Three Rules For Being The Best Merchant Credit Card Processing Service

In your quest to be the best merchant credit card processing service or debit credit card processing service, you may be tempted to adopt gimmicks and shortcuts.

You may try to build your business by offering catchy discounts instead of quality service. You may offer merchants a technical support number instead of actual customer service. You may give them free equipment and supplies instead of proven, long term solutions.

You may turn a profit in the short term, but your clients won’t stick with you for long. But, unfortunately, the bad reputation you develop will.

Instead, follow these three rules. They’re not easy, but if you’re interested in building a credit or debit credit card processing service with long term success, they’re the only way.

1. Be dedicated to customer service.

To be one of the best merchant credit card processing services, you have to stay in touch with your customers. You need to call them, visit them in person, send them emails and keep them up-to-date via periodic newsletters. You have to check to make sure they’re getting everything they need, and if not, fix it right away.

2. Transparency is key.

Always give your merchants information in a format that’s easy to read and digest. No one likes to wade through the sludge of incomprehensible reports, so don’t make your merchants do it.

You should also promptly tell your merchants any news – good or bad. Bad news is bad enough without finding out that someone has tried to hide it from you.

And make sure to clearly explain any fees they’ll have to pay.

3. Know your merchants’ businesses.

Your merchants know everything about their respective industries, and you need to learn as much you can about them, too. How can you expect to give them good advice if you don’t know how they do business?

That being said, you don’t have to know it all. If they ask you a question and you don’t know the answer, it’s completely fine to say so. Just tell them you’ll do some research and get the answer to them as soon as possible.

Lastly, make sure your merchants understand these three important rules, and that they know you’re trying hard to live up to them. You want them to think of you as a partner –not just some company they have to pay.

And when they start thinking of you as a partner, you’ll build relationships with merchants that last – as well as a reputation that will attract new business.

Do you follow any of those rules? If so, which ones? If not, do you have any of your own? Leave us a comment below.

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Jeff Fortney is Vice President of ISO Channel Management at Clearent. He has 35 years of experience in financial services, with 17 of those in the debit and credit card processing industry. As many ISOs and agents will tell you, Clearent will help your business thrive by providing you with some of the best merchant credit card processing services and debit credit card processing services.

PCI Compliance Fees: What They Tell You About Your Processor

Recently, many agents and ISOs have come to me and complained about PCI compliance fees.

Monthly PCI fees can range from $5-$20, and annual fees can set you back $60-$130 (and sometimes merchants have to pay both!). But while merchants certainly don’t like paying them, the real problem is often that processors don’t clearly explain them. They stick the fee information in the fine print or they don’t communicate all the details so when merchants receive their monthly statements and find the fees on them, they grab their phones and give their merchant processor an earful.

But while murky PCI compliance fees are a pain in the neck by themselves, they often tell a much bigger story: the general state of your relationship with your processor.

Delve into your processor’s PCI compliance process and ask yourself these questions. They’ll let you know if you need to think about a change:

• How does your processor handle interchange fees? Do they pass them along at cost, or do they mark them up?
• Does the merchant application or agreement clearly disclose merchant fees? Or are they hidden in the fine print somewhere?
• On the merchant’s monthly statement, are fees labeled clearly and are the counts and amounts used to calculate the fees included?
• Is it easy to read and understand your residual report? Or is it filled with long paragraphs of jargon and winding, tortuous sentences that go on and on, not really say anything, repeating themselves, kind of like this?

After asking yourself those questions, ask yourself one more: does your partner consistently hide fees in order to make more revenue? If so, this pattern will probably continue.

Will the amount they charge be reasonable or exorbitant? Will merchants be able to control the amount of the fee, or will they be left helpless? And will processors clearly explain the fees to merchants and ISOs, or will they conceal or camouflage them so that they can increase their profits?

Pay close attention to how your processor responds to these types of situations. If it isn’t to your liking, you probably have other issues as well. And you may need to start thinking about changing processors.

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Jeff Zimmerman is Vice President of Product Management and Marketing at Clearent. He has 15 years of experience in marketing, finance and product management. Clearent can offer you a hassle-free PCI compliance process with no PCI compliance fees for merchants.

Three Types of Mobile Credit Card Processing Loyalty Apps

If you’ve been following the growth of mobile credit card processing, you may have come across a variety of new apps to help merchants manage their loyalty programs.

Some strictly help with loyalty programs. Others can handle processing credit cards as well. What’s for certain is that new apps are popping up all the time, and it’s hard to keep track of them all.

To help understand these apps a bit better, think about them in three broad categories.

