Most of us have considered installing a generator as a backup power source, but few of us are aware of the life-threatening dangers of generators. This is where GenTent’s founder, Mark Carpenter, saw an opportunity.
How Mark Carpenter Turned a Problem Into an Opportunity
In 2008, in the middle of an ice storm, Mark Carpenter returned back from a business trip to his home in New Hampshire. For the first time in his life he experienced a serious power outage. While looking at generators, he realized he didn’t have many options: installing a generator indoors could lead to carbon monoxide poisoning and installing one outside could lead to electrocution due to the storm.
An engineer by training, Mark designed a safety canopy cover for portable generators, patented the new technology, and launched his company GenTent in 2012.
Manual Data Entry into QuickBooks Was Getting In the Way of Business
Mark began selling his products on Amazon and used ShipStation as his shipping solution. Although his sales were increasing, he couldn’t keep up with manually entering all his orders into QuickBooks.
GenTent is a complex business. Besides selling to individuals on his website and Amazon, they also sell to over 20 small dealers, and large chain-stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s. It was impossible to manually enter all the orders into QuickBooks and to track the flow of customers through his business. GenTent needed an automated solution to tie all the pieces of his business together and to have accurate financial information in QuickBooks.
How GenTent Connected All Parts of His Business with Connex
Mark started looking for a single solution that would tie all pieces of his business together and copy his orders into QuickBooks.
“I did a thorough search, and Connex was the only viable solution that had all the features and integrations that I needed,” Mark recalled.
In 2018, Mark started a free trial of Connex, and was immediately put at ease by the honesty of the Connex team. “I really liked that they didn’t try to sell me the software. The staff explained what the software does and doesn’t do. I appreciated that they let me try it out and decide for myself whether it was a good fit for me. “
GenTent implemented Connex, and quickly saw in increase in productivity among his staff.
“Connex is a crucial element of our business. We need to have a way to bring 1000’s of orders into QuickBooks, including updating our inventory.”
With Connex, Mark is able to reconcile fees, pull in orders placed on different selling channels, and reconcile shipping fees. “I like that I don’t need to double and triple-check my books,” Mark said.
Now that he has an automated solution for his book-keeping, Mark and his staff have been able to focus on higher-level problems such as taking care of customers and keeping enough inventory in stock.
“To reconcile all the fees, I needed both the individual orders and the summary order, and Connex is the tool that has been able to do that for us.”
Connex Continues to Be Integral to Business as GenTent Grows
GenTent has been growing rapidly each year, with customers in the US and Canada.
“Prior to Connex we had no way to manage multi-warehouse, had disparate software for each marketplace and much less automation. As it currently stands, the system is fully operational and stable, and I can focus on other important areas to move my business forward.”
Mark considers Connex an essential part of operations for his own business.
“Every business is part of an ecosystem, and the weakest link can cause the whole ecosystem to collapse. I have already recommended Connex to several other businesses, so they can see the kind of growth that I did.”
One of Mark’s favorite parts of Connex is the Rules Engine. “With the Rules Engine we are able to pull in products from different channels and get the order correctly into QuickBooks.”
As an engineer himself, Mark really appreciates reliability.
“I can look at my Dashboard in Connex and figure out what’s going on. I am a very detail-oriented person. Connex is by far the most complete and robust Amazon interface that I have found.” – Mark Carpenter
Do you wish you had a way to connect different parts of your business? Connex may be the solution for you.
Like so many of our customers, we have a desire to save time by eliminating data entry. Our mission is to simplify ecommerce accounting for small business owners and accountants so they can focus on growing their business.
Recommended by Intuit itself, Connex for QuickBooks frees you from manual data entry, and gives you peace of mind that your sales, orders, and inventory are up-to-date in QuickBooks.
After over ten years in business, we’ve identified the top five reasons why customers choose to Sync with Connex.
- Automate
- Save Time
- Reduce Stress
- Scale
- Best-in-class-support
We have integrations for QuickBooks Online and Desktop
We work with the most popular market places, shopping carts, shipping solutions, and online platforms on the market to make freedom from data entry a reality. To see a full list of supported integrations, please visit https://www.syncwithconnex.com/integrations.
How can you decide whether Connex is right for your business?
The easiest way to tell whether Connex is right for your business is to speak with our sales team
During this introductory call, you will discover how Connex can help you to:
- Eliminate manual data entry into QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop
- Automatically update your inventory and prevent oversells and refunds
- Manage sales from multiple channels in one app
- Connect your shipping solutions to QuickBooks
- Have accurate financial information in your QuickBooks every day
Are you unsure whether Connex is right for your business?
Click here to schedule an introductory 15 minute call with a member of our sales team.
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