Page 36 - GS180102

Education

StreetSmarts SM

Steve Feldshuh

“Talk To Steve”

What makes an MLS valuable?

By Steven Feldshuh Invest in training
Merchants' Choice Payment Solutions East The answer, I finally realized, was hours of training. We all
know that guessing instead of providing correct answers
e all know we have only a certain amount on an application just to get the application process over
of hours in each day. How we allocate quickly doesn't work. The answer to preventing this is
that time to guiding our sales groups has to insure each agent fully understands the application.
W a direct impact on our financial prospects Making sure they learn the ins and outs of multiple
and should be a consideration in our daily, weekly and terminals can make a huge difference, as well.
monthly planning. Yes, we all strive to be the best lead-
ers we can be and give maximum support to everyone
who brings in new business, but does it make sense for
us to give the same amount of time to an individual who
provides 12 deals a year as is given to a sales office that In "Let's reform our industry's education and training,"
provides 150 deals a year? The answer should be obvious, published in The Green Sheet, May 9, 2011, issue 11:05:01,
SM
but it isn't always so. former Street Smarts author Bill Pirtle described training he
received early in his payments career. "For two weeks straight,
Beware the time eaters I drove 60 miles each way to Saginaw, Mich., for eight hours
of classroom training before I ever saw a customer," he said,
Like many of you, as a smaller ISO with an outside sales adding that this became "the foundation I am still building
organization, my company has limited resources. We upon."
all have qualities and practices that distinguish us from
other offices in our space, but we are all faced with the In that article, Pirtle also shared MLS Forum members
same dilemma: spending too much time with someone perspectives on education in the payments industry. Clearent,
who doesn't produce much or whose deals always come one of the members who responded, wrote, "Knowledge is
loaded with problems. important. But first build a sound foundation. Build it on one
premise; 'If I don't know the exact answer, who do I call to get
My ISO does have some amazing individuals who work that answer?'"
with us in Florida, California, New York and Texas, and
they tend to be real professionals who require little of our JDeckard also spoke to the issue, stating, "[I]f you're actively
time. At times, we reverse roles and call them for insights trying to educate yourself about this industry, it's going to
into products we don't handle as frequently as they do. take several years for everything to gel. And about the time
These individuals aren't what I call "time eaters." the pieces start to fit together, something new comes along
that changes the game ... so you have to learn all you can
Since we all have to forecast new business, which seems about that ... it's a never-ending process."
to be increasingly difficult each year, we tend to hold onto
time eaters, because getting those 12 deals a year from
several low-performing agents, in the larger picture, does
add up. So, what do you do with these agents?
36