B2B Credit Card Processing | 5 Perks Professionals Provide
What does a payments professional in B2B credit card processing have that your average industry MLS (merchant level sales representative) doesn’t? Decades of industry experience. Partnerships. Myriad, one size definitely does not fit all solutions and very importantly, an uncanny knowledge of industry nuance, and interchange.
Where do I find a B2B credit card processing professional? Often, industry professionals operate small ISO’s (independent sales organizations) by choice for flexibility and control. Payment processing consultants/professionals create, service and manage their own portfolio of merchants. Their own (think great care). The consultant typically uses one processor or larger ISO for merchant account placement to access volume pricing benefits.
Then the full payment processing solution develops. Unique services and products for each merchants individual needs with consideration for all the contingencies. Diverse operating systems and ERP’s, inventory management, supplier relationships, POS systems, and more must be planned for. A July 2019 Payment’s Source article puts it all in perspective. Today’s ISO, “does not have to be the technology provider”, more so, “account manager, approved expert, trusted advisor and customer service support.”
Payment professionals encourage merchants advantageous access to best payment practices with outcomes in price reduction, systems integration, and risk reduction. No doubt the payments space continues to overwhelm the B2B merchant barraged with advice on epayables adoption. We hear merchants want to “ease in” with products and services that maintain costs, enhance buyer/supplier relationships and don’t upset operations.
The payments industry still evolves daily like a “bat outta hell” and our B2B merchants have acquiesced at last – we need help. Understood. Here’s the 5 perks of partnering with a payments professional in B2B credit card processing.
1. Reduced processing costs.
Paying less. Saving money. How else can I say it? That harebrained myth persists that a middleman MUST add cost – even incrementally. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Payment consultants do not charge direct for services. They provide professional statement analysis that include cost reductions through recommended changes in POS, including gateways, processing methods, pricing model and wildly important – merchant account underwriting. It is the merchant account application, underwriting of the b2b credit card processing merchant, integrated payment solutions and introduction to best practices that controls merchant pricing.
“Experts” tout pass through or interchange cost plus pricing as the best case scenario b2b credit card processing model. This model is ineffective if the merchant is set at an incorrect cost point due to lack of industry knowledge and nuance by an MLS.
Consultants build portfolios that consist of many merchants. Each merchant creates “decimal dust”. It takes countless merchants for dust to accumulate within the portfolio. Think compounding interest. It is easy to understand how every merchant is valuable in this illustration. See #4.
2. Powerful Partnerships.
Years in the industry are valuable. Payment professionals bring valuable relationships including C suite access in the industry. Developed partnerships provide access to volume discounts, broad product and service inventories and a full knowledge base for merchant access and portfolio development. Every merchant is different and this rings particularly true in the realm of b2b credit card processing.
3. Options.
Flexibility is a requirement in payment processing. The independent payments professional is not hemmed in by an exclusive or proprietary relationship. Merchant accounts that are turned down can be resourced. Each payment gateway comes with specific attributes and value from integration ease to auto fill/population of level 3 credit card data. Virtual terminals, mobile processing, ecommerce and PCI compliance. See #2!
4. Personal Service.
Ever been cut off in a service call with a major company? Cable? Health insurer perhaps? No direct contact or phone number? Have to call back and “start all over” again. Service policies in big companies maintain anyone who answers the call can help when you call back because it’s “in the notes”. Service staff is often entry level.
Payment consultants share extensions and cell phone numbers (24/7 access). Merchant account attrition in a consultants personal portfolio matters – as do professional references. MLS come and go, because the business is complex, there is little in the way of professional training and it takes years to build a valuable, living, breathing portfolio. Payment consultants with processing portfolio’s are lifers.
5- Good looks.
That’s us in the picture. ?