Are you looking for a good merchant services affiliate program with a merchant services company? Becoming an affiliate means that you can help promote the great products and services at Shaw Merchant Group and receive a commission for what you help us earn from each lead. If you already have a popular website or other platform, then affiliate marketing may be a great way to monetize your audience.

We're as dedicated to our affiliates as we are to our agents, so we won't just give you an affiliate link and send you on your way; we offer tools that can help you attain true success. So why not give your customers exactly what they need—a great merchant account solution—while earning money in the process?

Why is Shaw Merchant Group a great partner for your affiliate marketing venture?

• We have highly effective sales representatives that will ensure your conversion rates are high
• We offer marketing tools so that you can more easily draw in leads
• We offer top-notch customer service if you ever have a problem
• We pay you upfront

Why not sign up today? Signing up with us is free, so you have nothing to lose when you add Shaw Merchant Group to your arsenal of merchant services affiliate partners. We provide tons of analytics and accurate reporting of your conversions, and we pay you on time every month. Get into contact with us and start helping your audience by helping us sell our quality products.

Download PDF: Best Merchant Services Affiliate Program

If I had to make a rough estimate, it seems to me that about 90% of merchant services agents aren't actually very familiar with their residual splits and how they work. This isn't a great position to be in and you don't want to be in the dark, so take a look at these tips to get a good grasp on the subject:

1) First of all, do you actually own your residuals for the life of you account? If not, then years of work on your part could just disappear literally overnight. You could have been working tirelessly to build up a huge portfolio, but it would all be down the toilet simply because you stopped selling for awhile. Many ISOs have these stipulations, where you're required to bring in new accounts every certain amount of time, or your residuals are lost. Does that sound fair to you?

So many agents fall for this racket. Don't do this, no matter how much bigger your part of the split will be. Over the long-term, it's just not worth it. You're trying to build long-term passive income here, not turn your work in sales into an ordinary job—that's a waste of a great opportunity. Make sure you ask about this before you choose a merchant services ISO program. Tell them to give you an exact play-by-play of what will happen if you decide to leave the business. If the answer is “You will lose your residuals,” then walk away. Also, if you can't sell your residuals, then reconsider as well, since this is an indication that you don't really own them.

2) Forget about the percentage of your split. This doesn't really mean anything. To illustrate this better, let's say you're playing monopoly and your friend wants one of your properties. He offers you 30% of his net worth for it. However, another player butts in and raises the stakes. He tells you that he'll give you 50% of his net worth. Finally, a third player screams over your other two arguing friends and declares that he'll give you 10% of all of his cash if you will sell him the property. How do you decide which deal to take?

Well, obviously, you don't have enough information to make a good decision, do you? Before you know which deal is the best, you need to know the net worth of each of the players! After all, if Player 1 and Player 2 only have 100 monopoly dollars to give you, then you know that what they're offering is a raw deal if Player 3's net worth is 5000 dollars. Even with only 10% of that, it's far more than what the other two players were offering.

The same goes with credit card processors. Ignore their bragging about how they will give you 70% or 80% or whatever inflated number. It doesn't actually mean anything unless you know how they calculate the profit in the first place. Always get some context for these numbers, or else they are just going to be completely useless to you.

3) Always keep an eye on costs and the fees that the processor is going to charge you, as this will have much more influence on your profit than the actual split. You can find out what these fees are by looking at the Schedule A that your credit card processing agent program will provide for you. You will also need to ask yourself a few things when considering cost. For example, do they add basis points before they calculate the profit? What are they going to charge you for the transaction fee?

Some processors give you a true interchange pass through, while others will mark up the fees a few basis points above interchange before they start to calculate the profit. With the former kind of processor, things are a bit more obvious. For example, if your transaction fees are $0.03 and you in turn set up your merchant's transaction fee as $0.09, the profit per transaction is $0.06. If you had a 50/50 split, then you would get half of that in the end. It's a case of simple arithmetic. However, if you're having to deal with a huge mark up of dozens of basis points first, a lot of that profit is lost, and even if you had a 90% split, it wouldn't be worth it.

