Administrative Innovations and Unique Tools from Ark Ideas

1. Administrative Innovations and Unique Tools from Ark Ideas July 2005

2. Overview- Ark Ideas • Our years of experience managing our master agent clients have given us a unique perspective on the tools and systems necessary to efficiently run your business. • We have developed a suite of proprietary tools which enable a master agent to maintain complete control over his budgets, view his media strategy across media, and tracking all transactions in his co-op budget. • Our unique systems support media strategies as well as distribution revenues, as they automate order tracking, allow you to set credit levels for your sub-dealers, and provide real-time control over product pricing.

3. Retail Identity • As your most accessible public face, your website acts as the primary connection between your operations and an internet shopper. • Your website will extend your company’s reach beyond newspaper circulations and television demographics, so Ark Ideas will work with you to ensure your site communicates not only a strong graphic identity but also the most important message: yours. • We will monitor and maintain your website so that you can always feel confident you are putting your company’s best face to the world wide web. • Our sites are fed directly from the databases within our administrative system, databases whose information you control and edit as you wish. • Our administrative tools do not only enhance wholesale operations; they also give you control over how your company appears to its online customers.

4. Wholesale Management • Our proprietary database and organization tools also enable you to manage your wholesale operations through a streamlined, fully integrated interface. • Our tools empower you to maximize the efficiency of your wholesale business, automating every step so that you can always review your customers’ behavior at a moments glance and stay consistently informed as to the progress of your operations. • Our wholesale solution is based upon the constructions of our unique online ordering system, which places your entire inventory online and enables you to manage every facet of your distribution through a single interface. • Based upon information pulled from our system, these wholesale database features track every order from placement, to fulfillment, to invoicing.

5. Billing • Our billing tool allows master dealers to manage their wholesale customers’ payments through automated processing. • This tool works in conjunction with our ordering system so that your customer’s order does not appear until it has been completed and shipped, ensuring you only collect payment for product which has actually been sent out. • All payment is authorized at time of purchase, but this monitoring tool enables you to accept supplementary payments, as well as ensure only the correct amounts are being applied.

6. Orders • View any customer’s order history by billing cycle • At a moment’s glance you can review any order on the basis of who placed the order, how many products were ordered, how many were shipped, and specifically which items were included in the order. • Seamless integration with our Billing feature enables you to see not only the product details, but also the payment and billing history associated with each order.

7. Credit • This organization tool enables a wholesaler to see exactly how much credit he has allowed his customer base • View customers based on credit level, with the ability to increase or decrease their abilities with a single key-stroke and real-time application.

8. Distributor Tracking • As our online ordering system enables seamless, branded integration of outside revenue streams, this tool enables master agents to review order fulfillment with regards to third-party suppliers, on the basis of both supplier and time frame. • Monitor what your customers’ are ordering from partner distributors, the status of their orders, and the profit being made on each transaction, both per item and overall.

9. Products • This database feature enables master dealers to review their inventory to monitor both which products are being sold and the prices at which they are being sold. • Set separate pricing levels for different customers, and review both in our organized database format. Sort by product type, distributor or pricing level, and make any changes with a single keystroke. Changes are reflected online immediately.

10. Locations • A master dealer’s entire network can be called up in a matter of minutes through our location database. Never risk having the wrong information in an ad, as your location list under your complete control. • Add, edit and delete locations in a matter of minutes; our database catalogs your locations so that you can easily pull reports of carriers sold, types of stores, even hours. • All client websites are fed from these databases, such that if you need to change a location’s information, you can make that correction in your administrative tool without worrying about making sure it is applied elsewhere.

11. Email Blaster • Now you can easily email your full distribution list, or even a select few members, through an html email template branded in your corporate identity. • Use these blasters to advertise new products, inform locations of pending advertisements, or even just to make simple housekeeping announcements. • Our preview feature allows you to review your broadcast before you send it, so that you can always make sure your message is coming across clean and clear, and exactly as you intend it.

12. News • This feature allows you to post ‘news stories’ for publishing on your company’s website. • These press releases can be used to publicize changes in rate plans, developments in the company, even new products being offered. • All of our systems have been developed with maximum flexibility in mind, such that you can adapt them for your unique application needs. • You can also elect to add one of our RSS feeds to your News section, so that industry news and updates can be automatically fed to your site as they become public.

13. Advertisements • Under this module, a master agent can immediately see every campaign he has running, as well as any which is upcoming. • This summary page shows any ad which has current or upcoming run dates, with pricing, medium information, and a link to view further information. • Ad details include specific outlet, material submission deadlines, previews of the artwork, carriers included, and locations featured. • Also indicated in this summary is the ad’s co-op status, which is fed out of our unique Co-op Tracking feature.

14. Co-Op Tracking • Our co-op tracking feature allows a master agent to monitor the co-op status of any past or pending advertisement, from Pre-approval submission to Claim payment. • We designed this system after years of working within the co-op structure, so that you no longer have to waste time logging into cumbersome websites and trudging through pages of records to see the status of your current ads. • This tool monitors submission at every stage, recording dates of changes, pre-approved amounts and eventually claims submitted. • Our Co-op Tracking system aggregates data from multiple carrier sites into a single easy-to-read resource, so that you can now visit one destination for full updates on co-op status for material across mediums and carriers.

15. Co-Op Accounting • Designed to seamlessly track the transactions in our Co-op Tracking system, this checkbook-like interface enables a master agent to view his account balance, accruals, expiring funds, and co-op expenditures in a clean, clear format. • Never forfeit another dollar with this tool; we keep master agents fully informed and involved in every penny spent. • We have outfitted our system with a verification tool such that as soon as a claim is marked AP Paid, you will receive an email with a request to verify receipt of funds. No amount is subtracted from your ‘checkbook’ until we receive validation. • All your co-op fund information is centralized in one place, so that you can quickly review your balances and expenses without having to log into multiple sites.

16. Pin Management • This innovative tool gives wholesalers complete control over this exciting and rapidly growing revenue stream. • With administrative controls similar to our wholesale system; you can review pin sales by store or by sales representative. • See which pins are selling, which denominations are in greatest demand, and which carriers are yielding the highest revenues. • Our system will also show you pin revenues in the context of price versus MSRP, so that you can track your profit margins as well as your sales staff. • Our management tool enables master agents to maintain complete control over this highly profitable revenue source and ensure they are running their distribution business to its maximum efficiency.

17. Contact Us For further information, or to learn about any additional Ark Ideas tools, please contact: Noah Krug Founder and Chief Innovations Officer 215.825.7664 Noah@arkideas.com