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it and then helping them implement such tools. I see a lot of business 5. I think there will always be
owners only look at the cost and time of implementation rather than all a place for ISOs and MLSs in
the benefits of having a more secure payments infrastructure. this industry. There's simply too
much business out there, and
PCI is a great example. There are many MLSs and ISOs who'd rather a lot of merchants like dealing
collect PCI non-compliance fees than spend the time educating merchants with people (that is, an ISO or
on why PCI matters and walking them through becoming compliant. MLS). This is a very relation-
We need to be proactive rather than reactive so we can better protect our ship-driven business, and often-
merchants from data breaches, fraud and card testing. It's not like the times merchants have questions
technology doesn't exist. or want someone to walk them
through the process. It's going
Next year we can do better by increasing our efforts to educate ourselves to be about how you adapt and
along with our merchants, so they don't feel like we are trying to pivot to changing market condi-
upsell them on a product or service. We should also be thinking about tions. The payments landscape
collaborating more with cyber security companies and even our PCI is very fast-moving and dynam-
vendors to get more of our merchants PCI compliant. ic. If you cannot keep up, you
will get left behind.
4. We have always stuck to LinkedIn as our main social media outlet. This
has been the best channel for us, and it's becoming more significant as Our competition as ISOs and
our company has grown. Other social media channels like Instagram and MLSs seems to be mostly
TikTok seem to do better for DTC brands, not so much B2B companies. against payfacs like Stripe who
Twitter seems to be pretty popular though for entrepreneurs and other have a major advantage in the
thought leaders, so perhaps that's another channel we'll look at, but we'll onboarding department, but be-
really continue focusing on LinkedIn in 2023. cause this is such a sensitive ser-
vice we provide to businesses,
there's always a human element
that business owners want. We
see merchants switch over to us
all the time because of lackluster
support they get from their pro-
cessor. If you can provide excel-
lent service to merchants with
added-value services bundled
into a seamless user experience,
you already are in a good posi-
tion.
DON’T DREAM OF IT, What agents should be doing is

TRAIN FOR IT! staying current with everything
going on in the industry. Fur-
thermore, they should be dou-
bling down on their strengths
and sticking to what works best
ACH • LEVEL III • EMV for them. As an FSP, developing
strategic partnerships and inte-
grations with ISVs will be key
WEB • RECURRING these next few years as more
software companies get into
CASH DISCOUNT payments. Not all want to work
exclusively with Stripe.

CUSTOMER DATABASE Clinton Baller
PayNet Merchant Services Inc.

5. Well, how did that prediction turn
C A L L F O R T R A I N I N G out? We're still around, and so are a
8 0 0 - 2 9 6 - 4 8 1 0 lot of other agents and ISOs. Why? We
provide the human connection that
many merchants still value. There's
not an app for that.
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