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merchant's digital footprint and Relationship management: Raymond Pucci, Associate Director of Research
enhance the consumer experi- Services at Mercator Advisory Group Inc., said the best way to help mer-
ence. Their use cases are almost chants improve efficiencies and add value is to understand how their custom-
unlimited; merchants use apps ers make money, save money and control operations. "Whether you're selling
for payroll processing, inventory to retailers, business-to-business or business-to-consumer, it's important to
management, social media, loyalty know your customers and your customers' customers," he said. "Understand
and rewards programs, he stated. their culture and organizational management structure. Have a clear under-
"Open-minded people tend to grav- standing, from an operational standpoint, of who makes the decisions."
itate to open systems that can easily
integrate third-party partners," he Improve customer experience: Merchants care about delighting their cus-
said. "As good as one company is, it tomers, Bucolo noted, adding that equipment and software have become
can be even stronger by leveraging more consumer-facing; consumers interact more at the POS and on the mo-
other companies." bile web from their phones. "What consumers don't want is friction," he said.
"They don't want too many clicks to buy something. They want convenience."
Bucolo added, "We tell people that
PCI requirements are the same, re- The customer is in the center of the new payments ecosystem, Mensdorff-
gardless of your volume. Be aware Pouilly stated. "The key to new payments is understanding that use cases
of the risk your merchants are tak- will be driven by the customer context, not the other way around." Service
ing with an integrated, connected providers need to meet commercial requirements in the payments space
POS. They may have business rea- while creating a seamless consumer experience. "We need to find a way to
sons for doing it but having an in- leverage possibilities in a good way and not in a way that's controlling or
ternet-facing system increases risk limiting," she said.
of someone gaining access to your
network. Remote access is the big-
gest cause of security data breaches Dale S. Laszig, Senior Staff Writer at The Green Sheet. She can be reached by email at dale@dsl-
today." directllc.com and on Twitter at @DSLdirect.
4. Be discoverable: stand
out from your competitors
Standing out from the crowd in mer-
chant services can be daunting. Ex-
perts recommend offering a unique
value and consistent brand message.
Here are some ways to be discover-
able:

Differentiate: Payments has be-
come a software-centric, payfac-
driven world, and vertical markets
can provide a point of differentia-
tion, Bucolo said. MLSs need to spe-
cialize and provide business own-
ers with solutions that are relevant,
timely and cost-effective.

ISOs and MLSs originally sold
credit card processing, then moved
into selling POS systems; then the
focus changed to targeted, vertical-
ized solutions, Silberstein recalled.
"Selling in verticals changes the
way you do business," he said. "It
doesn't hurt to work in a few differ-
ent verticals; this can even happen
organically as you begin to focus in
on a particular industry, like nail
salons, then find a host of ancillary
service industries around it."

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