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Member You - The Top 10 Reasons You Need A Computer Point of Sale System For Your Business
Know How to Hold 'Em - Attracting and Keeping Top Performers irements.One of the biggest challenges companies are facing is the attraction and retention of top performers. The World Future Society predicted that the greatest test of durability for companies in the next five years would be the ability to get and keep good people. In some industries such as the homebuilding industry there is a phenomenon of merry-go-round employees where employees jump ship within the industry and companies are recycling employees. In the finance industry the big question to a top performer is "Where did you jump from?"One executive management client had left a specific financial institution because a competitor wooed her. Once there, she wasn't as happy as she thought would be and was wooed back again to the original employer. She did this back and forth thing two more times! This is very common in specific industries as the fight for good people continues. So how do we attract the top performers and second to that how do we keep them from jumping?Here are the top five things leaders can do to attract and keep the best of the best:1. Top talent want to work for the top companies. If your company is committed to superior practices, has profile and brand recognition and is known for exemplary management practices, you will have a list of salivating hopefuls lined up to work for your company. This would be a good problem to have. Bottom line - the company needs to be working towards being the best, brand recognition and having excellent employee systems in place.2. Build it and they will come. If your company is revamping, rebuilding or restructuring, be aware that every man and his dog out there has been through some form of reengineering in the workplace. To attract top talent Taking advantage of the built-in time clock feature can bring big results. Additional profits can quickly be the result of this easy to use feature. 7. If you want to reduce employee theft in your business, you need a point of sale system. This is the original reason for the invention of the cash register back in the late 1800's. Even when most of the businesses were family owned and run there was a need for a cash register to reduce theft. In today's world of hiring employees to help staff and manage your store there is even greater need for this type of control. For years we have known about the tendencies of people with regard to theft. 10% of the people wouldn't steal if giving the opportunity. 10 % of the people are going to steal no matter what safeguards are in place. 80% of the people will steal if given the opportunity. Point of sale systems are put in place to guard against the 80% and make it more difficult for them to steal from you. Frequently used schemes Having an elementary understanding of the more common forms Business Coaching - Creating Success 10. If you have employees, you need a point of sale system.Your business is up and running and all the pieces appear to be falling into their place. You’ve got clients, a schedule that works and an organized system in place as well. Yet there is a small voice inside of you that keeps questioning if this will work. Do you really know this business will work? Can you really be sure that it won’t come to a crashing halt, leaving you with an empty organizer, a lack of clients and no money in the bank?Well, it may seem that there is no way to predict how successful you will be or not. It may seem that forces beyond you will declare how well your business will do, leaving you feeling helpless. Actually you have more control than you think. That is the good news, as well as the bad, since it leaves the control right in your lap.Do you want to be successful? That may seem ridiculous to ask, given your commitment to this new venture, but look yourself in the mirror and ask these questions:1 – Do I really want to be successful?2 – What would it look like if I was successful?3 – How would I know if I were successful?4 – What am I willing to do to be successful?5 – What am I doing right now that will not support me in being successful?Once you begin to feel that success is a perfect fit for you, it is time to visualize how much success you actually want. Begin to live into your visualization, as if it is already occurring. This is the real challenge.For instance, if I asked you to visualize what it would be like to be at a carnival right now, what would you see? What would you feel? What smells might be associated with it? Even if it has been a long time since you have been to a carnival, you may be able to smell If you have employees you are open to theft, sweet-hearting and careless mistakes. You need a point of sale system to manage your employees, enforce your policies and insure that your money gets to you. Of all distressing situations that can occur in a workplace, none is as likely to trigger emotions more consistently than an incident of theft, fraud or embezzlement. The 2003 National Retail Security Survey discovered that nearly half of all losses can be attributed to employee theft, adding up to billions of dollars annually. Some small business owners regard the