If you think the concept of using Twitter to promote your store or restaurant is, if you’ll excuse the pun, for the birds, you may want to reconsider. The New York Times recently deemed the powerful micro-blogging service “a powerful, low-cost marketing tool for small businesses”—and in truth, Twitter can provide a quick, personalized connection to an establishment’s followers and build any business by:

1. Keeping its customers in the loop. With a quick Twitter “tweet”, as it is called, you can let customers know you’re offering new merchandise or have introduced a new menu item. You can let them be the first to know that your store or restaurant is about to sell out of a particularly popular product or dish. You can share the details of a sale or other promotion that’s about to start.
2. Keeping decision-makers up to date on customer feedback. Twitter can be the lynchpin of a “focus group” in which you ask followers questions about what they like, what they think of your new merchandise or menu item and what they would like to change about your assortment or menu. You can also ask questions whose responses you may put to good use for planning purposes, such as when they intend to start their Christmas/Chanukah shopping or whether they are going to be in the market for gifts or “supplies” for a certain holiday—like Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Passover, Easter and Halloween. With Twitter, it’s easy to start and maintain a quick, short dialogue with customers and get answers to your own questions.
3. Establishing owners and managers as authorities on certain topics. Twitter is a great way to quickly disseminate articles or links to articles you believe customers will find of interest to them.
4. Injecting levity into the customer relationship. One New York area business posts trivia contests and challenges to remain in close touch with its customers.

The point of sale provides opportunities to market to your customers. pcAmerica’s Restaurant Pro Express and Cash Register Express POS software can provide you with the tools you need to start social marketing, right from the point of sale. pcAmerica can help you undertake other initiatives aimed at leveraging the power of social media like Twitter and Facebook. To find out more, visit www.pcAmerica.com

As if retailers didn’t have enough to worry about with the economy still not entirely recovered from the slump of the past two years, merchants and consumers are increasingly being victimized by organized retail crime groups. According to the fifth annual Organized Retail Crime survey conducted by the National Retail Federation (NRF), nine out of 10 merchants (92%) were victims of organized retail crime during the past year, up 8% from the previous year. Nearly three-fourths (73%) of retailers also reported the level of organized retail crime activity has increased over the past 12 months, an increase of 11% from 2008.

What’s more, the survey indicates, organized retail crime is not only an isolated problem in a handful of areas across the country. A staggering 72% of retailers who participated in the survey said they have identified organized retail crime syndicates who are exporting goods outside of the U.S. or across state lines. Additionally, 28% found that criminal groups under current investigation have connections to street gangs with international connections. And even with the economy forcing retailers to cut staff and do more with less, 42% of merchants responding to the NRF’s queries reported that they have been forced to allocate additional resources to address organized retail crime.

But it is not always outside crime a business owner has to worry about. Business owners can lose money everyday from employee theft. Having the right point of sale system can help curb this problem and more. pcAmerica offers point of sale software like Cash Register Express and Restaurant Pro Express that offers security features like secure employee login with passwords or security cards, exception tracking to spot suspicious activity and integrated video camera with a DVR system.

Given the rise in organized retail crime—not to mention ongoing “garden variety” and employee theft—now is a great time for retailers to take another look at their loss prevention technology. pcAmerica can provide information on how to get the ball rolling.

With the use of social media going through the roof, it is easier than ever for retail and restaurant customers to let seemingly the entire world know about the experiences they have had with the businesses they have patronized. If the word is good, put it to work for you. How? For starters, go online to see whether your establishment is profiled on Yelp, Google, Merchant Circle, and/or other online review sites. If so, incorporate links to those pages in your newsletter or other online marketing vehicles. If you have a Facebook page—and if not, you should–request that reviewers post comments on it as well.

Additionally, follow up in-store transactions with occasional brief email surveys that solicit any positive feedback customers may have. (If you later decide to use these testimonials on a Web page or in future marketing vehicles, ask permission before doing so). Post a sign near the point of sale and/or set your receipt printer to generate a message at the bottom of customers’ receipts, reminding them to post an online review of your establishment. Encourage customers to bring friends to in-store or restaurant special events, so that they, too, will begin spreading the good word about your business.

On the flip side, never offer an “advance” gift or discount in exchange for a good review; it only breeds ill will. However, once comments have been posted, it’s fine to send a coupon or other small “thank you” to those customers who do take the time to provide such feedback.

pcAmerica can assist with other ways to leverage social media to bolster your business; for information, visit www.pcAmerica.com.

