f you're brand new to the payment processing industry, reading the book, "How to Survive and Thrive in the Merchant Services Industry" is one way to get started. This isn't something you'll need to sit down and read cover to cover (who has time for that anyway?) because the book actually serves more as a reference source than the "how to" manual implied by its title.

Authors Marc J. Beauchamp and William Graham have a combined experience of 20 years in the bankcard industry and have worked with multiple ISOs and financial institutions throughout their careers.

They present their knowledge in short chapters broken out into boldfaced sections, so it's easy to flip through quickly and find exactly what you're looking for. There are more than 300 pages of useful information for someone trying to learn the basics of the industry.

In fact, the first section of the book is titled 'Industry Basics,' and it functions as a sort of in-depth glossary of terms, providing words, acronyms and background on all of the terms you hear used every day in the payment processing industry, such as debit, EBT, ACH and gift and loyalty cards.

This section also describes the role of the ISO, merchant, processor and acquirer and defines the latest industry buzzwords, such as wireless, m-commerce, e-commerce, smart cards and contactless payments.

Unfortunately, there are only a few pages dedicated to interchange in 'Industry Basics,' which is disappointing since this is one of the main topics new salespeople often need the most help with.

The authors did not overlook, however, that their readers are salespeople; they devoted two sections of the book to instruction on sales techniques and personal development.

They included chapters on where to prospect, how to present and how to close and even added an appendix containing simple worksheets to help you set income goals and daily call quotas, develop a telemarketing script and create a good ad. (For some successful sales veterans, this information may be immaterial, but reviewing to keep skills fresh can be helpful at any stage of one's career.)

A chapter in the beginning of the book takes you through all of the steps involved in processing a credit card transaction (both retail and e-tail); another illustrates the "anatomy" of a credit card and another focuses on the history of credit cards, including timelines on the evolution of the Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and Diner's Club - even JCB International - brands.

There's a lot of good information here, but perhaps what's missing in "How to Survive and Thrive" is the "evolution" of the Merchant Level Salesperson. Readers who are salespeople may ponder such questions as "Who am I?," "Why am I here?" and "How did this niche in the payment processing industry come to be?"

After all, many argue the industry is where it is today because of the efforts of these salespeople - those who are out there selling the products and services day in and day out.

The most blatant omission, in our opinion, was that the inception of this industry was completely overlooked. There were no non-bank sales of merchant processing accounts before AMCOR's contract with Citibank.

When Paul Green convinced Citi to authorize independent sales reps to sell on behalf of the bank through his company, AMCOR, this industry was born. Not incidentally, so was The Green Sheet.

Toward the back of the book are transcripts of interviews with industry moguls, which may shed more light on the inner workings of the business for those just getting started.

Bob Carr, Mary Dees, Mary Gerdts, Lee Ladd and Paul Green give their opinions on the major legal issues facing the industry, predictions and challenges for the future and what they think are the hottest products on the market.

They also offer advice to new salespeople entering the industry, such as important skills to have and useful tools for selling.

"How to Survive and Thrive in the Merchant Services Industry"

By Marc J. Beauchamp and William Graham

Copyright Performance Training Systems

ISBN: 0-9741884-0-9

324 pages

$19.95