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Shaw Merchant Group
Tuesday, May 24 2022
Merchant Services Agent ISO Guide to Selling Merchant Accounts

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.

Posted by: Scott Shaw AT 09:17 am   |  Permalink   |  Email

Partner Program Details

Sales Partner Program Details

Become a white label payment service provider today and take your business to the next level. If you are a sales-oriented individual with vast experience in the world of payment processing or you are a driven and motivated professional looking for a new challenge, the SMG white label program might be a great fit for you. With the highest paying commission structure in the industry, superior products, and sales support, our white label program will see to it that you are rewarded for your efforts.

For anyone with a sales background or a passion for the payments industry, SMG is the ideal white label ISO Program. There are dozens of reasons to become a white label payment processor with Shaw Merchant Group, but don’t just take our word for it. Here are some of the top reasons that we were given when we asked our white label participants why they chose us and why they continue to work with our highly lucrative program.

Sales Partner Portal

With our industry leading partner portal, you’ll have access to online enrollment, training sessions, marketing materials, and you’ll always be ahead of the game with the latest news and promotions.

Alerts

Stay up-to-date on merchant issues and their resolutions via automated emails and text messages that include a detailed ticket number describing what the merchant’s concern was and how it was resolved.

Registered DBA Program (White Label)

With our program, you’ll be able to market under your own brand, without paying costly fees! Your brand will be seen on the partner portal, marketing communications, merchant statements, and more.

Free Equipment for Your Merchants

Selling businesses on a new processing plan is much easier when you are able to effortlessly jump over the hurdle of the cost of the equipment. With this program, you can offer your clients free POS terminal equipment that they will need for their processing provider change. This lowers the barrier to switching and creates a higher conversion rate for you.

Lifetime Passive Income

You will recieve 50–70% of residual income based on the pay structure you select. You will share income on every available revenue stream. With SMG, you get a True Interchange Revenue Split. Unlike other merchant white label partner programs, there is no basis points off the top for BIN sponsorship or for what they call hidden losses. Our sales partners earn more residual income with our 50/50 partner program than you would with our competition who claim to offer a higher percentage because thier interchange cost (buy rate) is higher.

$20K Performance Bonus

We offer a performance-based fast start bonus that is payable for anyone that onboards more than the standard threshold of clients in the first 4 months. This program is designed to reward those experienced sales members that join our team and quickly learn how to sell this product. The bonus can reach up to $20,000, making it one of the most lucrative and competitive in the industry.

Profitability Based Bonuses

We will look at how much profit is generated on the account after they have been processing for one month and you earn 14 times of the total profit. Example: If we retain $100 in residuals in that month, the bonus would be 14 x $100 or $1,400. You would have already been paid $600, so we would pay you an additional $800 on that account. This bonus is capped at a max of $10,000 per merchant per location. With our dual pricing program it is easier than ever to earn huge bonuses with a 14x profitability bonus. This dual pricing model enables you to maximize your bonus at $10,000 on almost every merchant processing over $90k..

Dual Pricing Program

When you are selling merchant services, one of the best assets of any partner program is more rewards and incentive programs that save your client money. The Edge dual pricing program is one of the hottest new commodities in credit card processing, as it is designed to save the client thousands of dollars in credit card processing cost, instead passing on the fee to the consumer in a way that isn’t damaging to their own conversion rate and revenue. We offer this program to our clients and make it easy to understand and present for our sales partners.

Medical Benefits

With some sales jobs, you don’t even have the option for medical coverage. With the SMG white label program, you’ll have the resources that you need to provide healthcare coverage to you and your family at an affordable rate. We take care of our own, and when you are in our program you will have access to these benefits.

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    Merchant related products and services are referred to North American Bancard. North American Bancard is a registered ISO of Wells Fargo Bank N.A., Walnut Creek CA, of BMO Harris N.A., Chicage, IL and The Bancorp, Philadelphia, PA.