Digital Punch Cards

These are digital versions of the punch cards that you carry around in your wallet. They track your purchases so that you can redeem an incentive after so many visits (think buy 5, get one free).

Usually, merchants will have a laminated card with a QR code on it their store, and consumers scan the code with a smartphone app to record their purchase.

One thing to remember is that these apps are not tied into the POS system.

Telugo, Klikt and Punched are three of the most popular apps in this category. And while they allow the user to empty their wallet of bulky loyalty cards, different merchants may use different apps, so consumers may have to download a handful of them.

Sophisticated Loyalty Apps

Other apps, including SpotOn and Belly, allow for more sophisticated loyalty programs.

These apps may be integrated with Facebook, Twitter or other social networks, allowing users to share their experience with their friends. Many of the apps require merchants to have a tablet or iPad at their store so that customers can sign up and check in.

Loyalty/Payment Apps

And yet other apps combine loyalty programs with mobile credit card processing.

The most famous of the apps that combines processing credit card payments along with a loyalty program is the Starbucks Mobile App.

Another solution is LevelUp. Users download the app then attach a credit card to it. The merchant installs hardware in their store, including a mobile phone. Then the user makes a purchase by holding up their phone to the merchant’s phone.

Some apps, like TabbedOut and Vibe, process credit card transactions by integrating with existing point of sale systems.

Merchants are just starting to experiment with these apps, trying to figure out what works best for them. For example, a merchant I know is promoting two apps at the same time.

Every day, some apps fold and new ones are born. It’s important to keep up so you can stay up-to-date on this ever changing space.

Are your merchants experimenting with loyalty apps? Which ones seem to be their favorites so far? Let us know with a comment.

 

Jeff Zimmerman, Vice President of Product Management and Marketing at Clearent, has worked in finance, marketing and product management for 15 years. Clearent can offer an array mobile credit card processing solutions for your merchant program, many of which go beyond just processing credit card payments and include loyalty program integration.

What’s Next for Mobile Credit Card Processing?

Everyone’s talking about mobile credit card processing.

Magazine editors, blogger and pundits are constantly forecasting the next development, the next startup to seize the industry, and how it will all affect merchant service providers. With so much buzz, it’s hard to keep up.

But the gist is that consumers are slowly adopting mobile payments, and that this rate should soon increase. A recent survey by MarketLive survey showed that during the 2012 holiday season, 16 percent of consumers planned to do all or most of their shopping on a tablet or smartphone. This was up from 3 percent in 2011.

Not Just One Option

When many merchant service providers think about mobile credit card processing and mobile payments, they think of Square. The company has been in the news a lot recently. They announced a partnership with Starbucks (Square will process all debit and credit card transactions for the company). They announced fixed merchant pricing. And they launched a television ad campaign.

Although Square is the big name in mobile processing right now, remember that there are many other options available. Your processor can offer you other solutions to compete with Square, including ePN Mobile, Magtek QwickPAY, VeriFone PAYware Mobile and TSYS Mobile Payment Acceptance.

The Jury is Out On...

Mobile Wallets. There’s a lot of buzz around them and many options have been launched, but consumers aren’t adopting them quickly. Furthermore, there aren’t many standards for mobile wallets, so some in the industry are questioning their security.

Near Field Communications (NFC). Near Field Communications is a type of technology that some in the industry have praised as the next big thing for mobile processing. But at a recent conference, many of the speakers were not as optimistic. NFC isn’t the only way data can be exchanged between mobile phones and POS systems. So the future of mobile payments doesn’t necessarily depend on it.

And the Future Holds...

Mobile credit card processing is in flux right. No one really knows the future. But you can count on one thing: the technology that becomes king will be the one consumers like best.

Most likely, it won’t be a simple option. It will probably include coupons and tie in to loyalty programs, offering extra value to the consumer instead of just being another way to pay.

What you think the future holds for mobile credit card processing? Which solution do you think will grow to dominate the industry? How will it affect you? Leave a comment below. We’re eager to hear your predictions.

 

Jeff Zimmerman is Vice President of Product Management and Marketing at Clearent. He has 15 years of experience in finance, marketing and product management, and has held management positions at Network Solutions and Intuit. Clearent is staying on the cutting edge of mobile credit card processing (http://www.clearent.com/financial-institutions/products-services/) and as one of the fastest growing merchant service providers, (http://www.clearent.com/about/) offers an array of different mobile payment solutions.

How the Best Credit Card Processing Companies Recruit Talent

It’s getting harder and harder to attract and keep the best talent, especially in the business credit card processing industry. The competition is stiff. New companies are sprouting up every day, and each is working hard to sell themselves as the best place to work for talented agents and merchant level salespeople.

