Category: Uncategorized

July 21st, 2011 by Mike Spence
Promotions can be a great way to look at increasing your business and your bottom line.  Let me correct myself there. . . Effective, trackable promotions can be a great way.
There are all kinds of ways to intice people to try your product.  WIth SP-1, we look at ways to track your promotions and help you decide if they are working.  
Facebook & Foursquare.   These social media tools make it very easy to promote product to your customers.  If you want to take it a step further, use the built in places and deals to allow for specials that take advantage of geolocation features in cell phones (I.E. check-in specials).
Gift Cards.   I know that people think we beat a dead horse with this topic but it is because it is such a great way to increase revenue and cash flow.  Gift cards can be sold at a slightly reduced price to encourage customers to pre-pay.  This is a simple and effective way to increase your cash flow.
Bundles.  If you are looking to discount items, try creating a bundle.   The concept is that you take a high profit item and pair it with a different item.   Pairing items together for a single price can help introduce low-selling items to a broader customer base.



Timed pricing.  A “happy hour” special can be a really great way to encourage customers to order outside of your busy times.  Creating promotional pricing on certain items and offering them only between 2 and 4pm can help direct some of your traffic to those hours when you are slow.

Tracking.  This is, in some ways, the most important part of what you are doing.  You have to track what is and is not working in order to know how effective these are.  If a promotion is not working, stop doing it!  SP-1 will allow you to really evaluate the number of times these promotions are used over a time frame. This will allow you to make better decisions about how you create better promotions in the future.



Contact us at:

SelbySoft
Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Marketing, Uncategorized Tagged with: ,

July 19th, 2011 by Mike Spence

One of the challenges that smaller stores face is that they are typically only running a single POS station at a time.

SP-1 can certainly handle the volume and will help you increase your speed of service.   But what about being able to look at numbers when the front counter is busy?  What about employees clocking in?

That is where our back office license can come in.  With the back office license, you can load a special version of SP-1 on a second station.  This license allows you to do any of the functions of your front counter computer with the exception of taking an order.  

Call us today and see how we can add this to your store!

Contact us at:
SelbySoft
Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Marketing, Reporting, Uncategorized Tagged with: ,

July 14th, 2011 by Mike Spence
Going to Coffee Fest in Seattle this September?  



So are we!   Before you register for passes, check with us!  


We often have free passes for this show and would love to help you get in free!


See you there September 23-25th in the Seattle Convention Center – Booth: 804/806




Contact us at:
SelbySoft
Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Shows, Uncategorized Tagged with:

July 12th, 2011 by Mike Spence
Like the title? It’s a little tongue in cheek but hopefully makes you think about maintenance.

With summer coming and the heat (finally) starting to hit, we know that some of our customers will see hardware failures due to overheating start to become more common.

Most of this can be easily avoided. All it takes is a little preventative maintenance. What we are talking about is no different then getting an oil change, tuning your oven or backflushing an espresso machine. It’s necessary to keep things running along smoothly.

There are really three things to consider when checking out your POS.

  • Removing materials from around your POS computer. Are you one of those people with a roll of paper towels on your computer? Do you stack menus on top and around the computer? If so – Stop it! Computers (even those without fans) need air flow.

  • Cleaning. When you have a chance, open the case on your computer and spray it with a can of compressed air. You might be amazed at the amount of dust that fills the air! Do this once every six months and you will extend the life of your computer.

  • Printers. Don’t forget that those printers load up with dust from the paper rolls. Every so often, just open the lid, turn the printer upside down and tap it once or twice.

If you need some additional advice, don’t hesitate to contact us!




Contact us at:
SelbySoft
Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Hardware, Uncategorized Tagged with:

July 7th, 2011 by Mike Spence
Over the last couple weeks our developers have been working on new enhancements to SP-1.  Along the way, there have been some improvements to the gift card system!


To recap more about how the gift card system can be used, check out my previous blog
 7 Cool Things About Gift Cards.  


Now that we remember all the current cool things about SP-1 and our gift card system, here are some of the new changes!


The balance is now displayed when loading a card.   If you are loading a card with a balance, we now display what the current balance (before load) is.  This was designed to provide all the information on one screen.







When a card is loaded the ticket reflects the previous balance.  If you have a current balance on a card and add an additional amount to it, then we are now showing that on the ticket.  The circled item on the ticket below shows that the card had $25.00 on it and we are currently adding $5.00!













Gift card balance is shown when a customer is selected.  If you assign gift cards to customers, this new option will be helpful. As soon as you start a ticket with a customer that has a gift card, you will see their balance on the screen!  This helps eliminate the need to inquire about a card!









