9 - 2020 - Credit Card Processing POS Systems Small Business Funding

Why a POS System is The Right Tool for The Right Job

One of the many challenges for business owners is finding the right tools to help them manage their businesses. Without the right tools, managing a business can become chaotic and expensive.

Imagine yourself ending the day with a stack of ledgers to account for all the products sold, the inventory that needs to be ordered, the taxes you have to pay, the hours your employees worked and more. Businesses used to hire bookkeepers to do this all day. Now, because business is run on such tight margins, you’re trying to do this yourself in the evenings or on weekends.

All that free time you thought you would have when you started your business gets eaten up by… well, running your business. Never mind the school play your son or daughter is in, squeezing in an occasional round of golf or even spending time with your spouse.

True story…

My husband Michael is an amateur chef and loves to be in the kitchen creating something new and decadent for our family to eat. He tells me all the time “use the right tool for the right job.” One night while trying to help in the kitchen, Michael asked me to chop up some vegetables. Simple enough, right? So, I got started…

I looked over and saw Michael staring at me with mild amusement while dodging vegetable peelings and the occasional errant piece of carrot shooting across the kitchen like a missile. Frankly, I don’t know what was so amusing – I thought I was doing a fine job. He walked over and politely shuffled me to the other side of the counter and said, “Using the right tools for the right job makes everything go smoother”.

I watched as Michael cleared my workspace and meticulously set up his workstation with the proper size cutting board instead of the small 6 inch cheeseboard, a vegetable peeler instead of the paring knife I was using, a chef’s knife rather than a steak knife, and a bowl to catch the peelings. I was admittedly in awe as I watched his precision knife skills and the ease with which he worked using the right tools for the job.

As an added bonus, there were no carrot missiles flying around the kitchen and what would have taken me 15 minutes (and possibly a fingertip or two) to do was done in about 3 minutes.

I tell you this not to give you an idea of the totality of my ineptitude in the kitchen, although that is real 😊, but to offer an example of where having the right tool for the right job creates a better outcome.

Are You Using the Right Tools for Your Business?

What’s true in my kitchen is true in business.

Are your employees still punching a time clock? Are you creating written schedules and tracking with sign in sheets? Wouldn’t it be better to have employees easily sign in and out of their shifts using a system that automatically calculates hours and pay?

Are you manually counting stock and using spreadsheets to manage inventory and order new stock? Are you analyzing what is or what is not selling? Wouldn’t having a system that automatically kept inventory and let you know what items are not moving well and which are then alert you of low stock quantities and when an order may be necessary be a better way?

Is your capturing of customer data such as email, birthday, buying habits etc. nonexistent? Are you reminding yourself of important customer birthdays with post its strewn around your office? Would a system that captured all of your customer’s data to provide them with incentives to purchase more of what they like and introduce them to new products they may enjoy be a better alternative? Would sending them a post card or email around their birthday increase their loyalty and allow you to market to them more often?

Are you spending your weekends and evenings manually maintaining spreadsheets and combining data to produce reports of dubious accuracy? Are you not producing reports of the information at all? Wouldn’t having multiple, accurate and preset reports with the click of a button be a better way? Would creating custom reporting to reflect the needs of your unique business with a custom report tool be better than no reporting at all?

Streamline your business with a full-featured POS system that keeps you up to date with the latest payment processing technologies, and helps you easily manage your day to day operations.

With a POS system, you can manage employees, improve customer loyalty, improve cash flow and inventory management, understand your customer buying habits and keep what your customers want in stock, create easy to use, one click reports on the health of your business, easily manage vendors, table mapping for your restaurant, manage scheduling for your beauty parlor, and more.

The Right Tool for the Right Job Saves You Time and Money

Whether it’s equipment needed to perform a task or software applications to handle processes and reporting, it’s important for your business to have the right tools.

Having the right tools can save you money in manpower, inventory control and more. It can help you create efficiencies in running your business and help keep you from making poor buying decisions with robust reporting tools.

After all, as business owners, we all want to save some money and be able to enjoy the little things in life again. So talk to your merchant services team today and create the time, the money and the peace of mind to laugh at all the miscues in your child’s first school play, grab some time to decompress and improve your handicap or get in the kitchen and cook that great meal with your spouse.

A POS system can save you money and time and isn’t that what we all want.

If you’d like to get started with a POS system that can save you time and money you can give us a call at (540) 446-0826. We’d be glad to help!

Have you ever pulled up to a gas station and see two prices for gas, one for card users and one for cash? I’m sure you have. Gas stations have been using cash discounting for almost ten years now. Finally, store owners and other types of merchants are catching on.

Cash Discounting is becoming more popular with business owners as they discover the benefits of passing credit card processing fees to customers who prefer the convenience of using their credit cards. They’re finding they keep more of their hard-earned money and are able to use reverse cash discounting to grow their businesses.

In addition, surveys have shown, merchants find the loss of some customers negligible. In fact, those surveys report that 99.2% of people asked didn’t mind at all. They understand the cost of using credit cards and accept that small cost for the convenience.

How do I create a cash discount program for my business?

Many naysayers will tell you the process is too complicated. They’re wrong.

The process is easy and, thanks to the Durbin Amendment to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Law, the guidelines are clear. You can read the full bill and amendments if you’d like but be warned, you should be in a place with a soft, pillow lined table or desk – you will fall asleep and fall face-first in a legalese daze.

That’s why you have a professional merchant services provider like 610 Merchant Services. We’re here to protect your beautiful profile and protect you from making costly mistakes with Uncle Sam.

There are a lot of details about posting prices, pricing regulations, and rules about profiting from this sort of program that your credit card processing representative can walk you through. Some of those rules are:

Posting cash discount signage at the entrance to your establishment and at the point of sale at the counter
Clearly representing the cash discount on your receipts (really bad photoshopped example below)
Ensuring your staff is alerting customers of the program verbally
Here’s the big kahuna – YOU CAN NOT PROFIT FROM CREDIT CARD FEES. ALL FEES MUST BE PASSED TO THE CREDIT CARD COMPANIES.

What it comes down to is you shouldn’t try to do this on your own. While the rules and regulations are pretty clear, it’s always best to have a professional merchant services company like 610 Merchant Services work with you.

Can’t I just add a surcharge?

No.

A surcharge is very different than a Cash Discount. A surcharge, which is legal in only ten states, is generally a fee that is added to the price of your product or service and is usually added to an existing tax. For instance, my mobile phone bill has 5 surcharges listed one of them being a State Telecommunications Excise Surcharge (yeah… I’m paying $0.16 for that per phone line!).

A Cash Discount is the elimination of a fee at check out.

Very different.

How do I apply the Cash Discount automatically?

Great question… You should have an up to date POS (Point Of Sale) System or, if you don’t have a POS System, your merchant services provider can have the discount programmed into your card payment machine on your counter.

What are the benefits of a Cash Discounting program?

There are lots of benefits to the merchant as well as the customer. The customer saves money on their purchases and avoids costly interest rates on their credit cards. The merchant avoids paying the processing fee and can reinvest into his or her company, purchase more stock for the shelves or even hire new employees. It’s a win win for everyone except the billion dollar credit card companies.

You’ve convinced me… How do I start?

Simple. Call your merchant services provider. The program should be available through them. Or you can give us a call at (540) 446-0826. We’d be glad to help!

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