4 Ways Clover Makes Running a Small Business Simple

Small business owners work crazy hours: a survey from Gallup found that 57% of business owners work six or more days each week, and 50 or more hours each week. For many merchants, working harder is not an option. But, there are ways to work smarter.

With summer winding up, finding ways to work smarter can help sellers make time to enjoy the weather, spend time with friends and family — and maybe even take a vacation.

Working “smarter” often means tossing out old systems and software for something better. Clover makes it easy for merchants to upgrade their operations, simplify their business, and shave hours off the workweek. Here are some of Clover’s most popular apps, powerful features, and flexible solutions that help small business owners work less and achieve more.

1. Get paid fast.

Yes, small business owners work long hours. But that’s only part of the picture: they also work under more pressure. SCORE found that even when they’re on vacation, 67% of small business owners will check in to work at least once a day. These merchants often feel stressed and burned out, even when they do get time off.

One way to ease the pressure of running a small business is to make payment easier. Clover’s POS system is equipped to accept all major forms of payment. Customers can pay with cash, check (which a retailer can immediately scan and deposit), major credit and debit cards (swipe or chip, and they can even use NFC-enabled cards or make contactless payments with a mobile device–think Apple Pay® and Google Pay™.

2. Stay connected by processing payments wherever you happen to be

And, business owners can sell on the road, in-store, online, and everywhere in between. The Clover Flex and Clover Go easily travel wherever the merchant is doing business. And, Clover Flex comes with built-in LTE capability, so there’s no need for a WiFi connection to make a sale.

To learn more about how Clover can help merchants squeeze more out of the workweek — and enjoy a little more time away from work — contact a Clover Business Consultant today.

3. Put inventory management on autopilot.

Inventory management is often one of the most time-consuming aspects of running a small business. Many merchants use manual tracking methods to meet the challenge of determining optimal inventory levels and when to reorder products. As a business grows, the seller will have to manage inventory levels across multiple sales channels.

Core to the Clover system is an inventory management feature that shows business owners what items and ingredients are available, so they only order the amounts needed to meet customer demand. Clover’s Inventory offers an improved, user-friendly interface along with time-saving features that make setting up and managing your menus, merchandise, and service offerings faster and easier than ever before.

And, options within the app market provide integrations with major ecommerce platforms. In just a few clicks, businesses can link their retail point-of-sale systems to their websites and manage inventory.

4. Let Clover apps manage busy work.

Clover’s App Market is chock full of integrations that merchants can add to their Clover POS to simplify running a small business.

Time Clock by Homebase is a free app that reduces the hassle of managing people. Time Clock handles critical tasks such as clocking employees in and out, tracking cash and credit card tips, generating payroll-ready timesheets, scheduling staff, managing time-off requests and shift trades—even sending people reminders an hour before their shift begins.

Merchants can also put office management admin on autopilot. For instance: retailers can avoid the headache of running out of receipt paper in the middle of a busy sales day with Order Paper. This app lets Clover merchants purchase inexpensive paper rolls for any of their Clover devices in just three clicks, with free shipping.

Restaurant managers, too, can benefit from clearing up reservation chaos with Clover’s Waitlist Me app. This integration can make reservations, see who’s waiting, estimate how long the wait will be, send texts to customers when it’s their turn, and even let people check their waitlist status online.

Eliminating busywork allows merchants to focus on the big picture: stellar service and happy customers.