Quit Losing Sleep Over iPad-Based POS
By The Business Solutions Network
If customers asking about iPad-based POS keeps you up at night, it's time to stop worrying.
First off, iPads are here to stay and all the new software companies that popped up coding for iOS aren't going anywhere. The truth is, some have made some pretty nifty software.
Yeah, yeah, I know; iPads don't make you any money themselves. But, the fact is that they can lead to increased sales. I've been speaking with more and more readers who tell me that, at the very least, iPad's have opened new lines of communications between them and their customers (some of which were inactive and unengaged). The result has been some iPad rollouts, but also the discussions unveiled business problems that iPads wouldn't solve, yet traditional POS would (yes, there are still reasons to choose traditional POS over a tablet). The bottom line? Increased sales where there wouldn't have been any before.
Say what you will about iPad use in retail and restaurants, but it's generated some buzz. Buzz on which you can capitalize.
So, why not embrace it rather than sit back and worry about what it could do to your business? I suggest you reach out to customers with some marketing collateral. If your customers are reading about iPads in trade pubs and experiencing them firsthand in their own day-to-day experiences, why not approach them proactively as a thought leader?
With the proper message, you can kill two birds with one stone. First, you can educate and influence customers about the realities (good and bad; let's be fair) of iPads and consumer-grade tablets in retail environments. Second, you can create a good reason for your customers to reach out to you and learn more about this trend (and open that priceless dialog).
Of course, to create the messaging and have an intelligent conversation with your customers, you need to make sure you're fully informed on the topic of mobile POS. The last thing you want to do is open a dialog and then look either uninformed or like you're just trash-talking the notion of tablets.
Instead, strive to act as a forward-thinking trusted advisor with your customer's best interests at heart. That's how you can turn the threat of tablets into an opportunity you can leverage.