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Education

3. Measure success on how many ancillary products or services you are and sometimes trying just about
delivering to the merchant. everything ‒ both good and bad ‒
I've decided that my measurement of
4. Measure success on how much time you don't waste with merchants that
are earning you $25 a month but cost you $50. success is this: Whenever I walk into
a merchant to discuss my program I
have only two thoughts. The first is
Our industry has gone through a multitude of changes, and one practice that
that this is my pricing model, along
should be brought back from the dead is that the ISO has the right to minimum
pricing or profit on each and every deal. with hardware or software solutions,
and I am not deviating from it.
I can remember one ISO I spoke to back in the day told me that if I submit an
God help the merchant that is about
app and it does not meet the minimum for profitability, the ISO would either
reject it or change the pricing so it met the ISO's minimums. to sign and says, "Is this the best you
can do?" or "Are these the best rates,
or can I get better elsewhere?" I am
Today, this policy is deader than a dinosaur, and the reason is simple. The ISOs
delivering a better package all the
that do heavy online recruiting and followed by a six-hour online training
session, and then provide appointments that are poor, at best, only care about way around, and if a merchant is just
buying price, then I ask for the app
one thing: getting these poor neophytes out the door and writing deals. It's
all about getting the merchant to sign the app because the ISO lowered their back so I can stop wasting my time.
pricing and allegedly saved the merchant money.
The second thought I have as I walk
in the door is that I don't care if the
The MLS gets a signing bonus, not much in the way of residuals, and three to
six months later is out the door. Despite the fact that our industry has morphed merchant signs with me or not. My
feeling is that merchants should
from this model, much to the surprise of many, it is still being used by ISOs,
albeit less and less. Hopefully its future is not very bright. count their lucky stars that they
found me and that I will allow them
to be my customers. I know you
Many in our industry use their own methods of measuring success. Hopefully
are thinking that this is extremely
they're not based on how many deals they wrote last month. After seeing
arrogant, but I promise you that, over
the years, the more arrogant I have
gotten the more merchants I have
signed. I reached this point because
I got better and better at what I do,
and my confidence is higher than a
fraternity day trip to a Colorado pot
shop.

Remember this: When you visit a
merchant who is deciding whether
or not to sign your app, also be
evaluating the merchant to decide if
his or her business is worthy of being
your customer, which means being
profitable.

So, after reading this, decide how
you want to measure success. If it's
deal count, then give me a call. I can
find you a job at a donut shop where
success is measured by the number
of donuts sold every day. If it's
anything other than deal count, you
have a shot at making more profit
and building a life-long business.

Steve Norell is director of sales at US Merchant
Services Inc. Based in Port St. Lucie, Fla., he
oversees the USMS sales force and maintains
the company's bank and processor relation-
ships. You can reach him by email at steven@
usmsllc.com or by phone at 772-220-7515.
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