Who should I sell as a new merchant services agent?

Recently I have had the opportunity to work with about twenty brand new agents. This was a fresh reminder to me of the issues a new agent in this industry faces. I have been working with agents now for several years and very little surprises me. But this week I was surprised! I have identified the main issue which is keeping these agents from their full income potential, and it isn’t what you are probably thinking. This particular group is working hard, staying busy, and motivated to succeed. They have gone through our training and have a basic understanding of the industry.  They seem fairly confident in their abilities and have no problem talking to business owners. So what is holding them back? They are investing time in the wrong clients. Let’s talk about who the right clients are first. Then we will move on to some tips on identifying the wrong clients.

How to Sell Merchant Services in 6 Steps

If I could write an eBook knowing what I know today and then go back in time and deliver it to myself 10 years ago when I first got into this industry, this would be the one! CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

When you are a new agent, your target market is as follows: independently owned, physical location businesses in your own local market with five or less locations which are doing over $2,000 per month in credit card volume through a standard credit card terminal (not a POS System.) These merchants are the easiest to sell, the most likely to buy, the most profitable with which to build your portfolio, and the least likely to cause you headaches during the installation process. If you want to get off to a fast start, you want to target these businesses!!!! Let’s logic a little bit more about this, so you can see why I am giving this advice to new agents.

First of all, understand your limitations and advantages as a new agent. Your key advantage is that every business in your local market is a potential prospect at some point in the life of your business. Since you are new and have never walked into any businesses before, you could probably prospect for thirty hours per week for two or three months staying within fifteen miles of your home office without ever wearing out your welcome. Your limitations are you don’t have references, your knowledge of advanced industry concepts is still lacking, and you need cash flow to build your business.

So let’s think about this advantage and these limitations logically. You have an unlimited number of businesses to visit during your first two months but have limited knowledge of advanced industry concepts (like POS Systems and conversions from PayPal to traditional processing) and need to build cash flow quickly. Therefore, doesn’t it make sense that you would only invest time walking into businesses and meeting business owners who are the easiest to sell, install, and service and are the most profitable for you? Here is a list of specific action steps I would encourage you to adopt during your first two months in this business as a local, independent sales agent:

So you might be wondering, “Where do I find these target market merchants that are so profitable and easy to sell?” Finding them is not difficult. 75% of physical location, individually owned retail / restaurant businesses fit the criteria mentioned above. Just walk into any retail / restaurant location in your market that has a physical location to walk into and is not corporately owned. You have a 75% chance of being right where you want to be. As soon as you realize you are not in the right kind of business, STOP SPENDING TIME ON THAT DEAL and start spending time on another deal that is part of your target market. Put these “non-target market” deals on the back burner. Visit them again in three or four months when you will be better equipped to evaluate and sell these deals.

I hope this helps you make your time more efficient!
James Shepherd “Always Leveraging” james@ccsalespro.com