Time Mastery Now

For such a long time, most retail business owners thought of their point of sale system as a fancy cash register. With technology becoming more advanced, most innovations have become standard features within the POS industry. So here are a few more tips to help you increase your profit:

1. Scheduling Your Staff. Many restaurant POS packages include some level of “staff scheduling”. You can expect to increase efficiency and dramatically reduce overall labor costs by controlling clock-ins and clock-outs, utilizing forecasting tools and control staffing levels. Integrated features allow for easy schedule access, unlimited shifts and multiple job positions for each staff. You can also tie in any number of security functions to multiple job position. Some of the packages has a feature that allows you to post schedule on a website and sends an email of the schedule to your staff automatically. Keep your labor costs in check and increase employee performance by efficiently and effectively managing your time & attendance information.

2. Software Upgrade Assurance (SUA). This is a software maintenance program that gives a bit different kind of advantage when you purchase a POS system. You are able to help stretch your investment and prolong the life of your Restaurant POS system. Those who purchase a POS system along with a SUA plan will always have the latest version of their POS software. Basically it’s an advantage because it keeps their POS system new. Whenever you receive an upgrade it’s just like you’ve bought the latest and most current POS system in the market with the newest, most up to date features for your restaurant. The most current feature set ensures that you have the best possible ROI by allowing you to have full advantage of what its POS software features offer.

Another very important feature of SUA programs is that no software purchase is required if you upgrade or replace a hardware. When hardware needs to be replaced there is a drastically reduced cost to upgrade.

The way these programs typically work is you pay a small fee per year for all these benefits. Ma customers are satisfied receiving the huge benefits of this program that help reap the full return on your POS investment.

3. Handling Tips. Some POS software products have tip tracking built into their time in attendance module. Once a staff is set as a tipped employee, your POS system will require a tip declation before clock out. Servers and waiters who ring sales will have their total sales tracked. Tips collected through credit card sales are tracked and shown on the server closeout report. Prior to clock out, server/waiter will be shown their total sales for the day, the charge tips collected and then will be asked to declare their cash tips. This functionality will help you enforce tip regulations and manage the tracking declared tips, charge tips and hours worked for every tipped employee.

4. Frequent Diner & Customer Loyalty Programs. As the business owner you would like your point of sale system to provide accurate customer information on buying habits, number of visits, frequency of visits, entice repeat visits and purchases using reward programs. You are able to do all this while managing the programs and preventing “sweet hearting” by employees. Prevent retail loss at all cost! Sweet hearting happens when an employee promises a deal to a customer so that he/she can close a sale.

Some of the restaurant POS packages come standard with a frequent diner or customer loyalty package that eases things within your business. By expertly tracking down your guests and their buying habits, you can prevent retail loss. You can establish a database of customer’s information with an account number. You can use their phone numbers or whatever number system you want to use. However, the most popular and secure method is through magnetic cards with your company logo on them. These cards may act as a simple reminder of your restaurant to your customers by having your business logo in their wallet or purse. The POS software will secure the reward programs you put in place and prevent your server/waiter give away food. Rewards are given only when earned through purchases, frequent visits or for items on your menu that you wish to highlight. Establishing restaurant reward programs takes your staff out of the game and place you in total control of everything.

As you can see, there are so many ways to run your retail business more efficiently by using restaurant technology. Back to basics next month..

The author is the VP of Customer Relations for POS-for-Restaurants.com — helping retail business owners use technology to be more efficient and more profitable with its 20 years of restaurant experience.