Grow Your Hospitality Sales With Services

At the most basic level, hospitality software is an application that runs on a POS (point of sale) terminal and is used to help automate the communication process between the waitstaff and cooks. If that’s the only impression you have of this software or if that’s the impression you’re giving your customers, you’re missing out on significant upsell opportunities. All of the hospitality vendors I spoke with recently agreed that VARs need to realize that many hospitality software programs include timesaving features your customers should be using. Further, if you wrap consulting services around your software,  you will gain a major advantage over your competitors.

Keep Restaurant Owners Out Of The Kitchen
One of the biggest challenges restaurants face is when the kitchen becomes chaotic, i.e. several orders pour in at the same time. “Many times this problem is handled by the restaurant owner or manager stepping into the kitchen and prioritizing each order,” says Lee Harville, VP of sales and marketing at onePOS.com Corp. “Not only is this a complex task to orchestrate, it also keeps the owner/manager from interacting with their guests.” This is one area in which a VAR that understands hospitality software can help by activating a software feature called throttling. This feature automatically queues each part of an order and prioritizes the more urgent items such as beverages and appetizers over lower priority items such as entrees. “This feature also stages each course based on the time they are entered into the POS terminal, and it ensures individual chefs don’t try to cook too much too soon,” says Harville.

Help Restaurant Owners Know, Reward Their Best Patrons
Another way a VAR can distinguish itself with its hospitality software is by providing behavioral analysis services. For example, by integrating the payment processing and/or a loyalty card program with the customer’s POS, the VAR can help the customer capture important data about its patrons. “This is a good way for the VAR to help the restaurant owner identify business trends,” says David Rose, president of TwoTouchPOS. “For instance, the data might reveal that one of the restaurant’s biggest customers recently broke a seven-month pattern of bringing clients to the restaurant on Friday nights.” Having this data allows restaurant owners to respond in a number of ways. They can send the customer a coupon, or they could even send a personal letter with a few survey questions to solicit the customer’s experience at the restaurant over the past six months. The feedback might reveal a need to add some new items to the menu or train the wait staff to offer better customer service.

Boost Profits With Postimplementation Support, Menu Analysis
You’ve probably heard that your customers are looking for a total solutions provider or a trusted advisor, but have you ever considered how this concept applies to selling POS terminals and hospitality software? Each of the vendors I spoke with provided several examples that illustrate how various services can complement your hardware and software sales. One of the most common services a VAR can provide is postimplementation services. After all, what good is your POS solution if it goes down on a Friday night and your customer can’t contact you? “On the other hand, make sure you can back up what you promise,” says Harry Tu, CEO of Aldelo Systems. “Don’t promise 24/7 customer support if you’re not willing and able to offer it. Also, you should be able to provide references from other customers who can vouch for your reliability.”

It’s also important to make sure all the details are spelled out in a written service contract. According to Tu, the service contract that clearly states the customer’s and VAR’s responsibilities will save the VAR a lot of hassle in the long run. The last thing you want is your customer saying, “You promised to do this or that,” and you are unable to defend yourself. If everything is in writing, you’ll be much less likely to be blind-sided.

Menu analysis is another service you can add to your hospitality software sales. TwoTouchPOS’ Rose recalls one VAR that spent a couple of weeks with a restaurant customer analyzing the restaurant’s menu. “The analysis included determining the cost and price of each item, finding the top performing appetizers, entrees, desserts, and beverages and determining how the menu should be rearranged,” he says. “In the end, the VAR earned about $2,000, and the customer had factual information about the profitability of each one of its food items.” The bonus with offering a service like this is that it doesn’t require a huge investment. Many POS/hospitality software vendors can give VARs the training they need in just a couple of hours.

Earn Commissions From Credit Card Processing
One final service worth mentioning is related to credit card processing, and it’s overlooked by some VARs. “Some payment processing vendors offer commission programs that allow VARs to earn up to 50% profit shares from each payment processing fee,” says Tu. The way this works is that at the time of a POS and/or hospitality software installation, the VAR contacts a payment processing vendor (e.g. Merchant Warehouse, Mercury, PPI) and establishes the service on behalf of the restaurant customer. Then, the restaurant signs a contract with the payment processor that includes the fees for each credit/debit transaction. The VAR then signs a separate contract detailing how much commission will be paid on the transaction fees. Finally, the restaurant’s broadband connection is interfaced with the payment processing vendor’s switch (which is another opportunity for a VAR with networking experience to earn additional revenue), and the VAR is set to start earning commissions. “I was surprised to discover what one VAR I met earned a month in commissions by providing payment processing services to just three stores,” says Tu. “And, these weren’t Wal-Mart-size customers, but smaller retailers that did $40,000 to $100,000 in sales each month.”

Shrinking profit margins on POS hardware and software are a reality every POS VAR faces. However, if you’re willing to provide more than just basic hospitality software functionality, you can buck the trend. Selling complementary services with your software will also improve your chances for stronger sales revenue and give you a competitive edge.