With RetailNOW 2012 right around the corner (and sold out to boot), many of the RSPA committees’ focus has switched to outreach; specifically getting new faces to the show. In particular, the Vendor Working Group is leading the charge (as they have the past few years).

Year after year we hear the same reasons why vendors are concerned with bringing their channel to the show- not wanting to lose that reseller partner to competition.

Sara Petrus, RSPA’s Membership Manager, recently reached out to three of our vendor members, who have traditionally brought their channel to RetailNOW. The general consensus is that encouraging resellers to attend RetailNOW gives them access to educational tools, industry best practices and the invaluable face-to-face time.

“At each RSPA event, there are many actionable and specific takeaways our resellers get which can be put to immediate use to improve their sales and profitability. While there is always a competitive risk to exposing our resellers to alternative solutions, the competitive risk associated with not being exposed is far greater; resellers will lose their insight and competitive edge by not attending,” said Jeff Riley, Dinerware.

Not convinced?

“It will always be a valid concern, as every POS product that’s worth anything is being shown at RetailNOW. Still, we feel that the benefits outweigh the risks, and if we’ve done our job the rest of the year our resellers won’t be looking for a new product,” said John Giles, Future POS.

If we still haven’t changed your mind…

“If you are on the fence about inviting your resellers to RetailNOW, I would encourage you to try it. It is great way to spend some extra time with your existing resellers without spending your travel budget on individual visits,” said Will Atkinson, CAP Software.

So go ahead, invite your channel to come. Give them access to the educational tools, industry best practices and squeeze in some face to face time while you are there. You have done your job by providing excellent service, support and products to your resellers, now let RSPA do our job by providing resources to help grow their businesses.

Don’t know where to start? Try reaching out to RSPA’s Marketing and Communications Department, we have plenty of resources available to vendors to promote the show to their channel. We can work with you to provide an email template, web banners, and more. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us to see how we can help. Publications@GoRSPA.org

If this statement is true, we wondered what the state of social media adoption is by the POS industry in particular. We set off to uncover what both POS developers and POS resellers are doing to connect to their audience online.

We saw technology companies and socially savvy businesses leaping out to show the way, but many more are hanging back and saying, “I see my competitors doing it and my customers certainly are, but I’m not sure how to get involved – what do I do,” or “I don’t get it, what’s the payoff?”

Expecting Rapid Adoption in 2012

We discovered the use of online and social marketing in the Point of Sale industry is growing and will likely grow rapidly in 2012. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from how social marketing is being used by other companies and industries and will be interesting to see how this influences POS developers and resellers.

Assessment Methodology

We began with establishing a baseline of what’s going on now in the industry. We selected a number of POS developers and POS resellers and conducted a ‘Social Presence Snapshot.’ We did not solicit them; ask about their plans for 2012, or what they tried last year. We used the name of their company or their brand in a Google search much like a prospective customer might. We conducted similar searches to see if they had developed a presence in Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or YouTube – the more popular social sites today.

Once we identified where they were, we evaluated the presence for each. We ran their main website through an automated evaluation tool which looked at several details, mostly what’s behind their sites. The data provided indications of their interest and ability to engage on both their own website and in social media with an audience.

We looked at obvious indicators and many of the more subtle ones – such as:

• Was their main site set up to engage visitors?
• Did they maintain a blog?
• How many posts were made?
• How often posts were made?
• Other indicators of engagement or involvement

We applied similar tactics across their social presence, looking at the number of followers, members or “Likes” and the quantity and frequency of posts in their social presence. To make the data easier to compare, we translated those assessments into a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the best and 1 being poor– so a higher number is better. A zero was awarded if they had no presence in a particular social site.

Assessment Scope

By the end of the investigation we had conducted the assessment of 20 firms – twelve POS resellers, eight POS developers. The results were compiled and served as a proxy to represent the industry overall, the developer community, and the reseller community.

Assessment Results

The evaluation found the industry at 2.2, Developers scored 3.0 and Resellers scored 1.4.

The analysis shows the industry expects their own websites to do the heavy lifting of presenting their business to the market online. Few had enabled their site in a mobile format, despite the huge growth of mobile this year and its predicted expansion for 2012.

LinkedIn was next behind the main website, but lagged by a significant margin. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube followed.

Developers Lead the Way

Developers overall presence in Facebook was stronger than LinkedIn with Twitter and YouTube lagging. The lack of a presence in Facebook showed this is likely where they might focus their activity in 2012. Online video should help developers better support resellers on their products.

