{"id":9228,"date":"2021-02-18T06:10:57","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T12:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reformingretail.com\/?p=9228"},"modified":"2021-02-18T06:11:01","modified_gmt":"2021-02-18T12:11:01","slug":"yes-this-conversation-with-a-pos-dealer-actually-happened","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reformingretail.com\/index.php\/2021\/02\/18\/yes-this-conversation-with-a-pos-dealer-actually-happened\/","title":{"rendered":"Yes, This Conversation with A POS Dealer Actually Happened"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We must admit that the title of this article is a bit clickbait-y as this conversation actually played out with several<\/em><\/strong> POS dealers we talked with. If you’re wondering why so many solutions providers are raising money and selling directly to merchants, what follows should explain it perfectly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Us<\/strong>: Tell us about products you’re educating merchants about to keep them competitive in a saturated market<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dealer<\/strong>: I’m just selling POS and getting the payments residuals<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Us<\/strong>: So you’re not making sure your customers – who we all agree do zero self-discovery – are aware of the latest tools to make them more successful?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dealer<\/strong>: Nope<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Us<\/strong>: Uh, why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dealer<\/strong>: Well, as soon as I make contact with my account they’re going to ask me for more things, and I don’t want that headache<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Us<\/strong>: What do you mean you don’t want that “headache”? Aren’t you in business to support your customers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dealer<\/strong>: I’m in business for myself. That means I do the minimum required to live the lifestyle I want<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Us<\/strong>: Are your customers aware that once they’ve signed up to be your customer that they’re instantly falling behind the market?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dealer<\/strong>: Nope<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Us<\/strong>: And you have zero qualms about this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dealer<\/strong>: Sorry, this conversation has gone on too long. I need to go on my 7th vacation this year<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Us<\/strong>: Okay, one last question before you go: how many accounts are you losing to cloud competitors?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dealer<\/strong>: Pretty much all of them. But I don’t know why…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Der der der.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As much shit as we give payments companies for sodomizing merchants after the merchant signs a multi-year agreement <\/a>without knowing how payments processors make money, we think it only fair to provide the same warning to merchants choosing a reseller that prevents the merchant from succeeding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merchants: if you choose a reseller you need to be absolutely, 100% sure that the reseller has your best interests in mind. If they can’t answer some basic questions you will unequivocally get better value from customer success representatives at a cloud POS company.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

What types of questions should you ask?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For starters, get a list of all the solutions the reseller sells. Are these solutions modern? If you visit the solution provider’s website does it look like they were born before Jesus Christ and have no idea how the internet works? Do these solutions solve real problems? Don’t believe the lie that the POS solves all of a merchant’s problems. POS systems have many, many deficiencies, and it’s imperative to examine third party tools to learn how to best solve business problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask your dealer what solutions they offer for :<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Labor<\/li>
  • Inventory<\/li>
  • Marketing, including loyalty, review management, email marketing, and digital marketing<\/li>
  • Online ordering<\/li>
  • Analytics and reporting<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Then ask your dealer who they’ve helped use these solutions before and why. Is your dealer adequately analyzing your business to determine if you have problems, and are they then suggesting solutions to those problems?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Our heuristic is that 95% of dealers are not only useless, but detrimental to their own customers, refusing to bring forward solutions that could help the merchants be more successful. There should probably be a list of these dealers so merchants can do a quick search before getting too far down the path with a bad one. We’d be inclined to take it up as a side project but we all know merchants conduct zero research, so it would all be for naught.<\/p>\n