Posts Tagged ‘point of sale’

If you run a cash based business, you probably would like to keep track of how you are doing on a daily basis. What’s more, it would be nice to compare how you did today with how you did last week, last month, or even last year. Well, you could dig into your accounting software or ask your accountant, but that is not practical for right here, right now, information.

Imagine this. You aren’t at your store right now. Maybe you opened and you have someone else closing. Its in capable hands, but you’d still like to know how you did that day. Sure, you can call and check on the end of the day number. Then you can try to remember what you started with and how much it costs to run your business every day. Work those out in your head and you will have a pretty good picture for today. But what if you want to compare against another day, or track the whole week?

If you are doing this level of daily tracking, it is probably taking extra time. The fact is, you are probably too busy to stay on top of your numbers every day. In fact, you may not check them often at all. This is a problem, because you won’t be able to spot trends or problem areas.

This is where BottomLine, an iPhone App from Jet Set Apps, comes in. BottomLine was created just for small business owners who need to pay attention to their daily numbers. Jet Set Apps has developed a tool that is perfect for cash businesses like restaurants, hair salons, bakeries, or any number of retail or point of sale businesses. It can also be useful for any type of business that wants to track daily trends.

BottomLine is simple, which is part of what makes it great. It asks you for three numbers every day. Your opening balance, your closing balance, and your daily cost. The first two numbers will help you track cash flow and volume of business. The last number is optional, and comes with some flexibility. You can use it to track whatever metric is important to you. For instance, you might average out your cost of running business and place it in the daily cost box. That way, you can tell if you were above or below water for the day.

One great thing about BottomLine is that is supports multiple users and comes with a web interface. This means you can have employees enter the key numbers on the store computer and you can instantly get them on your iPhone.

So, why do you need an app like BottomLine? It is a simple tool that does one job, and does it well. If you use it, you won’t have to wonder how your month is looking. You can pay attention to your volume every day and spot problem areas. For instance, you may find that you have lower volume when a certain employee is on. Or maybe you will find a certain day is very slow for you, and you will want to offer specials to get more traffic.

You can also look at history and see how you did on days up to a year ago. This can help you prepare and bring in more staff for when you are busiest.

BottomLine is basically a simple dashboard for the health of your business. It will show you information about your business in easy to digest graphs and charts, or in a month by month view. A pie chart can help you see instantly what your busiest, and most profitable, days are. The line graph can highlight trends. And there is even a special insight tool that will look at all of your data and pull out key points to look at.

You also have the ability to type in custom notes for any day. So if you are especially busy because of a local festival, you can make a note of it. Then you will be prepared for next year and will know why you had a spike when you look back at your numbers.

BottomLine is available for the iPhone only. It costs $3.99 for the basic package. This includes the full-featured app and a month of history stored. This means you can look back over 30 days of business. If you would like to keep track of a longer period of time, Jet Set Apps offers pricing for 3, 6, and 12 months of history.

It is up to you how you use BottomLine. You can just use it to stay on top of your day to day sales, and rely on other means to track history. Or, you can keep all of the information in one place.

You may already be keeping track of all of this. Good for you! BottomLine makes keeping track of it a whole lot easier. Multiple users can add data, and you can access it from anywhere using your iPhone. If you want a better handle on daily performance, this is an app worth checking out.

You can learn more about BottomLine and view a features video at http://www.jetsetapps.net/bottomline.html.

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Hi, I’m Bradford Shimp. My goal is to help small businesses succeed. I wanted to let you know that I wasn’t compensated in any way for this review. I had a nice conversation with Rade Stojsavljevic, President of Jet Set Games and Jet Set Apps, in which he walked me through the functionality of BottomLine. I don’t personally run a cash based business, but I thought that those of you who do would benefit from checking out this app. If you end up using it, let me know.

Check out my business at BroadRiverCreative.com

Images courtesy of Jet Set Apps.

How many businesses do you hear from after you make a purchase? All to few, I would bet. And the ones you do hear from are usually larger businesses and all you get from them after a sale are catalogs and advertisements.

The moments during and after a sale are when you are closest to your customer. He or she has decided to trust you enough to buy from you. You are having a meaningful interaction, one that could and should lead to a growing relationship. And then you never call until you want another sale? How rude is that?

Keep the Conversation Going

You did a lot of work to get your customer to the point of making a purchase. It took a building of trust, among other things. So why would you want to waste all of that effort by ignoring the customer after the sale?

This is the best time to start a deeper relationship with the customer. By this I mean that you can become a more important part of your customer’s life, not just a company that he or she bought something from once. This all starts right around the time that you make that sale.

You should have some kind of plan for staying in contact with your customers on a regular basis. One of the easiest and cheapest ways to do this is with an email newsletter. Invite each customer to subscribe to the newsletter at the point of sale. That way, you have an outlet to keep in touch with them regularly.

Remember to Be Personal

While email newsletters are a great way to stay in touch with a large audience, don’t ever forget that the decision of a customer to purchase from you is a personal one. Keep that connection alive. Plan on several personal connections throughout the year. This could be anything from hand-written birthday cards, to phone calls just to say hi, to regular face to face meetings (perhaps at a nearby restaurant).

By being personal, you are showing the customer that you remember them and are grateful for their business. Don’t be pushy on getting new sales on these contacts. Just be friendly. Throughout the conversations you have, you will learn the customers needs and can lead them gently to new sales.

Reap the Rewards

No customer is a one time customer. Whether or not they ever buy from you again, each customer is an extremely valuable resource for your business. There are three things that I talk about your being able to tap past customers for. They are repeat sales, testimonials, and referrals. But there is also a fourth thing that shouldn’t be ignored. That is, feedback. Each customer can help you get a better picture on how you are doing and how well you are meeting customer needs.

By staying in contact after the sale, you are giving yourself a much better shot at bringing in new business as a result of a customer.

Provide good information, consistently, and the customer will be more likely to remember to refer you to the a friend. By the way, that referral is most likely to happen when that friend is in need, which is exactly what you want. If you just ask for out of the blue referrals at sale closing, all you will get are cold leads. Stay in contact, and you are bound to get some very hot leads via referral.

Staying in contact also helps to keep your business in front of the customer, so if they are going to buy again, they are much more likely to buy from you. You already have the trust factor since you closed one sale. Now, you just need to maintain awareness. But please note, just sending postcards doesn’t cut it anymore. Provide your customers with valuable information on a regular basis.

Having the relationship also makes it possible to get honest answers from customers regarding your business. It makes asking for things like video testimonials easier, as well.

There are great depths to plumb with any old customer, and you are letting a lot of potential go to waste if you just disappear after a sale (only to reappear when you want another sale). Find ways to stay in contact. You can provide great value to your past customers. At the same time, you can gain great value from them.

photo credit: Lucy Boynton

Recommended Reading

I am constantly on the prowl for good business books. Right now, I am reading Crush It, by Gary Vaynerchuk. I love Gary’s take on passion and business. This book will give you a kick in the butt to get up and get moving as you pursue your passions and your business.

If you are interested in Crush It, you can get it through Amazon by clicking here or by visiting your local bookstore.

Have a Small Business Question? Ask me and I will answer it here – email me with your question now.

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Bradford Shimp is the publisher of All Biz Answers. He is also the co-creator of Idea Anglers, a place to see your ideas come to life through collaboration. Follow on Twitter @bradfordshimp. Let Bradford help you with your business – visit BroadRiverCreative.com