While the system may seem antiquated in today’s technological times, independent distributor Dan Jenkins Jr. confirms he and his father, Dan Jenkins Sr., handle tracking most business operations on paper.
Each week, both distributors who run Dan Jenkins Sales Company out of Bowling Green, Ky., use and refer to a printed list of customers to track balances for both routes. All purchases are tracked by sales slips which are saved and inputted at week’s end into Quickbooks.
“We’re still on paper invoices, hand-written,” Jenkins Jr. says.
“I do mine differently than how dad does his,” he explains, of his customer receipts. “My sister actually writes out his tickets for him each week. He can just pull the ticket out, it has the customer’s name and balance written on it.”
For inventory ordering, Jenkins Jr. keeps a notebook in the front cab of his van, where he continually tracks SKUs - both to replace existing inventory and for special orders for customers.
He’ll call in orders about once almost daily, typically through Medco or ISN.
Jenkins Jr.’s sister, Debbie Eades, assists with entering information into Quickbooks for the business.
“What we do is we use Quickbooks as a secondary entry,” he says. “My sister will enter the tickets on the weekends, but we like to have a paper trail.”
In addition, Jenkins Jr.’s step-mother, Linda Jenkins, assists with all financials and bookkeeping for the company, including accounts payable, accounts receivable, credit card processing, monthly statements and more.
“She’s our financial guru,” says Jenkins Jr. “She is what keeps dad and I grounded a lot.”
Jenkins Jr. says he’s still searching for the right software to run his business effectively. He’s not opposed to adopting a new method for tracking purchases, payments, inventory and ordering - but he says the current way he runs his business is efficient.
He has discussed implementing business management software, but has found any setup they've reviewed so far is not conducive to managing Dan Jenkins Sales Company’s operations. Both routes are independent of one another in terms of customers and balances; but they are not separate businesses. Both distributors readily share inventory between each other to ensure a customer receives the product as quickly as possible.
“That’s the beauty of dad and I covering the same towns, is sometimes I’ll help him with one of his customers, or vice versa,” Jenkins Jr. says. “If he don’t have it, he’ll say, ‘Joe needs this, I don’t have one. If you have one, can you drop it off real quick?’ Yeah, sure. I’ll drop it off. It’s still dad’s sale, dad’s customer. But, I’ve got it on my truck.”
Jenkins Jr. adds the business will eventually be managed with a business software program; but for now, he’s comfortable with how they operate currently.
