Once you complete a sale and sign an agreement with a merchant, it’s often easy to just move onto the next one and focus on finding more of them to sign. Merchants you’ve signed tend to stay happy and complacent as long as their hardware and software are functioning properly and don’t get in the way of their sales. However, there is a lot of value in ensuring those merchants keep their hardware up-to-date, and value applies to both the merchants as well as you; almost anything that benefits your merchants will also benefit you as their agent long-term. Here are just 4 ways that ensuring your merchants stay on a regular schedule of upgrading can benefit you both.
Most merchants place a high value on the security of their transactions.
Important for security
Nowadays everyone is hyper-aware of protecting their personal information. With POS systems, security updates and fixes are constantly being released, and while many of those updates can be pushed via software patches, sometimes new security measures are built into actual hardware. If this is the case, the only way to take advantage of them is by upgrading their hardware pieces. Most merchants place a high value on the security of their transactions as well as their customer’s personal information, so this is something they often don’t mind spending extra money on.
Always have the latest features
POS systems are constantly changing and evolving, offering new and amazing features to their users. While occasionally these can be obtained via a software update, often times the new features require new hardware. These features let merchants manage their business in new and innovative ways, and can ultimately save them time and money.
Minimize downtime by preventing unexpected breaks
One of the biggest frustrations for merchants is a POS system that is unreliable, or worse, one that breaks entirely at the most inconvenient time. Today’s POS systems are built to last, but issues can always happen, and if this happens it can cripple a business until it’s fixed or replaced. Additionally, the cost of a POS repair, especially when unexpected, isn’t something a merchant will want to deal with. If they regularly replace their hardware, they’re much less likely to have malfunctions occur, and it also ensures their hardware is always under warranty in the unlikely event that an issue does arise.
Stand out from the competition
In today’s modern age, consumers love shopping and dining in modern, hip places where they feel like their business is valued. Having the latest hardware not only allows merchants to have the latest features to track loyalty and customer preferences, but it also gives the feeling to customers of a high-end experience. When competition for business is so high, this is an easy way for merchants to stand out from competitors in their industry, and build their brand as a cool, trendy local spot to be.
While convincing merchants to upgrade their hardware often can be difficult, there are definitely benefits to doing so, and as an agent, you always want to convey these benefits to them. Explaining how in the long term, it will likely save them time and money is essential to ensure they remain happy with their POS system and payment processing service.
