elonie Dickey, a merchant level salesperson based in Southern California, brings enthusiasm and a fresh perspective to a competitive and rapidly changing industry. In the following interview with The Green Sheet, she discusses her niche market and why bad experiences are an important part of growing.

The Green Sheet: What brought you into this business?

Melonie Dickey: I worked as a bank teller for a year prior to going to college and continued working as a teller throughout my college summer vacations. After graduating ... in 1999, I moved out to California to pursue my career in business. I was hoping to land a job working in the Internet/technology field as I love technology.

As things happen, I landed a temporary job doing statistical analysis for Humboldt Merchant Services, known then as Humboldt Bank. This led to an accounting position and ultimately an internal Account Executive position selling merchant services nationwide over the phone. I went out on my own in 2002.

GS: What type of training did you receive?

MD: I consider myself to be very lucky when it comes to my merchant services training and background. First and foremost, I began with one of the best companies in the industry, Humboldt Merchant Services [HMS], [run] by a great guy, Ken Musante. HMS has the same customer service values as I, and they are an honest company.

When I first began, I received industry overview training by Jamie Savant, who worked for HMS at the time and is certainly one to look up to. I worked directly for Hilda Tuel, who was a great motivator, knowledgeable superior and really enforced the importance of goal setting.

From there, I have continued to educate myself through industry magazines and as many conference and training calls [as I can attend].

GS: How prepared do you think newcomers are now as opposed to when you started?

MD: It seems there are a lot of folks jumping on board ... and really not fully understanding the industry, which leads to lack of education, which is ultimately a downfall for merchants. But I have seen these people crank out the sales, so it is not to say that they are not good or capable salespeople.

GS: Is it important to have sales skills and industry knowledge?

MD: For longevity in retaining the merchants, it's very important because they are going to start being charged certain fees ... and they are going to start questioning things like "Why am I being billed this?

"You told me it was 1.4% and now it's 2.5%," because they are keying in sales (or whatever the reason).

Maybe the proper needs assessment wasn't done, [the agent] didn't fully understand the merchant's core business. Anybody can go ahead and set the merchant up. The question really is, can they keep them long term? If the merchants aren't happy, they are going to look elsewhere.

GS: Is it important to be more than just a salesperson?

MD: I certainly consider myself to be more than just a salesperson, I consider myself a consultant. On my card I put Independent Merchant Consultant.

GS: How does that work to your advantage?

MD: By consulting with the merchant, I am able to understand their business needs in more depth. For instance, they may be keying in all of their sales, but were set up with a retail swiped account to begin with, and now they are looking elsewhere to save money.

So I begin by consulting with them on their needs, then educating them on the different types of accounts and other value-added products that may be beneficial to their business.

This not only increases their consumer confidence, but allows the merchant to be more comfortable with me and feel as if we have similar goals, which is ultimately to make their business (and mine) more profitable. Then I am not perceived as just another salesperson.

GS: How hard is it to stand out from the competition?

MD: I personally don't find it very hard. I'm honest, up front, and very persistent in my follow up, and that seems to set me apart.

GS: Do you focus on certain types of merchants?

MD: My background has always been e-commerce-based.

When I worked for HMS they had me doing phone sales, and I would do a few retail sales here and there, but it was mainly nationwide e-commerce sales. When I went out on my own I pretty much continued with e-commerce sales, along with some retail.

About six months ago I did a bunch of Yellow Pages ads just to test the waters. I had never tried it ... and that certainly is drumming up more retail and wireless business. I do, though, prefer the e-commerce.

GS: Why?

MD: It's being on the techie side of the business, and I consider myself to be a fairly technical person. I like working with the other technical people: the Web designers, graphic artists and so forth that have the clients. Those people are great referral sources.

With technology and the Internet, I feel that there is a vast opportunity and a lot of untapped businesses on the Web.

GS: How do you feel about cold calling?

MD: Occasionally I will fit in cold calling in between appointments. If I see a new shopping complex, I certainly will go in and talk with the merchants ... they've already received 20 promos in the mail, and everybody's ads with lower and lower rates ... but I'll go in and let them know that I am here to help them along the way.

