A new social-networking site not only offers independent sales organizations and agents an array of opportunities to boost revenue and earnings but also controls a pool of cash available to the industry as loans, backers claim.
Bill Wade, an entrepreneur with 20 years’ experience in the merchant-acquiring business, created the site, called “company.com,” and serves as CEO of its parent, the Company.Com Corp.
The site provides ISOs with tools to find new merchants, increase business with established customers and earn recommendations from businesses, Wade said in a June 23 phone interview.
ISOs may use the site to get contact information for merchants, he said. Merchants would come to the site and provide information because they want their businesses recommended online by noncompeting companies. Wade likens the recommendations to those on LinkedIn or to the reviews on Yelp or the “like” evaluations on Facebook.
The chance of getting those recommendations should overcome merchants’ objections to opening themselves up to yet another sales call, Wade said.
Just the same, some “hold back” could occur among merchants, Eric Grover, an analyst with Minden, Nev.-based Intrepid Ventures, cautioned in a phone interview.
But some merchants, ready to begin accepting cards or about to change ISOs, will invite contact, and they also can evaluate potential ISOs by perusing the recommendations they might have earned on the site, Wade said.
Merchants might find the recommendations valuable, Grover said. Many merchants have only a vague notion of what they are buying when they sign on for merchant services, and many fear hidden fees, mishandled charge-backs and bad service, he said.
The site’s recommendations could amount to a “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval,” Grover said in reference to an endorsement a magazine has granted since 1909.
At the same time, ISOs may use the site to improve internal and external communications, according to Wade.
Site users can divide their contacts into categories that would receive only the messages relevant to them, he said. When communicating with the company’s own salespeople, for example, ISOs could recognize them for achievements or remind them to use available special offers to entice potential customers to sign up.
Other categories might include prospects, employees, channel partners, first-year customers and second-year customers, Wade said. “You can be very specific, and you can have 30 categories if you want,” he said.
The site also provides ISOs with a tool for selling value-added services, Wade said. Selling such services represents one of the best ways to increase revenue and profits from established customers, an important goal among ISOs, he noted.
By pitching those services online, ISOs can avoid having to teach sales agents how the services work or training them how to sell the services, Wade said.
“That’s potentially a big deal,” Grover said of selling value-added services online. Added-value services, from inventory control to check-cashing services, make relationships “stickier” and more profitable for ISOs, he said.
Moreover, ISOs can make money through the site directly by putting other companies’ contact information on their own sites or on statements, Wade said. The company that provides the exposure and gets a cut of any revenue generated, much like residuals on transactions, he said.
The site does not focus on recruitment, which could turn users against each other if they find colleagues poaching, Wade said. LinkedIn comes close to specializing in hiring and job-seeking, he noted.
Company.com also has signed up 25 lenders to contribute to a syndicated pool of capital to lend to ISOs, thus ridding acquirers of the need to sell their merchant portfolios to raise funds, Wade said. ISOs can leverage their residual payments to borrow, he added.
That service could prove valuable because banks sometimes hesitate to lend funds to ISOs, Grover said. Banks may balk, especially with startup ISOs, because of a lack of collateral and history.
Company.com was formed in 2008 and bought a technology company in June 2009 to advance its platform, Wade said. Testing of the site began in the middle of last year, and the site’s “hard launch” came in January, he said.
Three ISOs have become registered members of the site and are buying advertising on it or are sponsoring it, Wade said. He indicated discussions are under way with 30 other ISOs. Another 25 ISOs are using the site but do not advertise and have not committed to a sponsorship, he said.
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