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IN THIS ISSUE |
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The economic downturn is causing merchants to review all aspects of their business. Yes, some have cut spending, but some are also looking to invest in ways that will make their businesses run better and become more profitable. Using Mobilescape to improve wireless payment processing is one of those ways.
Focusing on wireless payment processing isn't an obvious choice for many agents in the merchant acquiring business. For experienced salespeople, the traditional, tried and true methods that focus on landline POS equipment work just fine: give the "plug-and-play" terminal away to get the processing, drop it off, and it's off to the next sale.
For salespeople new to the business, a profitable and overlooked niche like wireless may come to mind, but there are so many questions, they may find it easier (at first) to fight over the same ground of traditional landline business that everyone else is fighting for.
But the trends in wireless shouldn't be ignored:
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In 2004 terminal manufacturers shipped 783,909 wireless units, up 33.5% from the prior year. |
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By 2009 one in every four terminals delivered in the U.S. will be wireless. |
To read more about maximizing your sales in a slow market, click here.
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SECRETS OF SELLING WIRELESS |
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We know there's demand out there for wireless solutions, so let's figure your potential return for focusing on the wireless segment. We heard from one reseller group that tested paper-based direct marketing campaigns to the plumbing and HVAC segments. These segments tend to generate multiple unit deals (one unit for each truck in the field) and tend to process at least $5,000 per month per truck.
The company generated these results over an eight-month trial period:
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Over a 1% hot response rate (at least 10 direct inbound calls for every 1000 letters sent) |
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About two closes from the ten inbound calls |
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Average deal size of 4 terminals |
You can easily find your own lead source, write your own letter and do a mailing. With the right pitch, you could sell about 8 terminals for each $500 to $600 you spend on marketing. Think about the rate of return on the direct mail. Say you make $100 margin on each terminal you sell—that's $800 up front. Beyond that, you'll make around $20 or more per terminal per month from processing, wireless bandwidth resale fees, transaction fees, and other value added services you sell. If you call your prospects to follow up on the mailing you sent them, your response rate will be even higher.
This is why the wireless niche can be so lucrative. Yes, it's sometimes harder to sell than standard landline accounts, but it can be worth much, much more to your portfolio since it's often a multiple unit sale.
The main difference in selling a wireless account is that often it may be viewed as a "nice to have" and not a "must have." If a merchant opens a new convenience store, for example, there is generally no question as to whether he will need to accept credit and debit cards at the point of sale. He will be bombarded by offers for "free" equipment and low introductory rates. Aside from the fact that nothing is free, that's a tough battle to win.
A plumber or HVAC contractor, by comparison, is probably not using any device to take payments in the field. That's the good news, because you can offer him a wide range of wireless payment solutions (we prefer the Mobilescape 5000!) to process credit cards and checks at the customer's home. The main challenge you have to overcome is to convince the contractor to change his business process.
Yes, he can continue to do things the old way. He can still call in the numbers to the home office, but how much time does that waste? How much more expensive is his processing by not getting card present rates? Yes, he can still write down the card number on an invoice and process it back at the office. How often does he get the number wrong? Has data ever been stolen from his truck? How does he know the card is good?
You can overcome the inertia of old business processes, but you have to change how you sell. You must become a consultative seller. You must become the expert on wireless payments as you communicate the benefits of moving the transaction closer to the customer, not the person who drops off a wireless unit. You should view yourself as selling a solution to the merchant's problems, not as a reseller of wireless terminals.
Moreover, and this is the most important thing, you must absolutely make service and education your number one priority if you want to be successful in the wireless space. If you simply drop off the terminals and then wave goodbye as you head for the door, you will fail.
Since you are changing a merchant's business process, they are going to have questions on how to use the terminal. Commerciant has downloadable materials, videos, and live training schedules to help merchants better understand the equipment.
The hour you spend with the merchant at the time of sale will prevent ten hours of hassle down the road, and will encourage the merchant to maximize the use of the terminal, which is nothing but good news for your residual.
The wireless market is poised to explode over the next couple of years and the agents who focus on it now to create a niche market will do very, very well. Everyone else will be left to fight over the old ground using the old methods. |
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HOW TO STOP PESKY TRAINING CALLS AFTER THE SALE |
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If you just read the article on how to sell wireless, the key idea was that you "must absolutely make service and education your number one priority if you want to be successful."