What makes the arena even more competitive is the fact that agents and salespeople play such a pivotal role in determining the success of a business credit card processing company. In many aspects, merchants can have a tough time telling one credit card processing company from another. Consequently, every company fights hard to recruit, cultivate and retain the best salespeople possible.

One way they do this is through bonuses and high splits. This works well, especially for young salespeople who haven’t had time to build their savings accounts. However, experienced agents often choose their partners for other reasons. As they say, money can’t buy happiness.

So here are four tips to recruit and maintain talented agents without resorting to monetary means.

Cultivate a team atmosphere.

Yes, it might be cliche, but it works. If you make your agents, or anyone for that matter, feel like they’re part of the team, they will be happier. So encourage honest and open communication. Make sure everyone knows how their job contributes to the overall effort. These are the first steps in making your company an attractive place to work.

Have a wide array of products and services.

Little could be more frustrating to your agents than having to repeatedly tell potential customers that you just don’t offer what they need. Merchants have a variety of needs, so make sure you offer a variety of products. It’ll make things much easier on your agents.

Update your platforms and systems.

Working with outdated and clunky systems can be a pain, but imagine trying to sell it. It’s no fun. Make sure your platforms and systems are up-to-date. The best credit card processing companies do, and it helps them retain the best salespeople. Make signing merchants easy When your agent has a deal that’s ready to be sealed, make it easy for them do it. Offer fast, easy applications, clear and short underwriting policies and fast merchant approvals. After working hard to make the sale, the last thing your agent wants is a tedious, complicated process for bringing on new merchants.

Those are four tips for recruiting and retaining the top sales talent. Do you use any of them? Do you have your own ways to make sure your agents are happy with their jobs? Let us know.

As a Vice Presicent of Business Development, Terry Nawara’s focus is growing supportive partnerships with ISOs and financial institutions. Terry brings nearly 20 years experience in the merchant services industry -- experience that makes Clearent one of the best credit card processing companies. With an abundance of business credit card processing services, Clearent can provide clients with the necessary tools to really make a difference.

Grow Your Credit Card Processing Services Portfolio with Fast Merchant Account Approval

With credit card processing services, being able to get a fast merchant account approval can be the difference between a potential client signing with you or your competitor.

Often you’ll meet merchants who are opening businesses but have waited until the last minute to think about credit card processing services. Their doors open in two days, but they have no processing in place.

In this scenario, it’s crucial to have a good processing partner, one that is committed to fast merchant account approval.

Without a good partner, it could be days before the merchant is able to process credit cards.

However, with a good partner, you can easily say, “No problem. I’ll have you accepting credit cards in no time.”

Without a good partner, you’ll submit a completed application to your processor along with a note begging for fast merchant account approval.

With a good partner, you can fax the application knowing that you’ll get the terminal ID number (TID) in a few hours, and that you’ll have the merchant’s terminal up and running fast.

As you can see, partnering with the right processor is important. Don’t just choose one that offers a special rush service. Pick one who views turning around new applications in just a few hours as business as usual.

After picking a partner dedicated to fast merchant account approval, you can speed up the approval process with these tips:

• Make sure you get the TID. A fast approval is the first step, but to reprogram the merchant’s terminal and get them up and running quickly, you need the TID.
• Understand your processor’s credit policy so you can provide the right documents based on the type of merchant (e.g., low vs. high risk). This way your processor’s underwriting department will have the information they need, and you won’t have to spend time collecting additional documents.
• Gather accurate and complete information about the client’s terminal setup so the processor can create the file build correctly.
• If you have questions about underwriting or equipment, ask your processor. They’ll be happy to answer your questions to make your turnaround fast.

Have you met merchants who need two-day turnarounds–or less? Do you have any other tips to speed up turnaround? Leave us a comment below.

Jeff Fortney is Vice President of ISO Channel Management at Clearent™. His career includes over 35 years in financial services, with the last 17 focused on the debit and credit card processing industry. Clearent provides fast merchant account approval and is a valuable partner to many ISOs and agents. If you’re looking for a new partner for your credit card processing services, Clearent will be sure to give you and your merchants high-quality service, competitive pricing and sought-after products and services.

Make Your Merchant Services Program More Profitable

Across the country, bankers at both large and small financial institutions want to boost their non-interest income, and they’re asking third party service providers to help them do so.

One potential source of valuable revenue is a financial institution’s merchant services program. With a little time and a renewed focus, you can create a more profitable program. Here are a few pointers that can help boost your portfolio and revenue.

