Page 18 - gs260102

StreetSmarts

Find your differentiator

It's not easy to win merchants away from Toast, Square
and Stripe. These companies are selling sticky products,
and merchants are sticking around because the product
does so much more than process payments. Merchants like
to log into their portals where they have a single access to
their entire enterprise.

And they like the built-in loyalty, accounting, payroll and
customer analytics that come with it. They like being able
to run their business from anywhere, using proprietary
software with baked-in payment processing.

Many merchants that use self-service and cloud-based Why adaptation is no longer optional
systems miss having local service and support. ISOs and
MLSs can fill that gap by offering local, personalized For more than a decade, industry leaders have urged
merchant level salespeople (MLSs) and ISOs to move
service, which gives them a competitive advantage over
big tech. ISOs with deep knowledge of a specific vertical beyond terminals and rates toward software, special-
ization and consultative selling. That message is not
industry are also well positioned to compete because they
can understand the unique challenges and pain points of new. What is new is the competitive pressure now
forcing the issue.
merchants in a particular segment.
Choose your model wisely Payments no longer sit at the center of the merchant
relationship. They are increasingly embedded inside
An ISO recently complained that their MLSs only want platforms built by ISVs, VARs and fintechs that didn’t
to sell terminals and asked me how to get them to sell historically sell payments at all. Restaurant software
software. The short answer is to level up commissions companies, vertical SaaS providers and commerce
by giving independent agents more than a 25 to 50 platforms now arrive with payments integrated,
percent split, especially those who are willing to do the priced and operational on day one. In many cases,
installations, service calls and support. MLSs and ISOs are not part of the conversation.

An MLS recently asked me if I see a future for agents in At the same time, fintechs have normalized subscrip-
this business. I think there is no future for agents who tion pricing, product-led growth and direct sales
expect to get huge residuals from selling countertop models that bypass traditional agent channels. These
terminals. I think the future holds great promise for companies are comfortable trading margin for scale,
payment professionals who are willing to adapt, change permanently reshaping commission economics and
and learn about technology and industries beyond just limiting tolerance for legacy sales approaches.
payment processing.
As a result, the long-discussed evolution of the MLS
AI-powered software is making it easier for merchants role has become urgent. Selling payments as a stand-
to personalize the customer experience, and adoption alone product is no longer defensible when mer-
is growing. ISOs and MLSs need to catch up. With the chants expect technology that manages their entire
right technology partner, we can be dealers that provide operation. MLSs who succeed today understand SaaS
programming, installation and support or specialists that value, vertical workflows and long-term business out-
consult, refer and sell. comes, not just processing costs.

Want to know more? Keep reading The Green Sheet and This moment demands clarity of role. Some MLSs
consider following me on LinkedIn, where we can share will thrive as technical specialists who install, sup-
ideas and support each other. port and train merchants. Others will operate as
trusted advisers, focusing on relationships and sales
Allen Kopelman, a serial entrepreneur, is co-founder and CEO of while relying on partners for delivery.
Nationwide Payment Systems Inc. and host of B2B Vault: The Biz
to Biz podcast. Email him at allen@npsbank.com and connect on The common thread is differentiation. In a market
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/allenkopelman/ and dominated by embedded payments, MLSs and ISOs
must offer what platforms alone cannot: expertise, ac-
X @AllenKopelman.
countability and informed guidance.

18