After conducting a little research and talking with payment agents/ISO’s, we have drawn the conclusion that the average MLS (merchant level salesperson) has to save a merchant $100 to convince them to switch their payment processor. While it was very tough to acquire hard data since most ISO’s and agents aren’t willing to disclose their recent proposals, we feel confident in this number using our small sample size of payment providers.
When it comes to selling merchant services on price, admitting there is a problem is generally the first step towards building a healthier and more profitable portfolio. Just imagine, how much more money could you make if you matched everyone’s rates as opposed to saving them money?
We all know that getting through doors is the hardest part about selling merchant services. When someone agrees to meet with you, it’s important that you close the deal. Unfortunately, the entire industry has led most sales reps to believe that saving merchants money is a good thing. What if you charged more and could stand behind the value you deliver? Do you think merchants are willing to pay a little more for additional value?
We believe that your clients will absolutely pay more to accept credit and debit cards if they feel they are able to grow their business with tools and technology. Square is the perfect example of this practice. They offer simple and transparent pricing, however, they are generally expensive for merchants processing over $250,000 per year with an average ticket of over $15.
We know that merchants desire transparency and if we have learned anything from companies like Square, we know they are actually willing to pay more to avoid confusing and miscellaneous fee structures. That’s not all we have learned though. Business owners are actually much more fixated on growing their businesses than they are on shaving pennies off of their credit card processing fees.
Square has disrupted the traditional rate slinger model by offering merchants tools to help them grow their businesses like Payroll, Marketing, Loyalty Programs, Website Builder, eCommerce, and much more.
We believe as time progresses, agents and ISO’s need to be rethinking their value propositions. Unlike payment companies, point of sale companies have always stood behind the value they offer and charge a premium for their services. They understand that if their products can deliver a measurable ROI, they can charge more for their services.
If you are a rate slinger (don’t take it personally, most agents and ISO’s are), what value are you actually bringing to your customers by saving them a $100 per month? What is to stop to the next rate slinger from coming behind you and doing the same thing? Ask yourself, does saving $100 per month make a big financial impact in your life and business? Probably not, and the same goes for your customers.
Let’s do some math to see how your portfolio would be impacted over the next 12 months if you could take the “Square” approach and stop saving merchants money. Let’s assume you are boarding a conservative 50 deals per year. At $100 in savings per month per deal, or $1,200 annually, that’s a lost revenue potential of $60,000 in recurring residuals. For agents, they are likely giving their ISO’s 30% at a 70/30 rev share resulting in loss revenues to the MLS of $42,000.
What could your ISO do with an additional $60,000? As an agent, what would you do with your additional $42,000 in recurring income?
In order to make this a reality, you need to be offering a product that has indisputable evidence of a return on investment. What would be the financial impact to the retail sector if every ISO and Agent was fixated on helping their customers generate more revenues as opposed to saving them a little money?
In order to capture that additional revenue, we believe that all payment providers need to transition into selling integrated technology. Having a point of sale offering is a good start but, point of sale companies aren’t going to build everything successfully. What if you could carve out a niche in the industry by turning your customers payment data into the fuel that helps attract new customers? We will leave you with this short clip.
Happy Selling : )
