s ISOs and merchant level salespeople (MLSs), you often challenge me to distinguish VeriFone Inc. from its competitors. But I'd like to turn the tables and instead challenge you to investigate what makes a payment terminal supplier relationship both good and rewarding.

Here's a quick checklist of factors you should investigate when considering partnering with a payment terminal provider:

• Hardware and software reliability
• Support capabilities: technical, sales and marketing
• Innovation and research and development (R&D) strengths
• Quality and breadth of the product line
• Value-added applications that enable multiple revenue streams

Combined, all of these factors will have an impact on your revenue potential. Base your relationships with terminal vendors on how well they enable you to do what you do best, which is sell.

That means having equipment and applications that will work when they need to; having an infrastructure to back you up; delivering the product set that satisfies a wide range of merchant needs; and fostering long-term customer relationships with which you can build recurring revenue streams, thus growing the value of your merchant portfolio.

In selecting equipment suppliers with which you want to partner, you should put reliability high on the list (we'll take financial stability as a given). Today's merchants assume that if you plan to install a card payment device in their stores, it's going to work regardless.

Implementing reliable terminals, meaning hardware and software that are compatible and run 24/7, is the best way to establish low maintenance merchant relationships.

Beyond reliability, you should also think about vendor support. This starts with technical support and includes training, sales support, marketing and software development. These attributes really do define the abilities of a vendor in the marketplace.

An equipment supplier's support capabilities can be crucial to your ability to build sustainable customer relationships. Ask yourself if your vendor will develop software applications quickly to allow you to take advantage of niche opportunities. Also consider the availability of regional technical support assistance, Web-based training and materials, and sales training seminars.

In short, does the supplier do everything possible to ensure that your salesmen are comfortable with the products they sell, and does the supplier have a sense of ownership of the products you buy until they are placed with a merchant?

This is the true measure of a vendor partnership with which you can grow your business. Consider the level of marketing and sales support equipment suppliers can provide to help you find and close sales. Look at the different types of marketing used by terminal providers and how that marketing can help you reach and educate the right cutomers.

Will the vendor create excitement about its products with your salespeople? And will that supplier team up with you on consultative selling and help educate you in reaching new markets? The vendor should have a sense of ownership of the product you buy, all the way through to the installation.

Another aspect important to your ability to grow is your supplier's ability to innovate and create new market opportunities. This starts with a willingness to invest in R&D, but it also requires vision to invest in future opportunities such as Wi-Fi and wireless CDMA/GPRS processing.

Established terminal vendors have little trouble justifying Class-A certifications from processors. Without those certifications and the support that comes with them, your selling time will be reduced.

Product lines should allow for future migration. Your primary goal should be to sell and expand your portfolio. A product line that will keep your merchants happy over time means greater retention. In this day and age, it's essential that you offer merchants one-stop shopping and provide appropriate solutions instead of trying to force-fit products that will ultimately leave your customers unhappy and looking for alternatives.

VeriFone's approach has been to provide you, ISOs/MLSs, with product lines that reduce your cost of ownership. The SoftPay application, for example, runs across the complete Verix product line, which means if you can support one, you can support them all; it also provides for unified download procedures and unified key operations.

This allows economies of scale that will enable you to lower your cost of ownership and maximize your profits.While you might be tempted to push older equipment because lower prices allow for an easier sale, you should also consider that the limitations of those older models might impede your ability meet your merchants' growth needs as new functions, such as contactless, wireless processing and security requirements, come into play.

While you may not be anxious to adopt the latest technology because of a lack of familiarity, you do want to make sure that you're able to take advantage of crucial elements, such as faster processing speeds that speed up checkout lanes and clamshell printers that are simpler to operate.

Another factor to consider in product selection is the terminal provider's ability to comply with card Association regulations. Visa and MasterCard are increasingly focused on security and privacy issues that will lead to continued changes in merchant regulations. Low-cost equipment that cannot be updated or modified will become an albatross.

Innovation in value-added applications is another key element in allowing you to grow with your customers. The ability to provide third-party applications that run on the payment platform gives you tremendous ability to increase revenue from individual customers and to ensure that they don't see your terminal as a limitation on their ability to grow.

Value-added programs foster growth and improve customer retention. Instead of generating only one revenue stream based on credit/debit, you might be able to generate multiple revenue streams from individual merchants through additional programs such as check conversion, loyalty, gift cards, time and attendance and employment verification.

These offerings are also crucial in your ability to differentiate your products and services and thus gain a competitive advantage over your competition.

What you don't want is to lose business to competitors that merchants perceive as having a more complete offering for improving their productivity and profitability.

The approach VeriFone takes with its Verix architecture allows non-bankcard applications to operate without having an impact on the basic bankcard application.

If such applications affect the bankcard application, then this would require re-certification by each processor, which would have a negative impact on time to market.

There's an adage some salesmen like to offer: "Quality is appreciated long after price is forgotten." I'm a believer that such long-held sayings persist for a reason, and this one seems to have withstood the test of time as well as any.

There is a tremendous amount of added value that goes into generating long-lasting relationships that will result in recurring revenue. This applies not only to your customer relationships, but also to those with your suppliers.

Larry Bleiler is General Manager of VeriFone's North American Financial Group. You can reach him by e-mail at larry_bleiler@verifone.com or by phone at 1-800-VeriFone.