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Bar Codes and Bar Bells

April 29, 2013

By: Gary Jahnke
Huzzard Systems

Bar bells are staples in the fitness industry. Used as a tool to improve, bar bells are accessible and effective. From a business standpoint, the same can be said for bar codes.

Bar code technology has proven to be a fundamental means in helping businesses improve their processes. In the fitness industry, bar codes can help in the following areas of your business:

  • Membership Registration
  • Facility Access
  • Point-of-Sale (POS)
  • Inventory
  • Loyalty Programs
  • Fixed Asset Tracking

There are a lot of things you can spend your money on to potentially improve your business. A bar code system is one of the hidden gems that deliver an immediate payback in terms of:

  • Improving your customer’s experience
  • Making your operation more efficient
  • Helping you make better decisions because information is more accurate

Let’s talk about how bar codes can improve your customer’s experience – an initiative that all business must covet if they want to sustain success.

How many of you currently register a new member by quizzing them on their name, address, city, state, etc. as they sign-up? Not a big deal if you don’t mind your employees making mistakes as they manually key in the data. It’s not a big deal if you don’t mind having your new customer state their personal information out loud for others to hear. Worse yet, your new customer has to re-state the information or spell out the information as your employee tries their best to get the info correctly into your system. (Cue the trumpets). Bar Codes to the rescue!

Utilizing bar codes as part of your new member sign-up will change the above scenario in two simple steps:

  1. Ask your new customer for their Driver’s License to assist in the registration process.
  2. Scan the 2D bar code on the back of their license with a programmed reader to automatically populate the fields in your membership info screen.

That’s it. Pretty cool huh! Your membership sign-up process improves because it takes less time, it is more accurate, and it doesn’t require your customer to verbalize personal information – smiles all around! Are you familiar with the phrase “building your brand”? Well, positive customer experiences are an important part of brand building in addition to being known as a club that is innovative and in tune with improving all facets of the business.

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The great news is that implementing a bar code system is easy and very cost effective. Typical components of a bar code system are:

  • Bar code reader
  • Media (a card, label, or phone screen with bar code on it)
  • A program or application that accepts bar code data

The news gets even better! The bar code reader can be used for multiple purposes. Multiple use is always a good thing for improving your return on investment whether you are buying a technology related item or a piece of fitness equipment.

The same bar code reader can be used to:

  • Automatically populate fields on the Membership sign-up screen(s)
  • Allow entrance into the facility by scanning a bar code on a membership card or a Smartphone
  • Scan the UPC bar code during a point-of-sale transaction with your customer
  • Scan the bar code on inventory item and automatically enter data into a field in Excel or other program as the keyboard data entry
  • Scan the bar code on a membership card or Smartphone to collect data, time and date stamp as part of Loyalty program
  • Scan the bar code on a fixed asset and automatically enter data into field in Excel or other program as the keyboard data entry as part of inspection or inventory program

Bar Bells and Bar Codes. One makes you stronger; the other makes your business stronger.

For more information on introducing bar codes into your business, contact Huzzard Systems today at Huzzard.com or 800-321-9094.