By the way, stay away from “buy rate” programs, as they don't offer you good deals. If you have any doubts about this, then be sure to get into contact with me and I will tell you all about it. You might be tempted to go with one of these programs, but I assure you that after I break it down for you, you will change your mind. Always go with a revenue sharing plan, as it's much more lucrative in the long run, especially if you choose a good processor to work with. I've even heard of processors trying to set up these kinds of deals with merchant services ISOs themselves, which is very silly in my view. You're trying to run a business here and build your empire, so don't settle for a buy rate.

4) The pricing is not as important as the cost structure when you want to get accounts of a significant size. Aim for a low cost structure for your clients. If your processor is charging more per transaction than $0.04, then you probably won't be able to pass on a reasonable deal to your merchants, so think twice about going with a processor that is this pricey, even if you're making 80% of the split. Make sure to have more than one partner so that you have access to the lowest rates and the best deals, and this way you can give your merchants a variety of options. This is especially true for your larger merchants.

5) Finally, keep in mind that you shouldn't get too caught up in either the cost structure or how much of a percentage of the residuals that you get. Ultimately, making the sales is what will determine your success in the long run. You need merchants to make money, and you need to close a lot of deals. Any merchant services ISO program or processor that you're partnering with should know this and help you get the kind of training that will lead you down the right path. If you can't even close deals, then there's no point in worrying about your compensation—you won't be getting it anyway! Whether you make 50% or 90% of $0, it is still $0, and that's certainly not a handsome residual to be getting every month. So choose your associates wisely, as they can help you to succeed—or drag you down.

We're happy to help you on your endeavor, so we offer all kinds of resources, from informative material, to help with your marketing, to training. If you're curious or have any questions about how to move forward in this career, then don't hesitate to send us an email.

If you are looking for a fast-paced, rewarding, and lucrative career in merchant services, then now is the time to become a North American Bancard partner. North American Bancard partners enjoy a variety of benefits that set the program apart from all the rest. For those that want to make a difference in the industry and build a vast network of revenue-generating accounts, this partner program is the solution for you. Our suite of best-in-class products combined with premium sales support set you up for success in this very lucrative sales industry.

A Suite of Bonuses to Maximize Earnings Potential

As a partner of the North American Bancard Agent Program, you will have access to various benefits and bonuses that can be achieved through hard work and diligence. These available bonus programs will maximize your earnings potential and make it easier for you to achieve the salary that you want. With various bonuses available to all merchant services representatives, you can create a robust and passive income that increases with time.

Summary of Bonuses:

• Activation Bonus
• Approval Bonus
• Profitability Multipliers
• Limited Time Promotions

Timely & Predictable Payments

When you work with North American Bancard, you will be able to predict when you are getting paid, and how much. This differs in comparison to other sales programs that make it difficult to know when you will be paid and in what amount it will be.

For maximum control and insight into what your seller metrics are, you can also access an intuitive and easy-to-navigate partner dashboard that will give you access to analytics, payment information, and a visual aid to help you learn about your residuals.

About Our Dashboard

In addition to payment information, there are other benefits of our robust partners' dashboard.

1. Sales Tools: To support our partners in the best way possible, our merchant dashboard contains sales tools that will help you to remain competitive in the market.
2. Portfolio Management: You can find all the merchants in your portfolio in the portfolio management section, allowing you to easily make changes to all aspects of your accounts.
3. Enrollment: With our dashboard, you’ll be able to easily enroll in promotions for yourself or your merchants. This makes saving money and earning more a breeze.

Benefits of Becoming a Partner

Joining the North American Bancard partner program comes with dozens of benefits. Here are some of the amazing perks that you can look forward to when you join our program and elite force of account managers.

High Earnings Potential

When you join the North American Bancard partner program, you’ll be coming on board a team that has shown, through decades of success and excellence, that this is one of the best ways to increase your earnings potential and break into a field that maximizes your salary.

If you want to earn a lot in a lucrative field, then this program is the right choice for you.

Signing Bonus

One of the main ways to earn income in the North American Bancard partner program is through our various selection of bonuses. Our suite of bonuses includes a lucrative signing bonus that is enhanced with each account you are able to successfully gain. We are happy to be able to offer these benefits to our partner participants and increase their income in a variety of ways.

Serve High-Risk Merchants

One of the most restricting factors that affect sales reps from other merchant services companies is their failure to serve high-risk merchants. High-risk merchants do have a place in merchant services and the North American Bancard partner program is able to serve these merchants and gain the lucrative contracts that they often present.

