We are often asked in a sales situation how our software compares to other POS software being considered.

The best people to ask this question are those who have used other POS software and have switched. We have plenty of customers who are experienced and able to answer this question for you.

Our sales team are asked to not comment on competitor products, to not offer comparisons as they have no personal experience from which to respond to such a query.

We welcome the opportunity to show our software in the desk next to any other software you. We are serious about this. We think it is valuable to compare functions that are important to you, between systems. Doing this with software next to each other, checking for yourself, allows you to make the comparison, it allows you to make the choice that is right for you, rather than being told by someone who wants to sell you their software that they are better than other POS software you are considering.

This approach of comparing for yourself, in personal, in your own business, gives you control. It respects you and shows that the decision is by you and about your business.

POS software companies will usually reject your request to compare their software with others in the desk in your shop. We have heard myriad excuses. In our opinion none are reasonable. Most we hear are about them wanting control over their sales proces.

Here at Tower Systems, we respect the choice is yours to make, the process is one you must control. We know we can’t be right for everyone. This is why we are happy to be compared, so you are in control, so you make the decision that is right for you, based on the software and not based on some slick pitch that denies you the opportunity for easy comparison.

How does Tower Systems compare to other POS software? See for yourself. In your own time. Where and when you want. In a way that suites your specific business. We have nothing to hide and respect that this is your choice to make.

To POS software companies that will not engage in such comparison we ask: what is it you are afraid of? What is it you are hiding? If you want happy customers, agreeing to a functional comparison in-store and in person has to be the best way.

With the many POS software options out in the marketplace, we think there is value in considering what is different about small business needs compared to the needs of bigger businesses such as franchises and groups with more than, say, 25 stores.

We have a vested interest in this consideration in that here at Tower Systems we only work with independent small business retailers. Our most common customers have one or two stores. We have some customers with close to 20 stores. While we serve members of groups with between 50 and 300 stores in a group, each of those stores is locally owned.

The distinction matters in that in our model, all businesses matter, everyone is equal.

In a POS software company with big customers, they will be of more value to the company than the small business customers. Take a business where 20% of their revenue comes from one customer. That customer is naturally heard more than a customer that accounts for less than 1% of revenue.

Our focus on independent small business retailers ensures fairness, focus and service for these important local and small businesses.

Small business retailers also like local service, personal service and service attuned to their business needs. They like to deal with real people, though conversation.

Small business retailers don’t like impersonal contact, distance contact only by email, learning only by remote contact.

POS software companies serving larger retail networks drive their businesses for efficiency. This usually means more self service and less personal human contact. While some may like this, it is not the common small business way, it is not how local businesses see themselves in their local communities.

Being focussed on small business retailers strengthens our approach to serving these types of businesses, it focusses our attention and resources in a way that is consistent for our entire user community, and we think that is a good and fair thing.

If personal service matters to you in your small retail business, take this into account when choosing POS software, consider in when assessing the POS software companies you consider supplying you.

Tower systems is a vertical market POS software company. We always have been, since the company began. It is what we do, well.

A vertical market POS software company is one that focusses on a marketplace, deeply, vertically if you will.

When we say that we have software for a specific marketplace like jewellers, garden centres, toy shops, produce stores, bike shops, fishing and outdoors shops, firearms dealers, produce stores, newsagents and adult shops, it means that we have software that is highly tailored to serve the needs of each of these marketplaces.

Our software serves not only the retailers, it also serves the suppliers to the retailers as we see building a closer and more valuable relationship between the two parties as important to what we do.

The vertical market software emerged in the 1980s as personal computers were released and desktop software became available for small businesses including small business retailer.

This is when Tower systems began. We were at the beginning, with vertical market software fort several retail niches. We have stayed true to our mission of offering specialty retail focussed software for specialty retailers. This focus has served us well. We think it has served out customers well too as our software for each marketplace in which we serve has evolved in its specialisation.

We release three major software updates each year. Each update takes us further into each marketplace in which we serve with our POS software. Each update makes our POS software more vertically, deeply, integrated with the specialty retailers we serve.

This is what vertical market POS software is about, specialisation … specialisation that evolves as the needs of the marketplace evolve. It is about staying on a path, moving forward, serving the specialty needs of the retailers in each marketplace niche.

While there are generic POS software solutions out there, a specialty POS software package for your specific retail niche will be far more valuable, far more tuned to the needs of your business.

However, make sure the claim of specialisation is more than the claim, make sure it is real and deep. You can tell this by looking at the software, by ensuring for yourself that claimed specialisation is really there.

Good vertical market POS software will serve a specialty retail business well, for many years.

We are proud to share this advice…

We don’t want to sell, rent or lease our POS software to a business for which it is not a good fit.

Don’t get us wrong, we do want business. However, we don’t see the point in making a sale for the sake of a sale. As a small privately owned company, our guiding principles are different to larger businesses with multiple shareholders. Where their focus is profit first, our focus is service.

Service to us is providing a product that is a good fit and that delivers appreciated value over the long term. This is achieved by providing fit for purpose software, backing it with personal training and support and enhancing it through an on-going software development process that is guided by user engagement and feedback.

One reason we want to personally demonstrate our POS software to retailers in the specialty marketplaces in which we serve is so that we can be sure for ourselves that our software is a good fit. We are on the record of advising sales prospects that we are not a good fit. Yes, we do this, respectfully and with an explanation of why we think so.

We have been in business for a long time and plan to be here for a long time. Doing right by sales prospects is part of this. We know a quick sale today just to get the sale whether it is a good fit for the client or not is not conducive to good long term business.

So, yes, we may say our software is not a good fit for your business.

It could be you have need we do not address today. Therefore, we are keen for you to be open and complete in outlining your needs.

It could be that you are a big business. While we do have big business clients, our absolute preference is to serve small retail businesses.

It could be that your business is outside out area of specialisation. While we have plenty of customers outside our marketplaces of specialisation, each has been certain our software is a good fit for them.; We love that they have made this choice, without pressure.

It could be that you want a deal we are unwilling to agree to. We don’t sell on price for we know that in business today you do get what you pay for. For us to deliver quality and evolving software and services we need fair compensation. The price we offer is our best price. We treat all sales prospects equally.

It could be that you want a specific change to the software. We plan our development many months out. We usually cannot drop commitments to customers to get a quick sale. While we welcome and seek out customer initiated enhancement requests, we do so in a structured way that works with our long-term development schedule.

It is important to us that our software and our company are good fits for any business taking on our software. To achieve this, our sales approach is personal, transparent and focussed on the long term.

We think a software choice decision is too important to a business to seek without doing appropriate homework.