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Education
7 habits of highly ineffective ISO recruiters
By Mike Ackerman • Habit 5: Play hard to get. You've been burned a
DigiPay Solutions Inc. few times (who hasn't?) and bring your mistrust
to each new relationship. You put prospective re-
f you were a veteran recruiter of both independent cruits on the defensive by asking for qualifica-
agents and direct salespeople, how would you rate tions, when you're the one who should be doing
your performance: excellent, good, average or poor? the proposing. Most lengthy evaluations never
I If you are underperforming, you probably haven't close because the recruiters haven't alleviated the
identified areas in need of improvement. And you likely risk of buying into their organizations. Tolerance
haven't taken time to figure out why you've lost prospects for risk fluctuates. Understand this as you seek to
or long-time producing agents. assuage agents' concerns about risk.
• Habit 6: Keep things impersonal. By keeping
Before you blame your subpar closing ratio on factors things on a need-to-know basis, you fail to es-
beyond your control, look in the mirror. Reflect on
what you're doing and how you could be doing it better. tablish personal connections with MLSs. This
can isolate you from others and hamper your
Following are seven habits of highly ineffective recruiters
and why they lose business. efforts to develop meaningful bonds. Recruiters
and MLSs frequently learn to respect each oth-
• Habit 1: Be untrustworthy. The payments indus- er's convictions and persistence and, sometimes,
try is a small community, and reputations mat- agree to disagree. This is the kind of interperson-
ter. If you think of MLSs as commodities instead al dynamic that enables relationships to grow.
and become blinded by dollar signs when trying Relationships are the most important element in
to sign an ISO, you miss out on developing last- building successful businesses.
ing, meaningful relationships. Trusted recruit- • Habit 7: Don't appreciate people. If you are play-
ers, who are sincerely interested in others, have
a competitive advantage over you. ing favorites, you're forgetting that anything can
turn on a dime in this business. Today's startup
• Habit 2: Be vague. When you don't clearly ex- may be tomorrow's super ISO, and vice versa.
plain how your differentiator can help MLSs, you Smart recruiters give all MLSs the same respect,
can't pique their interest and win them over. Un- whether they're doing one or 100 MIDs a month.
derstand your ISO's strategic value, and convey These are small business owners and, for many,
the same reasons and arguments you would pro- their residual streams are critical income.
vide to senior management about what makes Also, if you remember agents' milestones – birth-
your company exceptional. Strategic values may
include increasing revenues, decreasing costs, days and holidays, for example – be punctual
with your delivery. Last year, our business re-
gaining a competitive advantage and improving
efficiencies to reduce risk. ceived a Christmas card and a double deck of
playing cards from an ISO for being a "Top-3
• Habit 3: Be self-centered. Agents feel pressured Producer." While we appreciated the thought,
by self-centered recruiters. Many believe recruit- the package was postmarked and delivered four
ers and senior management are only serving days after Christmas. Such oversights can make
their own agenda. Instead of focusing solely on agents feel undervalued and tend to be remem-
revenue, concentrate on helping agents accom- bered more than many positive things the ISO
plish their goals, which vary by individual. might have done.
• Habit 4: Use the wrong closing strategy. Overall, In recruiting and in life, treat everyone you meet the same
hard close techniques such as "This is the last way you expect to be treated: with courtesy, dignity and
time we'll be able to extend this offer" are highly respect. If any of these seven habits of highly ineffective
ineffective. A hard close forces a binary yes or no recruiters look familiar to you, do yourself a solid and
response. Conversely, softer closing techniques make necessary changes. You'll be glad you did.
such as, "If you bring another 25 mids per month,
you will receive an additional 10 percent higher Mike Ackerman is President of DigiPay Solutions Inc., which specializes
revenue split," are highly effective. You need to in high-risk, high-volume, card-not-present and business-to-business
give MLSs latitude to make their own decisions
even when you've created the perfect conditions merchant services. Contact him at mike@digipaysolutions.com.
for them to say yes. This approach is empower-
ing and creates a win-win relationship.
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