As a participant in this program, you will be able to share in the profits that come from working with these clients and expand your network of earnings potential exponentially. When you join our program, you’ll be opening up the world of possibilities to increase your earnings potential and grow your accounts under management.

Point of Sale Perks

Part of being successful as a merchant services agent is being able to provide your merchant with maximum benefits. Working with the North American Bancard partner program allows you to offer benefits, unlike any other partner program. We allow our representatives to entice merchants with POS systems to modernize small businesses and give them the tools that they need to succeed in this hyper-competitive business environment.

ATM Machines

If you’re looking to diversify your income and increase your earnings potential, then you will love being able to offer ATM services to your merchant clients. ATMs have long-proven to be a sustainable source of income and when you work with North American Bancard, you’ll be able to bring in a share of ATM revenue in your merchants’ places of business.

ATMs will always be in demand and the ability to offer them to your clients will enable you to build income streams that could last for decades.

Cash Advance Option (VAR)

In addition to all of the other services that North American Bancard is able to offer merchants, you will also be able to provide your merchants with cash advance short-term loans, which carry high-interest rates and create a mutually beneficial situation. North American Bancard DOES NOT offer merchant cash advance loans directly but reccommend agents seek out a merchant cash advance partner to offer this additional service. You will earn commissions on cash advance services and build even more trust between you and your merchants in being able to offer them funding for basic operations, expansions, and emergency situations.

Etice More Clients With Our EDGE Cash Discount Program

Of all the benefits of working with North American Bancard in our partners' program, perhaps the most important is the EDGE Cash Discount Program. The EDGE Cash Discount Program was created as a way to help the consumer, merchant, and account representative all save money and earn more revenue. Being able to offer the EDGE Cash Discount Program puts you ahead of other reps in your industry because of the benefits that it is able to offer to merchants.

1. Free Equipment: Merchants that participate in the EDGE Cash Discount Program will be able to get free equipment that makes the switch easier than ever. Build trust and establish credibility with your merchant by offering them free equipment to upgrade and modernize their POS systems.
2. Save Money and Profit (Same as Cash on Every Transaction): The main draw of the EDGE Cash Discount program is that it is able to help merchants profit the same on every transaction as they do with a cash transaction. Edge customers increase thier bottom line and help reduce thier overall payment processing expenses.
3. Marketing Materials: Marketing a program like the EDGE Cash Discount Program isn’t always easy, but we provide our reps and our merchants with all the signage and literature that they will need to easily explain the program to their customers and make them feel at ease. We provide you with the resources you need.
4. Mutually Beneficial: While implementing a dual price model and charging more for non-cash payments can seem painful at first, it is very benificial to the consumer in that they save money easily by paying in cash and supporting thier local business by making the transaction more affordable than simply raising all prices no matter what payment method is used.

Become a Partner

If you want to thrive in merchant services, then join the North American Bancard agent program, considered to be the best merchant services agent program in the country and well-known for providing reps with the tools they need to succeed.

No matter what business you're in, you're not going to get very far without going out there and finding prospective customers. Whether you do this in person or via the Internet, you're going to have to find a strategy to funnel new customers into your business. There are lots of different ways to do this, but the most important thing to keep in mind is that you don't have to come up with everything on your own. There are already proven marketing strategies for selling merchant accounts that exist, and you can simply use those models and apply them to your own business. Especially if you are new to this field, don't waste your time trying a million things that might not work, when you can employ time-tested techniques.

The key is to keep things simple. No matter what specific tactics you go with, your strategy should involve finding your niche or market, finding out what they need, delivering that need, and then spreading the word about your services. At its core, that is basically it, but let's take a more detailed look at these various aspects:

Finding Your Market - Ask yourself a few questions. For example, who would use your services? In your mind, who is the ideal customer and who do you envision yourself working with? What kind of merchants have the sorts of problems that you know for a fact that you can solve? If you're already selling, what kinds of businesses seem to buy from you the most?

