Page 29 - GS211002

Education

cific next step or schedule a firm ap- On your first call, every merchant is a suspect, not a prospect. A suspect is
pointment for follow up. a product user who needs to offer electronic payment acceptance to collect
payment for their offering. They remain a suspect until you have spoken with
To avoid this, identify the key com- them, identified a fit and a need for your services, and they have shown an
ponents that will turn a suspect interest in taking the next steps.
into a prospect. This involves ask-
ing questions about the merchant, By only accepting a yes, no, or a firm next step as the goal for all calls, the value
not just about how they accept pay- of your time increases. You will sign more business, spend less time on the
ments.These questions should elicit sales process and see an increase in sales. All by not chasing maybes.
information like how they sell (face Jeff Fortney is vice president ISO relations for Signature Payments. A long-time payments industry
to face, online, etc.); what key pain
points are causing them to suffer to- executive and mentor, Jeff is focused on strengthening and developing partnerships and evaluat-
day; and whether any of those pain ing new business opportunities. He can be reached at 214-458-1379.
points are associated with how they
accept payments.
Remember, most merchants don't
like to say no. Asking you for some-
thing to read indicates that they may
be part of that majority. When this
happens, give them permission to
say no. In this situation I choose a
direct approach, saying, "Sure, I can
leave you material, but to be honest,
in most cases when someone asks for
something to read, they are really
saying that I haven't given them a
reason to continue our conversation.
If that's the case here, I want you to
know it's okay to tell me you're not
interested. It will not hurt my feel-
ings and will avoid me becoming a
nuisance. We can part as friends."

If they say they are interested, make
a firm appointment to continue your
conversation. Confirm a time and
day with no potential conflicts. Make
it clear that you know how valuable
their time is and show them you are
adding it to your calendar. All these
steps force the merchant to commit
to another conversation or admit
there is no interest. If they admit to
having no interest, thank them for
their honesty and ask one more ques-
tion couched in this fashion, "Thank
you for your honesty. For my infor-
mation, can you tell me what I may
have said or didn't say that led you
to decide?"

Take charge of your time
By following these simple steps, you
will quickly identify whether some-
one is a prospect and, if so, you'll
have a firm next step. Even if it's a no,
you'll avoid spending more time on
something that won't generate rev-
enue.
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