pilfering of notepads, pens, paperclips, and even coworker lunches as minor incidents, unworthy of disciplinary action. Consequently, if an employee feels invincible, they may raise the stakes and steal something of greater value, believing they will not be threatened with termination or prosecution. The best defense is careful supervision and security solutions that remove easy opportunities. Human resource experts recommend having more than one person doing inventory and bookkeeping so no single employee has too much authority. Shifting responsibilities from one person to another, i.e., rotating opening and closing, enables employees to check each other's work for accuracy and suspicious activities. It also makes collusion between employees, or between an employee and an outside source, such as a distributor, considerably less likely Small business owners should emphasize that there is no such thing as an "acceptable amount" of employee crime, and that none at all will be tolerated. The Small Business Administration recommends that all violators be disciplined, regardless of how important the person or how small the infraction. Though employee theft is a real threat, the National Federation of Independent Businesses advises against becoming hyper-vigilant - that may antagonize your honest employees and lower morale. Proper security measures and a set of common sense procedures are the best ways to protect your small business. Examples of employee theft include: Forging receipts: Salespersons can charge a customer one sum, ring up a receipt for less, and pocket the difference. Hiding receipts: When bookkeeping has little supervision, employees can keep cash and receipts without raising an eyebrow. Stealing merchandise: Purchased goods may never even make it to the shelves. Fraud: Employees can declare themselves suppliers of nonexistent goods, and subsequently reimburse themselves handsomely. 9. To reduce or eliminate pricing and math errors, you need a point of sale system. It is still amazing how many businesses still use a calculator and hand written tickets. According to studies done by various institutions you are open to math and pricing mistakes totaling in excess of 1% of your annual volume. In a business doing as little as $1,300 per day that would add up to $4,700 per year. To eliminate pricing and math errors you need a point of sale system. 8. If you want to control your payroll, you need a point of sale system. Employee payroll is one of the most overlooked and most easily managed portions of your profit and loss statement. If you have 12 employees and each of them clocks in 5 minutes early a day, that equates to 1 hour per day of extra payroll. Even with minimum wage plus benefits this could add up to $6 - $8 per day or over $2,900 per year. This figure doesn't take into account the total man-hours it takes to compute time cards and then report on the hours worked for each employee. This is time that you could be spending elsewhere. If you have a few as 5 employees you need a point of sale system. Most point of sale systems have a built in time clock feature. Some time clocks are specifically designed for specific industry needs. Features designed to control your employees and conform to the strict regulations imposed upon your business. For instance, restaurants have far more restrictions placed on them than a retail operation. Managing employees and a time clock can be difficult with some systems. When looking at different point of sale systems make sure the one you chose has the features needed by your specific industry requirements. Taking advantage of the built-in time clock feature can bring big results. Additional profits can quickly be the result of this easy to use feature. 7. If you want to reduce employee theft in your business, you need a point of sale system. This is the original reason for the invention of the cash register back in the late 1800's. Even when most of the businesses were family owned and run there was a need for a cash register to reduce theft. In today's world of hiring employees to help staff and manage your store there is even greater need for this type of control. For years we have known about the tendencies of people with regard to theft. 10% of the people wouldn't steal if giving the opportunity. 10 % of the people are going to steal no matter what safeguards are in place. 80% of the people will steal if given the opportunity. Point of sale systems are put in place to guard against the 80% and make it more difficult for them to steal from you. Frequently used schemes Having an elementary understanding of the more common forms o Saying Thank You With Corporate Gifts