From these questions, you can begin to narrow down where the money is. Let's say for instance that you are selling merchant services as a merchant services agent that come with a free terminal and a low monthly fee. You might find that small startups and coffee shops gravitate to your product more than larger warehouse stores. If you focus on the people who are truly interested in your product because you actually solve their problems efficiently, then you won't have to do much persuading. The best ROI when it comes to marketing happens when people already want to be sold to, so it's important to identify who that is and not waste your time trying to seduce people who would be less interested.

Finding Out What They Need - Of course, as trends in technology and in the market change, your clients' needs will be changing, too, so you should make sure that your concept of their needs is constantly evolving. However, you will want to have a general idea of what your clients are looking for at any given moment.

Think to yourself: Why would they want to buy from me? If you can't answer that question, then you have not catered your products to their needs enough and you may not know how to truly solve their problems. The cure for this is to listen. What products do your current clients give you good feedback about? What do they complain about? If you've lost clients before, why did you lose them? If a client chose you over a competitor, why was that?

Delivering What They Need - Once you know what they want, you have to have the ability to deliver it of course. This is why you shouldn't marry yourself to a single merchant service company. First and foremost, you need to deliver what your market wants, and the company that you choose as a partner needs to cater to that need. This is why you should keep your options open and always be on the lookout for new and better solutions to your customers' problems.

Spreading the Word - In other words, you must market your services, or else few people will know that you even exist. When people recommend you to their colleagues, this is of course the best kind of marketing, but before you've built up a reputation, you're going to have to tell people about yourself. There are several ways you can do this. For example, you can attempt to pay for leads that you meet in person, you can go the telemarketing route, you can pay for leads online, or you can even run pay per click (PPC) campaigns to draw new customers in. They all have their virtues, and you should choose a tactic that plays on your strengths.

Now that you know about your audience and can deliver on their needs, as well as spread the word about your services, how do you turn your prospects into customers and continue growing your business? That is the age-old sales question, indeed. Follow these general steps, and you can begin to see growth:

Step 1) Find Prospects the Right Way - This happens before you even begin persuading the prospect of anything. The first step to converting people is to find the right people so you're not wasting your time! Don't cast a net so wide that you find yourself talking to people who are completely uninterested in what you have, or even people who are only partial matches who need lots of convincing. Especially when your business is young, you don't have time to waste. Put effort into prospects that have shown a previous interest in buying your kind of merchant services. You can do this by buying highly targeted leads or by getting referrals from other customers and businesses. You can also try hanging out where business owners do, for example at local entrepreneur or business meet-ups.

Another great way to do this is to keep an eye out for new businesses as they open. If you sell POS systems as a merchant services agent for liquor stores for instance, look up who has purchased a license lately. You can even start by servicing people that you know personally who are in your professional network.

Step 2) Give Them What They Need - Solve people's problems, and they will sing your praises. Testimonials from other business owners can be very powerful when drawing in more business. Make sure that your existing customers have nothing but good things to say about you, and the rest will often take care of itself.

Step 3) Make Friends - Referrals are some of the best sources of merchant services sales. Partner up with others who are in business-to-business fields, but who are not direct competitors and have them refer their customers to you. For example, you can work with CPA's, printing companies, or even web designers. Basically, if you know someone who would be working with new businesses constantly, offer to trade leads with them if the customer genuinely needs the service (and they often will). Using these techniques, you will find that getting prospects and converting them into paying customers is a lot easier. Above all, always remember to deliver good service and you will always have an eager customer base.

DOWNLOAD PDF: Merchant Services Prospecting and Marketing 

For agents and resellers that work with merchants for their merchant services, it is known that the happier that you can make your client, the better. There are several ways that you can do so, but one of the most surefire ways to provide your merchants with as many benefits as possible when working with your merchant services company is to provide them with a cash discount program that helps to make the cost of accepting payments as inexpensive as possible. In addition to saving the merchant money on their transactions, you can also earn more as an agent by signing up your merchants for this program and earning incentives and bonuses that come along with it. If you’re looking for the best cash discount program from all perspectives, then you should set your sights on the North American Bancard EDGE Merchant Cash Discount Program. This innovative program contains plenty of benefits for the agent, merchant, and consumer.

What makes the North American Bancard EDGE Merchant Cash Discount Program the best?

There are a number of features that have helped to vault this cash discount program into the first position when you consider the best cash discount programs currently available to merchants around the world. Here are just some of the benefits that you and the merchant will enjoy when you decide to use this cash discount program.

