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drives ride-hailing apps, hotel check-ins and other
Payments, a retrospective modern commerce methods. MLSs have come a long way
Payments, a retrospectiv
e
since 2008, when they were migrating merchants from
daily trips to the bank to magically transmitted electronic
The ve ry point of sale deposits. Through it all, words have played a critical role in
The very point of sale
bridging gaps, changing minds, closing sales and helping
MLSs and merchants find common ground.
As I noted in my article, selling can sometimes feel like
trying to communicate with someone who doesn't speak
your language, but those who are up to the challenge may
find it very rewarding indeed.

Put jargon back "Merchants new to bankcard processing represent your
best opportunity to really sell something and make a
meaningful contribution to their businesses," I wrote.
in the jar "When your credit card decals are proudly displayed in
their windows, it will be their way of saying, 'We speak
POS here.'"
By Dale S. Laszig Changing contexts

cronyms remind me of small Halloween can- Word usage can be challenging for MLSs and journalists
dies: bitesize confections that are prone to because our industry moves fast, and words stand still.
overuse. Have you ever noticed how many Naming conventions have remained relatively constant
A fun-size words are in the payments industry's over the past few decades. We like to lump things together,
lexicon? There's probably a payments acronym for every such as merging financial technology into fintech, and we
letter of the alphabet: ATM, BNPL, CNP, etc. The best part love our acronyms. Some worn-out adjectives have even
of savoring these treats, aside from consuming them, is the turned into drinking games, in which players have to
excitement of unwrapping, and anticipating, the experi- knock one back each time someone says, "ubiquitous" or
ence inside. Can you seriously just have one? "seamless."

Like parents who counsel children not to use outside Behind emerging trends and acronyms, such as banking-
voices inside the home, sales managers caution merchant as-a-service (BaaS) and buy now, pay later (BNPL), shifting
level salespeople (MLSs) against using insider jargon in paradigms disrupt traditional models and continue to
sales presentations. We may be comfortable with these evolve. Just when I think I understand these trends and
abbreviations and shortcuts, they explain, but prospects their basic premises and functionalities, they morph
may hear them differently, almost as if they are hearing a again, expanding into new use cases.
foreign language. I covered this topic in "POS as a second
language," published June 23, 2008, in issue 08:06:02 of The I was surprised, for example, to find retailers implementing
Green Sheet. BaaS and to learn that BNPL is not just for large purchases;
POS as a second language it is also an integral part of food delivery subscription
services.
"Our industry's acronym-rich lingo of interchange and
compliance can sometimes make new merchants feel Embedded commerce and finance, by nature, are subsets
like tourists in a foreign country," I wrote. "While we of larger ecosystems that consume and influence them. As
take considerable pride in the innovations that have supporting capabilities that adapt to businesses they serve,
made credit card processing simple, fast and affordable, real-time embedded payment capabilities get better all the
it's helpful to remember not everyone in our community time at protecting data, driving efficiencies, expanding
speaks fluent POS." access to capital and deepening customer relationships.

At the time, the big push was getting merchants to try Throughout the evolutionary payments journey, payment
electronic processing technology. In the fifteen years professionals must continually adapt and pivot to help
that followed, payments professionals and merchants colleagues, partners and customers leverage megatrends
alike became more focused on the customer experience, and microtrends. As we forge ahead to new adventures in
which in many cases, is driven by apps and advanced the 21st century, let's strive to keep our language as fresh
technologies that run quietly in the background. and compelling as our technology.
Dale S. Laszig, senior staff writer at The Green Sheet and founder and
It has taken years to get to this point, beginning with CEO at DSL Direct LLC, is a payments industry journalist and content
merchants putting POS devices beneath counters and strategist. Connect via email dale@dsldirectllc.com, LinkedIn www.
behind curtains, to today's invisible technology that linkedin.com/in/dalelaszig/ and Twitter https://twitter.com/DSLdirect

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