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Education

Good talent is still and see what transactions have been paid. They want on-

line capability for all things credit-card related.
hard to find These conditions increase the need for someone to con-

vey what you have to offer and convince prospects your
company is the best one to meet their unique needs. While
most of us used to sell on rate, those that still sell on rate
are behind the times. Good talent identifies the needs of
merchants and provides cost-effective solutions that will
help merchants grow their businesses.

While many small merchants may use Square for process-
ing when they start in business, it doesn't take them long
By Jeff Brodsly to realize that 2.75 to 3.5 percent of their money is gob-
Chosen Payments bled up on nearly every transaction. In some cases, they
don't realize what they are paying until someone calls on
n 2011, I wrote "Good talent is hard to find, which them to offer a comparison quote. They get sucked into the
was published by The Green Sheet on Nov. 28 in issue convenience of Square or PayPal. They purchase simple
11:11:02. As we begin 2018, good talent is even hard- products to use POS systems that integrate with Square,
I er to find, and the payment processing landscape or ecommerce sites that use Stripe, and they think every-
has changed drastically. With that in mind, I decided it thing is great. This is where good talent comes in: to dis-
was time for a follow-up article on this topic. pel their misconceptions and convince them they need to
jump ship.
While the payments industry has been forever changed
by Square, PayPal, Stripe and similar entities, the need The DBM
for good talent remains. And I look at these disruptors as
opportunities, because a company with good talent will Exceptional salespeople can easily find the dominant buy-
always win a sizeable deal over any form of fast boarding ing motive (DBM) and guide the sales process in a relative-
or automated technology. Why? You cannot replace the ly short time. This is what I mean by "good talent." Many
human experience of engaging with a person you trust. people in sales prospect like gamblers at slot machines.
They lack focus. They pull the handle push a button and
Talented sales reps and support personnel are the key to hope they land a jackpot. They will never reap the results
success and growth; they are the face of your business; of a focused salesperson who identifies and targets appro-
they convince people to do business with your company priate prospects.
and support customers when they need assistance with
anything from installation to chargeback representation, The superior salesperson develops a relationship while
batch reconciliation or technical support. learning what the true DBM is. It could be the cost of pro-
cessing. It could be the method of processing such as inte-
How merchants have changed gration with certain software or implementation of a shop-
ping cart on their website. Perhaps a potential target has
There was a time when merchants desired to accept credit not even considered allowing customers to select and pay
cards as a form of payment as a matter of convenience as for merchandise on the company's website. Perhaps cus-
well as a way to handle large transactions needing short tomers did not even know they could have a direct contact
term financing. Many people wrote checks or paid cash; and not have to call an 800 number for support. Whatever
only a handful of people used credit cards simply because the DBM is, either existing or created, good talent can con-
they were short on cash between paydays. The cost of vince the prospect to act on the DBM and move closer to
processing credit cards was a generally accepted, minimal closing the deal simply because the merchant wants to ad-
business expense. Debit cards were not widely used. dress the DBM with a solution.
Today, we have evolved into an almost cashless society
that relies on plastic payments or smart payments such as What is good talent?
Apple Pay. This change has added a financial burden to
merchants in both hardware investments as well as the Heightened awareness of credit card processing costs has
cost of doing business with their customers. increased the need for good talent. No, scratch that. What
we need to succeed is great talent. However, before you
Because of this, merchants have become more concerned hunt for great talent, you must first define what great tal-
about shopping for credit card processors and reducing ent is. In a perfect world, great talent would be someone
the associated costs. They pay attention to the rates they who is impeccably dressed; speaks proper English; is a
pay and seek the best rates. They realize that buying a psychologist; and a mind reader with an outgoing person-
terminal rather than leasing one is smart business. They ality, the gift of gab, and the ability to put people at ease
want their money from POS purchases right away. They and make them feel like a best friend in five minutes or
want to be able to view their processing activity online less.

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