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Education

Success begins with Speaking their language

Talking to a merchant does not mean
a conversation you are selling to them. It means you
are talking in terms they understand;
By Jeff Fortney you are showing an interest in their
business and an interest in their suc-
TouchSuite LLC cess.
Before having a conversation with
ow do you talk to a merchant? I don't mean the words you say any merchant, you must be able to
about payment processing or the script you use (either read over speak their language. I'm not talking
the phone or memorized). I mean, how do you hold a conversation about their native tongue. I'm talking
H with a merchant? their business language. And every
business has a language.
In our industry, merchant level salespeople (MLSs) are trained on how to
understand payment processing. Some are told to just ask merchants for In the payments world, our lan-
statements to review. Others may be given questions to ask to gain more guage consists of basis points and
information on the merchant's processing. interchange. We talk POS, EMV, mag
stripe, authorizations, chargebacks,
As they gain experience, MLSs may start asking questions about the merchant's and so on. I am confident that if we
process in handling payments, the POS system, and even special needs for pro- talked our language to small mer-
cessing – all valuable information for structuring an offering. chants, their eyes would glaze over.
Many agents tell stories about mak-
Yet even some of the best can't answer when I ask them how they talk to a mer- ing a pitch to a merchant, and once
chant. Being able to truly talk with a merchant may be the most important fac- they paused, the only response was,
tor in determining whether you just sign a merchant or keep them long term. "How much will you save me."

To identify a small business's lan-
guage, you only need to look at their
business type. A retail owner speaks
in terms of inventory, staffing, item
prices and cost management. They
likely have a full understanding of
the product they sell, its manufac-
turing process and rough wholesale
costs.

A restaurant owner knows menus,
recipes and costs of various food-
stuffs. They talk in terms of turning
tables, wait staff turnover and profit
per ticket. Talking with a retail own-
er means you need to ask questions
about their concerns and discuss
their needs and processes. A restau-
rant owner will want to talk about
cost control and ways to turn tables
faster. Business types are numerous:
business-to-business, service indus-
tries (like auto repair and HVAC) are
just two examples. All talk in their
own language.
Using universal openers
It would seem overwhelming to learn
each merchant's language, but certain
topics are consistent across many
industries and can be conversation
openers. For example:

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