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March 2007

In this edition

• Client Survey - do you want to see the Jokes section back in the newsletter
• Introducing Roselle
• New Version of AM-Win on the web. - repeat of national broadcast
• Windows Vista - Not recommended at this time
• Part time position available in Maroochydore 
• We test Telstra's New Desktop Modem wireless broadband.I
• AM-Win Support Solutions
• Windows Tips - IE7 - some answers and some shortcuts
• Business Section - Inadvertent Guerrilla Marketing?

Client Survey

Hey Guys - only 36 responses to our survey question out of several thousand users - We want to make sure that the newsletter contents are aimed squarely at your needs so please take 10 seconds to read the survey and click a button to let us know what you want to see in the newsletter. This month our question is "Do you want to see the Jokes section back in the newsletter"? - Have your say and let us know.

Introducing Roselle at AM-Win Head Office

Roselle started with us at the end of last year as a temp but is now a full time valued member of the Team. In the short time she has been with us she has come to know many of our clients and we wish her all the best for the future with us. 

Roselle's skills have enabled Chris to move to a full time support role [after completing a long learning curve] allowing us to provide a more prompt and efficient service to our clients.

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New Version of AM-Win on the web.

The following is a repeat of a general e-mail broadcast sent out earlier this month. If you received the e-mail and have already downloaded and upgraded your program there is no need to do it again. 

Windows Vista - not recommended at this time.

Please note that AM-Win Software does not recommend that you install Windows Vista on any machine in your business at this time. 

Part time position available in Maroochydore

We test Telstra's New Desktop Modem wireless broadband.

So if you're in an area where you are too far from an exchange, told that you can't have broadband or experiencing slow data transfer speeds on your existing connection,  Telstra's Next G modem solution might be the way to go.  It's a bit more expensive than ordinary broadband but the expense can be offset by canceling your dial up connection and disposing of a telephone line. [wireless doesn't need a line.]

AM-Win Support Solutions

How do I email a document [estimate or invoice].  I use AM-Win Version 7.509  and Outlook Express, but each time I print to export file to email the screen and program locks up. 

You need to have the email address in the customer file.  It has to be the first email address (the one under the contact field)  

Then when the print option screen comes up, click on the box to 'email document'.  The invoice will still view on screen, but when you click on print, it will open up your emailing system with the address filled in and the invoice or quote as an attachment.

You can also tick a box in the customer master-file in the account details tab to 'email documents/invoices', which will then have the email box in the print options screen automatically ticked.

How do I allocate unallocated amounts for Customers and Suppliers.

Open the supplier/customer payment screen.  You will need to have the amount in the unallocated field and the invoice/s you wish to apply the unallocated amount to showing in the lower half of the screen. 

For customers choose the payment method of 'alloc' or for suppliers choose the payment method of 'unalloc'.  

In the amount field you can put in the unallocated amount or less, then tag off the relevant invoice/s as required

I have a telephone bill which does not have 1/11th GST...how do I process this. 

When the GST is not 1/11th of the document the entry can be split as a cheque entry by using the telephone ledger twice, with one line being GST inclusive and one line being GST exclusive. 

Let's say, for example, the total bill is $ 165.00 and the GST is $ 9.88. The first line is the GST inclusive line, so you take the $9.88 and multiply it by 11 to give you the GST inclusive price. The second line will be the GST exclusive line for the difference in value.  Check out the image below to see how it's done.

I have banked my cash by mistake...how do I fix this.

This is easily fixed with a journal. Simply credit the relevant bank account (generally 1020) and debit the relevant cash on hand account (generally 1010).

Windows Tips

Internet Explorer 7.0

IE7 has been out for a while now and many of you are now using it. From our point of view IE7 is a stable Microsoft upgrade that provides additional security for our users and we recommend that you upgrade. [Click here to go to the Microsoft download page] - Note: If you're not sure whether you should download IE7 please contact your supporting consultant for advice.

Here's a couple of commonly asked questions asked of National Support about IE7 usage 

I know that I can skip through open web pages with the new tab menu but how do I open a new site

At the right hand end of the tab menu you will see a small blank tab as per the image below

Click on the tab and type in your new site address in the address bar

Hit enter and the new site will open. A new tab will also appear with information about the new site on the tab.