No cost to the merchant

The main draw of this program is that it is going to help put more money in the pockets of the businesses that you are working with. Your merchants will be able to experience higher profits because the EDGE Cash Discount Program is designed to eliminate the processing fees for merchants to profit the same on credit and signature debit transactions that they do on cash transactions. If a merchantlooks at what they spend annually in order to process electronic payments, those savings will adsup.

With the EDGE cash discount program, merchants won’t have to worry about those expenses because they are being recouped in the higher price for signatue credit and debit puchases. This is a great selling point for your merchants because it enables them to recoup a cost that they would otherwise have to pay and saves thier business money. There is no cost to ebroll for the program, so they only have money to gain from enrolling in the program.

No contract

Another major benefit to the merchant is that there is no contract associated with the EDGE cash discount program. That means that even if merchants want to try it out for a few months to see the effects on their business, they can do this without fearing having to get locked into a long contract.

As an agent, this allows you to quickly and easily build trust with your merchants. You can show them the power that the EDGE cash discount program can have on their revenue without having to lock them into a contract or pressure them to do something they don’t want to do. With a free, no-cost, no-obligation program, your merchant will feel as comfortable with you as ever.

Free equipment

In addition to the no-obligation and no-cost contract with this trailblazing cash discount program, you'll also be able to offer your merchant free equipment to help make the transition easier for their business. This all begins at the POS system, which is the channel through which every transaction in the business flows. You'll be able to offer your merchant an updated POS system that has everything they need to make the switch to the EDGE cash discount program in a smooth and organized manner.

Apart from the POS system, you will also be able to offer signage and marketing materials to your merchants to help them advertise and raise awareness for the program. These materials help everyone to feel on the same team and help your merchants feel as if they have the resources that they need to succeed.

Easy to explain

One of the main challenges that merchants face when trying to change the way that they accept payments and charge their customers is the ease with which they can explain the change to their loyal customers. Merchants are not easily convinced to make a major change for fear of angering their long-term customers or confusing them. This giant hurdle is what holds many merchants back from moving forward or making productive changes.

With the EDGE program, you’ll have what you need to convince merchants that it won’t be a large leap when it comes to the trust and relationship between them and their customers. The EDGE program is a very simple, easy-to-understand program that won’t confuse buyers and will make merchants very happy.

How it works

To help our agents and merchants further understand the complete process of the EDGE cash discount program, here is a short guide of what you can expect to happen when the EDGE cash program is implemented.

Paying with cash

With the EDGE program, paying for an item with cash will be relatively unchanged. Customers will see the advertised price of the item, go to the register, hand the cashier their cash, and purchase their item. They will pay the lower price.

Paying with plastic

Paying with plastic will be a slightly different process than before. To encourage consumers to use cash and recoup expenses associated with electronic payment methods, a second, slightly higher price is charged on the item at checkout, increasing the cost of the purchase for the consumer. In this situation, the consumer is able to use the convenience of plastic and the merchant is able to recoup those expenses that are incurred when accepting cards to help their business and increase their margin.

One of the first things you are going to need to consider when you start your journey in the credit card processing business is what merchant services ISO program you are going to work with. Whether you are planning to become a merchant services agent or an ISO yourself working under a larger company, it's important to examine all of your options. If you're not cautious, you might find yourself signing up for a bad deal or even getting scammed out of your residuals.

So which is the best program to sign up with? Well, the short answer is that there is no “best” program for everyone. Each ISO is different, and so is each sales agent. Everyone has different goals, and so it's important to find a company that will be a good fit.

However, a lot of agents are seeing success working with North American Bancard. They offer some great commissions and residuals, and are a great choice if you're a beginner in this field. North American Bancard agent program has a diverse amount of products and services that you can offer to many kinds of businesses, so you don't have to worry about turning away merchants just because they work in a certain industry or are considered “high risk.”

North American Bancard agent program is one of the best in the country and has relationships with many different processing banks, which allows them to be versatile with the kinds of businesses that they accept.

