Merchant Sales Podcast

Sales reps face risks up and down the relationship chain, explains attorney Eugene Rome. In this week's featured interview, he describes some of the legal land mines that exist and how agents can protect against them. Plus, James discusses the power of campaign marketing, and Patti reports on PayPal's latest crypto play.

Lane Gordon of 733 Park lends his wisdom to discussions around payments companies purchasing ISVs. "You have to understand what's under the hood," he explains. Then James answers the question "What could be the death of the 1099 model?" And Patti reports on Sen. Durbin's latest push for interchange legislation.

This week, Vlad Sadovskiy, CEO at Netevia, talks with James & Patti about FedNow, the new real-time payment network just launched by the Federal Reserve. "The payment system is going to start running fast, just like the stock market," Vlad predicts. Plus, James offers his take on "core values" and what they should mean to a company and its employees. And Patti reports on the fallout from Toast's l...

More than $1 trillion in payments volume has shifted to vertical software companies over the past 5 years, says Caleb Avery, CEO at Tilled, and that figure continues to grow as software companies discover the value of payments monetization. Learn what ISOs and agents can do to take advantage of this trend. Plus James describes strategies for growing your ISO/agent business.

In today's episode, James interviews the CEO of CCStorage, a property management software company for Self Storage Properties. This is a company James owns and so the two share an insightful and transparent look at what it takes to build your own vertical specific software company with integrated payments. James follows up this interview with his thoughts on partnering with ISV's versus building y...

First, we had software-as-a-service. Now we’re seeing a similar phenomenon with hardware. Hardware-as-a-service is a great model that everybody in merchant services should be thinking about. Lavu, the sponsor of this Merchant Sales Insight, has paired the HaaS model with its restaurant management solutions, to drive significant revenue opportunities for sales reps. One reason why is that HaaS is a...

Streamlining merchant onboarding can be a challenge, especially with quick service restaurants, which, not surprisingly, put a lot of emphasis on simplicity and speed. Here are four keys to streamlining POS installations for QSRs.. (1) Seamless merchant account set-ups (2) Free equipment, or at least no upfront investment required for new hardware (3) Deployment processes and procedures designed f...

Learn the ins and outs of selling payment processing to card not present merchants who use quickbooks for accounting, and need a reliable invoicing system. James is joined by Garima Shah, President at Biller Genie as they discuss the unique needs of merchants who invoice for payment and how Biller Genie serves these merchants with a processor agnostic system that supports all major gateways while...

In last week's episode, James discussed the macro trends in the industry. Today, he shares the four biggest opportunities in payments that should be considered as you map out your competitive strategy for the next 5 to 10 years. He talks about card not present, B2B, ISV Partnership, and local W2 teams, with insights and practical steps to explore these opportunities.

In this special, two-part episode of the Merchant Sales Podcast, James shares seven important trends in the payments space of which you should be aware and which should impact your strategy. We talk about the industry as a whole and how software, capital, and alternate payment methods (among other trends) are changing the landscape.

Discover how to optimize day-to-day operations and scale up a white-glove approach to customer service through the marriage of tech and payments in this far-reaching conversation with Sebastian Builes, Co-Founder and CEO at Arcum. Plus, you're not going to want to miss James's demonstration of how ISOs and agents can use Chat GPT to grow their merchant portfolios.

Visa has been on a tear, issuing fines to acquirers that "trickle down" to ISOs and agents, who typically don't know what's going on, explains Industry Attorney Charles Bishota in this week's featured interview. Plus James fields a question about the ban on surcharging in Massachusetts, and Patti reports on trends in consumer payment preferences.

There is no one way to negotiate a compensation package with an ISO. But there are 4 considerations that are essential to the negotiating process. (1) Residual income (2) Upfront bonus money (3) Free hardware (4) Customer support PayBright, the sponsor of this Merchant Sales Insight, is really focused on providing free hardware to merchants, and the company has a reputation for superior customer s...