Suggestive selling is as important for retailers as it is for restaurants. At pcAmerica, we believe that in order to sell suggestively, merchants and their employees should:

1. Display genuine interest in customers’ interests and purchases.  For example, video store employees might ask customers who appear not to have a particular movie or game title in mind about their favorite genres or even to name a few of their previous most-enjoyed picks.
2. Get personal. Wherever possible, tell a personal story about an item a customer is considering, or one that would go with it. For instance, if a shopper has a necklace in her hand, the salesperson might mention that she has a similar one at home that she always wears with a certain outfit. Going one step further, point out similar necklaces that might be on sale, or perhaps the matching necklace and bracelet.
3. Don’t give “no” for an answer. Many consumers who stop patronizing a particular store after being informed that it does not carry a particular brand or item, would have stayed with it had a store associate simply showed them a similar brand or item. While this technique does not always apply—after all, a bookstore with a small selection of DVDs isn’t going to be able to carry every title—it often does.
4. Avoid “piling on”. Customers are much more likely to accept retailers’ suggestions when they don’t appear to be randomly given simply for the sake of adding to the tab. A store associate who pulls together a well-fit, attractively coordinated outfit for a shopper that is perhaps is not the most expensive one in the store, but fits  perfectly and suits the individual’s tastes and day-to-day needs, will experience more success than one who proposes pricier pieces that do not.

Remember also that to practice effective suggestive selling, you need to know what’s selling. That’s where a computerized point-of-sale solution, such as Cash Register Express, comes in. For more information on Cash Register Express and other offerings from pcAmerica, visit www.pcAmerica.com.

The first installment of this series featured pcAmerica’s take on why suggestive selling is so important for retailers and restaurant operators alike. Now it’s time for some practical suggestive sales training tips. Let’s start with the restaurant side. Based on our own experience and input from the National Restaurant Association, we recommend that servers be taught to:

1. Explain, in a vivid and accurate way, items available on the menu. When customers ask which of your menu items  are “good”, servers should be able to provide some personal recommendations. Most customers favor this approach over being told that “everything”  is good.
2. Use positive language that encourages orders. For example, servers shouldn’t say, “You don’t want wine, do you?” , as this will almost certainly lead to a negative response and a lost sale. Instead, they might ask, “Can I get you a glass of Chardonnay this evening, or perhaps you’d like to try one of our other award-winning wines?”
3. Use additional cues. For instance, rather than asking whether patrons would like a beverage, servers might present the idea of ordering one by asking, “Can I get you a glass of our refreshing raspberry iced tea or freshly squeezed lemonade on this hot day?”
4. Tell, rather than just show. For example, servers shouldn’t simply describe a menu of decadent desserts; bringing a dessert tray or cart to the table so customers can see the decadent choices is much more effective. After all, it is far more difficult for diners to refuse goodies once they’ve seen them up close. In addition, when bringing desserts out to customers, servers can stop along the way at a few other tables to point out the items.

For extra “oomph”, consider establishing an incentive program to reward those servers for outstanding suggestive selling performance. They might receive a commission for selling non-entree items, like appetizers and desserts. Another option:  holding sales contests that reward employees for selling the most of certain menu items

Next up: Teaching retail employees to sell suggestively.

pcAmerica is an award winning retail point of sale and restaurant point of sale systems provider that has been been recognized as an industry leader. For more information regarding point of sale systems and software, visit pcAmerica.com.

There’s no denying that leveraging social networking is an effective way to cultivate and maintain relationships with customers, as well as to bolster sales. However, that doesn’t mean retailers and restaurant operators should abandon more traditional ways to increase shopper and diner spending in their establishments. Suggestive selling—which is also known as “up-selling” and uses constructive suggestions to add items to customers’ original purchase or food order—ranks among these strategies.

Some merchants and restaurateurs mistakenly believe that suggestive selling puts too much pressure on consumers, and that urging them to spend money on “add-ons” they don’t really want or need, erodes the relationship with them. However, quite the opposite is true: Studies by several firms indicate that suggestive selling is one of the most cost-effective means of bolstering not just revenues and profits, but customer satisfaction as well. There is a perception among customers of having received value and enjoyment from a salesperson or server’s personalized attention, observations and subsequent recommendations. They then become more “invested” in a business with their additional buying decision.

What’s more, the personal, thoughtful nature of a suggestive selling interaction increases the likelihood for repeat business–whether or not the original recommendation is accepted or rejected. On the flip side, if a shopper in a retail store purchases one item without suggestive input from a salesperson, and later decides that he or she needs items to go with it, there’s a chance that the later sale will be sacrificed to a competitor.

Retailers and restaurant operators alike can harness the power of point-of-sale technology in suggestive selling. For more information on the latest available solutions options, visit pcAmerica.

In our previous blog we spoke about how retailers and restaurant operators have been leveraging the power of e-newsletters and promotional email “blasts” to maintain closer contact with customers. Newsletters and email “blasts” are both a great way to jump start getting your business involved in social marketing, and finding another way to connect directly with them.

Part of the trick to a successful email marketing campaign is to make sure you follow the rules of the CAN SPAM Act. The CAN SPAM Act spells out the requirements for messages of this type. Below, we continue with the second half of the CAN SPAM Act’s list of requirements.

