These insights into SMBs’ decision-making processes can help boost sales.
Insights into the factors that small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) use when choosing a point of sale (POS) system are valuable pieces of data for sales partners and their sales teams. The Strawhecker Group (TSG) recently shared with North American Bancard results from a survey to learn just that — TSG polled more than 600 decision makers in retail, restaurant, services, and professional services (including healthcare) verticals to gain a broad perspective.
The survey found most SMBs use an average of eight or nine features of their POS system, with most using the following key items.
- Inventory management (the most popular features at 65%) and analysis (48%).
- Managing employees with functions like scheduling, time clock and payroll.
- Reporting — making the most of insights into sales data.
However, many SMBs desire additional functionality, such as predictive sales analytics, employee communication, and social media marketing.
Choosing a POS system to solve pain points.
While most merchants (72%) reported being happy or very happy with their current provider, approximately one-third of SMBs intend to look for a new POS provider in the “near future.” Here are a few the pain points they revealed regarding their POS system and service.
- The system requires too many updates and causes downtime.
- They lack education regarding the system’s functionality, leading to difficulty using it.
- They experience network outages or lack of connectivity.
- The POS provider offers poor customer service and support.
- They desire more and better inventory management features.
- Their current system causes concerns about data security.
Where the process of choosing a POS system begins.
When SMB merchants decide to implement a new POS system, they turn to the internet. Most businesses began their search using Google (43%), followed by reading through online reviews (39%). Recommendations from family, friends, or colleagues are part of the process for 34% of SMBs. However, outreach from a solutions provider is only about how 23% begin the process of choosing a POS system.
After learning about the POS system, users said they considered a range of factors before making their final choice. Some consider hardware options, including whether it has a modern, stylish appearance. Others look for marketing functionality and loyalty features like customer relationship management and gift cards. While merchants considered several things when deciding on a system, these three stood out as the most important.
- Payment acceptance features (33%).
- Competitive, fair prices (29%).
- Ability to integrate with existing systems, i.e., accounting and inventory (28%).
Key takeaways for sales partners.
Insights from the survey report can help you refine your sales strategy. First, when choosing a POS system, your clients are looking for technology that integrates with payments. As a North American Bancard sales partner, you’re well-positioned to offer them a POS system that precisely meets their business’s needs, such as Payanywhere, that seamlessly integrates with North American Bancard payment solutions. It also meets SMBs’ top priorities for inventory and employee management and reporting for visibility into their businesses.
The survey also provides insights into the pain points that your prospects experience with their current systems. You can lead with how a new system you provide addresses those issues. Additionally, take note that most SMB merchants begin their search for a new system with a Google search, so make sure you have a strong online presence, including a website with pages that rank for the keywords that your potential customers search so they can find you. Also, monitor your online reputation since many SMBs are looking at online reviews and recommendations.
To learn more about SMB merchants’ decision-making process when choosing a POS system, download the U.S. SMB POS Analysis report and contact us to help create an effective sales strategy.
