The Biggest Misconception in Sales – Risks Into Sales Part I

There are really only two things that need to happen in order for you to complete a merchant services sale.

First, you must establish trust and credibility with the clients so they will believe what you tell them.

Second, you must offer them a value proposition which makes sense.  To understand this order is very important.  Prospects always begin a decision with emotion and then look for the logic to back up or validate their initial emotional response.

In this introduction to merchant value I want to show you what merchant value looks like and how you can create the right value proposition to win the sale.

Before I explain the three pillars of merchant value (savings, service, and growth), I want to explain the negatives you are fighting against.  In your mind picture a seesaw.  On one side there is the level of savings, service and growth potential you are offering the merchant.  On the other side of the seesaw there is risk, time and focus.  You must make sure the value side of the seesaw outweighs these three negatives.

#1 – Risk.  Many merchant sales people seem to have forgotten how important payment processing really is.  The reality of running a business is that cash flows are usually tight; you need every dollar you can get yesterday.  Switching to a new credit card processor means the merchant is trusting a new company and a new sales person with 40%+ of the total cash flow into his or her bank account.

In addition to business risk, your prospect also faces payment processing risks which are specific to this relationship.  If you offer long term contracts, there is a risk that the price could go up over time.  The terminal could go down, costing the prospect business.  I could go on about the risks a potential client faces when considering a switch to you.

At this point you may be thinking, “How am I supposed to convince anyone to switch with all this risk?”  Your job is to minimize these risks and then overcome them with value.  Everyone takes risks.  The reason we all do take risks is that we feel the value justifies the risk.

Here are a few ideas about how you can turn risks into sales opportunities.

• Risk: “What if you / the processor drop the ball?” Sales opportunity: Get letters of reference from other business associates to showcase how trustworthy and competent you are.
• Cash-flow Risk:  “What if switching hurts my cashflow?” Sales opportunity: Show the merchant how accepting new forms of payment can improve cashflow by adding even more revenue through processing new forms of payment.  If your processor offers next day funding, show the merchant how this would improve cash flow by allowing quicker access to his or her money.
• Long term agreement risk: If your company offers month to month or “No ETF” agreements, certainly highlight this right off the bat.  If you sell long term agreements, ask your processor about a price guarantee.  This way you can tell your clients that the long term agreement is actually protecting them from rate increases.
• Terminal malfunction risk:  One of the best value propositions I use in the field is that I carry two or three spare terminals in my trunk.  I find that most businesses have some sort of issue with their terminal at least once per year.  It is not uncommon for this “downtime” to run on for days, costing the merchant thousands of dollars in revenue.  My clients are never without a terminal for longer than an hour or two.  Either one of my local employees or I would drive a spare, temporary terminal over to the client immediately.

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Don’t Make This Basic Sales Mistake – Risks Into Sales Part II