1. Tell recipients where you’re located. Your message must include your valid physical postal address. This can be your current street address, a post office box you’ve registered with the U.S. Postal Service, or a private mailbox you’ve registered with a commercial mail receiving agency established under Postal Service regulations.
2. Tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future email from you. Your message must include a clear and conspicuous explanation of how the recipient can opt out of getting email from you in the future. Craft the notice in a way that’s easy for an ordinary person to recognize, read, and understand. Creative use of type size, color, and location can improve clarity. Give a return email address or another easy Internet-based way to allow people to communicate their choice to you. You may create a menu to allow a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include the option to stop all commercial messages from you. Make sure your spam filter doesn’t block these opt-out requests.
3. Honor ‘opt-out’ requests promptly. Any opt-out mechanism you offer must be able to process opt-out requests for at least 30 days after you send your message. You must honor a recipient’s opt-out request within 10 business days. You can’t charge a fee, require the recipient to give you any personally identifying information beyond an email address, or make the recipient take any step other than sending a reply email or visiting a single page on an Internet website as a condition for honoring an opt-out request. Once people have told you they don’t want to receive more messages from you, you can’t sell or transfer their email addresses, even in the form of a mailing list. The only exception is that you may transfer the addresses to a company you’ve hired to help you comply with the CAN-SPAM Act.
4. Monitor what others are doing on your behalf. The law makes clear that even if you hire another company to handle your email marketing, you can’t contract away your legal responsibility to comply with the law. Both the company whose product is promoted in the message and the company that actually sends the message may be held legally responsible.

pcAmerica offers a variety of point of sale solutions for retail and restaurant businesses. To find out how pcAmerica can help your business visit us online at www.pcAmerica.com.

Increasingly, retailers and restaurant operators have been leveraging the power of e-newsletters and promotional email “blasts” to maintain closer contact with customers. That’s a great idea—but we at pcAmerica would like to remind you that it’s also important to ensure that these communications don’t violate the CAN-SPAM Act, which spells out requirements for messages of this type.

Despite its name, the CAN-SPAM Act doesn’t apply just to bulk email. It covers all commercial messages, which the law defines as “any electronic mail message the primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service,” including email that promotes content on commercial websites. The law makes no exception for business-to-business email. That means all email – for example, a message to former customers announcing a new product line – must comply with the law.

Each separate email in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act is subject to penalties of up to $16,000, so non-compliance can be costly. But following the law isn’t complicated. Here’s a rundown of the first 3 CAN-SPAM’s main requirements.

1. Don’t use false or misleading header information. Your “From,” “To,” “Reply-To,” and routing information – including the originating domain name and email address – must be accurate and identify the person or business who initiated the message.
2. Don’t use deceptive subject lines. The subject line must accurately reflect the content of the message.
3. Identify the message as an ad. The law gives you a lot of leeway in how to do this, but you must disclose clearly and conspicuously that your message is an advertisement.

Above are the first 3 point to get you started making sure your emails are following the letter of the law. Our next blog will continue with the rest of the list of requirements.

To learn more about ways that can help you with your customer marketing at the point of sale visit us pcAmerica.

Just as customers shouldn’t compromise on the products they purchase or the food they consume, retailers and restaurateurs shouldn’t settle for second best when it comes to point of sale solutions. In the past, there existed almost no choice but to do so because most available applications were generic in nature.  Today, however, fewer small and medium-size independent retailers are willing to settle for point of sale solutions that don’t entirely address unique situations. And they don’t have to.

Some forward-thinking ISVs, including pcAmerica, have made it a point lately to design point of sale software to reflect the individual needs of a vertical market or related group of multiple vertical markets. On the retail side, consider Version 12.5 of pcAmerica’s Cash Register Express retail point of software. Released in mid-September of 2010, the software features a utility that allows tips to be added to transactions in retail establishments where tipping is customary–for instance, hair and nail salons. Another option–applicable in such markets as specialty apparel–permits commissions to be split by item, rather than allowing only one salesperson to earn an entire commission for a multi-item transaction.

The same is true in the restaurant sector. Such software applications as Restaurant Pro Express include enhancements that allow employees to place combo meal orders more easily and stimulate upselling/suggestive selling of menu items.

To find out more about customized point of sale software, visit www.pcamerica.com.

Not long ago, touchscreens were among those categories of technology that were nice—but not essential—for retailers to have. Today, nothing could be further from the truth, because touchscreen monitors are an essential for retailers and restaurant operators alike. In fact, pcAmerica rarely ships a point of sale system that lacks a touchscreen component.

Why? For one thing, touchscreens eliminate the need for a mouse or keyboard at the point of sale. This makes the point of sale system easier than ever to learn, speeding the training process. Not surprisingly, younger employees, in particular, are far more receptive to using touchscreen- based point of sale systems to get the job done than they are to utilizing those that require them to figure out how to maneuver a mouse or key in information manually. After all, they spend an inordinate amount of non-work time tethered to such touchscreen-based devices as iPhones and iPads.

A touchscreen also renders any point of sale system simpler to operate, resulting in faster transaction processing and hassle-free access to other information, like reports. Additionally, the fewer components a point of sale system has, the less risk that something will fail to operate properly and open the door for lost business. And in a busy restaurant environment, the ability for servers to select items from a touchscreen menu gets checks to the table faster than any pen-and-paper method.

pcAmerica offers a variety of point of sale systems with a choice of traditional cathode ray tube (CRT) or liquid crystal display (LCD) touchscreens.

For more information is available at www.pcamerica.com.