Is Your Merchant High-Risk? No Problem! - Competition is a great thing for customers in a free market, but it certainly reduces profit margins for providers. One way that credit card processors can stand to increase their profits is to expand their range of customers and get into the so-called “high-risk” arena. Indeed, working with overseas customers or customers who run businesses in tobacco, alcohol, or adult industries can be a bit riskier, but the revenue can also be substantially higher. Many times, merchants who are seeking a high-risk account have already been rejected when applying for normal merchant accounts, and they will be more than happy to work with you. Signing up with North American Bancard, you don't have to turn away merchants in this extremely lucrative niche!

How Much Can I Make? - North American Bancard offers residuals and splits that are similar to what you might encounter if you approach a large ISO directly. The draw here, though, is that North American Bancard allows you to work with many different processors, and greatly simplifies the processes of becoming a merchant services agent. You won't have to sign up with a dozen different merchant services ISO programs just to have a decent amount of options.

Here are some of the great advantages of using North American Bancard's program:

• Give your clients tons of options when it comes to payment methods
• Get up to $5K for every new account
• Get a large startup bonus
• Get residuals of up to 70%
• Keep track of your accounts with apps and analytics
• Get free training on the services you will be selling

Contact North American Bancard today and get started!

Download PDF: Best Credit Card Processing Company to Work For

Have you already analyzed all of your costs and you're ready to come to the merchant with your offer? Have you been wondering how to present it in the best way possible? It's important to keep a few guidelines in mind when you are making the presentation:

1. Assume that the “yes” was already said. The point of your presentation is to show the merchant all the details, not to make a close. Why? They are listening to you, so they are probably already sold. Make that assumption, and you'll be less prone to pushy sales tactics that will turn them off. After all, why wouldn't they buy from you if you're giving them the best deal?

2. While you are going over the fees with the merchant, keep things simple. They really don't need to know all the dirty details, and honestly they probably don't care and will just get confused. Point to some of the main critical items and discuss those, but don't get long-winded unless they ask. When comparing yourself to your competitors, by the way, it will seem suspicious and dishonest to the merchant if you don't throw in one or two negative things about your plan—just make it obvious that the good things overwhelm them.

3. Show your merchant their long-term savings. Avoid focusing on what they will save per month, and instead bring up the big picture, such as what they will save in a year or two years. These big numbers are not only more impressive, they are also the ones that matter to their business ultimately.

Explain your reasoning step by step as well, and how much you think they will save over the lifetime of the account. Bring up examples of what they could in turn invest that money in instead of credit card processing fees. Make the savings very concrete.

Finally, when you close, ask if they have any questions. This puts the ball in their court and makes them feel like there is transparency and obviousness in the interaction. If they have no questions, it also lets you know that you have done what you need to do.

4. Now you're ready to get to the paperwork. This is one of the most critical periods in the presentation, since you are changing modes and making the deal into a reality. Because of this, you need to use something that won't intimidate the prospect. If you very obviously ruffle around for paperwork and contracts and the like, the merchant could start to over-think things because the situation is getting “official.” Instead, make a smooth, quick transition to the paperwork. In fact, have the paperwork already out (under the cost analysis material that you were presenting), and you don't have to worry about this transition at all.

Once you quickly have laid out the paperwork, start immediately helping them to work through it. Ask some simple questions, like what the official name of their business is, what their legal name is, their address, and other details that make it obvious what you are doing. If they have a problem or object to your moving forward, don't worry, they will voice it! Otherwise, go until they say “no.”

5. Where you are more likely to meet resistance, of course, is when you have to input private information. Obviously, you don't know the merchant's bank account number or their SSN, and they probably don't want you to know it, either. In this case, give the merchant a pen and slide the paper towards them. Clearly indicate the section and have them fill it out, and always look away while they are writing the numbers. Don't make a show of it—just check your phone or something, or have some other polite excuse to not look at them until they are done. This private information is “inside” material, and people feel intimidated when “outsiders” get too close, so make it obvious that you're giving them space, or they may become hesitant, which is the last thing that you need.

6. Remember the follow up. When you successfully get them to sign, that's not the end of the story. You shouldn't suddenly abandon them just because you got what you wanted. Tell them that you're happy to work with them and ask them if they have any other questions. Stay with them for a bit to reassure them that their decision was the right one.

