Top 10 Reasons Not to Sell Credit Card Processing

Some of you may have just started out in the industry and you are wondering, “Did I make the right decision?” I think you will be able to decide, using these reasons, whether you should go at this business with full effort. The following are the top ten reasons not to sell credit card processing:

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 #10 – If you don’t have time to… I can’t tell you how many potential recruits I have talked to that work a job from 9am – 5pm and want to sale in the evenings. The only time you can sale this business is during daytime hours. You need to be out in the field 9am – 5pm, five days a week. This is a business that requires full-time effort. What if a business owner calls you during the day when you are working and he has a problem? When I first started out in this business, I worked an evening job. So if you don’t have the time to give, don’t sale credit card processing.#9 – If business owners make you nervous… Keep in mind in this business the only people you will be talking with are business owners. A lot of people like talking to business owners, others don’t. If you don’t, you shouldn’t be selling credit card processing. They are the main people you will be dealing with.#8 – If you don’t like to talk about business… What I encourage you to do is to become a small business expert. Constantly read business books, read books that talk about marketing, or follow blogs. I follow Duct Tape Marketing. It is a great small business marketing course. Look at all these different small business areas, and learn all you can so you can talk about business. When you like talking about business you will be able to build trust with the merchants in your community.

#7 – If you are not self-motivated… Now there are some credit card processing companies out there that will call you every morning. They call you at every single appointment to make sure you are doing what you are supposed to do. They sort of “hold your hand” all day everyday. The important thing to understand is if you have someone “hold your hand” you have to pay for that. And the way you pay for that is missed commission. So if you want to sale credit processing, it is imperative you be self-motivated. Basically, you get up everyday and get out there in the field and do the things you need to do.

#6 – If you can’t handle a tough year… In credit card processing your first year is going to be a little bit lean. It takes a little while to build up your residual compensation. One thing I encourage our agents to do is to actually look at this endeavor as a business. Don’t look at it like a job where you expect to make a huge amount of money.

#5 – If you don’t like having a schedule… A lot of agents will come to me and say, “I really want to quit my job because they are always stringent about keeping the schedule.” These agents will fail in this business. If you are not someone who can set a schedule and live by it, then I do not advise you sell credit card processing.#4 – If you don’t like working a 60 hour week… You must remember you are building a business. Most agents I talk to work about 15-20 hours a week and expect to succeed. I can tell you this right now; they are not going to succeed. If you work 60 hours a week you have a very good chance of succeeding.#3 – You are not 100% honest… You must be honest with your clients. If you are not, it will come back to bite you in a small business community. The last thing you want is a bunch of small business owners in your community mad at you. Remember, most small business owners know several other business owners in a community. So you could very quickly snowball into many accounts, or you could very quickly snowball into a bad reputation.

#2 – If you don’t care about residual… We are used to people coming in who have sold real estate, or cars. They received all their money upfront. That is not a bad thing, but it is different in credit card processing. In this industry you will make a lot less upfront, but as you build up residual this will change. Credit card processing is about building a long term residual stream. It is not about the upfront money. If you are someone who does not like or understand how residual works, than don’t sell credit card processing. If you have to have a steady stream of $80,000 dollars a year, you are not going to make that the first year selling credit card processing.

#1 – If you don’t like to sell… I know this is obvious, but I get a lot of people that contact me and say, ” I am an accountant and I would like to start a credit card processing business.” I reply, ” Do you like to sell?” Sometimes the accountant will reply, ” No, not really.” These are your top ten reasons why you should not sell credit card processing.

My name is James Shepherd.