tax - In some cases the system is rounding sales tax which makes the total off by a couple of cents. This is something that the nest has the finance team working on. I would not suggest writing in about it as they are aware of it and we don't want to bog the system down with emails. I also would not suggest holding your party over a few cents. You could always write it off as a business expense if it is something that is really important to you until they get it adjusted.
Hostess Rewards and Sales Tax - It is industry standard across the board for hostesses to be charged sales tax on their free items. This was actually a flaw in the old system and the nest was still paying those sales taxes to the local jurisdictions for us. I can guarantee that if you just explain to your hostess that her items are free except for the sales tax she will understand. :) It is illegal for the nest to ship items without charging and paying for the sales tax. We will consider it a small gift that our hostesses received previously in the old system.
To Identify New Designers - To see your new enrollments you would go to the reports and Downline. Click on the little "sort filters" and sort by enrollment date. Please note that filters on some reports are still not functional and are being worked on. At this time there is not a way to see your total team number of designers unless you export the downline report. This is a feature we have asked for and they are working on it for future updates.
COMMISSIONS - This is big!!!! Please make sure you understand this and if you have questions, contact your mentor. In our new system, if your customer pays you by cash or check and you are using your credit card to close out the party - the new system will just charge you the wholesale amount due. Essentially you will receive commission for credit card orders from customers through your Pay Quicker account and orders that are cash or check you are keeping your commission up front. YOU NEED TO DOCUMENT THIS FOR YOUR RECORDS ON WHAT YOUR COMMISSION IS THAT YOU EARNED ON THE WHOLESALE SECTION OF THE PARTY. This amount will not be included in your 1099 from the nest. PLEASE NOTE THAT MENTORS OR THE NEST CAN NOT GIVE TAX ADVICE. WE CAN ONLY ADVISE YOU HOW TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS WHOLESALE OR RETAIL AND THEN YOU MUST TRACK IT AND SPEAK WITH AN ACCOUNTANT IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ON REPORTING.
October Data - Finance is still working on running data in the old system for our October commissions etc and it will be transferred to the new system once they have closed the month out. Hopefully this will be by the end of the week.
Documents - All of the documents are now updated under TOOLS and in the O2 Lounge. Please note that the Missing Items Form and the Replacement form are not there on purpose. We will be switching to a new Missing Item/Replacement process soon. For now, the nest would like you to call designer care with Missing Items/Replacements. Please note that with our new warehouse there is a new Pick-to-Light system. Previous orders were pulled by hand by searching for the charms etc. This system has lights and when the order is being processed each item's compartment will light up so the picker knows exactly where to pick from. The nest expects this to decrease our mispick rate by 98%. Can you imagine picking all those little charms all day!!! Big applause for our warehouse staff!
Credit Cards - Credit cards will be charged when the party is closed. Orders placed online through ecommerce are charged immediately.
Renewal Date - Right now you will notice that most all renewal dates are defaulted to Jan 14. This is correct as they are giving us a couple months to use the new system for FREE to get used to things before our charges start. Previously, last spring the nest spoke about having one yearly fee for our O2 Newsletter, Ecommerce, and Backoffice instead of pulling separate fees each month as other companies have done. While they perfected our system, they have put that on hold. They will announce before any fees are charged as to what they will be and how the system will work - whether it will be monthly, a yearly fee etc. Everyone will have ample notice. At this time there is no other information as to what the fee will be or the exact start date. Again, the nest will make sure everyone has ample time to prepare for them. They are also striving to have the lowest fees possible.
Browsers - Currently the system seems to be working ok on all browsers. If you are experiencing any issues, you may just need to clear your cache and cookies.
Party Code for Online Parties - When setting up the Jewelry Bar it will now give you a Party Code to give to your hostess. Please know that if the guests go to your replicated website and don't know the code they can search by hostess name and only your parties will come up. However, if they mistakenly go to Origamiowl.com and search then all the hostesses in the whole system come up so their might be more than one "Jane Smith" listed and they will not know which hostess. So it is important to supply the Party Code to your hostess to share with her guests.
Personalize - To help your customers know they have come to the right site - be sure to personalize your site with your photo and choose a story that most fits you!
Address Not Valid - the nest is looking into why this is coming up for many new orders. Most orders will still go through ok - some want the extended zip code, etc. They are working on this.
Shipping - Please note there is a new shipping grid. Only parties being shipped to the hostess with 4 or more orders will receive the $4 shipping. It the order is going to the customer then they will pay per the shipping grid. If you would like the hostess order shipped to you then simply use the hostesses name, but enter your address and still enter the orders to ship to "hostess". When setting up the Jewelry Bar their is an option "other" to enter another address for the exact party location. You would use this if you are having the hostess order sent to you; however, want to send party invites through the system email. Choose the "other" and "party address" so that your invites have the correct address.
URL's - You have to use your full URL now. In the past, some people were using their designer ID because they felt their URL they chose was too long. We cannot do that anymore - will have to use the full URL.
New Designers - Even though it mentions wait list in our new backoffice - this program was being coded when we still had a waitlist. Designers are not on a waitlist and are being signed up right away. They may receive an email that tells them to enroll and enter their information again. Please tell them to go ahead and re-enter their info. This is just temporary while they recode this and take the "waitlist" part out. They are being sent their invites right away though - there is no wait :)
Exciting Time!!! Happy Fall Selling and remember - it is all a learning curve that we are all going through together. Please be patient with your mentors and truthfully, even though everyone loves instant gratification with answers, everyone is really going to need to take the time to watch the training videos. They are only about 5 minutes each and you will see that it is a fairly easy system.