Welcome! Use this article to review best practices to have a successful day of selling.

iPads

Please check with your showroom manager to determine if you are using dedicated show iPads or if you as the sales rep, will need to bring your iPad for taking orders at the show.

The iPad should be updated to the iOS version approved by your showroom manager. The Spotlight software is compatible with the current iOS version and one major version earlier, but the latest iOS version approved by your showroom manager needs to be used.

⚠The Sales App currently requires a minimum of iOS version 15.7.0 installed on your iPad to function correctly.⚠

To find software version installed on your device, go to Settings > General, then tap About.

The showroom environment demands can exceed normal day to day use of iPads. For best results, newer iPads should be used in the showroom, if operational excellence is a concern.

Recommended iPad model:  iPad Pro 12.9” (5th Generation) Minimum 512 GB

⚠️ Every user should be on Version 11.4.0

 

Before You Use the Spotlight Sales App (iPad Configurations)

⚠️ Please force close all apps on your iPad before starting your day! ⚠️
From the Home Screen, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause in the middle of the screen. Then, swipe up on the app's preview to close the app. Have a home button? Double tap the home button.

 

1. Ensure the iPad’s Auto Lock feature is set to OFF, so the screen does not turn off automatically. See tutorial below.

2. Ensure the iPad’s Auto Brightness is OFF...See tutorial below...Make sure the iPad’s Brightness is as low as possible but still looks good with the showroom lighting & your vision preferences.

3. Ensure the iPad is fully charged.
   
   
4. Ensure you are connected to strong Wi-Fi, avoid public Wi-Fi...Not a cellular network / hotspot

5. Ensure the iPad’s Default browser is set to Safari.

1. • Go to Settings and scroll until you find the third-party browser app (i.e... Google Chrome).
   • Tap on the third-party browser app, then tap Default Browser App.
   • Select Safari to set it as the default. A checkmark should appear next to the browser to confirm it's the default.
   • See tutorial below

6. Ensure the iPad has the orientation locked to either landscape or portrait to prevent the screen from rotating. Swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen then tap on the lock icon 

7. Ensure your email account is setup using the default Apple Mail app & you can send & receive emails from the Apple Mail app on your iPad...Outlook or other 3^rd party email apps will not work

8. Ensure you have 30 – 40% of free storage space available on your iPad to ensure you can fully sync
9. Using a scanner? Connect your scanner via Bluetooth...See our recommended scanners below

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Installing the Spotlight Sales App

The Spotlight Sales App needs to be installed from the Apple App Store.

Click or tap to download

 

Logging into Spotlight Sales App

Check with your showroom manager if you have not yet received your credentials.

Syncing the Spotlight Sales App

Download, install, and full sync of the app is recommended at least 24 hours before a show or major sales event. This will help to ensure all data has been completely downloaded and prevent last minute issues before the show.

 

Before signing in into the Sales App for the first time, confirm that your iPad settings are the same as in the 'Before You Use the Spotlight Sales App (iPad Configurations)' section. Make sure that your device is connected to a power source, since the initial sync can take many hours, especially if there are a large number of images which need to be downloaded to the iPad. After your initial sync, the system will only download new or updated images since the original images have already been saved to the iPad.

 

After signing into the app, tap on the ‘Update’ button. Do not switch apps or close the iPad unless the ‘Syncing’ icon has disappeared and you have confirmed that all items (except System Data Sync) in the Data Sync section of the Options tab display ‘Done’! 

 

NOTE: The app needs to be fully synced with the latest Products and Customers updates before starting each day. See Step 2 in ‘Beginning Your Day Using the Spotlight Sales App’ for further details.

Turn off Presentation Mode to Speed Syncing

Don’t Need Images? Want to speed up syncing? 

In the Options tab in the app, you can turn off Presentation Mode which disables the image syncs for Product Images, Catalog Images, and Category Images. This forces the app to prioritize the Customer and Product syncs first so you will be able to write orders. After the app completes the sync and indexes, Presentation Mode can be turned on to sync images while you are working in the app.

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Beginning Your Day Using Spotlight Sales App

1. Launch the Sales App, log in, Accept Updates, and complete the daily sync (See ‘Syncing the Spotlight Sales App’)
2. Double check your last sync date by going to the Options tab (on menu - bottom right)

 

 

⚠️ If your Customers and Products are not fully synced with the current date, you will not be able to complete orders. To re-initiate the sync, log out, completely close the app (tutorial above), relaunch the app, log in, and accept the Customer and Product updates. ⚠️ 

3. Make sure the Show Code is correct…this is reflected in Options >User Options > Selected Show
4. Ensure the Auto-Sleep is toggled off in Options >User Options
5. Using a scanner? Ensure the Bluetooth scanner has been paired with the iPad

1. • Ensure the Options >User Options > Scanner is set to Bluetooth  
   • Try scanning a barcode in the Showroom to ensure products are scanning to the Shopping Cart

Ending Your Day Using the Spotlight Sales App

To ensure your iPad is “closed out” for the day and can be properly prepped for the next day, please follow the checklist below for each iPad.