Everyone loves to be appreciated, and when that thanks is expressed with a gift, you’ll make extra points with the gift recipient. Corporate gifts are often thought of as expensive, one-of-a-kind executive style gifts that your company sends out at holidays, but there’s another level of corporate gift-giving that can mark you and your firm as a thoughtful, appreciative company with whom to do business.The wonderful thing about thank you gifts is that they needn’t be expensive, but they can pay off big in exposure for your company and product. There are literally dozens of opportunities for little thank yous in the course of doing business, and you can do it as cheaply as a few pence per item. It just takes a little planning and the foresight to develop a “thanks for your business” marketing policy. Here’s how.Choose a small variety of promotional items imprinted with your company’s name. You’ll find an enormous range of promotional gifts and items available on the internet. Choose a handful of various types of items that will your customers will find useful. If you’re not sure, ask your own staff about the products that they use every day, or check your office supplies ordering history. Some of the best items for this type of programme are plastic promotional pens, memo cubes, sticky notes, calculators and paper clips – consumables that will always be appreciated and used. Choose a few higher range gift items as well, for acknowledging especially big orders or special occasions. Those might include imprinted promotional mouse pads, promotional computer mouse novelties and USB drives imprinted with your company name. Order the minimum amount of each, all printed with your company logo, name or slogan.g more than one person doing inventory and bookkeeping so no single employee has too much authority. Shifting responsibilities from one person to another, i.e., rotating opening and closing, enables employees to check each other's work for accuracy and suspicious activities. It also makes collusion between employees, or between an employee and an outside source, such as a distributor, considerably less likely Small business owners should emphasize that there is no such thing as an "acceptable amount" of employee crime, and that none at all will be tolerated. The Small Business Administration recommends that all violators be disciplined, regardless of how important the person or how small the infraction. Though employee theft is a real threat, the National Federation of Independent Businesses advises against becoming hyper-vigilant - that may antagonize your honest employees and lower morale. Proper security measures and a set of common sense procedures are the best ways to protect your small business. Examples of employee theft include: Forging receipts: Salespersons can charge a customer one sum, ring up a receipt for less, and pocket the difference. Hiding receipts: When bookkeeping has little supervision, employees can keep cash and receipts without raising an eyebrow. Stealing merchandise: Purchased goods may never even make it to the shelves. Fraud: Employees can declare themselves suppliers of nonexistent goods, and subsequently reimburse themselves handsomely. 9. To reduce or eliminate pricing and math errors, you need a point of sale system. It is still amazing how many businesses still use a calculator and hand written tickets. According to studies done by various institutions you are open to math and pricing mistakes totaling in excess of 1% of your annual volume. In a business doing as little as $1,300 per day that would add up to $4,700 per year. To eliminate pricing and math errors you need a point of sale system. 8. If you want to control your payroll, you need a point of sale system. Employee payroll is one of the most overlooked and most easily managed portions of your profit and loss statement. If you have 12 employees and each of them clocks in 5 minutes early a day, that equates to 1 hour per day of extra payroll. Even with minimum wage plus benefits this could add up to $6 - $8 per day or over $2,900 per year. This figure doesn't take into account the total man-hours it takes to compute time cards and then report on the hours worked for each employee. This is time that you could be spending elsewhere. If you have a few as 5 employees you need a point of sale system. Most point of sale systems have a built in time clock feature. Some time clocks are specifically designed for specific industry needs. Features designed to control your employees and conform to the strict regulations imposed upon your business. For instance, restaurants have far more restrictions placed on them than a retail operation. Managing employees and a time clock can be difficult with some systems. When looking at different point of sale systems make sure the one you chose has the features needed by your specific industry requirements. Taking advantage of the built-in time clock feature can bring big results. Additional profits can quickly be the result of this easy to use feature. 7. If you want to reduce employee theft in your business, you need a point of sale system. This is the original reason for the invention of the cash register back in the late 1800's. Even when most of the businesses were family owned and run there was a need for a cash register to reduce theft. In today's world of hiring employees to help staff and manage your store there is even greater need for this type of control. For years we have known about the tendencies of people with regard to theft. 10% of the people wouldn't steal if giving the opportunity. 10 % of the people are going to steal no matter what safeguards are in place. 