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CoverStory

"It was in a creative writing class in 11th grade. Several Marketing for acquirers
students (like me) enjoyed writing and wanted to learn the
nuances needed to write creatively. At the time, I was the Promotional mavens Nancy Drexler, founder of Acquired
sports editor of the high school newspaper, which taught Marketing, and Peggy Bekavac Olsen, founder of Strategic
me how to approach who, what, when, where and why. Marketing, have taken us deep inside the world of market-
But it strongly discouraged creativity. This class did the ing. Here's an excerpt from Drexler's "Sell what people re-
opposite. We were told that those who could tell a story ally want to buy," published May 27, 2013: "One of the most
would do well." profound lessons I've learned in my career came from a
trusted leader in the advertising world. He said, 'Consum-
In his Street Smarts articles, Jason Felts, CEO of Ad- ers aren't buying a four-inch drill bit; they are buying a
SM
vanced Merchant Services, never failed to inspire. In "Go four-inch hole.'
from middlin' to marvelous," published April 28, 2008, he
wrote: "Ironically, the top producing MLSs are not nec- "Think about that. Effective marketing for a power tool
essarily more intelligent, and they do not work 10 times should not address the size, shape or intricacies of the
more hours than those producing in the middle (40 to 60 tool; it should show you how fast, simple and affordable
percent) range. Rather, the top 10 percent make the extra it is to get exactly the hole you need. The same is true in
effort it takes to win. merchant services. ... So don't sell a drill. Sell a hole. Sell a
promise."
"It's the daily commitment to being consummate profes-
sionals that sets them apart. Top producers fully under- Following is an excerpt from Olsen's "Be positively dif-
stand that in order to get far better results, they must make ferent to make your business stand out," published July 9,
dramatic changes in the way they sell. They must do what 2012: "In an era when merchants are constantly bombard-
others won't even try: step outside their comfort zones to ed by solicitations for merchant processing services with
achieve superior results." pitches that tend to all sound the same, being different can
go a long way toward boosting your business.
Known as an innovator and true friend to many, Biff Mat-
thews (1946–2020) was a founding member of the Elec- "The first step in being different is to identify a market-
tronic Transactions Association. In "Stemming the attri- place niche that is well suited to your businesses' strengths,
tion tide," published May 24, 2010, he wrote: "The critical inherent skill-sets and interests. It's important that the
question to managing attrition is whether you are survey- niche enables you to solve a specific problem for potential
ing merchants about why they left. The simple answer you customers and fills an important need. The niche you se-
find when looking into this is price. The merchants came lect should permit you to uniquely position your business
to you because of price, so they left you because of price. in a different light than the competition, while being big
That's possibly true, yet is there more to the story? enough to allow you to make plenty of money."
Early guidance
"Dig deeper since learning who is leaving and why yields
three results. You identify: the current customers you When the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard
must invest in to retain; the identity of your good custom- (PCI DSS) was new on the scene, data security expert Tim
ers and therefore the profile of a desirable and profitable Cranny, principle at The Cranny Group PLC, wrote a se-
customer; and the merchants whom you should either ries detailing each of the requirements of the standard in
make profitable or help to leave you, as well as attributes reader-friendly language. In "More than PCI," published
of merchants to avoid. Aug. 9, 2010, he wrote:

Call me today! "Risk management isn't just a security standard; it's the
Let me help you issue all the various standards are trying to address and
measure. One of the main dangers with PCI is that people
with your get too focused on the standards themselves, while forget-
advertising ting their purpose is risk management.
success.
707-284-1693 "Thinking only in terms of passing PCI is responding to a
serious fever by saying a particular thermometer has failed
the 'thermometer test' and trying other thermometers un-
til one indicates a 'better temperature.' The only logical ap-
proach is to pursue PCI compliance with strong risk man-
agement in mind, confident in the knowledge that focus-
ing on the underlying goal will also mean your business
R R ick Aston will ultimately meet PCI standards. "Don't become fixated
on the fine points of the PCI DSS. If you do the right thing
Senior Media Partnership Specialist by taking measures to assure your system's security, PCI
Rick@greensheet.com
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