Reseller Breakdown

Resellers appear to be rummaging their way through the confusion and uncertainty of social marketing but still have room for improvement.

We are very confident resellers will improve quickly in their use and understanding of social marketing. Why? Their customers, the merchants, will demand it. Merchants have discovered how powerful the online and social marketing technology is in generating business and running as quickly as they can to adopting social marketing tactics. Merchants in food service, hospitality and retail are firmly on the way to a much broader adoption already; food service exploded this year in social and the hospitality groups have been investing in social marketing also have got on board.

Conclusion

There is an opportunity for POS resellers to help merchants with their online and social marketing. Merchants want to understand how social marketing can lead to more business, more often with more customers and they will expect their POS partners to help them.

POS resellers can create opportunity by addressing the use of social marketing for themselves and their customers. Using online and social marketing in a B2B setting is not only desirable today, but essential. The data is piling up which demonstrates the ROI from a social marketing presence is powerful and becoming an important part of any marketing plan. The market is moving to embrace online and social marketing – is 2012 your year to do so?

Google was originally designed to organize the world’s information and make it easy to find digital results found on all sorts of websites. Internet sites appearing in the top 10 search results get more web traffic which generally translates to more business. In their efforts to have more influence in the physical world, Google created Google Places, their local platform mixed in with Google Maps, which displays results for brick-and-mortar business locations above the traditional ranking of website results. It’s safe to extrapolate that a brick-and-mortar location listed high in the Google Places results will get more exposure which will help generate more physical traffic in the store. To see a sample of Google Places, try searching for “Restaurants in Dallas, TX” (or other business types or locations.)

It’s very easy to create a listing on Google Places and it’s something every retail store or restaurant should do. The listings are viewable to any users that click on them and can share valued information with potential customers including address, hours, business type (ex: night club or hardware store), cuisine type, payments types accepted, e-mail address and more. The details and descriptions in Google Places should be written in a user-friendly fashion, including many pictures, as the listing is often the first impression for a potential customer and can be decisive in their decision to patronize the business. This content is indexed; higher quality content will help result in a better Google Places ranking. Creating a listing on Google Places involves registering the business on their web page, filling in as much high quality content as possible and “verifying” the listing via phone or a postcard in the mail.

Establishing a Google Place will help, but there is more a business can do to improve their ranking. As with many aspects of search, the Google Places ranking can be influenced by a social factor — customer reviews. Consumers can review a business through its Google Place; higher star rankings (on a 5-star scale), number of reviews (through both Google Places and third party sites), frequency of reviews and keywords in their description are a huge help. For example, a customer review that says “Best Italian food in Dallas” is more effective than “Great food”. Long reviews including locations, detail and content will be a huge help to boost ratings.

Point of sale VARs should consider making this their domain — as easy as it is to setup a Google Place for their store, many retailers prefer to outsource their technology. It’s fairly easy to master Google Places. As a reseller, you can consider offering to setup a Google Place for a modest fee, and perhaps even expand the service to monthly analytics and coaching. Not only will this drive extra revenue, it will also position you as even more important and relevant in the eyes of your customers.

By the way, Microsoft Bing and Yahoo Search also have their own versions of local search, but they don’t really matter since 97% of people use Google. (Kidding! You should set those up too!)

For more information on Google Places, Google ‘Google Places’. Let’s make this interactive. We’d like to hear about your successes and your failures. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, leave a comment below or reach out to our “Socially Speaking” author on Twitter using #SociallySpeaking so others can follow the dialogue, or email us at Publications@GoRSPA.org.

Source of Statistic: * Google

By Guest Blogger: David Gosman (@Golem5), CEO of pcAmerica (@pcAmerica)

Interestingly enough, the success of a sales person has no relation to age or years in the business. There are old experienced sales stars and duds along with newbie sales stars and duds. It has to do with a passion for the business, a drive to be the best and empathy for the customer. Here are some best practices I’ve observed from the sales stars.

Sales stars know the playing field.

Here’s an analogy – don’t dress for a hockey game when you’re playing baseball. Know the playing field before you enter the game. I had an opportunity to see a brand new sales person rise to number one in sales the first year on the job. They identified all of the prospects and customers in their territory and then identified the best prospects before calling on the customers. They maximized their selling time by knowing which prospects were in the buying mode before making a direct sales call.

Sales stars sweat the details.

The best product demos are not last-minute presentations. The best demos I have seen go right down to the lighting and what’s on the table in front of the prospect. Most importantly, the sales star is prepared to show the prospect a solution based on their business needs not simply a demonstration of the technology.

