When Data Age was formed nearly 30 years ago, we didn’t have the pocket mobile phone, we didn’t have unlimited access to the internet and laptops and tablets were unheard of in regular use. Yes, those were the dark ages alright, but computers and software were still making a difference in the business world.
At Data Age, we always talk about being confident, learning, growing and mastering our trade. Confidence and expertise should allow a sales executive to gain customers’ trust a lot faster. When you earn the right to have a customer accept you as a trusted advisor, they will consult with you as they navigate through the buying cycle. (more…)
“There is a quote that is often attributed to Darwin (whether Darwin actually said it is up for debate, but I believe the general principle to be true): ‘It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.’ I believe the same is true for companies, and especially for entrepreneurs.” Tony Hsieh, the CEO for Amazon’s Zappos, said this in a recent article in Investor.com.
We have discussed some of the tools you need to be successful in the sales game. CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is a term we have all used but we are all guilty of not using to its maximum potential. Even though these tools are readily supplied by your employer and we say we embrace them, we really don’t. The old adage you can’t manage what you can’t measure is so true. I feel it rings even louder in today’s one click information and shopping environment we find ourselves in. I feel we first have to get back to the basics of using a CRM. With all the new slick apps of the world, which give us easy access to take notes and set reminders we have shied away from CRM. I still see even some of the top sales executives with loads of paper on their desk and the dreaded post it note is alive and well.
Tony Henderson, Henderson Pawn, Pine Bluff, AR
Tony Henderson ran his pawn shop “old school” for years, opting to use the pen-to-pad method. Following a suggestion 
from his employee of 15 years, Tony decided to purchase PawnMaster. At this point, his employee was basically running the business for Tony, so he never felt it was necessary to take the time to learn all of the features available in PawnMaster. After his employee suddenly left, Tony was worried he was stuck with a system that he’d never be able to fully understand. After a call to Data Age, Tony received world-class training from our in-house training team and is now able to access all the reports he needs to make his business run smoothly while continuing to turn a profit.
I was attracted to the opportunity at Data Age because the company was by far the global leader in its space. As with so many new product developments, the company was the pioneer in providing TxT Pawn, our text messaging product, into a software integration and I knew it was a hidden gem for our clients. Five years ago texting was widely used and it has countinued to double every year since. Case in point, Data Age now has close to 900 TxT Pawn clients who deliver over 5 million text per year… Wow!
Reading so many articles on customer experience lately, it is nice to see what we speak about, train to, and preach at Data Age is very much a best practice of great companies. Customer service is important from every angle. We take very seriously every opportunity we have to connect with our customers. As with any company, there is occasionally a glitch, confusion or miscommunication and we look at these situations as opportunities as well. They are opportunities to create a positive experience for our customers and also opportunities to get even better at what we do. Our door is always open to learning about these types of opportunities.
Whether the issue is our fault or not, we adhere to the key points below to get to the bottom of any customer concern:
1- It is about the customer no matter what (more…)
As a pawn shop owner there are quite a few things needed to function your shop… Computers, scanners, credit card readers, printers, webcams, biometric readers, etc… It is important to make sure that as the times change, your hardware stays up to date with the software and driver upgrades. Here’s a little bit of what I know about a few pieces of hardware and their compatibility…
Stephen Falk, West Main Jewelry Buy & Sell, Rochester, NY
Entrepreneur Stephen Falk opened his first pawn shop in upstate New York in 1994 after a successful career in the wholesale tool and equipment distribution business. Following a meeting with Data Age founder and software developer Tom Streng at a pawn broker’s convention in the mid-90s, Stephen began using PawnMaster as his inventory management and point-of-sale software, and continues to use it to this day. (more…)
Why should I do business with you and not your competitor? Many companies try to solve this riddle. It seems like most of them have nothing but the best intentions but many of them have “happy ears” in their attempts to answer this question for themselves. Happy ears are when someone only believes in, or perceives how they answer the question above to be based on their own assumptions. These are their own beliefs but the real question is, “do your customers feel the same way you do”? At Data Age Business Systems, we constantly do the exercises highlighted in a book called Creating Competitive Advantage by Jaynie L. Smith. Simple stated, we test what we feel is the reason customers buy from us and then we poll our customers and ask them the same questions we’ve asked ourselves to make sure we’re in alignment. (more…)