Imagine Saying Something Smart to a Prospect

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I love sales!  I love closing techniques!  I love overcoming objections!  Unfortunately, these skills are meaningless if the prospect doesn’t trust me.  I have noticed that sales people are beginning to take the art of sales much more seriously, which is a good thing.  However, as sales people are improving their sales skills, small business owners are simultaneously improving their skills of spotting sales professionals who don’t have the knowledge to back their talk.  For those who are selling merchant services, you are holding back your own sales numbers if…

• You don’t understand interchange.
• You don’t know what AVS is or how it impacts the merchant’s processing cost.
• You don’t have a good overall picture of this industry.

I know you are thinking, “I don’t want to learn about Interchange.  That’s boring and tedious!”  How would you feel about a heart surgeon who claimed to be very competent but just didn’t like the sight of blood or didn’t feel comfortable using a scalpel?  Let’s improve our industry’s reputation by becoming true professionals!  In the past the only way you could learn about interchange and payment methods was to dig through boring and incomprehensible data on websites owned by Visa and Mastercard.  However, now with our new Instant Quote Tool and the features we added last Friday, you can play around with Interchange and see the effects of various business and consumer behaviors.  There is no longer any excuse for being ignorant about interchange fees.

Let me provide you with several real life examples from my own experience in selling merchant services.  Imagine yourself in a similar scenario saying something smart to your prospect – a scenario in which your prospect decided you were a true professional.  Imagine your prospect thinking, “I wish I had more time to talk to this person because he/she really knows information.  I learned something from our conversation.”  This is the power of knowledge – the power you can have by using our Instant Quote Tool free to 30 Days.

Example #1 – Several small to medium sized businesses in my local market were accepting a large percentage of their revenue via phone transactions.  Pizza Shops are a great example of this.  Many large pizza shops take 15% to 20% of their transactions over the phone.  Using our Instant Quote Tool, you could ask the merchant some questions (using our helper text as a guide) and learn exactly what percentage of business is done over the phone.  In addition to this, you could educate the pizza shop owner concerning the importance of using AVS (Address Verification Services) on each transaction to avoid a cost of approximately 50 basis points because all of those Key Entered transactions which are being downgraded.  You could then explain how much easier it would be for them to set up an old laptop in the back office with an online payment gateway and take payments there by entering information such as the billing zip code.  This would leave the terminal at the counter free to take in person orders while also lowering their interchange costs and decreasing the likelihood of expensive charge-backs.

Example #2 – More and more small to medium businesses with whom I speak are accepting online orders.  This is a smart move for them, but it often throws off the statement analysis department causing an inaccurate cost analysis to be presented.  Imagine showing the business owner exactly how much processing fees would increase based on these eCommerce transactions.  Perhaps a business owner is thinking about accepting online orders but is afraid the processing costs might be too high.  Using our Instant Quote Tool, you can show the owner exactly how much interchange costs would increase based on the percentage of eCommerce accepted.

Example #3 – One business selling to other businesses can be a huge opportunity.  Businesses tend to spend far more money when they make a purchase.  For instance, when individuals enter a sub sandwich shop, they are likely to spend $10 to $15.  When a business calls to order subs for the office, they are likely to spend over $200.  While this is a great opportunity, just like online orders, it has a major impact on the interchange rates.  This is something else the analysis department at most processing companies does not even consider.  You need to explain to your prospects that while dealing with other businesses does cost more in payment fees, to gain the additional revenue is well worth it.

You could and should be having conversations such as these three examples every single day!  Make a commitment to become a true merchant services professional over the next few months.  Start by getting a free 30 Day Trial to Our Instant Quote Tool.  Then you can leverage our Interchange Algorithm and calculator which shows how Interchange really works for each prospect and how to lower processing costs without necessarily lowering  pricing.

Make a great day!

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