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Education

Three ways to take your

ISO to the next level What is an LMS?

By Jordan Olivas A learning
RS Software Inc. management

he ISO model has been around for decades, and for some time, the market has system (LMS) is
been saturated with merchant level salespeople (MLSs) who have been pro- software
vided little to no training. With inadequate sales skills and insufficient industry developed for
T and product knowledge, these agents flood merchant businesses with cold calls
promising lower rates ‒ an old practice that is a losing proposition in today's world, where educational and
savvy ISOs are developing new programs and partnerships that provide merchants a host training courses
of impressive business services ‒ enabling them to more easily land new accounts and and programs. An
retain the ones they have.
LMS can be used
If you're an ISO seeking to motivate your MLS partners to stop selling on price and for the
embrace the new payments landscape, this article contains three ways you can evolve and administration,
take your business to the next level. tracking,
1. Invest in technology
documentation,
There are agents in this business who became ISOs, then became processors, and are now reporting and
looking to possibly becoming issuers. The big differential between them and others is in delivery of such
their vision and willingness to invest in technology to drive margins and sales totals up ‒
and to not continue with the status quo. programs.

Even if you are a smaller ISO with only 1,000 merchants, you may want to look into a
merchant boarding platform that can allow for faster onboarding and a customized user
experience for your agents.
In addition, this can be
a great first step toward
becoming a processor.
There are myriad solu-
tions on the market, but
certain companies offer
licensed solutions that
provide flexibility that
may not be available with
other providers. Other
technology investments
you may want to consider
are building a gateway
or creating your own in-
tranet where your agents
can get all of their needs
met in one place.
2. Evaluate your
partnerships
Processors are willing to
win your business. Over
the past five years, some
major processors have ei-
ther made large acquisi-

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