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It sounds rude when you say it to someone but I promise that in this case it is good advice.  If you follow it you WILL increase your success in sales.

I have a question for you.  What is EVERYBODY’S favorite subject? 

THEMSELVES! 

Unless they are the single most selfless person on the planet people like to talk about themselves more than any other subject.  It’s not that they care more about themselves than other people it’s just that it’s the one subject they know more about than anyone else. 

So let me ask you another question.  If you know that people love talking about themselves so much then why does your typical sales person walk in the door and not talk about the business owner???  If you want that business owner to work with you they need to like you.  in order for that to happen you better express some interest in their favorite subject.  While you’re at it you should get them talking about what is probably their second favorite subject:  THEIR BUSINESS.

The point I am trying to make is this.  A good sales person knows when to shut up and listen.  You have 2 ears and 1 mouth.  You are 66% ear so you should be listening 66% of the time.  Don’t walk in to a prospective client’s place of business and start spouting off about what you can do and all of the wonderful products you sell.  You should walk in there and have a conversation about the business and the business owner.  Ask them questions.  Get to know them.  Get them to talk about their favorite subject and they will be your best friend.  You will learn a lot about them  and their business and maybe you’ll find a problem that needs solving.  ( See our blog post from the other day about solving problems)  THEN you can start talking about yourself and how you can help them.   Until that time just shut up and listen. 

We often hear the following from new sales people:  “This job is too hard.  I went in to my first 10 doors and everybody told me to get out!”  This leads us to ask them the inevitable question:  “what did you say when you walked in the door?”  9 times out of 10 the new sales person was guilty of what we like to call the show up and throw up.  Gross name I know  - but it perfectly describes their sales technique.  They walked in to the business and practically assaulted the poor business owner with every bit of information they had about our product.  It sounds a little something like this ” Hi – I’m ____ and I can save you money on your merchant services because I work for a great company and we have lower rates and yada yada yada…..”  Unless the business owner that very day was asking themselves how to find a new merchant provider then the sales rep is NEVER going to sign up a new client with this approach.  So what is the right way to do things?

CREATE A PROBLEM AND THEN OFFER A SOLUTION.  You need to remember that you are not a sales person .  You are a consultant and your job is to solve a problem that the business has.  Before you get to problem solving  though you need to introduce yourself – have a conversation with the business owner -  BUT – during this time you need to be on the lookout to see if you can figure out what their problem is.  You need to discover the problem yourself – bring it up to them – and then offer your services as a solution.  Here are some common examples:

1. You see an old outdated terminal.  Bring this to the owners attention.  Make them understand that they NEED to accept EMV cards to be compliant with Visa and MasterCard regulations.  Explain that you can get them set up with new equipment AND save them money in the process. 
2. You see a $10 minimum for CC transactions sign.  Ask them why they do this ? is it because they pay too much in transaction fees?
3. You see a “No American Express” sign.  Let the owner  know that we can get them set up to accept Amex at rates similar to Visa and MasterCard.  The days of paying more for American Express are gone.
4. The business does not have a pin pad.  Teach them the benefits of a pin pad and how much it can knock off of their monthly bill.

These are just a few examples of looking for the problem that the business owner may have.  Once you discover their problem  you really need to go after that issue and talk about it as much as possible.  You are bringing that problem to the front of their minds so you can help them fix it.  This is what a consultant does.  They fix problems.  This should be the approach that EVERY sales person takes when they hit the field.  Try it and you will see much better results than what the old show up and throw up brings…always remember – nobody likes throwing up – especially when a sales person does it. 

Below you will find the chart showing our next day deposit schedule. 

Standard terminal cut off time for next day is 8pm EST. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday transactions will deposit on Monday.

When a business owner wants to charge their customer a 4% surcharge then they need to pay a 3.84% fee to their processing company to guarantee the charge is being properly offset. 

Look at the following examples:

The merchant runs the card for a $100 sale.  The cardholder is then charged a total of $104.

If we then take 4% out of the $104 transaction the business owner will pay $4.16 in fees - an effective rate of 4.16%

$104 * 4% = $4.16

$104 - $4.16 = $99.84 deposit

If we instead take 3.84% of the transaction out then the business owner pays $4.00 in fees on the $104 sale. 

$104 * 3.84% = $4

$104 - $4 = $100 deposit. 

This ends up being a 4% charge on the original $100 sale.  The business owner is charging 4% to the client and exactly 4% is being paid to offset by the 3.84% processing charge. 

1. What is cash discounting?  Cash discounting allows the business owner to charge all clients using all card types a fee for using their credit card.  ( Typically 4%) The business needs to make it abundantly clear that all of the prices in the store are discounted cash prices and that non cash transactions carry an additional 4% fee.  This needs to be posted on their door and should be posted at the point of purchase as well. 

2. What is surcharging? Surcharging is only allowed in certain states and only allows credit cards to be charged, not debit cards.   When the customer swipes their credit card a fee is then added to that transaction.  (Again – typically 4%)

3. Can this be done with a tip line? On the Dejavoo Z8 you can add the 4% to the total amount before  the tip is added.

4. Can you bypass the 4% fee? The card holder has the option to decline the charge on their card.  It is typically in the best interests of the business owner to not argue with them if they refuse to pay the fee. They risk losing the entire sale if they do. 

5. Is there a wireless terminal option? Yes  - the Dejavoo Z9 can run over a 3G network.   

6. Do you have the option to charge ONLY credit and NOT debit cards? If the client prefers to surcharge rather than do cash discounting then this can be requested on the terminal.  ONLY credit cards will be charged the 4% fee.  We recommend writing the debit cards sat a lower rate since the business owner will not be recouping these costs. 

7. Does the batch report show the 4% charges? Yes – at the end of the day the report will show total sales and on a separate line item it will show the total collected in fees.

8. Does the 4% get taken out daily? Yes – every day the business owner will receive a deposit for their daily sales less the 4% that they have charged cardholders. 

To learn more please review the following blog posts:

1. What is Free Credit Card Processing?
2. How Much can a merchant Surcharge?