Merchant services are quickly becoming the hottest field in the technology and commerce industry as more and more businesses realize the importance of having a robust and functional payments solution that works well for their business. As a new agent or ISO in this space, you are probably extremely excited to begin and start making a name for yourself in merchant services. If you are new to merchant services, there is some advice that you must have if you want to have success and avoid some of the errors that many must make early on. With this knowledge in hand, you'll be a step ahead of the competition and well-poised to earn a good income as a merchant services agent.

This rundown of who you should sell to and how will give you knowledge that has been passed down from many merchant services agents in the hope that new merchant services agent will follow the advice and make the industry a better place to work. The earnings potential for a merchant services agent is high, but you can raise the bar even higher if you follow these actionable tips that will show you exactly how to interact with businesses and which businesses you should be reaching out to.

Know which businesses to leave alone for now

One of the most important skills that you are going to learn when you are a merchant services agent is which businesses need your services that you should target. However, an equally important skill is to learn which ones you shouldn’t even bother talking to at the moment. Knowing which businesses to target could get you some nice results, but knowing which ones to wait on could be the accounts that end up feeding you residual income for life. That’s because these businesses are often larger and more established than the typical startup small shop that you might target right out of the gate.

One way to know if you should not even bother with a business is if you walk into the business and you see a POS system. Unlike a standard terminal, these are complicated systems that are difficult for the beginner agent to comprehend and speak knowledgeably about. Typically, these belong to businesses that have been around for a while and if you even get a meeting with them, they are going to want references. You likely won’t be able to provide them with any, since you are just starting out. They also will want you to understand their current system, which you probably don’t, because again, you are new. Once these things happen, you can pretty much forget about this sale forever.

However, if you make a list of these businesses and target them at a time that you are more established on the business and can actually guide them, then you might have found yourself a client for life. So, don’t waste your time and resources going for a big client like this right out of the gate. Get your feet wet with some smaller clients and come back to these ones later.

Stay local when targeting businesses

If you are just starting out, then you might be tempted to track down a friend or family member that has a business that operates out of state or online and try to sell them on a merchant services package. This is not recommended. Not only because you should never mix business and family, but also because walking these types of businesses through the setup process is much more difficult and requires much more attention and care. Failure to complete the setup process could prove disastrous for your relationship and your confidence. Don’t try to set up these businesses with a merchant services contract unless they are local. It will save you time, money, and hassle.

Always be networking

When you think of being a merchant service agent, you might think of the traditional method of reeling in clients like cold calls and cold emails. However, the world has changed since credit card processing first came out and there are new ways to build relationships. One of the best ways to do this is by always networking. Networking is a valuable skill to learn and it can be done in a variety of ways. Networking could mean that you simply start meeting and talking with the people in your professional circle about whether they know any businesses that need to evaluate their merchant services needs. It could mean speaking with past clients about any business colleagues they have that have merchant services needs.

One of the most popular ways to network for new business connections in the modern world is to join professional apps and platforms such as LinkedIn. With these platforms, you’ll be able to find business owners and managers in your area that could need merchant services or might be interested in what you have to say. If you are going to be successful in being a merchant services agent, then you need to establish a consistent pipeline from a variety of sources that makes it easy to continue bringing in the customers without having to rely completely on cold-calling and cold emailing. Building a network through online or in-person networking can help to establish this for you.

Be selective of client type

Though you might be eager to make any sale that you can get your hands on, sometimes it really is better to take the cautious approach. Just like clients are selective in who they partner with to handle their processing, you also should be selective of the client that you work with. There are many industries that you might not want to touch or simply are a bad fit for what you offer as a merchant services agent. There is such a thing as a bad fit in this industry, and you would be well-served to recognize it before it happens because it just creates more hassle than the short-lived sale will be worth.

As a merchant services agent, you need to be able to know when it is best to walk away from a potential deal due to compatibility issues between you and the client. One example of a business that you should avoid is anyone that is doing all online sales. Most merchant services solutions are just not designed to handle these transactions well and you should avoid them.

Evaluate profit before jumping in

One of the most important things that you can do as a merchant services agent is trying to evaluate and estimate the profit that you'll be making from the sale before you actually commit to it. Too many young merchant services reps are too eager to get started that they lose sight of the risk to reward ratio and don't track the time that they will actually be spending on the setup, support, and other time commitments that it takes to onboard and maintain a merchant.

