Enhance Pool & Spa Customer Service with a POS System Software
Strong customer service is the lifeblood of any successful business – especially during busy season, and especially during a pandemic that has had a significant impact on customer behaviors. COVID-19 has revealed just how important it is to have a systematic and streamlined system in place – such as a POS system software – to manage existing customers, new customers, and prospects.
Do you have such a process in place?
If not, you’re likely approaching customer service in one of three ways:
- Manually with pen and paper: writing up cash register sales, using preprinted contracts that are not customized to the customer and what they are purchasing, calling in purchases to vendors or faxing them, using a wipe board for service routes, etc.
- Siloed systems: using individual programs to manage various customer touch points.
- A POS solution software: integrates all the functions you need in one place, but you’re not making the most of its features.
In this blog, we break down a few reasons why an integrated POS system software – and using it to its full potential – is a must for pool and spa professionals to effectively manage customer interactions and process transactions. Whether you’re considering making the shift from pen and paper to an integrated software — or you’re looking to better understand the functionality of a software you already have – this blog sheds light on how a POS system software serves as the foundation of all customer relationships.
Use data to create customized marketing communications, along the entire buyer’s journey.
Effective customer service begins far before a direct, one on one interaction with a customer or prospect. Most people will first interact with your brand through one of your marketing channels. Therefore, any message you send could be someone’s first impression of your company, and lay the foundation for a positive or negative customer experience in the future.
Most POS system softwares help simplify marketing for you. You can coordinate events, create signage and other pieces of marketing collateral, capture customer information, and integrate with email marketing services, such as MailChimp.
A pool POS system software also generates customer profiles that provide staff with immediate access to important information, such as:
- History of purchases
- Products owned
- Pool and spa size
- Stored images and schematics
- Previous water problems
- Equipment profiles
- Personal information
- Directions
With this information, you can categorize customers through user-defined fields and create targeted marketing campaigns with products and messaging (i.e. emails, promotions, offers and services, digital content, etc.) that will resonate based on what you know about them.
Ensure accuracy of customer orders.
Have you ever had a customer say that what you delivered is not what they ordered? A POS software minimizes this occurrence, providing a detailed, customized contract with exactly what the customer requested. These items can translate into a purchase order to ensure the products are correct.
Track on your staff’s activity.
While you don’t want to micromanage, it is important that the employees on the “frontlines” of your store are following the best practices you’ve established. For example, with a pool and spa software, you can run a report to determine which items employees are giving discounts on. Additionally, there are specific security settings you can enable, should there be any information that shouldn’t make its way into the hands of customers.
Manage receipts, discounts, and refunds seamlessly.
With a service software, you can print disclaimers, warranty information, or specific item return policies automatically on receipts. Each receipt prints customized text, the sales person’s name, store information, and your logo.
If you gave a customer a discount, it will print how much the customer saved on the purchase, and show how many loyalty rewards points the customer has accumulated. A unique transaction number will print as a barcode for future reference or returns and exchanges. You can also give your customers the choice of a printed receipt, an emailed receipt, or both.
Refunds are also easy and accurate with the barcode scanner on customers’ receipts. Discounts and coupons given at the time of sale are automatically applied to the refund. The refund screen provides an easy one-step process to handle an even exchange, a return in which you owe the customer money, or an exchange in which the customer owes you money. The item will be returned to inventory or sent to the RGO holding bin.
You can refund by cash, charge card, or in-store credit at the cash register. If the customer wrote a check earlier the same day, you can select to return the original check. If a refund check needs to be mailed, an inter-office email is immediately sent to the person who writes those checks. The e-mail includes the customer’s name and address, the transaction number of the original sale and for what amount the check is to be written.
Avoid letting customers slip through the cracks.
Many pool and spa companies that manage customers manually with pen and paper often forget to follow up with customers when needed. Softwares solve this issue with the follow-up feature, allowing you to easily track customer calls.
For example, if a call comes in for an employee who is out in the field — you can immediately forward the message to the right person, with the customer’s name and phone number automatically populated. The recipient has the option to complete the call or transfer it to another employee. At the touch of a button, you can create a follow-up call in the sale, sales order, or customer screens.
Use integrations to streamline the sales process.
If you invest in a software made specifically for pool and spa companies (like RB), it will integrate with pool and spa vendor integrations. These integrations allow users to electronically look up products and submit purchase orders directly from one place to the next, which streamlines the sales process and ensures that you never overlook placing special orders.
Softwares specific to the pool and spa industry also integrate with water analysis software systems for streamlining customer and water test information, between your water analysis software and point of sale software.
Help your sales team seal the deal.
Your sales team is only as good as you set them up to be! Many softwares have what we call a “Smart Contracting” feature, which allows you to pre-populate the system with all the necessary questions to complete a contract and process payments.
Ultimately, happy customers start with happy employees. How do you make your pool and spa employees happier? Make their lives easier with a POS service software!