Train Your Employees

Make sure your employees know your merchant services program inside and out. Otherwise they won’t be able to effectively pitch it to potential clients. Also, make sure they’re up-to-date on the industry. Educate them on the latest trends, train them on the newest merchant services software, and basically do everything you can to ensure they’re cutting edge.

Help Your Employees Beat Sales Call Stress

A sales call can be frightening, and some of your employees are probably reluctant to truly engage with your customers. But once they see that they’re helping customers−not tricking them or forcing information on them− they’ll feel more comfortable talking about your merchant services program. So point out how your services help your merchants. Framing a sales pitch in this light can make it much less stressful.

Offer Your Employees Incentives

Think about the rewards that would best motivate your team. Then give them to employees when they reach milestones. Incentives can be based on individual performance or team success. A little friendly competition encourages teamwork.

Reach Customers in Multiple Ways

There are many ways to reach out to your customers, including direct mail campaigns, phone calls, online newsletters and in-person visits. The more methods you use, the better your response will be.

Keep Merchant Services Top of Mind

Make sure your merchant services program and merchant services software stay top of mind for your employees and customers.

It’s not easy, but having brochures, posters and table tents set up at all your branches can help accomplish this. Featuring a banner about your program on your website can also help boost awareness.

With these tips and some hard work, you can make your financial institution’s merchant services program more profitable. What else have you done to try to increase your profits? Leave us a comment below.

As a Relationship Manager, Nick Karcher supports both current bank partners as well as those institutions that want to know what makes Clearent a different kind of payment processor. Nick began his career in debit and credit card processing with Electronic Merchant Systems (EMS) as an Account Executive and later started his own Independent Sales Office. With an abundance of credit card processing solutions and excellent merchant services software, Clearent provides clients with the necessary tools to really improve their merchant services programs.

 

 

Measuring the ROI of Your Merchant Credit Card Processing Services

To provide the best credit card processing services, you have to identify and address your weaknesses.

Sounds simple, and many ISOs agree that this self-examination is a good idea. But when it comes time to evaluate their merchant credit card processing services, they settle for cursory reviews and come up with unhelpful findings. They don’t delve deep into the details of their business, and consequently, they gain little insight and might say something vague like, “Well, things are going alright, but I guess they could be better.”

Pinpointing areas for improvement takes a detailed examination of your business. Start by evaluating why your portfolio didn’t produce as much income as you thought. There are two primary reasons for lower returns: your practices and those of your credit card processor.

Your Practices
Identify the merchants who you priced below your minimum acceptable price. Then ask why they were priced so low. After all, there may be a good reason why they’re underpriced. For example, maybe you set their rate on a different average ticket than what is the norm for their business today. Or maybe you predicted higher volume. If the reason was a perceived promise of return, examine the merchant’s volume to determine if it panned out. If not, remember to reward merchants after you receive your desired return – not before.

Those of Your Credit Card Processor
Many ISOs don’t consider the practices of their credit card processor when evaluating their merchant credit card processing services. Credit card processors can impact your return more than you might think.

Consider these questions when evaluating your current partner:
1. Can I proof my residuals down to my costs?
If not, you may have a problem, but you’ll have no way of knowing it.

2. I thought my pricing was great when I first signed? But is it really that great?
One area may look great, but other areas like lower splits, high monthly costs and miscellaneous fees may offset it.  

3. Am I getting the support I need?
Your credit card processor should be a good partner, providing advice, supporting you when you need help, and being available to address questions or concerns.

Follow these tips when you evaluate your business and you’ll be on the way to finding your weaknesses and developing the best credit card processing service possible. Did you find these tips helpful? Do you have some of your own? Let us know below.

Jeff Fortney is Vice President of ISO Channel Management at Clearent™. His career includes over 35 years in financial services, with the last 17 focused on the debit and credit card processing industry. Clearent is a valuable partner to many ISOs and agents. If you’re looking to develop the best credit card processing services, Clearent will be sure to give you high quality merchants credit card processing services, competitive pricing and sought-after products and services. 

Become One of the Best Small Business Credit Card Process Services

You may have the latest technologies, hardworking employees and a savvy business model, but that’s not enough to succeed in the debit and credit card processing industry. Like any successful business, the best small business credit card process services not only display all the attributes above, but they also excel at cultivating relationships with current and potential clients.

So to help you grow your debit and credit card processing business, here are a few tips for forging profitable business partnerships.

Keep in touch

 Stay in constant contact with your merchants. It will keep your business at the top of their minds, and if you’re at the top of their minds, another debit and credit card processing service can’t be.

A great way to do this is sending an electronic newsletter. A variety of companies offer user-friendly templates that let you create custom, professional HTML newsletters at little or no cost. Mail Chimp has always worked well for us.
 
