Customer Relationship Management

What is CRM?

Customer Relationship Management, or CRM, is an information technology industry term for methodologies, strategies, software, and other web-based capabilities that help an enterprise organize and manage customer relationships. For example, "if a marketing department runs an outbound campaign, all of the information about the customers and the program should be retained for the sales staff to follow up on, the customer service representatives to answer any queries, and technical support to provide any field support. The idea is to have the same information available to all in the company so that every product or service need of the customer is met. CRM implies that everyone in the enterprise is focused on the customer."

Why is CRM Necessary?

Several companies are turning to customer-relationship management systems and strategies to gain a better understanding of their customer's wants and needs. Used in association with data warehousing, data mining, call centers and other intelligence-based applications, CRM "allows companies to gather and access information about customers' buying histories, preferences, complaints, and other data so they can better anticipate what customers will want. The goal is to instill greater customer loyalty."

Other benefits include:

* Faster response to customer inquiries
* Increased efficiency through automation
* Deeper understanding of customers
* Increased marketing and selling opportunities
* Identifying the most profitable customers
* Receiving customer feedback that leads to new and improved products or services
* Obtaining information that can be shared with business partners.

Carolina IT and POS offers two versions of CRM. One for the small business with up to 9 users and another for businesses from 10 to 5000 users. Give us a call to try either out.

Accept Credit Cards - Amazing Rebates $200 and more

Merchant Services allow you to take credit cards for your business. CITPOS offers several credit card packages at competitive rates. There are also many rebates available for signing up with QuickBooks Merchant Services.

Currently, QuickBooks Merchant Services has a stated rate of 1.7% swipe, .21 per authorization, $12.95 a month. This includes no obligation and no contract.

For signing up, you will receive a $200 rebate credited directly to you. Also, if you use or are purchasing QuickBooks Point of Sale, you will receive a free credit card/pin pad swipe device - a $289 value free!!!

Further, if you purchase QuickBooks POS, with an application to merchant services, you will receive $200 off each POS license purchased, and $100 off each POS hardware bundle (credit card swipe, receipt printer, cash drawer, and barcode scanner).

If you use merchant services now with another vendor under contract and will pay a fee to break that contract, QuickBooks Merchant Services will pay up to $150 to offset that fee.

If interested, click here to send your contact information to QuickBooks Merchant Services.

POS Hardware

The hardware that makes up a POS system has many options. The basic component is a computer. I normally recommend a 2.0 Ghz processor, 2 GB RAM or more, and 80 GB harddrive. These are minimums these days especially for a computer that will function as a point of sale register and as an administrator of the backoffice tasks of accounting, office productivity apps, inventory control, etc...

I break down POS hardware into two main sections - standard hardware and optional hardware.

Standard hardware consists of a cash drawer, receipt printer, barcode scanner, and credit card swipe device.

Optional hardware includes a pole display, label printer, various credit card swipe machines, wireless scanners, and a physical inventory scanner.

Standard Hardware:

• Cash Drawer - allows for storage of cash and receipts


• Receipt Printer - prints receipts only from POS


• Barcode Scanner - scans barcodes for easy order entry


• Credit Card Swipe - runs a credit card through processing

Optional Hardware:

• Pole Display - shows the customer what item and price is being rung


• Label Printer - prints various labels including price tags with barcodes


• Credit Card/Debit Card Swipe Terminal - allows you to process credit and debit cards


• Credit Card/Debit Card/Signature Capure Terminal - allows you to process credit and debit cards and also captures signatures so you only have to print one copy of the receipt for the customer instead of a second one for the store copy as well


• Wireless Barcode Scanner - allows for cashier to move around to scan bulky items


• Physical Inventory Scanner - allows for a regular inventory count that saves man-hours and errors in counting

Welcome to Mountain POS for Point Of Sale Solutions

What is POS? It stands for Point of Sale and is the computer software and hardware that comprises of several components that run a successful business. These components include a cash register, inventory control, customer management, payroll/timecard tracking, accounting, credit card processing, and so much more.

POS is utilized by many different businesses and Mountain POS focuses on the retail business market of small to medium businesses needing an better way to ring up sales and track inventory than just using an old-fashioned electronic cash register and paper and pencil. A POS system has a quick return on investment (ROI) as it saves companies time and money Once implemented, a POS system alleviates a lot of manual entry by performing tasks quicker such as scanning barcodes instead of handwriting items on invoices; or by lessening costly mistakes in data entry that can make your business lose money; or by hastening the amount of time to perform your regular acconting chores as the data is shared with accounting software and can includes income, cost of goods sold, inventory valuations, automated entry of accounts receivables and payables, and so much more....

Mountain POS is full-service consulting firm that offers turn-key solutions that include software, hardware, installation, training and support.

Call 843-352-4931 to speak with Doug or Craig on your options for a POS system. Or visit http://www.mountainpos.com. We primarily service the Southeast but our prices are economical enough to justify travel to many other locations - just ask for a quote!

We will discuss POS hardware next...