TMGvets exists to help improve payment processing for veterinarians and other small businesses. Given the fact that payment processing, merchant services, virtual terminals, and POS systems are evolving as fast as the rest of this digital era, it can be overwhelming to try to keep up with all of the bells and whistles you are expected to have, from a merchant’s perspective.
Two Choices
You are given two choices, as a vendor. You can evolve, progress, and adapt to new payment gateway and virtual terminal features and technology, or you can stand pat. Standing pat, doing nothing, going with the flow, seeing how the market reacts. Etc. These are all able to be boiled down to the same thing. It’s the easy thing, but not evolving with a marketplace that is accelerating at an exponential rate comes with certain inherent risks – namely, that your small business, be it a veterinary clinic or otherwise, will be overtaken by the competition.
We aren’t trying to paint with too broad of a brush here, and neither are we trying to instill fear to make our point. Quite simply, we are talking about the state of this day and age.
At Trinity Merchant Group, we have the variety of merchant services to meet the individual needs of your small business. We have intentionally designed our payment processing services to be flexible in order to have the ability to tailor them to each SMBs individual needs. Whether we are discussing retail payments, mobile payments, virtual terminals, POS systems, business to business merchant services, or otherwise, TMG has a mission to deliver more than is expected. We believe in old-fashioned, supreme customer service.
That’s why so many small business owners are choosing Trinity to process their debit and credit card payments with one of the top payment processors in the entire marketplace. This is the case because many vendors can detect value when they see it. Not only do you get access to our credit card terminals and the like, but you’ll also get access to a diverse range of extra services that include our check guarantee program, online reporting, e-commerce gateway, gift cards, ACH and EBT processing, equipment leasing, and an ever-growing portfolio of payment processing features and products. To make a long story short, we invest in our clients to help set them up for success. When you are successful, so are we.
Let’s take a look at some practical ways you can make your point-of-sale system more ergonomic, or work-efficient.
What Is Ergonomics?
Before we get lost in the weeds, it’s a good idea to define our terms. Many of our readers might have an elementary understanding of ergonomics, especially because it’s been thrown around as a buzzword online so frequently. Technically speaking, ergonomics is the study of workers and their work, focusing on the entire works system, and how workers relate to each other and their working environment. In practical terms, ergonomics deals with fitting tasks to people, and not the other way around. Its primary goal is to enhance productivity and efficiency. The tertiary goals include reducing stress on workers, improving safety, and increasing comfort and job satisfaction.
And while the term might be relatively new, it doesn’t follow that the term’s concepts are revolutionary. Commercial entities, big and small, have been trying to improve processes for thousands of years. It’s only human nature to try to do so. Like we mentioned above, if you aren’t moving forward, someone else is passing you by. So, yes, ergonomics is a massive topic with plenty of diversity within it, but there is still something to glean from the field of study as it relates to merchant services, and specifically optimizing a vendor’s POS system as it relates to their employees. Let’s dive into some tips and tricks we are happy to share with our prospective clients as well as our current ones.
Mobile Point Of Sale Systems
Since their introduction a few years ago, mobile POS systems have been viewed as “nice to have” by retailers. In recent times, however, having a mobile POS system which is up to par with the rest of the competition is much more of a must-have than ever before. Why? There are many reasons why ergonomic MPOS solutions are more desirable for both vendors and consumers. Let’s take a look at a few.
The World At Our Fingertips
A main reason why have a modern MPOS system is fairly obvious to the modern shopper and the way they go about purchasing. Our smartphones give us an unprecedented level of access to be able to price compare, feature compare, and do other activities on the fly. If your brick-and-mortar shop is out of stock in a particular product, the contemporary consumer has the ability to find it at a competitor’s place, perhaps within mile and minutes of your store’s location.
If, however, you have an MPOS solution with the functionality to provide customers information about when the product in question will be next available, you are much more likely to be able to keep ahold of that customer’s business. In the same way, an optimized MPOS system should have the capacity to look up if the product is available at a different location. Of course, that doesn’t apply to many SMBs, but the point remains that having immediate access to a deeper layer of product information is obviously going to help you retain customers who aren’t immediately able to get what they need from your store.
Save Some Space
We’ll hit you with another fairly obvious one – at least, obvious to people who have modern, space-saving MPOS and contemporary credit card scanners thereof. The clunky, old-fashioned point of sale cash registers are no longer a viable option in 2017 and moving forward. Even bulky technical equipment doesn’t look great, which is why ergonomic MPOS systems can improve the checkout process for both you and the customer.
Many SMB owners do not take into account the psychological aspect of having a sleek, aesthetically pleasing POS. This is the moment of truth, when the customer gives you their hard-earned tender. Do you want them to be in a good mood while they do it? Or do you want them to be perhaps subconsciously stressed out by the archaic appearance of your business? Without either of you realizing it, the customer who has just bought from you might be less likely to become a repeat customer because of a POS that was sub-par. People, whether they are conscious of this fact or not, can tell the difference between a clean, simple system and a POS that screams “me and my business are still stuck in the early 2000s.”
Learn More About Trinity Merchant Group
We hope that you’ve enjoyed this initial look into optimized point of sale solutions. In our next post, we will continue to look at some justifications for having a modern POS system over a clunky cash register.
At TMGvets, we understand that a point-of-sale is more than just a point-of-sale – it’s the icing on the cake of your business, and it needs to facilitate a streamlined process to leave a great taste in the customer’s mouth as they walk out the door.
1stPay POS
With TMGs 1stPay POS, we have a solution that helps you run your small business. With the ability to track inventory and transactions, manage important business information from anywhere you have access to the internet, view profit margins, you can pack up your store, put it in your suitcase, and do business on the fly. This means you’ll be able to take your tablet POS to a trade show, a farmer’s market, or a yard sale. You can even email and text receipts to your customers. Being able to process cash or credit cards anywhere is a massive advantage. Plus, you have total control of users, their permissions, with the added functionality of tracking sales by discounts, locations, category, or another field. The bottom line is that with 1stPay POS and TMG, you have the flexibility that being an SMB sometimes calls for.
NCR Silver
Another option which Trinity Merchant Group is proud to tell our readers about is NCR Silver. NCR Silver is a comprehensive marketing and POS solution that can operate on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. It’s an iPad POS that is extremely easy to use, and lets merchants engage with customers in a meaningful, up-to-date way. And, of course, you are able to take your business to wherever your customers might be. NCR Silver is a total iPad POS solution that is truly ergonomic in the sense that it helps you save time and efforts with real-time reports and dashboards.
Whatever your business’ merchant service needs might be, we are confident that we can supply you with an affordable payment processing solution that is tailored for your needs and success. Get a custom rate quote today.