Ownership,
Not Options
As long as I have been
in the Financial Services Industry, and since ISOs first became
players in the Merchant Bankcard Acquiring marketplace, there has
always been someone looking for a better bankcard relationship, or
looking for their own deal. Why is this? Is it that salespeople are
just restless? Is it that we, as human beings, inherently think that
we can do it better, smarter, faster, and cheaper?
Whatever the reason, it
doesnít seem to slow down, and January 1, 1999, isnít
going to be different. A new bankcard program is forming called
Worldwide Merchant Services (WMS); the brainchild of Bob Peisner, a
battle-scarred veteran of the bankcard wars. Bob was one of the
original AMCOR offices, selling Citicorp services early in 1983.
Later, he moved to such programs as Peachtree and, at one time, was
one of the most prolific producers of Cardservice International. To
put this another way, Bob can feel your pain, and this is the reason
he is starting an organization whose stated intent is to help its
partners build equity.
The program outline
begins by establishing the basics that everyone wants to
sell:
* High account approval
rates
* Guaranteed leasing at
great rates
* Ultra competitive
pricing
* A Minimum of $5.00 per
month, per on-line account
* 100% of the income
above the swipe buy rate
* 66% of the income
above the buy rate on MO/TO
* 10 basis points on
AMEX
* Lifetime vesting of
residuals
* Generous commissions
on equipment
* 90% of the gross
margin on equipment or software
Bob can feel your pain,
and this is the reason he is starting an
organization whose
stated intent is to help its partners build
equity.
However, the heart of
WMS is something they describe as a "free ownership opportunity." Bob
believes he has formed the first "IC- (independent contractor) and
employee-owned company in the industry."
While reading the
Worldwide materials, I was particularly intrigued by the "Commitment
to Independent Contractors, Plan A and B." These documents detail how
the stock in the company will be distributed based on the number of
sales contracts produced, as well as the unique way individual
salespeople can participate in ownership, side-by-side with larger
organizations through a separate membership (ownership)
pool.
While I, of course, am
unable to comment on how Worldwide will treat their partners once
this program begins to gain momentum, or how well they may be able to
handle large scale growth from a processing or risk point of view, I
can say that Bob has been burnt on more than one occasion himself. I
can also tell you that previous marketing success tells me that Bob
knows how to motivate, and he loves, not just tolerates,
salespeople.
Please contact Bob
Peisner at (800) Visa-N-MC for more information; Worldwide could be
your ticket to ownership of your own merchant
portfolio.
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