Page 26 - GS210601
P. 26

CoverStory




        Steven Feldshuh                                         tinued to support our sales groups and sales agents but
        Betterpay LLC                                           cut spending to the bare minimum. Given the fact that we
                                                                maintained our very-high credit rating, and maintained
        I can't emphasize enough how difficult this past year this   tremendous financial discipline, we are fine and ready for
        has been. I can tell you though that we owe a lot of thanks   the coming year.
        to our sales groups and agents for sticking with it. The
        concept of directly calling on merchants disappeared for   Market trends: Because we had a lot of extra time on our
        several months, and with it came a large drop in new busi-  hands, we focused on looking to the future. We further de-
        ness.                                                   veloped our Betterpay brand and focused on developing
                                                                dozens of marketing pieces strictly for our sales groups.
        Combined with the shutting of hundreds of restaurants,   The marketing pieces were program based, equipment
        athletic clubs, and nail and hair salons, volumes substan-  based and solutions using POS systems. We continued to
        tially decreased. It has only been since March 2021, that   develop our agent portal with an easy-to use e-sign appli-
        volumes have started to come back, and only since April   cation. We refined all of our power points and delved into
        2021 that new business is again coming in and agents are   more and more Zoom trainings.
        again attacking the street. With our company's business
        model of mostly retail, restaurant/food and service busi-  Change was dramatic for more than a year. Fortunately
        nesses, the bottom didn't look so great.                for us, we were able to take advantage of a better product
                                                                from Clover including their Flex terminal and Clover Sta-
        So what did we do to remain afloat? Given that this is a   tion Pro. Both products were on target with our merchant
        residual based business, our company still managed to   base. Along with the PAX systems, Paradise POS and the
        have income coming in. The amount of income coming in   new Valor terminal, we had some fresh products to offer.
        forced the partners to stop taking any income for an en-
        tire year. We were able to obtain a business loan in order   The biggest change which had an impact on our business
        to keep our employees fully employed without any drop   was the movement to cash discount and surcharge pro-
        in compensation. We eliminated all non-essential travel,   grams. The timing couldn't have been better to introduce
        entertainment and purchases. Basically, our company con-  these cost savings products to our merchants, who were in
                                                                  many cases hanging on by a thread.

                                                                  Our role: I think our role in helping the economy recover
                                                                  continues to be providing better solutions to merchants.
                                                                  The companies that have taken advantage of struggling
                                      2021                        merchants  (and  we  know  some of  the  big  names  who
                                                                  have done it) should stop the antics and stop the price
                                                                  gouging.
                                           STILL

              where the industry meets                            We in the industry all should be responsible enough to
                                                                  give merchants who rely on our expertise fair pricing,
              gaylord opryland | nashville | july 25-27           honest reporting and new applications that help grow
                                                                  a business. We shouldn't be hitting our merchants with
                                                                  OPT products that they have no use for. We shouldn't be
                                                                  hitting our merchants with outlandish Non-PCI fees of
                                                                  $125 a month, or made-up fees that continue to show up
                                                                  on statements. Yes, I agree we are all in the business to
                                                                  make money. But as professionals shouldn't we provide
                                                                  processing at a fair cost?

                                                                  The thing is we all realize that most merchants do not
                                                                  open up and review their processing each month. With
                                                                  more companies going green and not sending out paper
                                                                  statements, the likelihood of merchants going online to
           one-stop shop to advance your POS sales                view their activity goes down even further. This is what
                                                                  those entities who recently have decided to charge even
                          •  education                            higher fees are hoping for. I don't understand how they
                          •  networking                           sleep at night.
                          •  meet suppliers                       Some advice: The time has come for agents to get back on
                                                                  the street, back on the phone—and double their efforts.
                 www.GoRSPA.org/RetailNOW                         Yes, a lot of businesses closed, but keep an eye out for

        26
   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31