A few months ago I posted this blog article, but many of you never got a chance to read it. Today I decided to re-post and record it so you could take advantage of these basic ideas on how to grow your credit card processing business. As you begin to build your credit card processing business, you will be inundated with tasks which do not create momentum. These include installations, customer service, paperwork and other tasks that are essential to your business but do not create momentum. There are only three tasks which create momentum.
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Obtaining a processing statement from a new merchant.
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Meeting with a business owner for the first time.
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Presenting a cost comparison to a merchant for the first time.Your goal in scheduling is to maximize the amount of time you spend on these three tasks without neglecting the other tasks.
I have found that all the other tasks tend to call out for your attention and will be completed simply because you know they must be completed. But these three tasks must be scheduled and completed on purpose because they do not call out for your attention! Let me give you a few tips on how to maximize the amount of time you spend on these three important tasks and thus create momentum in your business.
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Schedule time each day and each week that is dedicated to these three tasks. This sounds so basic. But let me ask some questions: What time tomorrow are you going to meet business owners for the first time? What time tomorrow are you checking back with a prospect to pick up a processing statement? What time tomorrow have you scheduled a meeting with a prospect to present a new cost comparison for the first time? If you have these events scheduled tomorrow, you are going to increase your momentum. If you do not have them in your schedule, your momentum will begin to slow down.
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Start your day early and work through your list of other tasks in order to clear the way to focus on creating momentum. These three “momentum” tasks are usually accomplished best from 11am to 3 p.m. This means you have all morning until 11 a.m. to get your entire in-box of other tasks completed so that you can start creating momentum at 11 am. Don’t start your day at 10:30 a.m; rush around for 15 minutes; and then run out to do prospecting with twenty unanswered messages from customers. This will ruin your focus and interrupt your prospecting time.
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Learn when to let go of a prospect. I am all about multiple visits. However, there is a point when you are wasting time on a “non-buyer” instead of creating momentum with a fresh new prospect. My rule of thumb is that I will try to get a statement three times. Then I leave my card and ask them to fax it to me when they are ready. Once I have the statement, I schedule a solid appointment over the phone to present. If the merchant doesn’t show up, I leave the cost comparison and stop by later in the week to see if he or she looked over it. I also get an email address to send the cost analysis to the merchant who doesn’t show up. Once the merchant has the cost analysis, I will wait as long as necessary to get a sale, but I’m not wasting time with a visit. Learn to use the phone; it will save you a lot of time! I have often waited several months to close a sale if someone is “checking with the boss” or “getting other bids.” But if I can’t close them when I make the presentation or after one follow up visit, I tell them to call me when they are ready. I assume I did not get the sale. This allows me to let go and move on to new prospects.
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Track your results and make a weekly and monthly goal for each of these tasks. If you want to create momentum in sales, you must set goals for yourself and track your progress. I have found it is much more productive to set goals based on the tasks above rather than “number of sales.” It is easy to have two sales on Monday because of work done the previous couple weeks. If your goal is “two sales per week,” you will have no motivation to work the rest of the week. If you take the rest of the week off, it will kill your momentum and hurt your income for weeks to come. Here are a set of goals I used when I was selling full time:
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