As far as content for your newsletter, remember to keep it short. All you need is a logo, a personal message, and some interesting information about debit and credit card processing services that can easily be found on the Internet. Also, keep your tone and design consistent, and try to send your newsletter every month---or at least every quarter.

Build Loyalty

 Don’t let your merchants think of you as a vendor or supplier. Make sure they see you as a partner.

How do you do this? Alert them to new forms of debit and credit processing, such as mobile payments, which will help them grow their business. Furthermore, when you’re near their business, call them and see if you can drop by to say hello. Lastly, build connections between your merchants, referring one to another if you think they’d make good business partners.

Once your merchants start to see you as a partner, keep cultivating those relationships and remember that the loyalty building process never stops. Ask your merchants for referrals, and keep sending business to them as well. This reciprocation will keep your partnerships strong.

These are just a few ways to cultivate successful and lasting relationships with your clients. What are some other great ways to build loyalty among your merchants? Share your ideas and leave us a comment below.

Jeff Fortney is Vice President of ISO Channel Management at Clearent™. His career includes over 35 years in financial services, with the last 17 focused on the debit and credit card processing industry. As one of the best small business credit card processing services, Clearent is a valuable partner to many ISOs and agents. If you’re looking for a new partner for debit and credit card processing services, Clearent will be sure to give you and your merchants high-quality service, competitive pricing and sought-after products and services. Contact us to learn more.

 

Normal Credit Card Processing vs. Next Day Funding Merchant Services

Many merchant services providers are adopting next day funding to grow their next day funding merchant services, and in a post last February, Carry Notheis explained many of the basics and benefits of this hot new service. However, despite the popularity of next day funding merchant services, many merchants don’t completely understand how it works. So to clarify this tricky topic, we thought it would help to compare next day funding to how credit card payments are typically processed by merchant services providers.

Normal credit card transaction processing
Typically, it takes two days from the time of sale for funds to appear in a merchant’s bank account. Say a boutique sells a blouse for $100 dollars on Tuesday afternoon, and after closing at 6:00 pm, the manager batches out and settles the terminal. That $100 (minus any fees) will be deposited in the boutique’s bank account on Thursday.

So what occurred between Tuesday and Thursday to make that deposit happen? Early Wednesday morning, the merchant service provider processed the debit and credit card transactions from Tuesday, submitted them to the card associations and initiated a transfer of funds to deposit the money into the boutique’s bank account. The money was then transferred via the ACH network. Because the ACH network transfers money between bank accounts overnight, the transfer occurred late Wednesday or early Thursday, and so the boutique received the funds sometime on Thursday during the day.

Next day funding
Now, using the same boutique example, let’s examine the next day funding cycle. If the boutique had next day funding, their merchant services provider would have processed the blouse transaction late Tuesday night and initiated the funds transfer to the ACH network Tuesday night before its last cut-off time. The ACH network would have transferred the funds overnight, and so the deposit would have appeared in the boutique’s bank account on the next day---Wednesday.

It sounds simple, but it can be tricky because each payment processor has its own processing and funding methods. Processors have to meet the cut-off time of the ACH network, and so they have to set a cut-off time for their merchants. This cut-off time varies from processor to processor because, depending on their systems and capabilities, some processors need more time to get everything in order to meet the ACH network cut-off time.

Furthermore, other processors may circumvent the ACH stipulations altogether. Collaborating with banks, they may “memo post” the transactions to the merchants’ accounts before the funds have really been transferred. This process relies on the policies of each bank and often requires funds to be held at a certain bank.

Jeff Zimmerman is Vice President of Product Management and Marketing at Clearent and has held management roles at Network Solutions and Intuit. Jeff brings 15 years of product management, finance and marketing experience to Clearent. Clearent is an experienced merchant services provider offering solutions such as mobile payment processing, wireless terminals, and next day funding merchant services. Learn more about how we can aid your credit card payments service and let us know any questions you might have.

 

4-Step Routine to Create the Best Merchant Services Program

We all have a daily routine, and whatever it may be, we consistently follow it. It helps us keep our lives in order. It makes us feel good. It just works.

And just as we should all follow our personal routines, Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs) and agents should follow routines of their own to get the most productivity out of their merchant service program. So to help you develop the best merchant services program possible, we’ve created this simple, 4-step routine.

1. Stay up-to-date

Like many other industries affected by the rise of the digital age, things constantly change in the world of merchant services. New technology is being produced, critical regulatory changes are taking place and your customers may be talking about you in a digital social sphere.