Sales stars listen.

There is an old saying from Yogi Berra – “You can observe a lot just by watching” and of course listening to the customer. Get the right picture by conducting your surveys when the customer is busy. Do your restaurant survey on a busy Friday night, not a Monday afternoon.

Sales stars know the industry.

As mentioned above, sales stars sell business solutions based on listening to the customer. To do that, you need to understand the technology, marketplace and the local community. Sales stars are part of their business community; they know the customers, they visit the establishments, and they know the latest business and technology trends. They are a source of knowledge and are constantly collecting new information.

Sales stars use all of the tools.

Today there are many new ways to engage a prospect and maintain communication with your customers. Sales stars use all of the new and established tools to make themselves more efficient and successful. Tweet best practices for your customer community to follow, use QR codes on your business card and don’t forget to knock on doors.

A sales star has a good working relationship with the rest of the staff.

That level of collaboration helps the entire company be successful. They never forget who they work for and balance that with maintaining excellent customer relationships.

Back in my days with DTS, Dan Smith (who was an instructor at NCR’s Sugar Camp prior to his time at DTS) used to say “Selling is simple, not easy.” He was right on target. I’ve only scratched the surface of what it takes to be a sales star. Good sales people take their position seriously and know that they are the first impression a prospect will see from the company and product they represent. So, here’s a salute to all of the sales people who work hard every day to bring in the customers that make their businesses run. Thank you!

Happy Holidays from the RSPA crew!

LAUREN (RSPA): How do you think becoming an RSPA Support Specialist will help you in your day-to-day job function?

BILLY: Becoming an RSPA Support Specialist has enabled me to increase my knowledge in many different categories. By completing these RSPA courses, it will definitely help me and other members of Postec in successfully supporting our customers. Technology is frequently changing, so it is important to “continue” our education.

LAUREN (RSPA): What was your biggest ‘take away’ from the courses that you completed?

BILLY: If I had to pick one area that was important for me to get up to speed in quickly, I would have to say PCI Compliance. The changes that all of us in the pos industry had to get a grasp on with PCI was quite a challenge. I feel that the RSPA courses on this topic were exactly what I needed to get a greater understanding of the PCI Compliant guidelines.

 LAUREN (RSPA): Tell us one interesting tidbit about you (hobbies, sports, unique item).

BILLY: I enjoy a variety of outdoor activities like golf and mountain biking. But even though I was born and grew up here in the south, I have always enjoyed playing hockey since I was a kid.

Do you have additional questions for Billy about his experience? Please leave a comment!

As the technology world evolves, we can sit back and become extinct, OR get moving, grab the new opportunities and change our world. We did it before… let’s do it again! Just go back to the early 1970’s, for example, when our industry transitioned from mechanical to electronic. Those who embraced the new technologies changed the retail technology world. And, the early products were scary – they ran on car batteries and had no backup for a 19,000 item PLU file that took hours to key in by hand.

Fast forward to 2011 and we have: cloud, SaaS, mobile wallets, tablets, and apps on consumer smart phones. It’s time to embrace these new technologies and change the world again. For our part, RSPA is attempting to provide thought leadership with industry specific education and shared best practices to help our members extend and transition their respective businesses so that we can change the world.

How are you embracing new technologies or at least keeping them in mind? Leave a comment.

If you are a vendor exhibiting at RetailNOW 2012 and have a new technology, consider applying for RetailNEXT recognition at the show. It’s another way we are bringing information to our reseller community about emerging technology that is changing our industry in the immediate future.

Next up: INSPIRE2012 – RSPA’s Annual Thought Leadership Summit will be held in Costa Rica this year. Registration is now open.

LAUREN (RSPA): How do you think becoming an RSPA Sales Specialist will help you in your day-to-day job function?

KATHY: I personally think it gives you an edge over the competition that is not certified. I feel it’s going to give those of us who are certified a little more credibility and perception of greater industry knowledge. In return this will get you ahead of your competitors.

LAUREN (RSPA): What was your biggest ‘take away’ from the courses that you completed?

KATHY: I feel the biggest take away was how to better manage your time. Learning how to not waste time and really make the most of a day.

LAUREN (RSPA): Tell us one interesting thing about you.

KATHY: Most people don’t know that I’m a car aficionado. Cars are a passion and a family affair; it’s something we live for.

Have additional questions for Kathy about her experience with RSPA education and earning her certificate? Please leave a comment!

