Despite an ISO’s best efforts, merchants sometimes become disenchanted with value-added services, and that can lead to a shrinking client portfolio.
To head off that outcome, agents should pay close attention to merchants’ concerns at the onset of their discussions, says John Newton, manager of strategic partnerships for First American Payment Systems LP, a Fort Worth, Texas-based acquirer. Most businesses are going to give an agent only one chance to get it right, he notes.
And merchants also dislike being coerced into buying a product they really do not need, notes Newton.
“All that’s going to do is guarantee a call from a disgruntled merchant later down the road,” Newton says.
Being out of touch with a merchant can doom an agent. By the same token, agents should stay abreast of what is available from vendors, says David Leppek, president, CEO and principal for Transaction Services LLC, an ISO based in Newark, Del.
“ISOs and agents need to focus on their own niche,” he says. “Whatever they choose, they should know all the [value-added reseller] providers in that industry, including their strengths and weaknesses,” he says.
If an agent discovers a product is not working out for a merchant, he or she can give the merchant a credit or cancel the service and replace it with one that fits the merchant’s needs, Newton says. ISOs that offer a wide selection of value-added services make it easier for their agents to handle such situations.
“If I’m an agent and I’ve got four different products for a merchant in one place, I’m going to have an easier time canceling one of the four than if I’ve got the four different products with four different companies,” Newton says.
Disenchanted merchants are often a cue for ISOs to retrain their agents on how to sell value-adds, Whiteley says. Rarely is the problem with the product itself, he says.
