Merchant Sales Podcast

Newbies and seasoned merchant sales reps, alike, will benefit from this special edition of the Merchant Sales Podcast. In this podcast, James gets down to basics, answering oft asked questions like "What exactly is payment processing?" and "How do ISOs and reps make money?"

There is no one-size-fits-all method of getting a merchant to give you a processing statement for analysis. But these are 3 ways that have been proven to work. (1) Simply Ask: Reach out to the merchant directly and request their processing statement, offering to provide a proposal and other relevant information for their review. This straightforward approach can often yield positive results. (2) E...

If you're selling Non-Cash Adjustment, Dual Pricing, Cash Discounting, or Compliant Surcharging, you are not going to want to miss this special edition of the Merchant Sales Podcast as James discusses 3 scenarios for differential pricing and actions ISOs, agents and their merchants can take to avoid running afoul of Visa rules. Reminder: Visa has said it will be ramping up compliance checks for su...

In this week's episode, James interviews Steven Morris on how to build a succesful 1099 sales agent team. Hint: The solution is not to recruit everyone with a pulse! Next, James discusses one of the most important decisions facing our industry in terms of technology and that is, processor agnostic or in-house processing. Finally, Patti provides an insider's report on Fed Now, a real time payment n...

Learn how CNP Mentors works with ISOs and agents to tamp down merchant chargebacks and fraud. "Even the worst offenders, with the right tools systems and knowledge can get chargeback rates down," explained Scott Adams, CEO of CNP Mentors. Then James continues his series on merchant objections, this week addressing the question "What to do when selling dual pricing and a merchant doesn't want to up...

Explore the true costs of payment processing and revenue opportunities for sales reps! In this second edition of my payment processing series you will learn about: - Merchant fees - Card brand fees - Schedule A costs - Selling on price vs. selling on value

If the Silicon Valley Bank failure showed us one thing it is the role of social media in triggering panics, explained Vlad Sadovskiy, CEO at Netevia Banking, in this far reaching conversation on the fallout around SVB's failure. Then James explains how to sell merchants who are locked into contracts, and Patti reports on Visa's continued commitment to crypto.

Payments processing is all about moving money. This episode of the Merchant Sales Insight zeroes in on the particulars - the technologies and processes that drive the movement of money, and by extension your residual streams. - Learn how money flows from cardholder's account to merchant's account - Discover how interchange works, and why it fluctuates. - Identify other costs that get built into me...

In today's episode we speak with Lance Lehr, CEO at One POS. We discuss their focus on the bar and club merchant types and the unique challenges faced by these merchants. After the interview, James provides his rebuttal to the objection "My software is already integrated with another payment provider" and Patti gives an update on the BNPL industry.

ATMs are a really good fit with dual pricing, and a great addition to residual streams. Here are 3 reasons why you should be selling ATM services. First and foremost is the psychology of the merchant offering customers a way to get cash should they want to take advantage of a lower cash price. Experience suggests few do, but they appreciate having the option. Plus the merchant can earn money every...

"Clover works for just about any business," says Josh Holden, President of HTB Business Solutions. Plus, it has "brand recognition," Josh explains during this week's featured interview. James follows that with a discussion of capital allocation, and Patti reports on new fraud trends driven by AI.

The most successful merchant sales reps are payments experts; they really understand the business of payments processing. Here are 3 surefire ways to establish yourself as a payments expert: (1) Read industry publications, like the Green Sheet, and listen to podcasts like the Merchant Sales Podcast. (2) Tune in to industry experts on social media. A good place to start is at my LinkedIn page. (3)...

"Think in terms of things that take merchants away from pursuing their passions," said Laz Kalemis, CEO at Simpay. In this week's featured interview, Laz explains how by cross-selling merchants on services like payroll, business insurance and marketing, Simpay doesn't need to board as many merchants each month just to maintain revenue flows. Then James describes a successful model for building W2...

Software companies have two major pain points as relating to payment processing. (1)The terrible integration processes provided by legacy solutions. (2)Merchant on-boarding. Software companies want to make signing up for a new payment processing account easy and fully automated. These companies are also looking to make money on payment processing! This edition is sponsored by Tilled. Tilled is not...

In this episode of the Merchant Sales Podcast, Gregg Aamoth, CEO at Popcodes, shares how his technology allows ISOs to send messages and notification to smart terminals. That information can increase revenue through value added services and reduce attrition through education and survey style communication. James follows up this interview with tips on pitching dual pricing, and Patti shares insight...

How do you analyze a processing statement to give you the best chance of closing the deal? There are three key questions you need to ask. This edition of the Merchant Sales Insight is sponsored by ISO Amp, the leader in full service statement analysis. Visit https://www.getisoamp.com for more information. I do believe in having statements fully analyzed. However, there are some simple things to lo...

Learn how Danny Mikhail and the team at Zuza are implementing true dual pricing with itemized receipts across multiple in-person and card not present channels. James also discusses why Dual Pricing may generate more consumer questions than legacy programs and why this is good. Patti finishes the episode by sharing some breaking news regarding Mastercard and their issues with the FTC over "blocking...

How do you steal a restaurant client from Toast? This is very different from "competing with Toast" which was the topic of a recent panel discussion. In this video, sponsored by Lavu, I talk about what you need to do in order to take a restaurant client from Toast that is already working with them. Spoiler alert... It isn't easy and it usually requires a financial investment. Good news? It is a ve...

It's all about staying focused, explains Dustin Magaziner, CEO at PayBright. Dustin launched his career in merchant services while attending college, 10 years ago. He co-founded PayBright, which now supports sales teams in 7 states. James follows-up the interview with Dustin by asking ISOs and agents "What are you focusing on for 2023?" And Patti wraps up the podcast with details of a report chall...

There are three things small ISOs should be looking for as they attempt to scale their business. This edition of the Merchant Sales Insight is sponsored by Maverick Payments. I believe they do a great job of providing all three of these things to small ISOs. 1. Every small ISO needs a technology focus. You need to offer great technology solutions, but you need to focus those solutions to a specifi...

This week, Alexander Renzi from MAPP Advisors, shares his take on leveraging outside capital and acquisition for growth. Learn why ISOs might consider purchasing tech companies and vice versa. Then, James continues this conversation by explaining the pros and cons of using outside capital. And Patti provides an update on the Buy Now, Pay Later market that continues to grow.

Have you ever thought about becoming a bank? With Netevia, the sponsor of this edition, offering business banking services and building a new residual portfolio from your existing book of business is much easier than you may have realized. Learn what business owners really want from a neo-bank like Netevia and explore the concept of rolling out these services to your clients. Build residuals and i...

This week we've provided the audio from a recent interview / live event James hosted. The topic is "how to sell card not present merchants." There's specific emphasis on the rise of Dual Pricing with Card / ACH Prices and compliant surcharging as viable options for these merchants. James also interviews James Derby from Payroc on their solutions being offered to their CNP merchants.

Netevia is rewriting the ISO playbook, bundling mobile banking and merchant services to create new revenue opportunities for ISOs and agents, Vlad Sadovskiy, Netevia's CEO, explains in this week's featured interview. Plus, James talks about buying accounts (and not in the traditional sense), and Patti reports on a new ad campaign against federal regulation of credit card routing.

James shares the biggest cost in every payments business, opportunity cost. You can't measure it and it doesn't show up on the P&L, but your number one goal should be to minimize this cost. Watch this edition to learn how you can identify assumptions and beliefs about your business, validate those assumptions and minimize your opportunity cost. Whether you are an individual agent or the CEO of a l...