When you go to the grocery store or out shopping, you will inevitably make your way to the front of the store to purchase your items at the cash-out area, or the “Point of Sale,” as it’s known to us business folk. It is at this point in the process when you are ready to pay for your items.
The point of sale is not only part of the process, it is also the physical place where the transaction occurs. It also refers to the machine or device used to complete the transaction.
It used to be called a “cash register” or “cash-out stand” and it is still often referred to as such.
The point of sale for someone who is shopping online uses virtually (no pun intended) the same process.
Once they have perused through countless pages of merchandise, they select what they want and click the “shopping cart” button or purchase button.
They are then escorted to the Point of Sale, which in this case is the virtual form where they input their personal information, physical address, and credit card number. These typically all look the same.
They basically mimic a physical order form, with fields for them to input their name, mailing address, and credit card information.
In order to make things user-friendly and familiar for consumers, most virtual point-of-sale pages look the same. The general uniformity of these online payment POS’s helps the customer feel more comfortable with the transaction.
Think about it. When you are giving out your personal credit card information, you want it to feel familiar, right? It puts your mind at ease, doesn’t it? You want to feel familiarity otherwise, you are hesitant to give out your very important information.
Your customers are no different. As a business owner, you want to provide them all the assurances you can to their information is being used and stored in a safe way. This is especially important for online shopping.
Your point of sale is the most important part of any business. It is at this point in time you MAKE MONEY! The point in the transaction when the customer pays you.
We all go into business for various reasons. But the one common denominator for virtually every businessman or woman is the deliberate desire to make money! Unless you own a non-profit business, you are in business to make money, ultimately.
You may provide some excellent services to people and get a great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction while doing it. But you are still out to make money…by default.
How long would your business last if you weren’t making money? Chances are, not very long!
There is nothing wrong with that either. Money is a great motivator! We all want to provide value to the world, right? We want our talents and abilities to be put to good use providing a valued service to the world around us.
Knowing we are wanted for the service or product we provide gives us a sense of accomplishment and self-worth.
The point of sale is where all of the desire, motivation, and talent are rewarded! Your customers come to you for the value you provide and they are happy to pay for it because it is an excellent service/product!
It is important your customer feels comfortable during this point in the process. So if you have a brick and mortar business, make sure you have personable and friendly people stationed at your Point Of Sale (cash register).
Having someone who knows what they are doing and can help/assist your customers in getting through the process as smoothly and quickly as possible is important not only for your customers but for your business!
Long lines at your cash-out counter are a good thing in one sense, as long as it is a continually flowing line. Not a line of customers waiting unnecessarily long to purchase their goods. The faster you can get people in and out, the more revenue you are generating.
So make sure you have someone who is well trained to handle credit, debit, gift card, and check payments. If they can also handle doing exchanges and returns, even better!
The more you set up your POS (both the physical location and the person in charge of it) the more efficient your business will be, and the faster you will see the dollars rolling into your bank account!
If this isn’t motivation enough, I don’t know what is! Literally, everything about the point of sale is conceptually designed to benefit your business.
The only time you are “losing” anything through the point of sale is when a customer returns an item. But since you are providing a valuable product and service, you probably don’t get many of those kinds of transactions.
Just keep doing what you are doing and let the point of sale do what it was designed to do: make you money!
For questions about Point of Sale and other business-related subjects, such as merchant services, loyalty programs, easy business loans, or payment processing, give us a call over here at RedFynn. Helping small businesses thrive is in our DNA.
Give us a call! (888) 510-9871
