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Education
In my experience, every new and fancy But MLS Forum member dvst8 said he believes strongly
product that has come along over the in selling multiple solutions, especially as a package
last 20 years has always turned out to including multiple services such as "POS, credit card
be more sizzle than steak. processing, payroll services, ATMs, gift & loyalty, MCA
[and] prepaid." According to dvst8, this allows MLSs to:
– Steve Norell, MLS Forum member
1. Earn multiple revenue streams
dvst8 wrote, "I would never prospect a merchant with
credit card processing services. … I recommend leading in 2. Strengthen your relationships with merchants,
with payroll services as merchants do not get prospected which helps with retention
like they do with card processing services, which can be
as much as once a day." 3. Get creative when selling to merchants
Alpha Card Services was founded as an ISO but also "If the merchant is upset about his processing fees, you
became a payroll processor a few years ago, dvst8 noted. can focus on lowering those fees and make up the profit
"As profit margins continue to shrink in merchant margins on payroll or vice versa," dvst8 added.
services, we thought it would be an excellent opportunity
to make up for those losses and increase revenue," dvst8 Payroll processing versus marketing solutions
said. "Profit margins are higher in payroll than they are
with merchant services. The great thing about payroll, I believe leading with payroll processing or marketing
there are no contracts or ETFs, so there are less obstacles to solutions, or both, could be a blessing or a curse depending
overcome when switching payroll processing companies. upon the business acumen of the MLS bringing the
solutions to the market.
"If you are making $300 to $1,000 per month from an
account, providing payroll services for free is an excellent If you were able to identify a continual stream of merchants
opportunity to lock in those profits. So when a competitor in need of more efficient payroll processing procedures
tells your merchant they can save them $xxx per month, – for example, merchants who are running their payroll
the merchant will ask, 'What can you do for payroll processing aspects in-house with a limited staff, and by
services, as my merchant services are tied into my payroll turning the management of said function over to your
services, which is provided at no cost?'" organization, they could save time, energy, and money –
then leading with a payroll processing solution could be
Rebranding as a marketing sales professional very beneficial.
A variety of marketing solutions could be offered as a If you were able to identify merchants who were not using
rebranding alternative. These solutions include big data a particular marketing medium and show them reporting
solutions and mobile couponing, as well as selling ad and analysis that demonstrates how using said medium
space on television, radio, print, websites and through could attract an estimated specific number of customers,
podcasts, online video, search engines, pay-per-click and which would translate into an estimated specific amount
more. of revenue, then leading in with said solution or solutions
could be very beneficial.
Neither Steve Norell nor ber believes rebranding as a
marketing sales professional is worth the effort. "We The viability of payroll processing and marketing
spent substantial time pursuing revenue and stickiness solutions will depend upon your strategic planning and
from value add-ons like loyalty, rewards and text message research capabilities to determine how valuable (or not)
marketing," ber said. "The group evaluation was that these solutions could be to your office.
those solutions were not worth the opportunity cost for
salespeople that make a great deal more from our primary And, as I've said before, if you haven't researched a
products (POS, CCP, CA)." merchant and identified an issue or opportunity that
particular individual faces for which you could provide
Steve Norell added, "In my experience, every new and assistance, then you have no business (literally and
fancy product that has come along over the last 20 years figuratively) contacting that merchant.
has always turned out to be more sizzle than steak. This
starts from checks, to gift, to loyalty to text … the MLS felt John Tucker has over 10 years of professional experience in commercial
it was a lot of time and very little money." finance and business development. He is also an M.B.A. graduate and
holder of three bachelor's degrees in accounting, business management
and journalism. To connect with John, please send him a connection
invite via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/johntucker99 or email him
at tucker@1stcapitalloans.com.
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