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Education

• Why did I see this as an op- I felt terrible when we lost that large opportunity, but the lessons learned made
portunity? We tend to think me more successful. Not all of my subsequent RFPs have met with success, but
that just because merchants gaining the ability to apply what I learn, as well as determine the reasons for
currently accept payments, they losses, has been empowering. Don't miss out on your chances to learn. They will
are obvious opportunities for lead to more sales, and more money.
us to sign. That isn't the case in
many instances. The two most Jeff Fortney is Vice President, ISO Channel Management with Clearent LLC. He has more than 17
obvious reasons are that they
may have a non-compatible POS years' experience in the payments industry. Contact him at jeff@clearent.com or 972-618-7340. To
system or they sell a product learn about how Clearent can help you grow faster and go further, visit www.clearent.com.
that ultimately doesn't fit your
credit policy. Not so obvious
reasons may be that they only
care about cost savings or treat
you like an adversary. All point
to reasons not to sign them or
invest the time.
If you identify that a particular
merchant ultimately wasn't an
opportunity, the lesson learned
is to find ways to probe and
question earlier to identify if the
merchant was a fit.

• What was the main decision-
making factor? A no doesn't
come in a vacuum. You may
have been rejected solely be-
cause of a merchant's disgust
with other payment profession-
als. Or you may have said or
done something that soured the
merchant. There is also a chance
that the reason had nothing to
do with you and your services.

The lesson learned is to recog-
nize the reasons why people
make their decisions, and react
early to them. Be prepared to
walk quickly if a merchant can't
address your questions.

• Was any pain point missed or
not identified? People sign for
personal, compelling, or emo-
tional reasons. If we listen well,
we can identify those reasons
and adapt our response to their
needs. It's especially important
to ask questions that generate
an emotional response.

The lesson learned is that you
should listen to a prospect's an-
swers closely and pause before
responding. This way you can
structure your answer to direct-
ly meet their feelings.

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