PawnMaster Blog

Data Age Business Systems, the developers of PawnMaster pawn management software, are proud to announce that their client base has reached an eCommerce milestone. Using the integrated eCommerce tool e4o, PawnMaster users have listed close to one million items online, with the sales total of items topping out at more than twenty million dollars in revenue. “This is a very exciting time for us,” says Len Summa, CEO of Data Age Business Systems. “We have been analyzing and investing in eCommerce for a long time. We knew the kind of power selling online could bring our customers, and that’s why we integrated it into our industry-leading product. Now our clients can reach customers not just locally, but globally as well. With pawn shop retail sales totaling more than 50% of all income in 2017, listing items online is becoming less of a luxury and more of a necessity.”

In my previous life as a small business owner, this was always the time of year when I was heads down looking to crank out sales. Having a multiple store chain and selling straight retail, the holidays was where I made my mark. At the time, I didn't realize that the entire year leading up to the holiday season we were unconsciously making sure that we went the extra yard for our customers. This is always the correct approach when supplying and supporting a large customer base.

I’ve been working with people in some capacity for 27 years, and I always have been and remain a firm believer in the concept of teamwork.  Recently in fact I experienced the power of teamwork firsthand here with our own PawnMaster team. The way they came together was nothing short of spectacular and something I’ve never witnessed before, and it's really galvanized my belief and commitment to the teamwork concept. When you have a great team like we do, you think there’s nothing more they can do that will shock you but man I have to admit, I was wrong in this instance. Let me set the stage for you and share this real-life scenario, which will only reinforce why teamwork is vital to every business.

Time is short and every day matters. Each day is 24 hours that cannot be reclaimed. I believe it is important to take the time to invest in yourself and know where you want to go. Below are a few things I do consistently for my own growth, and believe these are helpful for anyone.

According to my employees, I make crack dip. It’s really nothing crazy and I haven’t had a flavor that was ever considered disagreeable. My secret ingredient supplier is no longer around, so I have had to find alternate resources and blends, but without fail I’m still told that it's crack dip. So, you're wondering; how does dip equate to Employee Incentives?

No product or service – or end user – is perfect. This is especially true when it comes to hardware and software. Most entrepreneurial-dominated industries are successful because the people who make up the industry focus on what they do best. In the collateral lending industry, PawnMaster users are heads down with their customers, loaning, buying, and selling. They don’t have the time to focus or be concerned if an issue arises around the technology they depend on to help operate their business. Should they have an issue, they know that they can make a call and get an answer, and never have to worry about getting their vendor on the line to help them.

There are several schools of thought when going to market with software and technology. Many companies pick the market they want to go after. The “upstream” market consists of the larger enterprises and public space. This market, albeit very lucrative, places great strain and demand on a technology company in a host of ways. Specifically, round the clock support, custom development, hyper-specific service level agreements, and of course, special reduced rates. If a technology firm is primarily seeking this kind of business and does not want to scale, the model works-but it is very tedious to sustain. This model can’t sustain the smaller downstream clients because of the lack of resources to succeed at both. Companies who are constantly shifting their focus and toggling from one client model to another are doomed to implode, and the client base on both ends suffer. Not as damaging for the larger customers who may have the resources to go out and build custom software for themselves, but for smaller customers these events can be catastrophic.

Hey y’all! Anyone who knows me over the years knows…. I LOVE THE HOLIDAYS!!!!  So I’m back again this year to talk about Black Friday and how it’s going to affect your business. I’m also sharing my Black Friday predictions as well as which stores will be open on Thanksgiving this year. There’s less than 50 days to Black Friday, so let’s get ready to kick off a slew of sales!

We take pride in our marketing efforts here at Data Age and in turn often get the opportunity to answer our customers' questions about marketing and promotions. Shop owners often want to know how they can go about marketing their business online. We've put together a starter's guide to Social Media Marketing to help you get a leg up when promoting your business online.

(This article originally appeared as "Pawn Connections" in the Fall 2018 issue of National Pawnbrokers magazine)

I remember when Facebook first came to my attention back in 2005. My college classmates were talking about a website where you could “connect” with one another and post messages on each other’s “walls”.  Our school had just become eligible to be part of this “social network” and I though hey, why not sign up and see what this is all about. Little did I know that within a decade, this Place for Friends (Facebook’s original tagline) would expand into the realm of marketing and sales, eventually becoming the third most visited website in the world.