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Education

"Sales Model? The best approach to selling is still going door to door and pro- Hawkins Siemon is the CEO/founder
viding personal service to the merchant. Use your time and money to build of Elevate Payment Alliance. Elevate
long-term relationships with the merchants and ask for referrals. ISOs can en- is an ISO founded on doing business
tice you with leads; call centers will always try to sell you their leads. Unfor- the right way and building strong,
tunately, nine times out of 10, these do not work out. If you want the best odds long-lasting relationships. Contact
of success, get out there and do it yourself. It is not easy, but this is the biggest him at hawkins@elevatepaymental-
factor that separates successful partners from those who don't make it. liance.com.

"What should I be Selling? In our view the largest opportunity is dual pricing/ (Note: Good Selling! SM, mentioned by
cash discount. This pricing model has exploded in the last five years. The most Hawkins Siemon above, is a service
talked about aspect is the residual profits being two to three times higher than mark registered by Paul H. Green,
standard pricing such as cost plus. However, equally as important is 90 percent founder of The Green Sheet Inc. and
of merchants stay on dual pricing/cash discount and never look back. Once one of the first titans of the payments
they get that first bill and only have a $10 monthly fee and no processing fees, industry. His Good Selling! books
SM
it's a great experience. Plus, now that they are no longer paying the fees, they have been inspirational to countless
are far less likely to leave you for another processor. merchant level salespeople through
the years. The first book in the series,
"Dual pricing/cash discount programs are a better fit for some merchants than initially published in 1999, is avail-
others. Your ISO partner should be able to help guide you in which merchant able in paperback format on Amazon
types to target, provide scripting and marketing materials to help you. Dual at www.amazon.com/Good-Selling-Paul-
pricing/cash discount is a big transition for the merchant. "It is essential to pro- H-Green/dp/0967094704.)
vide them with adequate training on how they present the program to their
customers and their own employees. The first couple weeks are key to provid- Keep going until you succeed
ing a lot of support and checking in. Good Selling!" I appreciate the time and effort put in
by our inspiring powerhouse entre-
preneurs to share their pearls of wis-
dom with Street SmartsSM readers.

Choices are what separate the suc-
cessful from the unsuccessful. You
can't dream your way to success. Un-
less you take action, your dreams will
remain just that: dreams. Plan, take
action and keep going until you suc-
ceed.

May the new year bring you great
success and make all of your goals,
hustles and resolutions come to frui-
tion. May this be the year you, too,
graduate from "has potential" to "has
become a powerhouse entrepreneur."

Natasa Cvijanovic, co-founder and CEO of
Tesla Payments, has a proven track record
within the payment industry of cultivating
successful relationships with ISOs, MLSs and
strategic partners. In developing national sales
channels, she provides training and coaching
to sales partners to enable them to become
better business partners and advocates for
their merchants, and to assist them in building
portfolios producing steady residual streams.
She is also dedicated to consistently deliver-
ing high levels of professionalism, integrity,
dependability and trustworthiness. Contact
her at natasa@teslapayments.com.
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