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Education

people think the merchant is lazy. Safos' time working as a merchandising Dom Vieata from United Merchant
person for Macy's while in college paid off. Solutions suggests to wine and
specialty food merchants that they
Other suggestions MLSs made were to encourage merchants to move from increase the number of tasting
plastic bags to paper or cloth. California-based Steve Klein tells merchants that sessions in their stores. If merchants
plastic is dead, and customers perceive paper and cloth bags as being better make tasting a daily occurrence,
for the environment. Plus advertising one's business works best on cloth bags, especially during the holidays, they
because they are reused tend to get larger sales and many
more repeat sales.

Along with food and wine
giveaways, businesses should keep
in mind an old concept that still
works well: calendars, which used
to be found at every bank and
pharmacy. Today they are almost
nonexistent. After pricing several
options, I found the cost isn't bad.
In addition, a calendar can be paid
for by others who want to advertise
on it with you. Calendars are a daily
reminder that a business exists. Most
of us use our phone calendars, but I
also like to have a nice calendar on
my desk in my office. I'm sure others
do, too.

Another low-cost suggestion for
merchants was to have bottled water
with your business name on the
label, or have coffee or tea waiting for
customers who come in to browse.
The idea is to keep the customer
in the store longer. Customers feel
obligated to consider a purchase if
you give them something for free.

One common courtesy is welcoming
everyone who comes into your place
of business with a warm smile and
wishing them a happy holiday.
Merchants seem to be getting better
at this, but there is still a lot of work
to be done, particularly in big cities.

Steven Feldshuh, President of Merchants'
Choice Payment Solutions East, has 18 years'
experience in sales and ISO development.
Directly prior to joining MCPSE in 2012, he
was President of Payment Partners. In his
current position, Steven devotes the bulk of
his time to assisting agents in building their
portfolios. Contact him by email at stevenf@
mcpseast.com or by phone at 212-392-9202.

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