by Matt Price: During my seven years in the merchant services industry I’ve listened to many people’s efforts at selling over the phone. Too often this is the scenario: after hearing several “not interested” responses, the sales person gives up. Honestly, I can’t blame him or her! Absolutely the hardest way to obtain a merchant account is by trying to cold call and close the sale over the phone. I can PROMISE you will not get a prosperous portfolio by trying to close the sales on the phone.
If you prefer, as I do, to work over the phone rather than business-to-business, you need to understand the real goal and value of appointment setting. Unlike closing the sale on the phone, you can very effectively use appointment setting to build your portfolio. In order to understand the value of appointment setting, you should first understand the real goal when speaking with a merchant for the first time whether in person or on the phone.
Goal #1: Identify the decision maker.
Most of the time this will be the actual business owner. However, there will be times when the manager, company controller, or another staff member will be the decision maker.
Goal #2: The ultimate goal on the first contact: obtain the merchant’s processing statement.
Whereas goal #1 is easily done by phone, goal #2 is much more complicated! Many merchants are bombarded by telemarketing companies whose entire purpose is obtaining processing statements. Therefore, we independent agents will often find merchants are already annoyed by too many calls and will not offer up their statement unless they are in the process of looking for a new processor. What is the answer to this dilemma? Appointment setting!
Appointment setting requires virtually no financial investment. When done properly, you can very realistically set yourself two to four appointments every day with decision makers. Appointment setting also requires very little “field work” since most appointments only require five or ten minutes at the merchant’s actual place of business.
So with the proper training, you can meet with ten to twenty decision makers a week who have their processing statements waiting on your review. How many deals could you close from talking to twenty decision makers with statements each week?
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Selling Merchant Services Using the Phone
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Stop Asking for the Business and Start Closing Deals
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