Easily the most popular (and the most financially impactful) add-on feature with PawnMaster is the text messaging module. The advent of texting in our society has made it ubiquitous; globally, it is the number one means of communication and recent studies show that 90% of all texts are typically read within 5 minutes of receiving it. In other words, if you’re not using text to communicate with your customers, you’re a dinosaur. At least that’s what my kids tell me.
Incorporated into this text messaging module are several distinct avenues of communication directly with your customer, such as:
1. A simple loan/layaway reminder to a customer at a certain date before the loan forfeits. We wrote 90-day loans so I had the text go out at 80 days – enough time to arrange for a renewal if the customer couldn’t afford to redeem it. We began using this about six years ago and within six months, our redemption rate went from 82% to 88%. Do a little math for your own store and see how much more cash flow you would generate with an extra 6% in redeemed loans? Yup, it’s that important.
Countless times over the last few years I’ve witnessed customers hugging our staff or crying because they were reminded about a loan he/she had forgotten. A non-financial side effect to texting is improved morale and greater customer satisfaction.
2. Manager alerts via a text from PawnMaster. Based on preset limits, you (as an owner or manager) will receive a text whenever an unusual transaction occurs – for example, a loan over $500, a sale over $1,000, etc. This is critical for employees maintaining strict adherence to company policies and provides you with timely training opportunities. Additionally, employees are more reluctant to engage in dishonest activities when they know you’re watching.
Three years ago, a supervisor in Texas received a text that a multiple handgun sale had occurred and was performed by a rather new employee. Immediately, he called the store and made sure the correct ATF procedure was followed. It wasn’t. The employee actually tracked the customer in the parking lot before he could leave and asked him to fill out the proper forms. That’s how fast it works.
3. Matches an item in inventory with a customer request. Our employees were required to keep personal want lists (with names and cell phone numbers) on an Excel spreadsheet as well as enter it into PawnMaster. Why? Because the computer is typically quicker and more efficient than my employees were. If an item dropped into inventory from a pull or purchase, PawnMaster – with the text message module – immediately sent a text to the customer.
The employee would then follow up with a phone call and get it sold. Humans make errors, computers don’t. Remove any doubt from the process and let PawnMaster increase your sales for you. Moreover, if you aren’t requiring your employees to collect names and numbers (no email address, you usually get spammed) every day, you should.
4. Marketing blasts to all customers. If statistics conclude that 90% of all texts are read within five minutes, why not use it as a marketing tool? Let’s say you had a 5,000 customer database and you wanted to inform them of a 4th of July sale? What’s the most efficient way? You got it! A text. For only .07 cents a customer, a text with a custom message designed and written by you can be delivered. Total cost? $350!!!! Delivery success rate? 4,500 customers.
