am writing this article on April 17 as I prepare to leave for the Electronic Transactions Association's (ETA) Annual Meeting & Expo in Las Vegas. Since I began penning articles for The Green Sheet three years ago, I've wanted to write about the ETA show. But the timing hasn't been right.

This year my article will be published shortly after the event, when it's still fresh in everyone's mind. So I want to remind all of you ISOs and merchant level salespeople to follow up on what you learned, the contacts you gathered and the promises you made at the show.

Pursue opportunities

It has been my experience after ETA and other shows that we get back to the office after being gone for a week or so, and find a full plate of work. Most of us throw the materials (and all those business cards) we gathered into a corner or file them away. This year's materials are probably still right where we put them three weeks ago.

Now may be a good time to take them out and do something about them. You still may remember why you took a particular business card. I just pulled out the cards I got from last year's show, and I have no recollection of why I kept many of them. Make time now to call people. There's likely to be new business, new product offerings and/or a better deal out there waiting for you.

Do the hard stuff too

Now for the bad news and the hard part. Based on my experiences at previous ETA shows, I know that many of you learned from Compliance Day sessions, break-out sessions and conversations with exhibitors and other attendees that there are many ways to improve your business practices. You may have gleaned that:

• You and your sub-ISOs and agents should be properly registered with the card Associations.

• Compliance with the card Associations' rules and regulations will help prevent fines or penalties.

• You should do required background checks.

• You may need to improve or upgrade your risk, underwriting or merchant boarding processes.

• You should update your merchant agreement so it has all required provisions, fully protects you and/or is not missing forms or using outdated forms.

• You must meet obligations regarding ongoing merchant risk assessment and due diligence.

• Your marketing materials or Web site should meet card Association guidelines.

• You need to improve your retrieval/chargeback or customer service processes, and there are card Association publications and other tools that you could provide to your merchants to maintain loyalty and minimize your risk.

• A technological solution could help or expand your business.

• It's time to do something about data security. Make sure you and/or some of your merchants are Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard-compliant. Fines from a data breach could wipe you out.

• You should not send unencrypted card numbers over open networks.

• You should have a disaster recovery plan in place to keep you going during an emergency or a computer crash.

The above list may remind you of necessary back-office changes you learned about at ETA ... and still have done nothing about. You probably can think of a few more. Do something now, or set the process in motion to get it done sooner rather than later. It could save your business.

Share the booty

And finally, what are you going to do with all that stuff you brought back from the show? The batteries in those flashy light things are going to run out. How many pens do you really need? Go through it all, take out what you don't need and give it to your office staff. It might even make their day.

David H. Press is Principal and President of Integrity Bankcard Consultants Inc. Call him at 630-637-4010, e-mail dhpress@ibc411.com or visit www.ibc411.com .