2. Make time to make sales calls

You know your portfolio isn’t going to just build itself. However, many ISOs fall into a trap of complacency when it comes to sales. They think that because their portfolio is adding to their bottom line, then there is no point changing anything. Building your portfolio with one or two successful merchants can do wonders for your profits. Yet to realize true organic growth, every day you should set aside a time to call prospective merchants and see if you can help them.

3. Follow-up with your customers

If your merchant has just been set up, call them to see how they’re doing and see if they need anything else. From a customer service perspective, staying in touch with your merchants is the best way to gain their trust and make them feel valuable. Managers of the best merchant services programs will consistently check on their customers.

4. Know where your merchants stand

It is important to know which of your merchants you’re at risk of losing. The best merchant services provider will be able to provide you with data that will help you figure out which merchants may be seeking a more profitable merchant services program. Additionally, checking on your merchants’ sales volume each day is a quick and painless process, and if you find a merchant that is dissatisfied, see if you can meet them halfway to salvage what profits you can.

Jeff Fortney is Vice President of ISO Channel Management at Clearent™. His career includes over 35 years in financial services, with the last 17 focused on the debit and credit card processing industry. As one of the best merchant services programs, Clearent is a valuable partner to many ISOs and agents. If you’re looking for a new partner for your merchant services program, Clearent will be sure to give you and your merchants high-quality service, competitive pricing and sought-after products and services.

How to Be Better Merchant Services Providers

No matter their size or industry, merchants should demand excellent customer service from merchant services providers. The best credit card processing companies know this, and do everything they can to ensure that their merchants are taken care of.

Although many companies do offer the kind of topnotch customer service that they claim, some fail at satisfying the consumer. They may think that their customer service is topnotch simply because there is no phone wait time and a building full of representatives in headsets answering calls immediately. Maybe they call their customer service “unmatched” because they have an “advanced troubleshooting program” and the representatives just have to read from a script.

Unfortunately, people don’t like feeling like they are being read to when they should be getting talked to, and people don’t really mind a short wait for a merchant service providers to answer the phone as long as the customer service experience is good. Not to mention that questions that aren’t contained in the computer script may arise during a call.

When something has gone wrong during a customer service call, customers don’t want to be formally addressed by their last name and profusely apologized to. They just want to know that the representative is doing everything he can to solve the problem. They want the customer service representative to show genuine concern for their problem.

The best credit card processing companies know that customer service representatives need to actually care about the problems of the customers. If a representative cares about the concerns of the customers, it will come through in his or her voice, and ultimately reassure the customer. Customer service representatives who care are also much more effective at solving problems because they want to see them resolved. It’s easy for customers to tell if a customer service representative is truly sympathetic to their situation or not.

They don’t want a customer service representative who speaks in a monotone voice or one that constantly uses industry jargon and big words to make them feel inferior. Customers want representatives to talk to them like normal people. Representatives of a merchant service provider can easily fall into industry-speak and forget that customers aren’t experts in their business.

The best credit card processing companies treat customers cordially, respectfully and honestly. Customers who have exceptional customer service experiences are likely to refer others to your credit card processing company just because of that one call.

All merchant service providers could benefit by reevaluating their customer service quality and revamp it where needed.

About the Author

Jeff Fortney is Vice President of ISO Channel Management at Clearent™. His financial services career includes over 35 years, with the last 17 focused on the debit and credit card processing industry. Clearent is one of the best credit card processing companies, providing passionate service that does not go unnoticed. Learn more about what merchant service providers can do for their clients.

5 Tips to Boost End-of-Year Profitability

Now that the year is half over, it is a good time to evaluate the goals you set for your merchant services program back in January. If you’re falling just a little short, here are some tips to get you back on track.

1. Cut Costs

The most basic way to increase profits is to reduce expenses. All you really have to do is assess where you are spending money and see if you are getting sufficient returns. Cutting costs is a surefire way to increase profits, especially when it comes to your credit card transaction processing service and how much money you make with your program.

Small business credit card processing offered by your bank should have competitive pricing. This will help you sign bigger merchants and help you make a greater impact on your overall profits.

2. Track the Money

Depending on the merchant services software provided to you by your credit card transaction processing service, it may be easier than you think to figure out how much your program generates. You might not need to spend hours with a calculator, adding up percentages to know how you are generating profits. Some merchant services software creates graphical reports so you can easily determine the value of your small business credit card processing services.

3. Promote Your Program

When you have a few large merchants and things are busy, it’s easy to forget how much more you could be benefitting by continuing to add merchants. There are a number of ways to increase merchant acquisition; you can create incentives for your personnel and implement in-branch advertising techniques targeting merchants. Create a presentation and set aside an hour to train your front-line employees on how to talk to merchants and give them bonuses for signing more. Small incentives can go a long way towards growing your portfolio.