If you have an account that is only making you $25/month, then you probably already know that it’s just not worth the hassle for that small amount of residual income. For many merchant services agents, it is advised that you walk away from any deal that makes less than $30/month. We know that it’s difficult to walk away from any amount of money, but the time that you spend maintaining that account could be much better spent on landing a client that could bring in hundreds of dollars per month.

Go easy on the discounts

If you’ve been trying to make a sale for a while or you want to get out to a fast start, you might be very tempted to make some very bold pricing promises to your client to get them to sign on. You are encouraged to help make them feel more comfortable, but you should be careful with what you offer to close a sale. While you can estimate all you want, you will never truly know how much a merchant services contract for any particular business is going to bring in. You don’t want to spend more than 6 months of the profit from an account to close it, and you should always estimate on the very conservative side.

Even if you are desperate for a sale, you should always be very cautious in offering discounts because it could cause you to lose all profit that you make on the sale. In addition, your client might expect these large discounts every time they purchase going forward. That isn’t a precedent that you want to set.

There are lots of reasons why building a merchant services business can be extremely lucrative, not the least of which is the fact that you can build a lasting asset (your residuals), which you can then sell. In fact, I spoke to someone in the industry today, and he was telling me all about his plan when he leaves the business and how he's planning to sell his residuals. What that conversation made me realize, though, is that lots of people underestimate the power of those residuals. The best thing you can do with this income is to use it as capital.

To be able to sell your business in the long-run, you need to make sure that you start the business the right way in the first place. There are some major things you're going to have to take into consideration so that your company is able to grow:

1) Own your portfolio's residuals. Maybe this seems very transparently obvious to you; after all, what's the point if you don't own your source of income? However, it's not uncommon that sales agents will lose their entire portfolio simply because they did not read the agreement that they made with their processor closely enough. You should always consider what might happen if you just decide to stop selling; if the answer is that you will lose your hard-earned residuals, then choose another partner.

2) Be able to sell your residuals. If you can't sell something, do you really own it, then? Sometimes processors will require you to have to consider an offer from them before selling to an outsider, and that's fine, but just make sure you are free to choose.

3) Find out if you can borrow cash against your residuals. A large ISO that isn't operating as a middle man should be able to lend you money. If they can't, this is a problem. Usually, you're going to want to exhaust several options before a buyout, and this includes borrowing.

So let's assume you have all of these issues squared away and are the proud owner of a growing portfolio of accounts. Now you can start to use that asset to raise some capital!

Before you do anything else, though, take a look at these general guidelines that will help you get a better picture of what is going on when the selling occurs:

Do you qualify? Don't bother trying to pump any cash from your portfolio before you have at least two dozen accounts or so. Make sure that your accounts are making at least $1000 every month as well. You will be hard pressed to find anyone who would want to buy residuals less than this.

Performing a buyout: When you perform an 100% upfront buyout, you'll get about 12 to 20 times the monthly worth of the accounts that you're selling. This is a rough estimate, but adjust your expectations accordingly.

Performing an earn-out: Basically, this is the same as a buyout, except you get less upfront. Some of the money is upfront, and the rest is sent to you in increments with the stipulation that your accounts don't get canceled and that they continue brining in a certain amount of money. This will yield you more than a buyout in the long run—about 20 to 24 times your monthly income.

Performing a secure buyout: Let's say you have a significantly-sized portfolio and you only want to sell some of your residuals. You can sell some of those accounts, and then use your others as collateral essentially to guarantee against any cancellations. This means less risk for the processor, so they are usually willing to pay more.

Getting a loan: Maybe you just need to borrow some liquid cash and use your residuals as a guarantee. Most ISOs can do this for you. Usually, you can borrow anywhere from a few months to up to a year's worth of residuals. The terms will vary depending on your merchant services ISO program. Since of course your ISO will be interested in minimizing risk, just show that you are using the funds to grow, and you'll have a better chance at getting the deal you want. Your ISO will also usually offer better terms than outside lenders.

Did this article help you learn more about how to turn your portfolio into a machine that pumps out capital? Do you have a portfolio that you're looking to use right now for these sorts of purposes? Contact us and we'll show you the way.

Download PDF: Using Your Portfolio as a Source of Capital – Selling Your Processing Business ​