I'm not here to steer them 100% towards me, although I am there in hopes of earning their business, but I would like to do that by showing them how I differ from the other companies. I have been doing more cold calling over the past six months, and it has been pretty successful.

GS: How has the business changed since you started?

MD: Technology has changed tremendously in regards to the retail equipment. I'm jumping on board with the new contactless readers. I find them just so intriguing ... it almost seems we're in a surreal world now, like what we used to see in cartoons, the extreme future, is now happening. I look forward to being a part of the growth and certainly all the changes in technology.

GS: What are your requirements for choosing a processor?

MD: Customer service is key. Give the customer service department a call and see how well and how quickly they answer the phone. It is also good to have financial flexibility as an agent; not everybody gives you that. I personally strive to be honest and up front, so I look at the merchant applications to find the ones that don't hide the fees.

GS: How do you feel about the honesty at the merchant level?

MD: It is not as common as I would hope, for the merchants' sake and for mine, when I come across a merchant who is under false pretense. It seems the lack of knowledge or education on the MLS level results in a lot of misled, confused and often times very upset merchants.

GS: How do you feel about security?

MD: I recently attended the [Western States Acquirers' Association] WSAA and learned a wealth of information on security and PCI compliance. [I] really feel that there needs to be more of this readily available on the MLS level, as we are the ones working directly with the merchant in the beginning, and it is important that this information is passed on to the merchants.

GS: How do you explain interchange rates to potential clients?

MD: These are the fees that are charged by the issuing banks and ultimately passed on to the merchant, which becomes the cost of doing business and accepting credit cards. Otherwise, it would mean losing business, and no one wants that. GS: Describe a learning experience.

MD: Over the past few years working with different ISOs and processors, I've taken several steps back. I lost over $2,000 a month in residuals. That's huge when you are first starting out as an agent.

To lose that portfolio, that was a valuable learning experience, one of the best things that could have happened to me because I learned not to put all of your eggs in one basket. I learned that to work with at least a couple of different processors is not necessarily a bad idea. It's important to find a processor that is backed by a bank.

I would say that is number one, almost on top of customer service. The two certainly go hand in hand.

GS: How important are the regional and national tradeshows?

MD: I just attended my very first tradeshow (the WSAA) since I have been out on my own. I felt so great after that, so motivated, I feel that it is certainly advantageous to get yourself out there, network with other people, meet the people that you are dealing with in the industry, learn about the latest and greatest technologies, compliance standards and value-added services.

GS: How do you stay informed on what's going on in the industry?

MD: There are a lot of reading [materials] and all the message boards that you can go on. There are plenty of sources, and it's simply a matter of putting aside the time for yourself to ... read the magazines and get on the forums and do the conference calls and training calls with the processors or the equipment manufacturers.

GS: What kind of resource has The Green Sheet been for you?

MD: A wealth of information.

GS: Describe a typical day in your life.

MD: Sell, sell, sell ... and customer service.

GS: Are you satisfied with your progress so far?

MD: Yes, I am very proud of my progress. I have had my ups and downs and taken some steps back in order to move forward, but that makes me who I am today. I've learned from my mistakes, or wrong turns as I like to call them. I am proud to say that I have stuck with the industry and never given up.

GS: Would you have done anything differently?

MD: I wouldn't go back and do anything differently, as that is how I have learned so much and gotten to where I am, but I would be more cautious of who I choose to do business with. Not everyone has my best interest in mind.

GS: What are the benefits of working as an independent agent?

MD: One is the flexibility in pricing structures and working with different processors. Two: Building my residual portfolio. I do find that I put in more hours working for myself, but I wouldn't change a thing.

I have more time to travel, and I can even work where my travels take me. It took me three years to get where I am today, but that only makes me proud of my accomplishments and choices as an independent agent.

GS: Any advice for newcomers?

MD: The best thing that you can do is to educate yourself. No one else is going to do it for you.