If You Annoy Your Customers, The Chances Are That You Will Never See Them Again

Sunday 13th June 2010

Pretty obvious, isn't it? So why do some businesses deliberately set out to do just that?

What follows is, sadly, a true story.

While driving along a main holiday route in Britain during the Bank Holiday at the end of May this year, a motorist needed fuel, so he pulled in to a filling station operated by one of the major oil companies.  He did feel that there was an unusually long delay while waiting for the pump to be authorised, but thought nothing of it at the time.  After filling his tank, he went to the forecourt shop to pay for the fuel.  He immediately noticed that there was a lengthy queue for the cashiers.  Since this queue was moving very slowly indeed, he had plenty of time to observe what was happening.

Although there were two cashiers on duty, they were preparing and serving hot snacks, as well as other light refreshments, in addition to authorising fuel pumps and taking payment for the fuel dispensed.  Initially, the motorist thought that this situation was due to an unexpectedly busy period.  He then saw that the management had very carefully arranged displays of confectionery, soft drinks and other impulse purchases in such a way as to form a narrow, snaking corridor along which customers had to pass in order to reach the cashiers.  Naturally, the almost-stationary queue was formed right along this corridor.

The shop's strategy then became obvious.  Far from attempting to provide quick, efficient service to the customers, the management was endeavouring to detain them for as long as possible, in order to maximise sales of high-profit lines.  In some environments, this type of tactic is irritating.  However, in a forecourt shop at a filling station on a main holiday route, many of the customers will have small, possibly fractious, children in their car and will naturally want to be on their way again as quickly as possible.

As a result of his unpleasant experience, the motorist did not purchase anything other than the fuel.  He also resolved never to visit that particular filling station again and, if at all possible, never to visit any other filling station operated by the oil company concerned.

The moral of this story?  Nowadays, people expect retailers to provide quick and efficient service.  If they do not get it, they will take their custom elsewhere.

Remember - "No customers" equals "No business"!

"Free" Software Can Be At Least As Good As The "paid-for" Variety

Sunday 6th June 2010

On the other hand, some of it is awful!

There is an old adage that "Advice is only worth what you pay for it".  This is sometimes applied, blanket-fashion, to "free" software.  The problem is that, as with most sweeping generalisations, it is all too easy to condemn out the good with the bad.

There are three reasons why software may be "free".  Traditionally, it was a promotional technique, intended to increase sales of a company's paid-for products.  "Free" is a great marketing tool - just look around the

shelves in any supermarket.  The multitude of "Buy one, get one free", "50% extra free" and similar offers exist only because customers like them.  In software, a company will typically give away old versions of their flagship products.  Alternatively, the "free" version may be time- or feature-restricted in some way.

Shareware has been around for a long time.  Here, the software is available at no charge, but the source code is not available.  As a result, support can be problematic in the extreme.

The other reason is the Open-Source movement, where software is distributed under the GNU Public Licence.  Here, the software really is completely free.  The source code is freely available at no cost, for those who might wish to "see how it is done" or even amend it to suit their particular requirements.  Support is provided by the community-at-large, i.e. the public-spirited developers and other users of the software concerned.  A classic example of this is Linux.

Ultimately, it does not matter too much why the software is "free".  What DOES matter is that it meets the requirements of the situation concerned.  Otherwise, the cost of actually using it will far exceed the cost of purchasing a paid-for product.

Here are a few shining examples of "free" software which is every bit as good as, if not better than, the paid-for variety:

CoreFTP - a superb, Windows Explorer-like FTP client

TeraTerm - makes Hyperterminal look amateurish

CCleaner - ferrets out and removes unwanted temporary files, as well as being a great Registry cleaner 

Firefox - the best browser in the business, by far!

Irfanview - a brilliant image viewer and editor

These all show just how good "free" sofware can be.

"Use The Right Tool For The Job"

Sunday 30th May 2010

Good advice, often given and even more often ignored...