Elaina Smith, Chief Financial Officer at Secure Bancard, shares her secrets to success, as well insights on common mistakes that get in the way of growing an ISO. "Always surround yourself with people who are working at the same level you do," she counseled. Plus, James answers the question: "Should I milk my business, or should I grow it." And Patti reports on an FTC action against a payments com...

Compliant surcharging can be quite profitable for ISOs and their sales reps. But before proceeding, ask yourself: (1)What is the average ticket size of a prospect/client? (2)Do we have technology to integrate with the billing system, so statements are accurate and understandable? (3)Do we have an omni-channel solution? Payroc, sponsor of this Merchant Sales Insight, has done a fantastic job of bui...

Scott Adams, CEO at Fraud Deflect, joins James & Patti this week to explain Visa's new rule changes around the type of chargebacks commonly referred to as "friendly fraud.' "These changes are going to be a game changer for some merchants," said Scott. Then James addresses what he describes as the race to vertical SaaS solutions, and Patti reports on a chargeback mitigation firm that has found itse...

There are three foundational pillars - tech capabilities - upon which ISOs and agents can build successful merchant services marketing plans. 1. A statement analysis tool that supports quick turnaround with 100% accuracy. 2. A tool for creating instant savings estimates without the need for uploading statements. 3. Customer proposal templates. ISO Amp, my company and the sponsor of this Merchant S...

In this week's featured interview we explore how ISOs and agents can slash merchant attrition with gift card and loyalty programs. Some agents are seeing attrition rates fall by as much as 50%, simply by offering gift card programs, explained Dan Battista, CEO and Partner at Factor4, a leading provider of omnichannel gift card and loyalty programs. Next, James offers insights on selling payment an...

All too often banks make it difficult for ISOs and agents to set up accounts. Not so neobanks. Neobanks are fintechs with apps that streamline mobile banking. And neobanks are a potential game changer for merchant services. ISOs and agents are uniquely positioned to profit from neobanking. Maybe even more than they profit from payment processing. Netivia Banking, the sponsor of this Merchant Sales...

Learn what it takes to really make it in merchant services. "Focus and intention are critical", says Elaina Smith, CFO at Secure Bancard. Later on in the episode, James draws on his own experiences to offer advice on what it takes to launch a software company, and Patti has some new insights on consumer spending and card usage.

James puts a new spin on an old way of compensating sales agents, the profit true-up. In this episode of the Merchant Sales Insight, you'll learn: - What a profit true-up is & how it works - How dual pricing is dramatically changing the math around profit true-ups, as well as overall account profitability - Using profit true-ups to evaluate potential ISOs/processors for your accounts This edition...

In this special edition of the Merchant Sales Podcast, James explains Visa's recent decision to cap credit card Surcharges at 3%, and how that will drive more ISOs and agents to pitch Dual Pricing. Plus, James interviews Eric Bernstein, CEO at Valor Paytech, on how Valor terminals can support both Dual Pricing and Compliant Surcharging, and together James & Eric respond to agent questions.

Use excuses to your advantage. Here are three key considerations: 1. Have a good excuse for calling on a business owner in the first place. 2. Justify (have an excuse for) why you're calling on the merchant now. 3. Negotiate for time throughout the process. Keep the business owner in a negotiating posture for as long as possible. Use lines like, “Well, one more thing, and then I’ll let you go," an...

This week's podcast features Dave Humphrey, President at Bryte Payment Solutions, discussing the importance of first impressions and maintaining open channels of communication. James shares his insights on starting a vertical-specific software company based on his personal experience, while Patti reports on a new Visa initiative that promotes interoperability between P2P payment networks.

Pivot the conversation to a purely financial decision, where an investment of a few hundred or a few thousand dollars can generate awesome returns through dual pricing. There are three ways I see these type of deals getting done. The merchant pays early termination and other costs incurred breaking the contract, and recoups multiples of that amount by eliminating most of their interchange costs. T...