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As margins shrink and merchant business opportunities decrease in the turbulent economy, competition for clients among independent sales organizations is increasing, according to some ISOs. Many merchants, however, resist service offers from providers trying to win their business. The ISOs and agents that remain successful have learned to hurdle merchant objections to win sales, according to industry insiders. Persistence is necessary to overcome merchant objections, says Tom Nesbitt, senior financial advisor with Pinnacle Payment Solutions, a Miami-based ISO. "When people usually say 'no,' the reason they give you initially isn't the real reason. You need to dig deeper," says Nesbitt. "Hopefully, you can get to the source of why they don't want to sign." Typical salesperson-client interactions in all industries involve scripts, notes Cheryl Bousquet, a consultant with Central Payment Corp., a Larkspur, Calif.-based ISO. "Just like salespeople have scripted answers or questions, buyers have scripted rejections," says Bousquet. "They have things they typically will say to get the salesperson to walk out the door." The challenge for ISOs and processors is to disarm the objections so merchants cannot rely on them, she says.
