Looking to Expand Your Point of Sale Business?

A quick note to any point of sale partners/var's/dealers that might be looking to expand. I do have a list of ~3800 contacts with the majority of them being located in the states of Idaho, Utah, Montana, Oregon and Washington.  If you are thinking of expanding in to any of these markets with a true local presence for support and sales, please contact me at kevinantosh@gmail.com so was can set up a time to talk more.

I know that a lot of these contacts would enjoy having a local source for point of sale solutions!

Please note that I am not able to provide you with the contact list itself as these are clients and customers who are used to personal contact and do not want to end up on a telemarketing list.

My Point of Sale Company or Provider has Been Sold, Bought Out, Acquired - What Do I Do?

One of the things that I have come across from working in the point of sale industry over the last 14 years is that companies do merge, go out of business, or are acquired by other companies. The biggest events that I can remember is when Sales Management Systems (QuickSell 2000, QuickSell HQ, and QuickSell Commerce) was acquired by Microsoft, Clover being acquired by First Data Corp, and DirectPOS selling off their customer list to other companies.

While this can't always be prevented or predicted, here are some things to ask or plan for in case this happens to you. Note that this information applies to both the company that you purchased your point of sale solutions from as well as the company that actually developed the point of sale software or app that you are using.

• Always make sure that you always have full access to your customer, inventory, and vendor information in case you need to switch point of sale programs
• Ask what will be happening related to support and related services
• Have a contingency plan in case you need to switch point of sale programs
• Find out the timeline for when things will be changing
• (if you are being switched to a new company/partner/dealer) Look at references and reviews for the new company
• Be aggressive in obtaining any information that you can find (don't wait and see what will happen)
• Keep running your business!
• Talk to the manufacture, if possible, to see what all your options might be
• Don't let yourself be talked into having to purchase additional services or products
• Talk to other customers in the same situation - you may be able to band together to look at all possible options
• Don't follow blindly - again, check all your options 

This is not a complete list so please do comment or email me (kevinantosh@gmail.com) your own personal experiences and suggestions.

I know that I would have told customers to avoid One Step Retail Solutions (when DirectPOS sold their customer base to One Step Retail Solutions back in September of 2013) if I had known how poorly the customers would be treated by One Step Retail Solutions.  In many cases, you can choose who supports your point of sale system and can not be forced into choosing one company over another.

Point of Sale Buying Tip: Dealing With New Products

It can be time consuming to find just the right point of sale solution for your specialty retail store, restaurant, bar, or similar business. A recent websearch shows that there are well over 100+ point of sale apps and software programs to choose from!  A websearch also shows that there are a lot of new programs and apps available.

Over the last 14 years I have seen multiple point of sale solutions come and go (anyone remember Regit2000?). The most common scenario is that someone develops a point of sale solution and then loses interest in continuing to support and develop the solution. Orphaned customers using discontinued solutions made up a good portion of my business when I worked in the point of sale industry.

Here are some things to consider/ask when dealing with newer point of sale programs and apps:

• What sort of funding does the company have?
• Staffing levels for support and development (stay away from 1-2 person operations working out of their basement or garage)?
• What is the timeline to product updates, new features, improvements, etc.?
• How is technical support handled and what are the average response times?
• When possible, see a live demo of the software to look for how quickly the software functions. Slow response times within the software (or app) are signs of poor coding within the software.
• Always get 2-3 references to contact as well as any valid reviews to read.
• If available, a free trial or demo of the solution is good as well since it allows you to take the program for a test drive and shows confidence on the companies part in the solution that they are offering.
• Will I always have access to my information (inventory items, customer information, etc.)?

This is not a comprehensive list by any means - feel free to comment or email me (kevinantosh@gmail.com) with your own suggestions.