80% of the people will steal if given the opportunity. Point of sale systems are put in place to guard against the 80% and make it more difficult for them to steal from you. Frequently used schemes Having an elementary understanding of the more common forms Six Sigma – Not Just for Manufacturing receipts: Salespersons can charge a customer one sum, ring up a receipt for less, and pocket the difference.Although the Six Sigma methodology originally started out as a way to improve processes and products in a manufacturing environment, today it has grown to encompass a broad range of industries. As companies begin to realize the benefits a total quality improvement cycle can have upon the organization they are adopting Six Sigma and its practices into their own fold.Organizations not only receive the quality benefit of Six Sigma in their products and processes, but also significant cash savings can be realized as part of adapting such a process. In one example, GE realized a savings of close to $300 million dollars in the first year of implementation of Six Sigma.Health care organizations can see benefits that not only affect the bottom line of the company, but also affect the quality of care and overall recovery rate for patients. In one example a hospital used Six Sigma practices to significantly reduce the amount of time it took to get heart attack patients from ER to the cardiac care unit by close to 41 minutes.As a result the fatality rate of heart attack patients dropped significantly and the quality of care for those patients improved over 300%.Financial institutions are using Six Sigma as a way to manage both their customer satisfaction expectations as well as risk management initiatives. By using the methodologies and improvement cycles of Six Sigma Bank of America realized close to $2 billion dollars in benefits as well as a 25% increase in customer satisfaction.The construction industry can sometimes be paralleled to the manufacturing industry. Instead of producing the end-product in a factory the construction industry produces the product at various job sites. As suc Hiding receipts: When bookkeeping has little supervision, employees can keep cash and receipts without raising an eyebrow. Stealing merchandise: Purchased goods may never even make it to the shelves. Fraud: Employees can declare themselves suppliers of nonexistent goods, and subsequently reimburse themselves handsomely. 9. To reduce or eliminate pricing and math errors, you need a point of sale system. It is still amazing how many businesses still use a calculator and hand written tickets. According to studies done by various institutions you are open to math and pricing mistakes totaling in excess of 1% of your annual volume. In a business doing as little as $1,300 per day that would add up to $4,700 per year. To eliminate pricing and math errors you need a point of sale system. 8. If you want to control your payroll, you need a point of sale system. Employee payroll is one of the most overlooked and most easily managed portions of your profit and loss statement. If you have 12 employees and each of them clocks in 5 minutes early a day, that equates to 1 hour per day of extra payroll. Even with minimum wage plus benefits this could add up to $6 - $8 per day or over $2,900 per year. This figure doesn't take into account the total man-hours it takes to compute time cards and then report on the hours worked for each employee. This is time that you could be spending elsewhere. If you have a few as 5 employees you need a point of sale system. Most point of sale systems have a built in time clock feature. Some time clocks are specifically designed for specific industry needs. Features designed to control your employees and conform to the strict regulations imposed upon your business. For instance, restaurants have far more restrictions placed on them than a retail operation. Managing employees and a time clock can be difficult with some systems. When looking at different point of sale systems make sure the one you chose has the features needed by your specific industry requirements. Taking advantage of the built-in time clock feature can bring big results. Additional profits can quickly be the result of this easy to use feature. 7. If you want to reduce employee theft in your business, you need a point of sale system. This is the original reason for the invention of the cash register back in the late 1800's. Even when most of the businesses were family owned and run there was a need for a cash register to reduce theft. In today's world of hiring employees to help staff and manage your store there is even greater need for this type of control. For years we have known about the tendencies of people with regard to theft. 10% of the people wouldn't steal if giving the opportunity. 10 % of the people are going to steal no matter what safeguards are in place. 