I click the X in the right hand top of the IE7 screen and it asks me if I want to close all tabs - why would it do that

Think about it. You have used the "X" to close Windows Explorer IE7 but you have several tabs showing because you also have web sites open as per the tabs.  So if you close IE7 you will also close the open web sites. 

If you meant to close a website simply click on the web site tab and you will see an "X" on it's tab. Click on the "X" and the tab and the site will close.  If you meant to close all the tabs and Internet Explorer 7 you can use the "X" in the top right hand corner,  say yes to close all tabs and IE7 will close as well as all the open websites and their tabs.

I want to open my web page in full screen mode so I went to the tools menu and clicked full screen. Now I can't get back to my normal screen.

There's a few ways to return to your normal screen but because you are in full screen mode you can't get back to the tools menu to uncheck the full screen mode. [or can you!]

Move your mouse pointer right to the top of the screen and the menu and tabs bar will appear allowing you to access the tools menu, or if you want to stay in full screen mode to access a tab or open a new site.

However by far the easiest way to return to the normal screen mode is to tap the F11 key and the screen will revert back to normal.  Here's a tip in a tip - if tapping your F11 key doesn't work and you are using a Microsoft style keyboard look for the "F Lock" key on the top right hand side of your keyboard. Tap it once to switch to F key mode and F11 [as well as all the other F keys] will now be active.

Quick Tabs

Quick Tabs are a very cool way to navigate around all of the websites that you have open.  In earlier browser versions it was difficult to find the site that you wanted particularly if you had opened them in a new window] Quick Tabs make it very easy to quickly find, open or close a particular page by presenting you with a visual thumbnail of each opened site. The view is dynamic and will change as the content of the site changes.

To use Quick Tabs click on the Quick Tabs icon at the left hand end of your tab bar. See following image:

This will open a page with thumbnail views of all of the web sites that you have open at the time.

Click on a thumbnail and the site will open.

IE Seven shortcuts

Here's a few keyboard shortcuts for IE7 published by Microsoft.  Remember to tap your F-Lock key on Microsoft style keyboards to activate the "F" keys for the shortcuts that use them.

Business Information

This month's Business section contributed by Judi Reid, Business Management Coach at profitune.com

Inadvertent Guerrilla Marketing?

A few years ago a client engaged a consultant to help with a small postal mailing to their target market, the purchasing officers of large corporations. The consultant provided an up-to-date contact list in an Excel file, and drafted a persuasive letter.

The client decided that they could control costs in the project by taking control of the project from that point on and running the mail-merge, printing, envelope-stuffing and mailing.

Some weeks later it was discovered that the Client had assigned these final steps in their marketing process to a junior member of staff who had "sorted" the names listed in the "company" column but not the corresponding details in the "contacts" and "address" columns. The result was that every on of 500 personalised letters was addressed to a prime corporate candidate, but was then delivered to one of their competitors!

But the response rate was sky high!

Why? It seems that, rather than being discarded unopened, an irresistible urge prevailed - the urge to learn something clandestine about a competitor's business! It appeared that nearly every one of those letters was opened (for the "wrong reason") and then read, and having been read, their offer of value was appreciated by many people who would not have learned of it in the normal course of events. Sales were great!

Tip: If you make your important sales messages look like something they can't afford to ignore - let's play with mail that looks like invoices, for example - your recipient just has to open them.

When they do, and find that it's not a bill, they are likely to experience a small flush of relief which you can own for the first few moments as they try to comprehend what this letter represents. So, your headline better be good enough to grab their attention and to lead them to read on and discover your offer.

Marketing Two-Upmanship

A retailer was dismayed when a competitor selling the same type of product opened next-door to him, displaying a large sign proclaiming "Best Deals".

Not long after he was horrified to find yet another competitor move in next-door, on the other side if his store. It's large sign was even more disturbing- "Lowest Prices".

After his initial panic, and concern that he would be driven out of business, he looked for a way to turn the situation to his marketing advantage. Finally, an idea came to him. Next day, he proudly unveiled a new and huge sign over his front door. It read ...

"Main Entrance"!

Until next month