EMV Chip Cards and Mobile Sales Apps: Safe, Secure, and Professional

October 19th 2021 11:00:00 AM

Jeff Bezos once observed, “The three most important things in retail are location, location, location. The three most important things for our consumer business are technology, technology, technology.” In business, you may want to think of three important things as being, “automate, automate, automate.” Why? The more tasks you can automate, the more efficient your business will be. 

Outside Sales Representatives and Customer Relationships

The idea of an outside or a traveling sales representative is not new. Salespeople who go to customers’ locations get to know the business owner or the purchasing manager and develop a professional relationship. 

Through the course of this relationship, the sales rep would learn about their business. The salesperson also gets an idea of the types of products that would suit the customer’s needs. 

• Salespeople wrote up orders. The customer had to wait to find out whether the products they ordered were in stock. 
• Customer service or the sales rep had to contact the customer if any items were on backorder. 
• The customer had to decide whether to wait or cancel the order.
• Canceled orders meant more paperwork. There may not have been time to cancel the order before it was shipped. You would have to deal with having the order returned and having it credited appropriately. 

Automation and Mobile Sales

You can’t use automation to make customers make decisions more quickly when deciding to place orders, but it can help in several other ways. 

Inventory Numbers Available at a Glance. Imagine the frustration of a sales representative who has explained features and benefits only to find that the product is not available. Both the salesperson and the customer end up frustrated. 

With a mobile sales app, the salesperson can check available inventory before meeting with the customer. They can still explain which products are best and provide information up front about availability issues.

Complete Sales Orders Anywhere. Input sales orders into the mobile app from anywhere the customer does business. Today’s business owners and purchasing managers are just as likely to be found on a job site, in a warehouse, or visiting one of their satellite operations as behind a desk. 

A sales rep can use the mobile app to review and print orders before printing them from a cellphone. No waiting involved. 

Get Paid Faster. The bottom line is that when you can get your invoices into your customers’ hands more quickly, you can get paid faster. That is good news for you and your sales team. 

EMV Chip Cards the Smart Choice for Merchants

EMV is a set of standards used worldwide to make credit and debit card processing more secure. It was developed as an alternative to the magnetic stripe that has been in use since the 1970s. Europay, Mastercard, and Visa (EMV) set up one standard that would be more secure.

EMV Technology Is More Advanced. EMV uses a small electronic chip on customers’ payment cards. Point of sale (POS) terminals have corresponding terminology built into them. The chip’s secure keys generate coded data with every transaction. The single-use codes are encrypted for transit. This method makes it virtually impossible to intercept data to create fake credit or debit cards.

Allows for Other Payment Options. Upgrading to EMV means your credit card acceptance terminals have the capability to accept other payment options. You will have the ability to accept Google Pay, Apple Pay, and other mobile wallets.

Provides Better Customer Experience at POS. Customers who have become used to swiping their credit or debit cards to pay have taken some time to adopt dipping their cards into a POS terminal. Customers embrace EMV technology when they understand that it provides increased payment security.

Lower Liability Costs. EMV chip card technology has reduced merchant liability costs for counter sales fraud significantly. Visa reported that in the first three years following the EMV liability shift in 2015, counterfeit payment fraud losses dropped by 80% among US merchants who upgraded to EMV.

Scanco Mobile Sales Creates Improved Buying Experience

Scanco’s Mobile Sales apps for Sage 100 take your customer’s account information and your product catalog directly to your customer’s location. Your outside sales team is no longer limited by geography when providing exemplary service.

• Invoice from Anywhere

Scanco Mobile Sales makes it convenient to meet with customers at any location convenient for them. Your sales team can close deals in the customer’s main office, on a job site, or in a coffee shop.

• Eliminate Confusion About Orders

The mobile app eliminates any misunderstandings that may arise due to having to interpret someone’s handwriting about product names or the quantities being ordered. With Scanco Sales, all details are clearly outlined.

• Review and Print Orders Immediately

Scanco Mobile Sales allows your sales team to review orders with your customers on the spot. Once the customer has approved the order, they can receive a hard copy when your sales representative prints it from their handheld device.

Scanco and VelocIT Integrated Mobile Payment Solution

Scanco is always looking for ways to improve its customers’ experience by offering improved software solutions. We have partnered with VelocIT Business Solutions to “co-develop an integration of the VelocIT Connect suite of products into Scanco Mobile Sales.”

The new product will allow Scanco’s Mobile Sales users to collect EMV customer payments anywhere. Once the customer’s payment has been received, it will be updated in Sage 100 in real-time.

VelocIT’s Click2Pay Portal gives users additional impressive features such as sending invoices by email and allowing customers to pay electronically. VelocIT offers Sage 100 integrated EMV terminals with advanced counter sale functionality.

To learn more about Scanco’s Mobile Sales app, contact us online or call (330) 645-9959 to make an appointment with a Scanco Solutions Expert. Scanco is looking for additional beta sites. Ask your Scanco Customer Account Manager for details.