80% of the people will steal if given the opportunity. Point of sale systems are put in place to guard against the 80% and make it more difficult for them to steal from you. Frequently used schemes Having an elementary understanding of the more common forms Design Risk Assessment In Six Sigma d portions of your profit and loss statement. If you have 12 employees and each of them clocks in 5 minutes early a day, that equates to 1 hour per day of extra payroll. Even with minimum wage plus benefits this could add up to $6 - $8 per day or over $2,900 per year. This figure doesn't take into account the total man-hours it takes to compute time cards and then report on the hours worked for each employee. This is time that you could be spending elsewhere. If you have a few as 5 employees you need a point of sale system.The title Design Risk Assessment in Six Sigma beckons to be likened with Poka Yoke or Mistake Proofing. But without going deeper into the comparison part of it, what we can say is that both of these do not have any similarities whatsoever, even though Poka Yoke appears to be the next logical step of Design risk Assessment in Six Sigma.So What Is Design Risk Assessment In Six Sigma?As the name suggests, design risk analysis is the procedure to determine potential risks in designs and design processes. In Six Sigma, the assessment for design risks is not a ritual that is done at the end but it is an inherent step in the design process itself. It begins from the point of conceptualizing designs where the evaluation exercise continues throughout the designing till the prototype is tested.The design assessment for potential risks involves design simulation testing at steps including testing the detailed design and sub-assemblies (subroutines for software, etc) with a view to completely eliminate possible risks and cut down the shocks of design failures. For once, the design risk assessment in Six Sigma goes beyond the CTQ technique providing the design process the much needed broader evaluation.Ensuring Reliability Of DesignThe need for reliability of design can not be overemphasized. The potential hazards of a faulty design extend beyond VOC and ROI parameters. Design risks can not be overlooked even for service offerings even though manufacturing needs to take extra care of this aspect.What ensures a systematic and rigorous scrutiny in the dependability of the design also allows capturing system-level hazards.Design Risk Assessment Methodologies And ToolsPHA, Preli Most point of sale systems have a built in time clock feature. Some time clocks are specifically designed for specific industry needs. Features designed to control your employees and conform to the strict regulations imposed upon your business. For instance, restaurants have far more restrictions placed on them than a retail operation. Managing employees and a time clock can be difficult with some systems. When looking at different point of sale systems make sure the one you chose has the features needed by your specific industry requirements. Taking advantage of the built-in time clock feature can bring big results. Additional profits can quickly be the result of this easy to use feature. 7. If you want to reduce employee theft in your business, you need a point of sale system. This is the original reason for the invention of the cash register back in the late 1800's. Even when most of the businesses were family owned and run there was a need for a cash register to reduce theft. In today's world of hiring employees to help staff and manage your store there is even greater need for this type of control. For years we have known about the tendencies of people with regard to theft. 10% of the people wouldn't steal if giving the opportunity. 10 % of the people are going to steal no matter what safeguards are in place. 80% of the people will steal if given the opportunity. Point of sale systems are put in place to guard against the 80% and make it more difficult for them to steal from you. Frequently used schemes Having an elementary understanding of the more common forms Machiavelli: The Prince - Lessons in Organizational Structure irements.Machiavelli emphasized on building a strong organization structure where responsibilities and accountabilities are clearly defined and offender should be dealt with no mercy. As per him an organization or kingdom can be built on the support of either the people or the nobles.“A principality is created either by the people or by the nobles, accordingly as one or other of them has the opportunity; for the nobles, seeing they cannot withstand the people, begin to cry up the reputation of one of themselves, and they make him a prince, so that under his shadow they can give vent to their ambitions. The people, finding they cannot resist the nobles, also cry up the reputation of one of themselves, and make him a prince so as to be defended by his authority. He who obtains sovereignty by the assistance of the nobles maintains himself with more difficulty than he who comes to it by the aid of the people, because the former finds himself with many around him who consider themselves his equals, and because of this he can neither rule nor manage them to his liking. But he who reaches sovereignty by popular favor finds himself alone, and has none around him, or few, who are not prepared to obey him.” ( Machiavelli, Chapter 22)Machiavelli mentioned throughout his book that the kingdom built on the goodwill and support of people have more chances of surviving for a length of time than one built on magnanimity or benevolence of the nobles. Similarly if the employees, majority shareholders and customers believes in the vision of the leader and don’t betray him then the leader will have far higher chances of survival. As it happened in the recent case of General Motors the CEO able to convince the Board that the compan Taking advantage of the built-in time clock feature can bring big results. Additional profits can quickly be the result of this easy to use feature. 