Merchant Sales Podcast

Tired of spinning your wheels in the mud of attrition? Are you making sales each year to replace the residuals you are losing from cancellations? In this week's edition of the Merchant Sales Insight, Elaina Smith of Secure Bancard helped me create a guide to 3 things top agents do to minimize attrition and build a solid residual portfolio.

The key is controlling the merchant experience, which starts with controlling merchant pricing, explains Elaina Smith, Co-Founder and CFO at Secure Bancard. Plus James answers the question of "What is your why?" and discusses the key to stay motivated And Patti has an update on interchange.

Fuel stations are now well past the EMV deadline and as they scramble to replace expensive pumps and install new point of sale systems, our sponsor GAS POS has positioned themselves perfectly to provide equipment and software as a service with Cash Discounting integrated deeply into the automated pumps and in-store experience. Check out this week's edition of the Merchant Sales Insight to learn mo...

Coupling cash discounting with EMV compliance upgrades for gas pumps is a winning sales proposition for independent fuel stations, Josh Smith, CEO at Gas POS explains in this week’s featured interview. Plus James tackles the question of when is the best time to build a team, and Patti offers an update on tapping to pay.

With the rise of Cash Discounting and fast are pricing, why should you analyze a processing statement? There are five primary reasons why agents and ISOs choose not to collect and analyze processing statements. However, as you will see in this week's edition of the Merchant Sales Insight, you might be leaving value on the table. Here are 5 reasons NOT to analyze processing statements and why you s...

Discover how crypto payments are finding a place at the point of sale. "There's a lot of demand even though it's still early days," said Jeremy Belostock, Head of Advanced Payment Methods at Verifone. Plus, Patti offers additional insights on crypto, and James describes how to make the pivot to telemarketing.

Most agents believe that there are only two options. They can sell a full feature point of sale system that will lock in the merchant, or they can sell a cheap stand alone terminal with no real features, other than payment processing. There is a third option! You can offer a good solution the merchant that is simple, compared to a Point of Sale or Integrated Payment setup, that also has features t...

Learn how Big Data can be leveraged to help ISOs and acquirers predict and minimize merchant defections in this week's interview with Sebastian Builes, Co-Founder and CEO at Arcum Partners. Then James answers the question: what's the most underrated component of agent compensation? Spoiler alert: it's retention. Plus Patti has the latest on business and consumer payment trends.

Learn how and why PayBright targets micro-merchants. "These are merchants that are going to potentially grow and become larger merchants," explains Dustin Magaziner, Managing Partner. Plus James discusses what it takes to dominate a specific vertical, and Patti reports on merchant satisfaction with leading payment processing companies.

Donnie Troy, owner of One Quest Payments, wasn't always keen on cash discounting. But now that he's leading with it, there's no turning back. "I've done 35 deals in 3 months," he tells James & Patti in this week's featured interview. Tune in to learn how. Plus James has advice for building cash discounting portability, and Patti reports on future prognostications regarding payment processing.

"We make it extra easy for merchants to market to their customers," says Danny Mikhail, CEO at the POS system software provider Zuza. Marketing services provide layer of protection for ISO and agent residual streams, and another selling point for prospects, he adds. Also this week, James addresses a question about how to deal with the prospect of state attorneys general taking issue with cash disc...

This is the audio version of our Merchant Sales Insight, we hope you enjoy it and learn more about the exciting opportunity of B2B payments.

Is it time for SMBs to accept crypto payments? Yes! Eric Brown, Founder and CEO of CryptoBucks, explains why in this week's featured interview. Then James drills down on why ISOs and agents should sell crypto acceptance, and Patti reports on how 2022 is expected to bring a rash of new B2B solutions.

"Ultimately, it's about stickiness and adding merchants," explains Lane Gordon, Managing Director at the consultancy 733 Park. And creating multiple client touchpoints makes for sticky customers, he adds during this insighful interview. Plus, James discusses the value cash discounting and surcharging bring to a merchant portfolio, and Patti reports on how interchange increases are playing out in t...

Merchant onboarding is a huge pain point, for merchants and agents, alike. Under.io has automated the manual application process, as well as underwriting and related steps. Jeff Shea, Co-Founder and COO at Under, explains how. Also this week: James offers advice for auditing your sales processes, and Patti reports on crypto payments at the point of sale.

Learn about a processor agnostic B2B gateway that ISOs can white label; it even supports cash discounting "ISOs drive our product road map," says Ben Frisch, Co-Founder & Director of Business Development at accept.blue. Plus, James has advice for what to do when there is seemingly no time to prospect, and Patti reports on Visa efforts to keep pot shop sales off its debit network.

Cash discounting for restaurants! As restaurant owners struggle to contain costs, "this really moves the needle," explains Saleem Khatri, CEO at Lavu. Plus, James shares practical tips for improving your sales skills, and Patti makes the case for selling B2B. You can download a free ebook, Selling Cash Discounting to Restaurants, by going to ccsalespro.com/lavu. Learn more about Lavu by texting th...

Card-not present merchants present a huge opportunity for selling surcharging, and Stax is making a play to better serve this market through its recent acquisition of leading surcharging solution provider CardX. CardX CEO Jonathan Razi and Stax Co-Founder Sal Rehmetullah join James and Patti this week to discuss how ISOs and agents can build their books offering surcharging to CNP verticals. Plus...

Discover key trends that will shape the future of merchant services, and how these might effect large ISOs, smaller ISOs and individual agents, as well as consumer spending trends are shaping the near term, in this far-reaching dialogue between James & Patti.

Learn how Enroll & Pay helps ISOs and agents offer businesses a turnkey loyalty program, tied to card payments, with conversion rates as high as 70%. "It's a churn killer," says Dana Dahms, Director of Global Sales at Enroll & Pay. Plus, it drives better residuals, he adds. (Download the Merchant Sales Insight on the topic here.) Then, James fields a question on strategies for getting merchants of...

PayFac as a Service is a novel concept that MSPs can leverage to tap into the ISV market, Caleb Avery, CEO of Tilled, explains in this week's featured interview. Plus, Patti reports on an ISO in the legal crosshairs, and James describes the huge opportunity that exists for prospecting & selling cash discounting & surcharging to CNP merchants. Click here to connect with Tilled.

Learn the ins and outs of selling high-risk merchant accounts. "Agents who can differentiate between low risk and high risk is where we're seeing success," said Ben Griefer, COO at Maverick BankCard. Plus, James explains the importance of acknowledging negatives while emphasizing positives when selling merchant services, and Patti reports on a clash of titans as Amazon takes on Visa.

Discover how to sell payment processing, and cash discounting, to businesses invoicing customers through QuickBooks. "We're a turbocharger for QuickBooks," explains Tom Aronica, Founder & CEO of Biller Genie. Plus, James discusses opportunities for pitching compliant cash discounting to card-not-present merchants, and Patti reports on promising economic news.

MPI is an ISO that's been building a profitable book of business with W2 sales and support employees, as they leverage referral relationships. "The W2 model has been a really good fit for us as a company," said Katie McMillan, Director of Sales. Discover how & why. Then James & Patti talk about recent news regarding PAX & its terminals

In this weeks episode, we follow the career journey of Jeff Underwood through different management roles and discuss the challenge and opportunity of building a team within a large organization. James follows up this interview by discussing the trade-offs that come from increased involvement with your processing company. Then Patti discusses a new law in Texas relating to sales tax on credit card...