The ills of the economy are going to be short term but your potential for growth are going to start the middle of 2009 and you will need help from POS/Retail Management Software. Now is the time to implement a strategy and find ways that are not cost prohibitive to transform your business processes and keep your expenses low until this turn around occurs. The only two reliable and efficient ways to improve your business sales and cash flow are to market more to existing customers or expand your geographical territory by making your products and services available through the Internet.

Capturing information with your POS Software is essential to mining more business from your existing customer base. Your customers will gladly give you some personal information if they know that preferential treatment or special pricing is the end result. Notifying them of new product arrivals, private showings or a pending sale are a few of the ways to build your customer loyalty and keep them shopping with you and not your competitor.

The next best way to improve your business is to implement an easy to maintain and efficient Internet presence. A brick and mortar retailer can expect a ten percent increase in sales, according to industry averages, within the first year if the web store is properly worked and maintained and it needs to be integrated with your POS Software at an economical price. It’s just another way to get your product line in front of the buying public.

If you are interested in doing the above changes, the ProphetLine POS Software Company will work with you to make these changes as painless as possible and fit with your budget.

A small retailer can take a look at their store and wonder how in the world they are ever going to compete with that big box retailer down the street.. But you might have more in common with the mega chain than you might think. You may be surprised to learn that so-called “Big Box Retailers” are not computerized any better than you can be for a price that is totally inline and the dividends far exceed them. The right POS Software in the hands of a diligent retail store owner can give them a return on their investment in as little as six months and provide at least a 10 percent boost to their bottom line. Just installing a point of sale/retail management system imposes certain controls on your business that improve profitability. Spending the time to learn and take advantage of its many capabilities brings even more returns.

Of course, POS Software doesn’t do this all by itself. It takes commitment, not just of the dollars required (which you’ll quickly recover) but of the time and resources to learn about and use your new system. First make sure you select a quality Point of Sale System that has all the functionality you need. Then invest the time you once spent drowning in paper to making use of your new system, and you’ll soon enjoy increased margins, sales and profits — probably even better than Wal-Mart’s!

Remember the old saying, plan your work and work your plan. That is exactly what open to buy planning does. Your POS Software and the built in open to buy planning will give you the tools you need to change your purchasing habits from buying more merchandise, to buying the right merchandise. The end result should be products that turn fast, have good margins and give you a good sell through percentage.

Buying the right merchandise at the right time can only be accomplished by knowing how your merchandise and vendors are performing. This helps you eliminate overbuying and gives you the right product mix. If you carry multiple like items in a department from different vendors, you need to identify your best performing vendors and eliminate much of the product from your poorer performing vendors. After your plan is developed and you have forecast your open to buy dollars, you need to revisit this plan frequently and make it a work in progress. Evaluating the amount of inventory and the product mix can be fairly simple if the POS Software you use is seamless and fully integrated with your open to buy.

Lousy Economy With Good POS Software Keeps You Going Patience is not always a virtue when you are dealing with a lousy economy. You need patience to not force things that cannot happen, but you need to be aggressive in how you are proactively changing your business strategy and doing a better job with the budgeting process. You need to be able to view quick and concise reports from your POS Software that will give you revenue at a departmental and class level as a percentage to your overall inventory. When you find department "A" is 20% of your inventory and 10% of your revenue, you need to do a more in-depth review of that department and make the proper adjustments. The most important thing you should do is compare vendors and find the ones that give you better turns, sell through and margins. If vendor "A" is not as strong as vendor "B", you should tell them and require better pricing or better terms to continue carrying their product line. Good POS Software will give you these statistics and make your New Year a more enjoyable experience. Your goal this year should be to work smart and make the kind of decisions that will move your business to a leadership position in your category. When the economy turns around next year, you will then be in the enviable spot of competitors trying to catch you.

Rudolph Flesch once said that, Creativity may simply be the realization there’s no particular virtue to doing things the way they’ve always been done. In this tough retail climate, you have to think out of the box and do things in a way you might not have done in a good economy. Don’t hold status quo just because that is the way you have always conducted your business. Creativity can mean the way your retail floor space is laid out or your merchandise displayed, greeting your customers at the front door and being pro-active rather than having them come to you. Promote gift cards and use the data collected with your POS Software to better understand your customer buying habits and product preferences.

Selling more to your good customers is the easiest way to improve sales. The bottom line is the need to better understand your good customers and use this information to be creative and call them for a private showing or inform them of a new product line that will be arriving that would be perfect for them. No matter what size your company, building and nurturing a base of Loyal Customers through targeted marketing efforts contributes to a better bottom line. Information gathered with POS Software is how the most profitable companies separate themselves from the pack.

There is a saying in aviation, "There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots." That same theory holds true for retailers in a recessionary period. You can be bold and stock inventory that might appeal to a small group of early adaptors or be conservative and stock inventory that will turn fast and appeal to more people that are shopping for good value and universal appeal. Your POS Software should watch your inventory and purchasing decisions by using the POS transactions and showing you logical actions to take to be a consummate retailer. You don’t need a technical staff and professional buyers to make good purchasing decisions. You just need information that is simple to obtain and easy to understand. If you are not using a good Retail Stock Ledger, you are not maximizing your revenues.

This single sheet of paper can give you comparatives on vendors, items, classes, and departments. Who gives you the best turn rates and sell-through, vendor A or Vendor B? You now have the knowledge to make smart business decisions. The typical retailer is overstocked by 10-25% at any given point in time, meaning that for every $100,000 in sales, there can be $5,000 to $25,000 (at retail) in excess inventory on the shelves. When you start looking at $500,000 in sales, the wasted investment runs into six figures. Imagine converting $100,000 of excess inventory into cash. Let your POS Software be your workhorse and give you the information to chart a course in rough waters.

