Pool industry vendor integration
Pool and spa business software capable of integrating with vendors can be extremely beneficial. This feature can help businesses eliminate duplicate purchase orders and input of inventory by integrating directly with vendors and distributors using pre-programmed stock-keeping units (SKUs). It can save staff hours of work by automatically keeping track of pricing and inventory imports/updates.
Industry-specific software programs offer complete, pre-programmed inventory control systems that communicate inventory levels in real-time using these vendor integrations. Further, pool and spa business owners and managers can check vendor orders, status, and available inventory before placing orders.
Pre-programmed upsell features
Planning for another busy season includes pre-programming features in one’s point-of-sale (POS) software that can help ensure every sale yields the highest profit possible. Therefore, it can be beneficial for one’s POS system to have the capability to be pre-programmed with questions for busy staff members to ask customers to avoid missing the opportunity to upsell during checkout.
One of the most valuable features business software can offer is the ability to pre-program ‘related items’ into the POS system. For example, when a staff member is selling spas, the POS system can provide a ‘related item’ sales suggestion, which pops up to increase sales at the counter or on the show floor when using a mobile device. For instance, when selling a spa cover, a vinyl cleaner for the cover or a battery-powered, hand-held cleaner should be offered to the client.
Another valuable upsell feature provides a general information pop-up window. This is an alert to remind sales staff to inform the customer about important information on the item they purchased or to simply remind staff of a task they need to complete at the time of the sale. For example, when selling a bag of shock, it can remind staff to tell the customer to premix the shock with water, keep their solar cover off, add it to the pool in the evening, and to run their filter overnight.
One of the often overlooked upsell features is integrated chemical maintenance. Chemical maintenance is a huge profit centre for all pool and spa businesses, so this feature can be invaluable because it includes calendars, chemical trouble-shooting forms, and tip sheets where products are highlighted so staff does not forget which items to promote. New sales staff will be well-equipped and look like experts when they provide handouts and emails to customers. This can help eliminate phone calls from customers who have questions later that can tie up service staff. Further, any email promotion sent to customers should include links to specific pages on the company’s online store where customers can make easy, one-click purchases.