1. In your Dashboard under Recent Orders, ensure all orders have a status of “SENT”

1. • This means the orders were sent to the Cloud as either Confirmed or Hold for Confirmation orders.
   • This ensures that your orders have successfully synced to our servers.

2. Follow your company’s guidelines on any carts left “open” and any order placed on hold.

1. • For Example: Some customers reset the Shopping Cart Content at the end of each day so there are no local carts on the devices; the carts then only live on the cloud and can be pulled down using the Open Carts feature on the app when needed.

3. Ensure the iPad is plugged in and charging overnight
4. Ensure the portable battery pack is plugged in and charging overnight
5. Ensure the Bluetooth scanners are plugged in and charging overnight (if rechargeable)
6. Fully close the app

• • From the Home Screen, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause slightly in the middle of the screen.
  • Swipe right or left to find the app that you want to close.  
  • Swipe up on the app's preview to close the app.

At the end of each show day, to ensure that all reporting from the show or day is accurate, we recommend that all Open Carts or On Hold Orders are addressed.

 

Free Space Available On iPads

Please check to make sure you at 30 – 40% free space available on your iPad after you have fully synced the Spotlight Sales App (you no longer see the ‘Syncing’ icon on the Options tab). Go to Settings > General > [Device] Storage. You might see a list of recommendations for optimizing your device's storage, followed by a list of installed apps and the amount of storage each one uses.

 

Setting Default Browser to Safari

Adjusting Auto-Lock, Brightness

 

Bluetooth Scanners

The Spotlight Sales App supports most standard Bluetooth iOS compatible scanners. For pairing instructions, please see your scanner’s instruction guide.

 

Recommended Pharos Scanners:

 

Motorola CS3070 Bluetooth Scanner

Pros: Smaller, internal rechargeable battery (charges with USB cable)

Cons: Only supports 1D barcodes, needs to be charged, pairing sequence with the iPad can be cumbersome.

 

Socket Mobile SocketScan S740

Pros: Supports 2D scanning, rechargeable and replaceable batteries

Cons: Most expensive

Please note the scanner set up procedure is not always the same for different model numbers, even if the models are made by the same manufacturer, so it is important to make sure you are using the correct setup procedure for the scanner model you are using.

 

Check Out Our Scanner Frequently Asked Questions

 

Battery Packs (Recommended)

The ideal show day has all sales reps writing orders for 10 hours straight, with no breaks! Obviously, we are not all robots (yet!) but we do have some long days in the showroom. To ensure the technology can keep up with us, we do recommend having a portable battery pack. This will allow those who are writing from 8:00am to 6:00pm to use their iPad nonstop.

 

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Best Practices 

Show Codes

During and after the show, you will want to know the success of the show. Spotlight allows you to report on how many orders the show generated as well as many other analytics reports. Please check with your showroom manager which show code you should be using and ensure all iPads are set to the correct show code before orders are placed.

 

Shared Leads

In normal field selling, any leads that are entered will be locally saved on your iPad. In a show environment, new leads may have started working with another rep earlier in the day. If this is the case, you can avoid entering the lead information again by searching for the lead on the Cloud (Globe icon in the Customer tab).

 

Shared Carts

In normal field selling, any cart you create will be saved to the Cloud that can be downloaded on your iPad. In a show environment, a customer (or lead) may have started working with another rep earlier in the day. If this is the case, you can avoid rebuilding the cart by downloading the cart from the Cloud (Open Carts tab on the Customer tab). Then tap the cloud icon on the right side of the open cart to download.

 

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On Hold Orders

You can place an order on “Hold for Confirmation” if a customer wants to finalize their order at a later time. An order can be placed on hold by toggling the on-hold button on the Pharos Sales checkout screen to ON. Check with your showroom or sales manager for how on hold orders will be processed at the end of each day. Your “On Hold Orders” can be found by going to the Dashboard and tapping on the “On Hold Orders” tab, in the middle of the top menu.

 

 

 

Placed Orders

Pharos Sales supports a paperless show environment which allows the customer to receive an email as they are leaving the showroom. The confirmation email received will identify the order with a unique order number. If the customer wants to receive a paper copy of the order, or receive a reference number, we suggest you enter a reference number for the customer in the PO field. If the customer does not have a PO number or the PO number is not unique (will make finding the order harder later) use your initials and the time of day. For example, if it is 9:35 and your name is Mary Lee Jones enter MLJ935 to create a quick and easy PO number.