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business merchants weren't thinking about payments; Many large ISOs are focused on cost of acquisition and
they just wanted their processing systems to work. They degrees of efficiency, but this isn't a business that is built
wanted one phone number to call to distill information around price increases," added First Data's Sisk. "The card
that is mostly automated and publicly available today, brands may raise interchange, but we're not raising rates
he said. "Today's merchants can google everything, and the way gas and electricity prices continually go up. In this
they're getting smarter," Sisk said. "Empowered mom- business, you derive profits based on customer longevity
and-pop merchants know who's shopping at their stores. and lifetime service."
Data analytics and digital tools provide easy access to that
information."
Lacoste said that unlike ISOs that try to limit calls, TMS
Beyond COA, ROI encourages partners to call and brainstorm. "Return on
investment and cost of acquisition tend to balance out in
"Driving efficiencies is our mantra," Rutledge said. "I our extended family of agents, regardless of how many or
manage operations by thinking about how I can keep how few deals they write each month," he said. "We realize
customers from calling me, because if I treat them right, that even one deal can put gas in your car."
they don't need to call me. If I've answered questions,
disclosed information and proactively anticipated their What's your end game?
needs, then things only hit the fan when something
breaks." Author and motivational speaker Stephen Covey wrote,
"Begin with the end in mind." Many ISOs and MLSs are
looking ahead to the day when they sell a portfolio or pass
Merchants appreciate our personal touch, live support it down to family members.
and calls that are answered promptly, Rutledge added.
However, it's not always easy to get personal when you're
onboarding thousands of new merchant accounts every "I am a big believer in building long-term, sustainable
month. In the face of this extraordinary volume, Rutledge relationships," Akhrin said. "We personally meet most of
suggested the only way to make money is to move our clients face to face at least once a year at tradeshows."
merchants to self-service support. Personal meetings, even short ones, can build rapport
and give people the opportunity to communicate things
that they may not want to communicate by email, he said,
"Merchants are people and oftentimes prefer to pick up adding that when you know someone personally and can
the phone than look up an answer, but when they work look them in the eye, you tend to do right by them.
with third parties, there's no one to call, or they don't get
back to them for three or four days," Rutledge said. "At the
end of the day, it's hard to provide world class service at Lacoste said TMS's weekly calls are "open and available,"
K-Mart pricing." whether you write one deal a month or 1,000 deals a month.
"We put programs in place that allow agents to have an
end game in mind and not worry about claw-backs and
Worldpay treats each prospective partner with a strategic maintenance fees," he said. "We've been in the field; we
and consultative approach, reviewing solutions that know how to close a deal and we want to be the ones to
address specific requirements and verticals, Cowart service that deal.
stated. Sometimes partners prefer not to deal with the
Payment Card Industry (PCI) security standards, so
Worldpay provides gateways that take PCI out of scope, "We also want to know the ISO's exit strategy. Do they
tie in to their systems, and ensure they never hold or store want to cash out? Or do they want to build a generational
a credit card. plan, passing the portfolio down to their family so they
can continue to grow the portfolio?"

"Some ISOs have a provision that partners producing under
X number of contracts per month can be cut off," Cowart With technology evolving at breakneck speed, Lacoste
said. "They prefer to support partners that consistently believes it's essential for super ISOs to continually educate
add accounts than unproductive partners who may cost their teams, help them achieve goals and aspire to new
more to support than the relationship is worth." heights, and build strong portfolios to pass down to the
next generation. And that's something super ISOs, sub
ISOs and MLSs can all endorse.
Worldpay sets new partner expectations upfront during
the sales process, exploring solution fit and defining a
clear path for how they will work together, Cowart noted.
"We do that first, because if we can't work together, pricing
doesn't even matter," he said.

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