7. If you want to reduce employee theft in your business, you need a point of sale system. This is the original reason for the invention of the cash register back in the late 1800's. Even when most of the businesses were family owned and run there was a need for a cash register to reduce theft. In today's world of hiring employees to help staff and manage your store there is even greater need for this type of control. For years we have known about the tendencies of people with regard to theft. 10% of the people wouldn't steal if giving the opportunity. 10 % of the people are going to steal no matter what safeguards are in place. 80% of the people will steal if given the opportunity. Point of sale systems are put in place to guard against the 80% and make it more difficult for them to steal from you. Frequently used schemes Having an elementary understanding of the more common forms of employee theft can help business owners formulate a strategy for subverting them. Pocketing loose change. Small sums of money, such as fees or petty cash, may not be missed at all. Knowing how much an item is with tax and making change from an open drawer without ringing up the item. Accepting coupons for items not rung up. This is known as coupon stuffing. Fictitious payroll. Personnel managers authorize salary for fictitious workers, then keep it for themselves. 6. If you want to speed up service, you need a point of sale system. In a restaurant there is only 1 thing we can think of that will drive customers away faster than bad food and that is slow service. When a customer places their order their own internal clock is running in overdrive. No matter how long they took to look over the menu and to place their order, once they have given your server or cashier their order their hunger clock is speeding along faster than a fan on high! You need a fast, reliable way to get orders into your system. This should mean a terminal that is fast, easy to understand and quick to respond to the touch of the server, cashier or bar tender. The system should also distribute the order properly to the kitchen prep station or bar. Your point of sale system should also measure your speed of service and report on how you are doing. Reducing the time it takes to get your customer's their food is critical and can even make up for less quality. For proof I give you some of the major fast food chains. Is their popularity based upon the best tasting, best dressed and best served burger or speed of service? Speed of service is critical to every business, not just restaurants. If you want to speed up your customer service you need a point of sale system. 5. If you want to know more about your business through enhanced reporting, you need a point of sale system. What is the use of having a computer and not taking advantage of the power? If all you need is to have a total amount of cash in the drawer that sometimes matches to the amount of sales shown you probably don't need a point of sale system. However, if you want more detail and information to help manage your operation and make it more profitable then you need a point of sale system. It used to be that having a good product was enough to get you by. Now it takes a lot more information in order to compete with all the other restaurants in your market that are all looking for the same customer you have seated in your restaurant. You need to understand the buying habits of your customers. What are they ordering? When are they ordering it? What is your most profitable item? How many of it did you sell? What items on your menu are not selling? If you cannot answer all of these questions with total confidence in your answers then you need a point of sale system. If you hesitate to correctly answer (without guessing) any of these questions you need a point of sale system. 4. If you want to share data with other software systems, you need a point of sale system. Even most small businesses today have some form of electronic accounting in place either in their operation or through an accounting service. In addition, most businesses have an electronic payroll service or software that creates payroll. Point of sale systems capture critical data for you and then export this data in formats that automatically put this information into accounting and payroll packages, eliminating hours of tedious manual input that often leads to mistakes and human error. If you have an electronic accounting or payroll service/software or even if you want to track your sales in Excel, you need a point of sale system. 3. If you want to securely take credit/debit cards as forms of payment you need a point of sale system. If you are not currently taking credit cards as a form of payment you need to start today. Never mind the fees. The loss of business that you are suffering in today's plastic minded economy will more than compensate for the fees charged. If you are currently taking credit cards through a stand-alone terminal you could be being charged exorbitant fees for the terminal when you could be processing through your point of sale system. In some cases, the elimination of
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