The Most Important Customer Service Action

Imagine you go into a car showroom tomorrow to purchase a car. When you walk in the door, a very well spoken and sharply dressed sales person approaches you and offers to help you find the perfect car to fit your needs. You finally settle on the right car except they have it in red, but you really want it in blue. The sales person responds, “No problem, I am going to order this car for you in blue. It should be in shortly.” You sign the papers for the car loan and anxiously await your new vehicle. Three weeks later your car still hasn’t arrived, and you get your first loan payment notice in the mail. Every time you call the sales person there is a great excuse as to why your car hasn’t arrived. After four or five weeks you are probably thinking this person is a little too good in sales. You begin to feel ripped off, right?

How many of your customers have been waiting for three or four weeks to get their terminal installed? This is an unacceptable amount of time to wait; I promise that these customers are having second thoughts about you as a sales professional. They are probably thinking, “I knew those prices were too good to be true!” Also, don’t forget that on the first of each month, they are going to get a bill from the processor. They’ll be billed about $30 or $35 for their monthly minimum and for statement fees / monthly fees. But these charges are for nothing without their terminal! If they weren’t upset before, they will be when they get that first bill.

Let me challenge you to do two things:

1. Make a list right now of all your accounts which are approved and not installed. Do whatever you need to do in order to get these installed this week. It is crucial that you get these installed. These accounts are inactive. When an account remains inactive, the processor is going to do a “buyback” of the upfront bonus that was issued to you.

2. Evaluate your desire to be in charge of the installation process. Keep in mind that your processor has an option where their tech support team will walk the merchant through the installation process; that is how simple the process is. They can contact the merchant by phone. Within a few short minutes that merchant can be processing transactions. Also, keep in mind that the individual who is walking your merchant through the installation gets paid to do so; that is their sole purpose. If you decide that the installation process is not something in which you want to be involved, I would recommend at least follow up with the merchant to make sure his or her experience was satisfactory.