"Specifications, Bidding and Interviews Consulting Service "
If you do not know the specifics of the merchant account industry you could be loosing up to $5,000 per year or more in credit card processing fees.
 As a business owner you really want your
merchant service provider to give you the best rates that he
can give you. If you are going to be processing only $15,000 a
month you could be paying $100 or more a month with the wrong
processor, that equals $1,200 a year. When a sales person in
speaking with you about a merchant service for your business
they give you the qualified, retail rates and assume that you
will process all credit cards within those rates and fee
schedule. It is not their fault that some of the transactions
fall outside those boundaries. This is why some processors
look like they are giving a very good rate when you look at
the application or their fee schedule.
Some of the
other fees you really do need to have the sales person focus
on are mid-qualified rates, non-qualified rates, AVS fees,
batch fees, statement fees, transaction fees, reprogramming
fees, annual fees, membership club fees, IVR fees, 800
and/or 900 surcharge fees and many more. With the additional
hidden fees a merchant account provider can give away free
equipment and other items because they are making their profit
on the back end. The sales person may also decide to
raise your rates in a couple of months. As the old saying
goes, "You get what you pay for", which is true most of the
time. I would prefer to see good rates and fees on the
merchant services and a good price on the credit card
processing equipment.
When a business owner is trying
to get the bottom dollar out of the sales person that is ok.
The problem starts when that sales person has gone below what
they should on the front end of the fees or prices and then
they have to make it up on the back end. Some times the back
end are related to the rates and fees of the merchant account
and other times it is related to customer service and
technical support. When the fees are too low on the front then
they will charge for customer service and technical support
when before it was free with the standard
rates.
Knowing the fine lines of negotiating is almost
an art. A lot of the negotiating is knowing where the sales
person's cost is and being able to gauge where those fine
lines are through the conversation and/or body language. This
is where we become the experts and specialize in the
interviewing process. Once we have the proper information then
the decision making has become a much easier process for
choosing a merchant service provider. The details and the
specifications give us an even playing field for each sales
person to price their presentation. When all these levels of
preparation and delivery have gone through the proper thinking
process then the total objective is reached much easier.
THE OBJECTIVE: "Receive good rate and fee schedules
for front end and back end merchant service charges without
sacrificing the prices for the credit card processing
equipment." We want a win - win situation for the business
owner and the sales
person.
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