4. Demand Quality Service

Never forget that excellent service is what keeps your customers happy. Not everyone who claims they provide good service actually does. Evaluate the promises your credit card transaction processing company made when you first started regarding the quality of service you and your merchants would receive, then talk to your merchants. What do they have to say? At the end of the day it is your responsibility to make sure your merchants are happy.

5. Don’t be Afraid to Switch

If you are unsatisfied with your credit card transaction processing company, you need not be afraid to switch to another provider. Many banks are hesitant to do this because they think the process will.

In reality, many providers have a solid plan and a skilled conversion team to get you switched and updated with better service in less than 30 days.

Converting to a new small business credit card processing company shouldn’t be viewed as a hassle, but instead a chance to clean up your portfolio and bring in more merchants to give them better service.

Kick-starting your merchant services program can boost your bottom number while requiring much less work than you ever thought.

 

About the Author

As a Relationship Manager, Nick Karcher supports both current bank partners as well as those institutions that want to know what makes Clearent a different kind of payment processor. Nick began his career in debit and credit card processing with Electronic Merchant Systems (EMS) as an Account Executive and later started his own Independent Sales Office. As one of the best credit card transaction processing companies, Clearent provides the kind of passionate service that others can't. With an abundance of small business credit card processing solutions, Clearent can provide clients with the necessary tools to really make a difference.

Even The Best Credit Card Processing Companies Face Pricing Challenges

As a merchant services provider, you know that at times, it can be difficult to price new merchant accounts, especially with the addition of new association fees. After discussing referral programs with many bankers, a lack of flexibility seemed to be creating the majority of the frustration when it came to pricing these new accounts.

In such a competitive market, flexibility is key when it comes to pricing. It’s necessary to offer many different options. Some of the best credit card processing companies will work diligently toward being able to offer unique pricing based on each individual merchant and their needs. In doing so, they focus on certain characteristics, such as the average ticket size, the size of the merchant and their expected card mix (credit, debit, rewards cards, etc.).

Here are a few areas payment processing agents should be cautious of when pricing new accounts.

Small Ticket Size

Merchants with a ticket size less than $15 are hard to price due in part to the large impact of the transaction fee and the minimal impact of the discount rate – whereas normal ticket sizes have the opposite effect. Also, the range of ticket sizes can affect the percentage of transactions that actually qualify for small ticket interchange rates.

Because of this, it’s much harder to use discount pricing for merchants with small tickets, but unfortunately some providers don’t make pass through pricing an option for their banks. 

Pricing Methods

Due to limitations of some provider’s fee structures, some merchant services programs still only offer one of the two major pricing options. Typically, pricing methods in our industry include discount (tiered) pricing, and interchange plus (pass through) pricing. When deciding which pricing method to choose, many small business owners are looking for payment processing agents that will work with them as a partner and help them find or create the best pricing structure to enhance the success of their business.

The best credit card processing companies will work to find the best option possible for your program – which could include either the discount or interchange pricing method. When only offered one option that might not meet all of their needs, there’s a good chance banks have turn business away. Plus the profitability on certain accounts will take a serious hit.

Looking to the future, I bet we will see more hybrids of discount and interchange plus pricing, like a discount pricing with pass through fees.

Support

Because merchant statements can become confusing, it has become increasingly difficult to offer the right price to merchants. It’s best if a bank can be given the opportunity to call their processing company for advice, although some aren’t given such option. With a good support system, banks will be able to take advantage of more opportunities.

About The Author

 

As a Relationship Manager, Nick Karcher supports both current bank partners as well as those institutions that want to know what makes Clearent a different kind of payment processor. Nick began his career in debit and credit card processing with Electronic Merchant Systems (EMS) as an Account Executive and later started his own Independent Sales Office. Clearent is always working toward being one of the best credit card processing companies thanks to its dedicated staff and many services. Talk to one of Clearent’s payment processing agents about how you can improve your sales.

 

Four Problems Even the Best Merchant Service Providers Face

As a merchant services provider, do you offer merchant tools to help you cater to the many different types of businesses in your market? Upon talking to many bankers about referral programs, there seemed to be an overwhelming number of people with frustration over the lack of flexibility when pricing new accounts. 

When trying to succeed in a fairly competitive market, it’s necessary to be flexible when it comes to pricing and offer many different options. The best merchant service providers will work hard to offer pricing based on each merchant individually and take into consideration size of the merchant, average ticket size and the amount and mix of different reward cards, debit cards, credit cards, etc. 

