Category: Small Business

Most small businesses dream of landing big clients, but big clients often want to work with larger, established firms. Conversely, however, a number of larger businesses also understand the value of working with a new up and comer. This doesn’t mean, however, that they want to entrust their business to some fly-by-night operation. While you may not have the budget and staff that some of your competitors do, everyone has to start somewhere. Thankfully, in the digital age, it is easier than ever before for even the smallest of firms to create a big impression. Here are 5 ways your small business can make a big impression.

1. Use a coworking space

While you may run your business out of your home, unless you have a separate, dedicated office space, it may not be the best place to meet with clients. By using a coworking office space, however, you can have access to a professional conference room and a number of other amenities that can give your small business a polished, professional look. For a monthly fee, most coworking spaces will also provide you with a business address that is not your home address or a post office box.

2. Use a receptionist service

These days you don’t need to hire a full time receptionist or even provide a workspace for one in order to have someone answer your phones. There are a number of virtual receptionist services that can provide you with a live person to answer your phones 24/7.

3. Use a conference call service

While these days, anyone can use Skype, you don’t necessarily want to trust your most important conference calls to spotty services and potentially dropped connections. Professional conference call services can also offer a number of different features, such as a recording of the entire call, HD clarity and even an active talker indicator so you always know exactly who is speaking.

4. Beef up your website

These days, it is easier than ever to create your own website. There are thousands of templates available online that allow you to drop in a few stock photos and some key piece of information and have you up and running in no time. Just because you can, however, doesn’t mean you should. Your website is often the place people will form their first impression of your business. If your website looks “stock,” it’s not likely to instill a great deal of confidence in prospective clients. In addition, you should always be sure and add a mail service to your website rather than using a free site.

5. Invest in professional stationary

While these days most business is conducted via e-mail, you can actually stand out from the crowd by sending paper mail on professional stationary. You can send a personal letter letting prospective clients know you will be contacting them or with contact information to contact you. While you don’t want to rely on them contacting you, if your letter makes a strong enough impression, they just might. Once you give your letter a few days to arrive, you can follow up with an e-mail.

Using a point of sale system (POS) can benefit your small business in a variety of ways. For instance, it can save you time, increase productivity and cut costs, give you detailed analyses of your business, and reduce human error. Not to mention it can maximize your business’ ROI and improve the overall customer experience.

That said, knowing which kind of POS system to use can be challenging if you don’t know where to start.

That’s why we’re going to explain the two main types of POS systems so you can make an informed decision when it comes to choosing the right one.

1. Electronic Point of Sale System

This simple hardware system helps you collect money from customers after they’ve made a purchase. It combines physical hardware and software to process transactions and manage inventory. It also has components such as a computer terminal, barcode scanners, receipt printers, and chip and pin devices.

This type of point of sale hardware offers the following benefits:

• Minimize transaction errors
• Automatically apply discounts and promotions
• Track employee work hours, schedules, and performance
• Sync business reports and data all in real-time
• Adjust stock levels and reorder inventory as needed
• Eliminate the need for manual price checks

The problem with this type of hardware is that it can become costly and the software often requires a lot of maintenance and updates. However, for small business that are growing, having a more permanent POS solution is a good option.

2. Cloud-based Point of Sale System

Cloud-based point of sale systems, such as the ones offered by PAR Technology Corporation, utilize web-based, SaaS solutions that store your business data in the cloud, rather than on a physical computer. In fact, this cloud-based solution allows you to access data, process payments, and receive automatic software updates through the internet.

Thanks to this advanced way of processing transactions, you can take your business anywhere. In fact, even if you don’t have access to the internet, you can collect payments from customers and sync the data once you get online again.

Lastly, you can benefit from a cloud-based POS system in the following ways:

• Access data anywhere at any time
• Track inventory and sales reporting in real-time, regardless of internet connection
• Never worry about updates, maintenance, or licensing fees
• Run automatic data backups ensure your business records are safe at all times

This solution is perfect for small businesses that are on the go or have a limited budget when it comes to hardware purchases.