A small retailer should be worried about selling and not being an accountant. Seamless accounting that directly ties in to your income and cost of goods accounts, allows you to purchase, sell, update inventory in real time and send all the numbers back to your small business financial back-end freeing you of the cumbersome task of double entry by manipulating General Ledger code. You can then run your P/L’s for any period you want from one day, one week or any combination. With ProphetLine POS Software you can even run departmental or class P/L’s. Accounting is not just about taxes, it also goes hand in hand with your inventory stocking levels and future performance.

Having money in your checking account doesn’t mean you are profitable. It could mean you haven’t paid all your bills so you have a little left over cash. Cash and profit are two different concepts. Profit is the end result of using your P/L’s, retail stock ledger and open to buy planning wisely. So the next time you ask your POS Software provider how to squeeze a little more money out of your retail management system, you can ask them if they do all of these necessary functions.

The excerpts from this blog were written by Carrie Brenner in Entrepreneur.com.

I am a POS Software provider and it’s easy for me to preach to small retailers about hanging tough in these tough economic times, but sometimes the actions of one person can say it all. Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch said his last lecture, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams", was actually meant for a very small audience: his three children. But hundreds attended the lecture given last September, and millions have viewed the video online. It has since launched a bestselling book, The Last Lecture. Pausch died July 25 after a hard-fought battle with pancreatic cancer. Before he died, he admitted to being somewhat embarrassed by all the attention but pleased that his words have been able to help so many. Even if your dreams as an 8-year-old didn’t include being your own boss, Pausch’s lessons offer some entrepreneurial insight. So when you think things are really bad, there is someone else that has had it worse and found a way to cope.

1. When you hit a brick wall, consider another perspective. As an entrepreneur, you’re up against seemingly insurmountable obstacles all the time."Brick walls are there for a reason," Pausch says. "[They] give us a chance to show how badly we want something."Aaron Boyce, small-business consultant and author of Seize the Opportunity and Other Marketing Strategies, couldn’t agree more. He subscribes to what he calls the 80/20 rule. When people face a brick wall, 80 percent of them will try to force their way through it, eventually giving up. It’s only 20 percent who will step back to consider it from a different perspective."Often, when we step away from something, that’s where we find solutions," Boyce says.

2. Magnify the yeses in every situation. Joni Carley, founder of Wisdom at Work, an international coaching and consulting firm, points out that when Pausch confronted a brick wall, he chose to magnify the yeses instead of worrying about the nos. This kept him focused on the next steps that would open doors for him. As an entrepreneur, exploring the positives of every situation will keep your business growing.

3. You can’t get there alone. Carley also notes that Pausch often used his relationships to get over walls. Go to conferences, network with other entrepreneurs, get involved in local events and make connections. Boyce suggests also finding a mentor. Establishing and maintaining meaningful relationships will help you achieve your goals and provide a support group when times are tough.

4. Loyalty is a two-way street. Remember, what goes around, comes around. According to Pausch, it’s important to give as much as you get. Even if you don’t ask for anything in return, you’ll find that the people you help will probably be willing to help you.Additionally, Carley says that it’s important to support your employees in their endeavors, even if one day they could become your competition–or perhaps your next partner."One plus one in business doesn’t equal two–it equals 10," she says.

At the end of his lecture, Pausch says: "It’s not about how to achieve your dreams, it’s about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the dreams will come to you."

Small businesses comprise from 60 to 80 percent of all the new jobs created in the United States. When are the people in Washington D.C going to understand this? Their ideas are like throwing mud on the wall and what sticks they run with and the rest that is on the floor has to be cleaned up. If you ran your small business like this, you would be placing an out of business sign on your front door. This downturn in the economy forces many people that are laid off from their positions to start a small business. If you are one of these, remember that if you have your choice between luck, timing and brilliance, take timing first, making sure the idea for your new business is at the right place and at the right time. If you are certain the timing is good for this business, make a solid business plan and purchase the technology that is going to make it run efficiently.

If you are opening a specialty retail business, point of sale (POS) software can make even a large project easier to realize. POS Software will allow you to manage large databases in order to make your business more profitable. With POS Software, a small businessperson will be able to ring up transactions, manage purchases, make payments, and manage inventory and print reports. The life blood of your business is the real time reporting that allows you to make quick and informed decisions. The old pencil and paper does not work in today’s quick moving business environment. POS Software will save you time and paper work.

It’s getting close to the Thanksgiving and Christmas shopping season and with the economy in a state of flux, your retail business must be ready to take on these adverse conditions. How can good POS Software help you? By giving you the data to make good informed decisions. You need to market to your best, most affluent customers. Take your past history and buy the products they like and cater to their needs, not the bottom feeders of your clientele. Encourage your good clientele to feel like your retail operation caters to people like them and not the big box discount customers.

Now that you have established who your customers are and the products they want, keep your inventory lean with items that in the past have produced high turns, good sell through percentages and good margins. This can be easily accomplished if your POS Software has a built-in and automated retail stock ledger. This retail stock ledger can also identify your best vendors, allow you to cut back on the poorer performing vendors or negotiate better prices and terms. Your POS Software also needs a time analysis function to keep your employee staffing at the proper level. The more staff on the floor during peak business hours will convert to more dollars. Good luck with your holiday season and make sure you are a survivor that will be able to flourish when the economy is on the up cycle.