We are here to help you do just that. Refer your new merchants to our weekly training!
We make using the Mobilescape so easy, merchants don't even have to read the manual. All they need to do is dial in, and we'll take it from there.
The one hour training covers all of the Mobilescape's basic icons, how to process a credit card and check transaction and much more. This is time well spent. You'll get fewer routine support calls, and so will we!
Click here for a copy of the merchant training outline.
Merchant Training Information
Time: Fridays, 11:00 am CST
Dial: 1-866-365-4406
Conference Code: 7355512# |
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THE COMMERCIANT ISO & AGENT TEAM
WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU |
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Have a question about selling wireless? How about a question on the features of Mobilescape? Need to find out the latest offers? Call or e-mail the Commerciant ISO & Agent team.
We always want to hear from you to learn what we're doing right and what we need to improve on.
Also, from time to time we may have unadvertised specials on terminals. This is especially true as we occasionally buy back gently used excess terminals from our large, national enterprise customers. When this happens, we give the units a full lab certification and sell them at a substantial discount.
Demand for these units is high, so we tend to release them to the agents who are in close and frequent touch with us. Please check in from time to time and you could get a great deal on Mobilescape 3000s and Mobilescape 5000s.
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Terry Crane |
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Vice President of Business Development |
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713.735.5524 |
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Roy de Souza |
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Relationship Manager |
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713.735.5532 |
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HOW TO GET REFURBISHED TERMINALS |
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From time to time we may have unadvertised specials on refurbished terminals.
The good news is that our agents love these terminals—the margin is better and the market demand is high. The bad news is that these units are in very high demand and we don't get many returns.
The best way to get refurbished terminals is to keep in close touch with your relationship manager. Refurbished units do not come to us on a regular schedule, so it's really a matter of timing. |
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TRAINING REMINDERS |
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We can lead you to the water, but we can't make you drink…
In addition to merchant training, Commerciant has plenty of ISO and agent training options. These are informative, helpful sessions that will help you to better sell wireless payment processing. It only takes an hour, so dial in to the next session!
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Basic ISO & Agent Training - Tuesdays, 10:00 am CT and Thursdays, 1:00 pm CT |
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ISO & Agent Mobilescape Demo Training - Fridays, 1:00 pm CT |
All training calls use the same phone number and training code: 1-866-365-4406 and code 7355512#. For complete details, visit our ISO/Agent Resource Center.
For those that can't make the training calls, we have online training presentations available on our website.
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FINDING NEW BUSINESS IN A SLOW
MARKET, continued |
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The business need
Millions of businesses operate in an environment where a traditional countertop payment device isn't feasible. Examples include residential services such as heating, ventilation air conditioning (HVAC) companies; plumbers; pest control; airlines; food delivery services; curbside “to-go” services at casual dining restaurants; and many others.
Without a wireless POS solution, these merchants are at a disadvantage.
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They may write down incorrect credit card numbers. |
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They may carry credit card receipts in service trucks for long periods of time, leaving data at risk for theft or loss |
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They may incur higher fees by calling in "card-not-present" transactions to their home office |
Advantages of Wireless
Given the problems of taking payments away from the office, wireless solutions offer some great advantages. Using a wireless solution makes taking credit cards cheaper, safer and more efficient.
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Merchants who previously couldn't accept credit cards now can |
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Merchants pay lower discount rates due to swiping a card |
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No power needed (good for trade shows, taxi drivers, sidewalk sales) |
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Merchants can easily expand checkout lanes and remote promotional sales |
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No phone lines required or phone line installation cost |
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Reduced risk of taking a bad card |
So, there's definitely a business need, and there are many advantages of wireless when it comes to taking payments. Don't be discouraged by what you hear in the media: many, many businesses use slowdowns as a time to review processes and equipment, and will invest in those things that will make them stronger. Use the slowdown as an opportunity to approach merchants with the offer to save merchants money and to help them improve their business.
For more in depth information, please visit the article titled "Secrets of Selling Wireless."
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Commerciant, LP
3130 Rogerdale Rd Ste 190
Houston, TX 77042
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