Should I Lead with Merchant Services? – Part 5

The question I am asked more than any other right now is, “Should I lead with merchant services?”  In other words, about what should you talk when you go into or call a business for the first time?

Before discussing details on this, you should understand that usually whatever you lead with is what you will sell.  I hear many sales people say, “James, I found this cool pitch where I’m going to lead with social media management, then add on the merchant services.”  They might have been doing fifteen deals a month in merchant services but now go down to two or three.  The reason for that drop is they are now selling social media management.  Whether that’s a good thing or bad thing depends on how much they’re making on social media management.  There has to be one main item you’re trying to sell; keep in mind whatever you lead with is what you’re going to sell.

Read the previous blog post.  What to Expect as a Merchant Services Rep – Part 4: http://bit.ly/2hq2lH8

For this article, I’m assuming you WANT to sell merchant services.  That means my answer to the question “should I lead with merchant services?” is “yes.”  However, the WAY you lead with merchant services is extremely important!  There are four paths you can take to lead with merchant services.

1. Technology which is exclusive to your merchant services. This could be Poynt terminal, Clover, or something else which must be purchased with merchant services.  They are literally tied together.  In this case, you aren’t technically leading with merchant services.  But the product you are selling must include merchant services.  So, you design a pitch dealing with both of them.
2. Educate prospects about something pertaining to merchant services. You’ve probably heard some of the ways I do this such as interchange petition.  In educating prospects about merchant services, I leverage that to do the opening pitch.  Then I talk about saving them money; you can do that.
3. Simply pitch merchant services! It still works.  Often you’ll hear, “You can’t talk about merchant services or they’ll kick you out the door.”  This may be true three or four times out of ten.  But you still have six tries left!  You can just walk in and ask, “Who are you currently using to process credit cards?”  The merchants will tell you and may even converse about it.  You are wondering if selling merchants this way is easy.  No, it’s sales; it’s not easy!  You must know what you’re doing and be smart.  Read sales books.  Listen to sales audio programs, and learn how to sell.
4. Go after a specific niche. Yesterday a rep asked me about pizza shops.  My suggested response, “I have a special program for pizza shops.  I reduce payment costs specifically for pizza shops by lowering the transaction fee.  The transaction fee is the most important number because of the size of your most frequent transactions being $10 to $25.  Bringing that cost way down will save you a lot of money.  Let me take a quick look at your statement, unless you know the amount of your transaction fee off the top of your head?”  Usually even those who know the total amount of fees paid, won’t know the transaction fee.  So, asking that question will encourage the merchant to show you a statement.  There you have an example of going after a niche and making a payment pitch just for that. 

There’s a few thoughts which answer the question, “Should I lead with merchant services?”  Don’t just walk into a business and say, “Hi, my name is James Shepherd.  I can save you money on credit card processing.  Are you interested?”  Rather, make a good pitch with one of these four options.  And remember – whatever you lead with is what you’re going to sell.

My name is James Shepherd.  Thanks for reading!

What to Expect as a Merchant Services Rep – Part 4: http://bit.ly/2hq2lH8

Should I Register My ISO – Merchant Services – Part 6: http://bit.ly/2mpTxmD