How do you think becoming an RSPA Support Specialist will help you in your day-to-day job function? Support is about connecting with clients and finding a common ground to better serve them.  I believe becoming a RSPA Support Specialist will help in developing better relationships with customers and aid in recognizing their needs. 

 What was your biggest ‘take away’ from the courses that you completed? RSPA has taught how to strengthen the connection with customers and also will have a tremendous effect on their outlook of our company.

 Tell us one interesting tidbit about you (hobbies, sports, unique item): I have a mixture of hobbies but when I have any time I like to be outdoors or diving in the ocean.

The renewal process begins November 1, 2011 and ends on Friday, February 3, 2012. Look for your renewal packet around the first of November. Review the document and then move to the online Renewal form to submit updates, to complete additional criteria for 2012, and to submit your application fee. For those who meet Premier Certification look for the section of the renewal application for criteria to complete. After your application is reviewed you will receive a link to download the new logos and marketing materials from a “DropBox” site. The new 2012 window cling and 2012 year bar will be mailed to you.

I’ll be available to answer all your questions about Certification – whether it’s the renewal process, Premier Level, or New certifications on Wednesday, November 9^th at 2:00 pm/Eastern during our RSPA Certification webinar. You can register at www.GoRSPA.org/Education.

“Great news!”

“This rocks.”

“The block or the whole hotel?”

“Oh, wow. The whole hotel.”

“Wait, what does this mean for attendees who haven’t booked yet?”

At that point, Amy Hanzel, our old/new Meeting and Events Manager got on the phone. She called all around working with the Dolphin and other hotels to find a solution. So here’s where we’re at now (only about 48 hours later – Go Amy!):

We have arranged a new block at the Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club Resort (which encompasses 3 hotels). This is great news because it’s in walking distance of the Swan and Dolphin, so close in fact that it was mentioned it would take longer to get a cab and drive there  than it would be to just walk.

www.GoRSPA.org/RetailNOW More specifically: Travel/Hotel Page

P.S. Don’t forget (and tell your friends) – today is the last day for the Advance Registration Special Pricing.

See you in Orlando! We can’t wait.

• Start your conversation (about your booth or attending #RetailNOW) before event
  • For Twitter: Use hashtag #RetailNOW
  • For LinkedIn: Check out RSPA’s group
  • For Facebook: Let everyone know you are attending RetailNOW in your status update to start conversations with others that may be attending. If you have a booth, let everyone know your booth number and what you will be featuring at the event.
  • If exhibiting, tweet weekly about blog posts, exhibitor location, discounts to your products at show.
  • If exhibiting, hold a Tweet contest (ex: I am visiting the XYZ at Booth 127 at #RetailNOW) – 20^th person to retweet wins prize at booth
  • Facebook Promotion – create event invite on Facebook and linked in – photo of booth and/or giveaways
  • If exhibiting, host a webinar before show to create interest on product/booth showing
  • While at show – do the following:
    • Spend time in breakout sessions to learn about industry – blog and tweet to bring attention to event (and booth or your business) – learn about other attendee wants/needs
    • Tweet/blog about tools your company offers that will solve attendee problems
    • Follow hash tags to see what attendees are talking about – catch up on trends (listen to community)
    • Build relationships at events so people will follow you and retweet your information (and company/product information)
    • Tweet/Blog about booth visitors – what challenges they’ve had and how you’ve helped

What we are trying to say is: Get Social!  The more you engage, the more you are going to get out of RetailNOW – Where the Industry Meets!

Connect with RSPA! And add a comment with your twitter username so we can follow you and others can too.

RetailNOW 2011 - Where the Industry Meets | Orlando, FL | July 24-27, 2011

Exhibitors -

We have had a great amount of interest in the placement of color logos on our RetailNOW Exhibit Hall landing page. So we decided to offer a tweet contest for exhibitors. It’s easy! Simply tweet the following for your chance to win the placement of your logo on the landing page you tweet!

We’ll pick a winner at random next Friday, June 10th and place your logo on the site!

Tweet:
“We’re Exhibiting at @InsideRSPA’s #RetailNOW! Will u be ‘Where the Industry Meets’? http://ht.ly/57ZrX”

*This logo placement is available with the purchase of a color logo in our 2011 Show Guide. Email: KLoftin@GoRSPA.org for more information.

After powering through the PCIwise for Technology Providers Certificate track, many of  you are working towards completing the RSPA Support Specialist or Sales Specialist certificate. If you’re one of those individuals it would be helpful to know how to purchase courses in bundles to get your certificate with the least amount of spending necessary. We received a question like this from one member:

Q: Some of the courses in the certificate programs cost money – $76/course. How will I talk my manager into paying for that?