It can be a temptation to save a little effort by using a tool for a purposes other than the one for which it was intended.  How often have you seen someone making a hole in some masonry, but using a large screwdriver instead of a cold chisel?  The screwdriver will rapidly become fit only for scrap.  Similarly, screwdrivers come in a wide variety of sizes and types.  This is not just so the manufacturers can make money!  it is always best to use the correct size and type - a plain one for a slot-head screw, a Pozidriv pattern for a Pozidriv screw and so on.  If the tip of the blade is too small, it will slip out and damage the workpiece, but if it is too large it will probably damage the screw.

In some cases, the correct, specialist, tool is vital.  The BIOS chip on every computer's motherboard is responsible for those peculiar messages that scroll up the screen when the machine is powered up, bnefore Windows itself starts.  If it fails, the computer will not boot.  Unlike most of the chips on the motherboard, the BIOS chip is not soldered on, but instead it sits in a little ceramic holder, rather like an Old Master painting in a heavy frame.  If the chip fails or requires upgrading, it can be replaced cheaply enough.  The fun starts with removing the old one.  It is possible to lever it out, very carefully, with a small flat-bladed screwdriver and a great deal of good luck.  However, the price to be paid for failure is damage to the ceramic holder, which usually results in a scrap motherboard.  Instead of risking an expensive motherboard, use a "PLCC Extractor Tool".  These clever tools are readily available on eBay for a few pounds.  They are diamond-shaped and have a pair of hooks protruding from the bottom.  When the sides of the diamond are squeezed together, the built-in levers pull up the hooks and, with them, the BIOS chip.  Simple to use and absolutely foolproof!

In the same way, a mobile phone is fine for lightweight surfing and email duties.  For real work, however, its tiny keyboard and even tinier screen will drive the owner to distraction in no time at all.  Move up to a netbook!  Long battery life and a low price make it a real no-brainer.  For serious mobile computing, though, there is no subsitute for a "proper" laptop.  These have decent-sized keyboards and screens, along with enough power to play games and watch DVD's "out of hours".

Offer "Meal Deals" And Attract More Customers Into YOUR Store

Sunday 23rd May 2010

With the help of a good EPoS system, it's easy - but without one....

There are two main types of Mix-and-Match offers - the "Multibuy" and the "Meal Deal".

The "Multibuy" or "Simple" type is common, popular with customers and very easy to understand.  For example, you could have a "Simple" Mix-and-Match offer on "Brand X" yoghurts - "50p each or any 5 for £2.00".  Just watch them fly off your shelves!  In this case, the individual flavours do not matter, so long as the customer buys any 5 "Brand X" yoghurts the offer is triggered.  Although it does require till staff to be vigilant, it is just about possible to run a very small number of these offers even without an EPoS system.    

"Meal Deal" is merely the slang term for the Mix-and-Match offer more correctly termed "Link-PLU".  For this type of offer, the customer must make a purchase of at least two products from different "areas".  Typical examples include "Tea Bags and Milk" or "Whisky and Ginger Ale".  A very common one, usually found just before Valentine's Day, is "Wine and Chocolates".  A more complicated example could be "Buy a hot soup, a sandwich, a cake and a coffee, all for £4.50" or perhaps "Buy a hot soup, a sandwich priced at £2.50 or above and a cake, then get a coffee free".  Clearly, such offers can be very complicated indeed.

It is obvious that, unlike the "Simple" Mix-and-Match offer, it is well-nigh impossible to run "Meal Deal" offers without an EPoS system.  However, there is very little point in running a "Meal Deal" offer if it takes too much effort to set it up.  Although many modern EPoS systems can handle "Meal Deal" offers, very few of them make it almost as easy for the Retailer to set up the offer as it is for the customer to take advantage of it.

Whether you are looking at buying an EPoS system for the first time, or replacing an existing one, always find out how difficult it is to set up the "Soup + Sandwich over £2.50 + Cake = Free Coffee" type of "Meal Deal" offer.  Only the very best systems can make light work of this potentially complicated procedure. If the system you are considering is not easy-to-use in this area, there is indeed little hope for the remainder of its functions.  Remember - only an EPoS system which is easy and quick to use can help save you time,  Otherwise, you will be wasting both your valuable time and your money.