Contact us at:
SelbySoft
Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Gift Cards, POS Features, Uncategorized Tagged with:

July 5th, 2011 by Mike Spence
When talking to owners of food and beverage locations, I’m often asked about credit card processing. 

Usually the conversation revolves around if the owner should integrate the credit card processing into the POS or continue to use a terminal for processing.   


So what does integration have over terminals?  Quite a bit . . . 
  • No equipment needed.  Since it is working through software only, you get to free up space on your counter.
  • Ease of use.  Your employees already should know how to swipe a card!  Plus you have the card swipe for employee clock ins and gift cards already.
  • Less mistakes.  When credit card processing is integrated through SP-1, your employees don’t have to enter any information beyond the card number (and that is handled by swiping the card on the side of the monitor!   Unlike a terminal, the employee does not need to enter the total dollar amount (eliminating those typos).
  • Compatibility.  We work with virtually every credit card processor out there.  No issues with having to re-program a terminal.
  • Flexibility.  Have multiple stations? With the credit card integration you have the ability to take credit cards on all computers running SP-1 with no additional cost. 
  • No additional phone line.  Since the credit cards are run through an internet connection, you don’t need an additional phone line.



Contact us at:
SelbySoft
Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in POS Features, Uncategorized Tagged with:

July 1st, 2011 by Mike Spence



Don’t forget!  SelbySoft has emergency support available from 9am to 10pm PST on the Fourth!





Contact us at:
SelbySoft
Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with:

June 28th, 2011 by Mike Spence

I just spent three days at the World Tea Expo and am overwhelmed by everything I saw there.

Tea is a growing part of the beverage industry and every year I am excited to see it being explored by more and more people.

This year I was approached by more people that described their concept as “Starbucks – but with tea”.   I think it is an indication that tea is becoming more mainstream as a younger generation explores the beverage for the health benefits.

So, what is different between a person that approaches us for a coffee shop or a tea shop?   The biggest thing that we see is that the tea client (in general) is more interested in inventory control from a tracking and reporting side of things.

Why?  Because with tea we look at loose leaf and retail sales.  This typically involves using a scale to weigh the tea by the ounce or gram.   When you are doing this, the need for inventory control becomes very important.  With the cost of some of these teas, even a .5 gram variance can start to add up over time.

Of course, SP-1 has the ability to track and control this through barcoding and electronic scale systems. 

Need more information?   Touch base with us and see how we can help you maintain complete control on your inventory.

Contact us at:
SelbySoft
Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with:

June 21st, 2011 by ssadmin

Do you take advantage of the customer file features SP-1 has?  If not, then you might be missing out on one of the best features of SP-1!


Most people are aware that SP-1 can track your customers and their name, address, phone number but have you explored the other items that are in the customer file and available to you? 


Birthday.  Yep, we track your customers birthday!  Better yet, you can use SP-1 to alert your staff that customer has a birthday coming up!


Email.  Anyone can track an email address – we track ten per customer! 


Multiple phone numbers.  Use a phone number to track past orders for your customers?  SP-1 tracks ten per customer.  If a customer calls with their cell, home, work or any other line, you can link all of them to the same account. 


Multiple addresses.  An address is great for delivery but what if the customer wants it to go to his office or friends house?  What about catering?  With SP-1 you can have up to three additional addresses for catering.


Custom remarks.  A line just for your staff!  What ever you type here is highlighted on the screen for your clerk to see.  










Contact us at:
SelbySoft
Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Marketing, Uncategorized Tagged with: ,

June 16th, 2011 by ssadmin
Have you ever noticed that printer in the back of a kitchen at a busy restaurant?  Or maybe the monitor hanging above the espresso machine in a drive thru? 


Why are they there?   The simple answer is to print the order out right?   It goes deeper than that once you start really thinking about it.  


1)  They are efficient.  It’s true, they are.  Count how many steps an employee has to take to hand a receipt, cup or hand written note to the Barista or cook.  Then double it (they have to walk back right?).  Now multiply that by the number of orders you take in a day.  Virtually all of that time is wasted.  


2) Less Mistakes.  Order accuracy is key when thinking about implementing a monitor or printer for a make line.  Handwriting mistakes vanish when using this type of system.   The Barista and cooks know precisely what to make because it is all laid out in front of them.  Additions and subtractions are handled correctly as well. 

3) Theft Controls.  Want to stop product from being handed out without getting paid for it?  While a monitor or printer does not completely stop it from happening, it can certainly cut down the potential.  If you have two employees the rule is that without a paper slip or display on the monitor, you don’t make the product.   




Contact us at:
SelbySoft
Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371


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Posted in Hardware, Order Entry, Uncategorized Tagged with: , ,