A: While the cost for individual courses can make it difficult to convince your manager to invest in ongoing education, there is another option. We have worked to provide bundles. The best value for RSPA Members is to purchase a bundle of 20 courses for $272. Bundled pricing brings down the cost to about $14/course. Big difference, huge savings. 

How to purchase bundles:
www.GoRSPA.org/CreditCard
Be sure to enter the Reason for Charge:  20-Course Bundle
Amount to be Charged: $272
Contact information is necessary for the RSPA Education department to send the appropriate promotion code to use when taking your courses.

*Bundles can be purchased on an ongoing basis, so if you run out, just repeat the steps above. Questions? Email: Education@GoRSPA.org

Today, there is NO technology end game to solve the PCI Data Security problem. Even Chip and Pin has been hacked! We also need to remember that technology alone will not provide the solution – best practices for installation, service and ongoing administration are part of the puzzle.

The Coalition of Associations is working on a long-term and a short-term solution. Long term we need to find a technology solution. Our goal is to leap-frog over the current solution and find the end-game technology. Right now NFC (Near Field Communications) in a mobile phone looks very promising. However, we also need a short-term solution that’s leveraging today’s PCI SSC standards, the available technology and best practices. During the March meeting of the Association Coalition we began the work on these two items. Stay tuned on this as we will keep you updated on the progress of these initiatives in connect and on-line.

Have questions about PCI? Send them to us: Publications@GoRSPA.org Subject: PCI Blog Post

Or leave a comment with your questions, thoughts, challenges. We’d love your input.

Q: Where can I find all the requirements and courses I need to become an RSPA Sales Specialist?

A: After logging into the RSPA Course site, click on the My Learning tab, select My Certifications, and select Sales Specialist.  Please note that you do not have to complete each step in order. However, to achieve the RSPA Sales Specialist certificate, you must complete all requirements.

Need INformation? Just Ask! Info@GoRSPA.org – Subject: NINJA

We’ll make sure your question for RSPA gets to the right person. Don’t be shy – they’re YOUR benefits.

Need INformation Just Ask: Here’s how you can use the promo code you found in ‘connect‘ magazine to take an RSPA Online Course for free.

We are printing promotional codes every month, so be sure to check it out and take advantage.  Here’s some help on how to use that code.

• Sign in to access online courses at www.GoRSPA.org/Education by clicking on the green button that says “RSPA Courses”.
• Locate the course you want to take and add it to your shopping cart.
• Hit the ’Checkout’ button.
• Enter the current promo code and click ‘Apply’.
• Your $76 dollar course will become $0.
• Click the ‘Complete Order’ button.

Need INformation? Just Ask. We are here to help.

Email your question to Info@GoRSPA.org, subject: NINJA Question.

Once you click that link, it will ask you for your email address:

Seconds later, the information will arrive in your inbox. Remember, your GoRSPA.org username and password unlocks special members-only information about member benefits and gives you access to member pricing for RSPA events and education. We work hard to update our website daily to give you the very latest information to help you and your business.  See you online!

–noun, plural -ja, -jas. ( often initial capital letter ) a member of a feudal Japanese society of mercenary agents, highly trained in martial arts and stealth (ninjutsu).

Ok, so that’s not really what we are referring to, so let me tell you about the “NINJA” you’ll be seeing around the RSPA blogosphere.

One of the things we love is when members reach out to us to ask questions, it means they are either using their benefits or they want to. Sometimes we find, one of the reasons our members don’t necessarily use a specific benefit is because they have questions they haven’t yet asked. We are always available to answer these questions, however, we decided that since you probably have a lot of the same questions, we should publish the answers. We already do this in juice-news with our Legal Expert. Now, we are publishing your member questions here on our blog.

If you haven’t already done so, you can subscribe via email to this blog (top of the right column). So when we post something new, you’ll get an email with the post. We try to keep our posts short, sweet and to the point. Great information you can process quickly. Every once in a while, we throw in some fun too.

So your call to action is: N.IN.J.A. – Need INformation? Just Ask!

Have a question about membership? Benefits? How to use the website? How to sign up for twitter? Anything. Just ask. We will do our best to answer your questions. You can find our individual email addresses on the contributors page. Just use the subject NINJA, we’ll know what you mean! Look out for our NINJA posts, you might see a lot of answers to questions you didn’t even think to ask.