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tion fees, real-time payments offer vast improvements
in cash flow management while improving customer
service and reducing opportunities for fraud.
Selling payments expertise
To compete successfully in this changing environment,
ISOs and merchant level salespeople (MLSs) need to
remake themselves into payments experts who can
provide combinations of payment acceptance options
and ancillary services that make sense for individual
retailers.
Card acceptance is the go-to option for millions of
merchants, but not all. For others, particularly those
selling large-ticket items like automobiles, furniture
and jewelry, check payments are the preferred option.
And the combination of remote check capture and
guarantee services can now render checks faster and
safer than most any other payment. In fact, many
banks and financial technology firms are providing
same-day availability on check deposits, for a fee.

As Paul H. Green (founder of The Green Sheet) explained
to me many years ago: merchants just want to sell stuff.
The method of payment doesn't matter; they'd accept
puka shells if there were sufficient value attached. And
this brings me to an important consideration: the value
of unified, interoperable payment offerings cannot be
ignored.

"What was once an industry based on a simple cash
register in the store has now grown to encompass mul-
tiple channels, alternative payment options, always-on
service and inventory availability, and an extremely
well-informed consumer," Boston Retail Partners
wrote in a 2016 report detailing its 17th annual POS/
customer engagement survey. The number one priority
for merchants: unified commerce, cited by 85 percent
of merchants surveyed, BRP said. This far outstripped
payment and data security, which was cited as a prior-
ity by just 38 percent of respondents.

Payments is just one piece of the retail ecosystem,
albeit an important piece. No merchant wants to turn
away customers, but by not offering a mix of payment
options that meets customer preferences, that's what
merchants may be doing. ISOs and MLSs can and
should help merchants implement the right mix of
payment options for their customers. Traditional credit
and debit cards likely always will be in that mix, but
the days of building a book of business by undercutting
competitors on interchange pricing, or handing out free
terminals, are over. So put on your consultant's hat and
help your customers make the most of the changing
payments landscape.

Patti Murphy is Senior Editor of The Green Sheet and President of
ProScribes Inc. She is also the founder of InsideMicrofinance.com.
Email her at patti@greensheet.com.

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