andy Sagar's enthusiasm is contagious. Maybe that's because he's not shy about showing it. When he talks about his job, the people he works with and the new direction his company is headed following one of the biggest mergers in financial services in 2004, he's very animated.

In a conversation with Sagar, it's hard not to get excited about all of it right along with him.

He likes to talk about what's ahead, rather than accomplishments he's made throughout his career and the events that have propelled him to where he is today. It's the potential for doing things better in the future that seems to energize him, and he passes that on to those around him.

As Senior Vice President of Regional Sales for National Processing Inc. (NPC), Sagar oversees a network of 100 independent sales offices and an additional 1,200 independent agents in the sales program.

Those include all ISO programs across the country, and NPC's subsidiary Best Payment Solutions. NPC also has an agreement in place to continue servicing accounts for former owner National City Corp.'s branches for 10 years.

Sagar's style is hands-on, and he never forgets what it's like to be out there selling every day: He still has the most fun when he goes out on sales calls with reps, which he does at least once a month.

"I know sales and managing sales teams," he said. "I'm very appreciative of the sales rep. A lot of folks who get to my position forget about that."

He said that his success and longevity in financial services are due in part to his affinity with sales agents. "Other organizations start with financial departments and build their sales programs on down from there," Sagar said.

"By the time it reaches the rep level, who are the ones going out and selling goods and services to merchants, the program doesn't work.

"I love to work with reps, to understand what's working from a field perspective and how business is done at the street level. From there, you adjust present and future programs.

"I build my sales programs from the ground level up, with the representation or ISO in mind. If you design a program that doesn't work for your representation, it doesn't matter what you're selling. You're going to fail at the end of the day."

And Sagar has sold a variety of products throughout his career. Before he joined the payments industry 12 years ago, beginning in the late 1980s, he worked with a marketing firm that sold "tangible" products, as he called them, including furniture and sporting goods. Eventually he was based in Kentucky and running a 10-state territory that covered the middle of the country.

Because many of his customers were retailers, he had plenty of merchant contacts when he met one of the principals of an ISO/processor called Financial Alliance, who insisted that Sagar would be a great fit with his organization and with selling credit card processing. NPC bought Financial Alliance after Sagar had been there about a year.

"I took a chance, and it worked out well," he said. "I landed a few large merchant accounts and they said, 'Maybe this guy can sell. How would you like to run our ISO program?' I said, 'Gee, that would be great. What's an ISO?'"

Needless to say, Sagar went through a learning curve, but from his experience with the marketing firm, he was already familiar with the structure of organizations that dealt with sales agents and representatives.

"There are certain rules of thumb you have to adhere to regardless of what type of sales you're dealing with or managing," he said. "I've carried that over from the first piece to the second piece."

Establishing long-term relationships, too, has afforded Sagar a unique view of the business. "I've done business with a lot folks for 10, 11 years now, and I know a lot about my ISOs and their companies, families, hobbies and interests as well as their concerns for the business and over issues happening in the marketplace," he said.

Sagar's preference to look forward served him well when the announcement came in July that Bank of America would acquire NPC from National City.

There's always trepidation around change, and a big one like this, possibly affecting hundreds of people and their livelihoods, has a ripple effect. But with someone like Sagar to assuage fears and put people at ease, things tend to go smoothly.

A man who prefers to look ahead is the ideal candidate for the job of developing the ISO channel following the merger. "When the proposed acquisition was announced, many people called wondering if I was going to stay," Sagar said. "They commented that no large bank had ever been successful with an ISO program.

"This is a very exciting transaction," Sagar said. "This is a great opportunity not only for myself, but the ISO teams I've directed for years, to redefine the space we're in. I love what I'm hearing from the Bank of America side about how they're going to help me with the ISO program. They're asking the right questions and listening to the ISO team."

The consolidation of Bank of America's Merchant Services unit with NPC will impact the acquiring landscape. The new company, called BA Merchant Services LLC, merges the second largest card processor in the world with the third largest bank in the United States. The new entity is expected to process more than $290 billion in combined debit and credit transaction volume in 2004. It will rank second among merchant acquirers.

Bank of America paid $1.4 billion for NPC. It's a strategic move for the bank, enabling it to compete more effectively in the electronic payments business.

In 2003, NPC processed 4.3 billion transactions worth $177 billion at 700,000 merchant locations. Bank of America will be able to take advantage of the widespread sales channels and networks NPC already has in place, thanks to Sagar and his team.

The resulting economies of scale will benefit both entities, Sagar believes. "Bank of America is acquiring something they don't do today," he said.

"It's a vehicle for them to play in a space they're literally not playing in and gives their whole card business some definition.

"We're already national in scope and have a large ISO program in place today. It's not so much a matter of expanding as it is what we're going to do to make our program stronger and into the premier ISO program that people gravitate to."

In Sagar's mind, it's all about taking care of the agents; he's been there, and knows from personal experience how important those relationships are. He also understands what the implications are when the winds of change blow through a company.

"The regeneration process of an ISO program is not only a very exciting time, but you're participating in something that has the potential to be very successful for a lot of folks," Sagar said.

"When you're running a program, your scope is pretty far-reaching. It goes all the way down to the rep level and affects the reps' livelihoods.

"I think I'm already ahead of the bell curve and have moved on to how to make the ISO successful. NPC has been successful and has built a strong foundation because we have a tenured team that's been together eight years. We understand the space as a team and individually, and we help ISOs build a strong foundation for their own businesses by being visionary."

Sagar felt strongly about checking in with NPC's ISO and agent partners on where they stood with the Bank of America merger. When the transaction was announced, he contacted as many people as he could to get their reactions and listen to their concerns. He tried to answer as many of their questions as possible early on.

So far, he hasn't spoken with anyone who thinks it's a bad move or who said that they're going to take their business elsewhere. In fact, he said it's been exactly the opposite.

"Bank of America has given me an avenue; I see that clearly," Sagar said. "Sometimes you get caught in the middle of a transaction and you start struggling with how it's going to affect you individually, the people that you work with and the teams that you direct. But this is a rare instance when the transaction was good for all parties.

Sagar is especially excited about the new opportunities for the ISO/MLS partners who will sell for the new company that Bank of America brings to the table through full service bank products.

And that ties in with Sagar's belief that soon, ISOs/MLSs will need to take a more consultative approach to selling.

"My vision is that [agents] will need to be full-service advisors to the merchants and be able to offer a full suite of services from the bank, as well as those that we're offering today," he said.

"Along with everything they're selling today, they might be able to offer payroll cards, corporate cards, small business and treasury management products, all the things that merchants really need."

The prospect of creating new possibilities for agents has infused Sagar with about as rosy an outlook as anyone can have. "This vision has gotten me excited again about what the new world could look like."

Sagar doesn't hesitate to credit the people with whom he works with making NPC's ISO partner programs among the best in the business.

"Our tenured team understands the space; we've been together eight years," he said. "You're only as good as the team that's around you, and I've been truly blessed with a great team.

"I think it's very interesting that there are a lot of folks in corporations who are very fearful of putting great talent around themselves because they think they won't shine. I've never adhered to that philosophy.

"The better your team and the better the folks around you, the better your overall situation is going to be. They will force you to be better or you will just be better by interacting with them."

In the end, after mergers are finalized and the dust settles around newly formed companies of all sizes, it really comes down to something that's been the key element throughout Randy Sagar's career in payments.

"The one thing that hasn't changed about the ISO business is that it's a relationship business," he said. "The only thing you have in this business is your word."

Contact Randy Sagar by e-mail at rsagar@npc.net .