Here are four problems to avoid if you want to offer the best merchant service possible. 

Flexibility 

Small business owners are looking for merchant service providers that will work with them to help find or create the best option for their success. However, some financial institutions’ merchant services programs still only offer one pricing option. The problem can be due to system limitations or the bank’s fee structure.

As a service provider, it’s your job to try to offer your merchants what they need – that could be either a discount (tiered) or interchange plus (pass through) pricing method. Unfortunately, when banks are only offered one option that doesn’t meet all of their needs, they are forced to turn business away. Providers should be able to offer more than one method, and as we move into the future we’ll probably see more hybrids of the two – discount pricing with pass through fees. 

Small Ticket Merchants 

It can be difficult to use discount pricing for merchants with small ticket sizes. For one, the discount rate for merchants with a ticket size less than $15 has minimal impact and the transaction fee has a significant impact. Normal ticket sizes have the opposite effect.

The smaller the ticket, the harder it is to use discount pricing – but some banks still are unable to use pass through pricing because it is not available from their provider.

Limited Rates

The discount rates offered by many financial institutions’ merchant service programs tend to be rounded to a specified amount, rather than delivered in smaller increments. However, real world situations often call for precise rates, otherwise banks will likely frustrate their customers or offer lower-than-necessary rates, thus lowering profitability. 

Nonexistant Support 

Both industry veterans and “newbies” occasionally come across merchant statements that are difficult to understand. Because of this, it makes it harder to price the merchant correctly. Some banks have the luxury of calling their credit card processing company for guidance; others do not and are left to fend for themselves. With more support, banks will be able to better evaluate sales opportunities. 

 

About The Author

As a Relationship Manager, Nick Karcher supports both current bank partners as well as those institutions that want to know what makes Clearent a different kind of payment processor. Nick began his career in debit and credit card processing with Electronic Merchant Systems (EMS) as an Account Executive and later started his own Independent Sales Office. Clearent is always working toward being the best merchant service provider possible through dedicated staff and many services. Learn more about Clearent’s financial institutions merchant services programs that include next day funding merchant accounts can help you improve your sales.

 

 

A Mobile Future for Merchant Service Providers

This year marked the first Mobile Commerce Summit hosted by the ETA and held in Chicago. It educated attendees on the current use of mobile technology for small business merchant processing as well as its promising future in this market. It is predicted that mobile will have a strong impact on the industry. Because this is such an innovative endeavor, you may not feel quite up to par. However, there is no need to worry if you feel that your company is falling behind. This will be an ongoing learning process for everyone in the industry. Let’s take a look at the evidence that supports the future of mobile credit card processing service.

Many companies have already started to develop a more mobile approach to merchant processing. For example, Lowes is planning to implement iPhones as POS devices for customer service. Another store investing in a more mobile credit card processing service is Nordstrom. This retailer has already ordered a plethora of iPads for in-store use. Finally, Sparkbase has seen positive results and is quickly growing due to the use of the PayCloud mobile wallet.

After looking at these few success stories, it may seem like everyone is getting involved with some kind of mobile solution. However, it’s important to remember that these previously mentioned companies should be seen as early adopters. This is still a young and constantly evolving market. To help prepare your company for the future, it would be best to start educating yourself now on what is to come.

To help you begin the learning process, here are two crucial insights from panelists at the Mobile Commerce Summit.

Think Beyond Payments

As merchant service providers, you may be used to focusing all efforts on your credit card processing service, and this may have worked well previously when the job consisted of selling a credit card terminal to newly identified credit card acceptors. For existing clients, you may have helped lower their merchant processing costs. However, with the evolving market, your client relationship cannot be solely focused on the payment.

Mobile wallets, such as the Google Wallet, have more capabilities including the addition of coupons and other marketing strategies. You may also have heard of Square, which offers credit card processing along with a POS solution. The mobile future is beginning to develop beyond payments.

Focus on Merchants

Once you’ve broadened your idea of merchant processing and the future of mobile payments, you may discover even more ways to stray from offering only the typical payment solutions. To find new and innovative ways to help your merchants, try focusing on their current problems, needs and what specific ways you can help them with their business. This will position your company as a reliable merchant service provider.

About The Author:
Jeff Zimmerman serves as Clearent’s Vice President of Product Management and Marketing. Having held senior product management roles at Network Solutions and Intuit – maker of Quicken, QuickBooks and TurboTax, Jeff brings 15 years of product management, finance and marketing experience in the financial services and software industries. Among our solutions, we offer a mobile credit card processing service for our merchants’ convenience. Learn more about our merchant processing products and services and how they can help your business.