Page 33 - GS190102

Education

StreetSmarts SM

“Starting in the Street

and ending at the

Merchant’s front door”

Steve Norell

How do you measure success?

By Steve Norell no monthly fees, free equipment, ETF rebates, signing
bonuses, a 70-inch flat screen TV and, for good measure, a
US Merchant Services Inc.
$100 gift card to Starbucks.
any years ago I went to New York and took
in the Broadway show Rent. The open- To add insult to injury, the ISO signs him, he sends only
ing song, "Seasons of Love," began with, three deals a month and claims the program delivered
M "525,600 minutes; 525,000 moments so dear; was not what was promised. The next thing you find out
525,600 minutes; How do you measure, measure a year?" is that the MLS's current ISO matched your ISO's offer,
which means you were being used the entire time as
After years in this business, I continue to ask myself a leverage to get the MLS a better deal from his current ISO.
similar question: How on earth do most ISOs and merchant
level salespeople (MLSs) measure success when signing After a year or so of going through this you, the recruiter,
merchants? After looking at thousands of statements over get canned or quit and are hired by the next ISO, who
the years, I have to say they must measure success only on hopes you will bring over the MLSs you signed at the last
deal count, because the pricing is shear lunacy. ISO. It's a vicious circle and one that can be halted easily.

Let's go back 20+ years and look at the traditional recruiting Stop using deal count as a measure of success. Whenever
method for ISOs looking to sign MLS. The MLS calls the I would be asked how many deals I can you deliver a
ISO and says, I would like to hear about your program month, I would give one of two answers. The first answer
and, more importantly, how much do I get? Guess what was: one, and they do 5 million a month in volume. The
the first question out of the recruiter is? Yep, it's: How second answer was: 100 and they do 1,000 a month. Which
many deals do you do a month? do you prefer? My point is that it's a foolish starting point
for a partnership.
There was a time when this question and especially
the answer had value. However, that time has passed. Now that I've established a little background to the
It's a foolish question at best and is similar to when the insanity of deal count as a measure of success, what do
merchant asks the MLS another foolish question, What's we do?
your rate?
Here are some simple answers:
I want to make one thing clear. The job of MLS recruiter
1. Measure success on how much value you deliver to
for an ISO is the worst job anyone can have. You spend all
your time talking to MLSs that promise you 100 deals a the merchant.
month and say they'll give you all their business as long 2. Measure success on how much of a fair profit you are
as your ISO gives them a 95 percent split, a 0.02 trans fee, earning from the merchant.

33