Merchants always are interested in the cost of payment card processing, but sales agents should evaluate the importance of price when listening to merchants about their needs, observers say.
Indeed, listening to the merchant describe his payment needs can help shape an ISO’s sales pitch. In today’s economy, merchants still want to know how much credit and debit card processing is going to cost, but ISOs say price is only one part of the sales pitch. Listening to what the merchant needs can be equally as important to secure the deal.
“Never tell a merchant what he needs,” says Linda Rossetti, president of Bluestone Payments, a Peachtree City, Ga.-based ISO. “Let him tell you what he is looking for and then make suggestions as to what product will fit his needs. Do more listening than talking, and the sale will be yours.”
Though many merchants continue to receive unsolicited direct mail and walk-in visits from service providers, sales agents that sell on more than price stand a better shot at closing a sale, says Frank Grabowski, a sales agent at American Card Service, a Seabrook, Texas-based ISO.
“A salesperson walking into a small business establishment has to be an expert in cost-savings strategies,” Grabowski tells ISO&Agent Weekly. “With current economic conditions squeezing the small merchant, the issue of price has become more important than ever. Our job in today’s economy is to help our merchants keep their doors open.”
None of that lessens the importance of price to the merchant, or to the ISO, says Rossetti. “However, other factors enter into the decision process for a merchant to switch service providers,” she says.
Merchants want to know about product requirements, such as whether specific hardware or software is needed, what level of technical support is available, what security and compliance measures must be met, and how much data they can see about their transactions, Rossetti says.
Reframing The Pitch
With so many variables that could influence a merchant’s decision, when and how a sales agent should talk about price often can be tricky.
One option is to be prepared with a wealth of payments industry knowledge, understand the merchant’s business and be able to reshape the sales pitch away from price if necessary. “We have found that demonstrating a depth of knowledge to address a total solution for the merchant does make a difference in the decision process,” Rossetti says. “One must price competitively, but it does not necessarily have to be the lowest-priced proposal to win a merchant opportunity.”
Grabowski advises sales agents to find a merchant’s “soft spot” to avoid selling on price alone. “Before the economy turned, was the merchant thinking about offering gift cards or accepting PIN-based debit? A successful sale not based on price must convince the merchant that adding these additional services will add to his bottom line and not become another drain on his resources,” Grabowski says.
For Tom Della Badia, senior vice president of third-party acquiring at Cynergy Data LLC, a Long Island City, N.Y.-based processor, agents can reframe the sales pitch with better training. Inexperienced or poorly trained sales agents often fall back on price when nothing else seems to attract the prospect’s attention, he says.
“As much as we rail against it, it’s hard for merchant sales reps to go out and make a pitch not on price when the merchant says, ‘I’m busy,’” he says.
Sales reps may assume the merchant just wants to know about price and not how the ISO’s products could increase the merchant’s revenue, Della Badia says. “Very few merchants ask, ‘What else can you do for me to help my business?’”
When they do not receive a satisfactory answer, merchants may say they are paying too much and ask whether the sales agent can beat the price, he notes. “When merchants ask about a product and the rep doesn’t know the answer, the rep will take the path of least resistance and go back to price,” Della Badia says.
American Card Service’s Grabowski says sales agents can help themselves. “The best way to reduce the importance of price in selling to a new merchant is know your value-added services inside and out,” he says. “Your sales proposal needs to focus on the way that your value-added service is going to be a life-saver in today’s economy.”
Regardless of the value-added services offered, price remains a central element of a sales agent’s pitch, says Bluestone’s Rossetti. “Price will always be an important part of a merchant’s decision,” she says. “The more complex the sale or the more complex the servicing requirements, along with the need for value-added products, suggests that the total solution is the driving factor as long as the price is in the competitive range.”
Today, however, the pre-2009 guidelines for merchant sales pitches have changed. Price remains important, but its role in the sales pitch no longer abides by simple formulas.
This article is excerpted from the January/February issue of ISO&Agent magazine.
