Sunday, July 19, 2009

Business Growth Friday - How is your Merchant Account Relationship

This is a textual version of components from the July 17 Business Growth Friday show. The full show is archived for your listening pleasure at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/PeterPocklington


Peter: As regular listeners know, the two major components for accelerating your business growth are: improving cash flow; and improving information flow to and from your customers.

I am thrilled today to have as my guest Mike Quick of Quick Merchant Solutions. Mike is an expert on what to look for in, and from a business owner’s Merchant Account provider. Hi Mike.

Mike: Hi Peter, how are you today.

Peter: Always great, because its always a choice.

I first met Mike when we were members of the Alliance of Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs together. Mike impressed me with his sincere desire to educate me and the members of the business community on what you don’t see, or may not be aware of when choosing a Merchant Services Provider – the person who is providing you with Point-Of-service cashflow.

Before we get down to business, we at M7Enterprises are about promoting people who go over and above – who prosper others. Tell me a little about yourself. About what you are passionate about.

Mike: Thank You for the introduction and for having me on the show.

I am Mike Quick. the owner of Quick Merchant Solutions, which is a Payment Services Company. I live in West Chester, PA with my wife and two children.

By way of background I have over 20 years in financial services, prior to starting Quick Merchant Solutions seven years ago.

In terms of things I am passionate about, I guess I’d say:
When it’s cold I like to do winter snow skiing with my daughter,
When it is warm I like to play golf.
I also feel very strongly about being able to give back. to the community

In that context I’m quite involved in the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and, in terms of my business, this year I introduced an enhanced charitable giving program, whereby every time someone makes a transaction through my company I do make a small charitable contribution at the end of the quarter.

Peter: That’s truly the Mike I know. Giving back to the community. On the business side - what are you passionate about?

Mike: I think the biggest thing is making sure that merchants have the correct information they need to make a decision on their merchant account . Specifically, I have become very passionate about making sure that the potential client has complete, timely, straight-forward communication detailing all the elements of that Merchant Account Relationship.

Peter: You mention all of the information. So, what information do your customers need that, in your opinion, they are not getting from everybody?

Mike: Well, this can include any number of things. It should be specific in terms of what is important to each business.

The things that come to mind are:
  • Price
  • Geography – do you want to work with a local company or is that something that is not important to you.
  • Maybe the size of Company – do you want to work with a smaller company or a larger company.
  • How important is access to the individual in that company that really knows what’s going on, including being able to leverage in your business the company’s knowledge of the industry, and how will that knowledge benefit you, particularly if you are in certain types of Company that have large ticket transactions, may have delivery risk, things of that nature.
I would suggest you think of all of these types of things, you put them on a list, you weight them, and you make a decision. In making that decision it probably makes sense to talk to two or three different providers, to get a really good sense as to what’s going on, and you will likely learn from each one of them.

This is something that was really lacking in the industry when I started my business seven years ago.

Peter: OK. So its more than just price then?

Mike: Absolutely

Peter: In my experience with the industry, price seems to be what most people focus in on. So they should be looking at more than just price?

Mike: I think it really has to do with the overall relationship, and price, obviously, being just a component of that.

Peter: Regarding the overall relationship. If there was just one thing you would stress to the listener who is considering his merchant account relationship - starting one, improving one, changing one - what would that be?

Mike: The one single thing I would say is “Make the list”. It is going to be critical as you make your business decisions, and its going to be critical as you make a decision as it relates to your merchant account.

That list should have the things that are important to you. What the pros and cons are on each one of those elements and that is going to put you in a good position to establish the right relationship.

Peter: Can you help the listeners understand with an example of things you have seen where better information, where going through the process as you’ve described it would have helped somebody?

Mike: Two situations come to mind immediately.

One is an individual that I worked with that was quoted a very low price on their account. They were quoted a price of 1.4% and 17 cents per transaction. As it turns out this price only applied to 5% of their sales. And they had 95% of their transactions whereby they were paying a higher rate. An additional 2.5 or 3.5%.

Now, in terms of the contract this had all been disclosed. But in terms of the discussion, maybe it wasn’t made absolutely as clear as it could have been.

Another situation that comes to mind is an individual I worked with who unknowingly had entered a five year contract that would have cost almost $3000 to get out of.

In that situation his account was not set up properly. When they fixed the problem they did so by opening a new account – which is very standard in the industry.

Unfortunately this particular merchant didn’t really understand that this was happening because no-one took the time to explain it to him. Of course, he’s busy running his business. He just received a FAX, signed the paperwork, and wound up with a very onerous contract. As it turned out we were able to negotiate a better rate for him with his current processor.

Peter: So what I’m hearing is – contracts are contracts, but it is really important to have a relationship where you can ask questions.

Mike: Well, I would even go a step further than that. I think it is even more important to look for a relationship where your partner in the Merchant Account is going to volunteer the information. Because every merchant is not going to know the correct questions to ask. Again, I would focus on someone that is going to be providing the information right up front, so you don’t have to stop and ask.

Peter: So not every merchant knows what questions to ask and you are going one step beyond that. More in the context of “you don’t know what you don’t know”. So get a relationship established where you will be told up front and not find out on request later.

Mike: Absolutely.

Peter: So, again, let’s emphasize what, in your opinion, the components of a well-rounded business merchant account client/provider relationship are.

Mike: Will I would focus on a few things.

  • The first one, the primary thing - make that list.
  • Make sure you are going to work with someone who you can trust and have access to – so that if ever you have a question you can get the right person on the phone that is going to have the correct answer.
  • Make sure that you have all the information in writing, not where you are going by a conversation that can’t be well-documented three years later.
  • The last thing, and this is particularly important for merchants out there who may have set up their account, 4, 5- years ago, this should be reviewed from time to time. Things do change. So you want to make sure you are taking a look at this and that what you have today is still appropriate. So take a look at your account from time to time.

Peter: OK - Make a list; Find someone that you trust and have access to; Get your information in writing; and Review your account from time to time.

So – where can a business go to learn more about you.

Mike: Two things, Go to my website at www.quickmerchantsolutions.com or give me a call at 877-879-9979

Peter: OK then, www.quickmerchantsolutions.com is the place to go to find Mike and to get Mike’s wisdom to you.

Thank you for listening today. I hope that what you learned today helps you grow your business to help your community.

You can email us at m7enterprises@gmail.com with your comments and questions.

Our Business Growth Team is always happy to learn from you and get your questions answered.

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