Month: September 2020

Many merchants who have been accepting credit cards for some time have begun to feel deceived, misled, and even lied to by their sales agents or by the companies they do business with. Why? Usually, because they were promised HUGE savings, only to find those savings are nowhere to be seen on their statements and their agent is nowhere to be found.

This immediately puts you, as an agent, at a disadvantage when you walk through their door. Let’s face it, they already know you will 1) promise them savings and show them a proposal that will make sense, and 2) ask for their business.

Even if you give them your absolute best pricing, and you are proposing to save them hundreds of dollars, many will still say “No, thank you” or “I’ll think about it”. In your mind, you wond, “What is there to think about? Look at how much I can save you!” At this point, you can begin to think the merchant is just blind, or being unreasonable, and you can begin to feel frustrated.

It’s important to remember that people today buy based on emotion, not on logic. So if your proposal is clearly logical and the deal makes sense then the merchant probably isn’t saying “No” to the deal. In reality, they are probably saying “I don’t know if I like you and trust you yet”.

How do you change that?

Stop talking and start listening

Successful agents who have been in the industry for many years know it’s not just about signing new accounts—it’s about building a long term relationship with their merchants. This requires trust, mutual respect, and good communication. A merchant needs to feel that you care more about them than you do closing the sale.

This is called showing personal interest. Showing interest in people is, not a technique that we can master, but it’s a quality of the heart, and it’s evident in many ways. It shows in how we listen than in what we say. It’s revealed by the kindness and consideration we extend to them and others. Even when we don’t say or do anything, we demonstrate personal interest by our attitude and our facial expressions. If we truly care about others, they will certainly be able to see it—and most importantly—feel it.

So, rather than walking right into the merchant and telling them you want to save them money, ask them key questions that show you are more interested in them than closing the deal.

From the start ask them for their time. If it’s obvious they are busy, offer to come back at a more convenient time. The way you word things when you ask for their time can also have a psychological effect on their response without them even realizing it.

For example, many sales people have the tendency to ask the question “Did I catch you at a good time?” This is a typical leading sales question and it puts more emphasis on the sale and less on the merchant. True it may work occasionally, but the majority of the time it puts up a wall of suspicion and triggers a negative response such as “Why? What are you selling?” or just simply “No, I’m busy and I’m not interested.” There is a small variation which few agents know of. It has a much higher success rate and usually triggers a positive response:“Did I catch you at a bad time?” The vast majority of the time the merchant will say “No, it’s fine what’s going on?”

This simple change does a few things 1) it tells the merchant you that understand their time is important; and you understand that now could be a bad time, 2) it’s a question they don’t hear very often, so there is no automatic wall, 3) it triggers their curiosity.

Be observant without being nosey

Notice the facial expressions and the body language of the employees. Are they happy? Stressed? This will usually give you an idea of the type of management you’re dealing with and how to carry yourself. Does the merchant have pictures of their family? Or vacations that they’ve been on? These can all give you insight into what’s important to them—again, without being nosey.

Get to know the individual

Commend them on their business. Ask them what changes they’ve been noticing in their industry and how it’s impacting their business. Acknowledge the difficulties they might be facing. Stop thinking in terms of educating customers and focus more on educating yourself about your customers.

Identify the merchant’s needs 

Before explaining what you can do for them, find out what’s important to them. Questions such as “What frustrates you today about your credit card processing service?” or “Are there any areas that are working, but you’d like to see get better?”

Questions like these accomplish two things: 1) they tell the merchant you care about what’s important to them, and 2) they give you valuable insight into what to highlight in your sales pitch, and what to leave out. For example, you might find out that they are okay with the fees, but what matters to them is next day funding, free terminal upgrades, free supplies, 24/7 support, or just having someone local to work with. Or, if you deduce that they aren’t tech savvy, then you know to include in your pitch that you will personally deliver and install the equipment and teach everyone how to use it.

Listen, listen, and listen

A successful sales agent does 20% of the talking. If you find yourself talking more than 20% of the time, you aren’t selling, you’re telling. Keep the questions rolling, but be careful that it doesn’t come off like an interrogation. If the merchant states that saving money on fees is important to them, ask qualifying questions about their volume and fees right then.

Resist the urge to focus on rates & fees. Rather, open it up to additional benefits you can offer, by asking “What are some other things you want to see from a top processor?” Acknowledge what they are saying, agree with their concerns and feel free to take notes. If you feel apprehensive about taking notes at first, ask the merchant “Everything you are saying is really important, would it be ok if I make a note of this?” Whatever you do resist the urge to pitch your sale in the listening phase. Inexperienced agents feel like they have to sell throughout the conversation. This is bad practice, since it shows you care more about the sale than the individual.

Start closing on the initial call

Repeat and confirm

After you’ve spent a lot of time listening now, you can slowly transition into setting up for the close by 1) repeating all the things that the merchant stated is important to them (this is where your notes come in handy), and 2) confirm with them there’s nothing vital that you’ve missed.

Set up the close before your next visit

At this point, the habit is to request a merchant statement and run out the door. Before you do that though, take 1 minute to set yourself up for a great follow up visit. You can do this by showing them how to calculate their effective rate on the merchant statement (total fees/volume x 100).

For example, the merchant might say they are paying 1.65% but once you divide the fees by the volume, their effective rate may actually be >4%. At that point, you can say something along the lines of “Wow, based on my quick analysis, I can see why you are concerned about your current processor. Let me assure you we should definitely be able to reduce these fees significantly. I will bring back a detailed statement analysis in a couple days that I know you’ll prefer. But before I leave, are there any other concerns besides savings that would keep you from switching to our company?”

Being willing to spend all this time listening to what’s important to them shows you care. Taking notes reinforces your dedication. Confirming you understood everything that matters to them builds respect and trust. Following these steps will set you apart from any other agent that is just out there for a quick sale. And most importantly, this puts you on the path to establish a long term relationship with your merchants!