Do you have a knack for sales? Are you passionate about helping businesses grow? Would you like to be your own boss? If your answer to any (or all) of these questions is ‘yes’, you should consider selling merchant accounts as an ISO Agent.
The benefits of becoming an ISO Agent, or merchant services reseller, go beyond simply being your own boss. We’ve seen many agents build happy and successful lifestyles around selling merchant accounts, with some even making six-figure residual incomes.
As a merchant services reseller, you are in control of your income. If you continuously sign new accounts and maintain existing ones, those dollars will only continue to grow. This limitless income potential makes working in the payment processing industry incredibly lucrative.
If this sounds like an opportunity you would be interested in pursuing, read on! Below we will highlight five strategies that can help you boost income by selling merchant accounts.
Five Tips for Successfully Selling Merchant Accounts
1. Network with Potential Merchants
To make a solid living reselling merchant accounts, you need to spend plenty of time building relationships with potential merchants. The hardest part of this networking isn’t finding a potential merchant, it’s knowing if what you have to offer will be a good fit.
Opportunities are everywhere for ISO Agents! Every service, good, or product you purchase is provided by a merchant. Whether you’re grabbing a quick meal at a favorite restaurant, choosing a new suit jacket, or even getting a haircut, the person selling that product or service to you is a merchant.
With so many merchants in so many places, it can be overwhelming to even begin your search. We suggest that you start local and leverage warm opportunities to pitch your services. Make your current network aware of what you do and share how you can help improve the payment processing aspect of their business.
2. Understand Your Offerings
If you want to be an effective merchant services reseller, you need to fully understand what you’re selling. And more importantly, you need to understand the benefits you can provide. Business owners care about price, but they also care about value. If you can show them the value you provide surpasses the competition, they will be more receptive to hear what you have to say.
This means you’ll need to fully understand what you can offer, but you’ll also need to have a good idea of what your competition is offering. Do your due diligence and research the other options presented in the industry. Put yourself in the merchant’s shoes and think about what is most important to them.
You’ll also want to take time to analyze and understand a variety of merchant statements. In order to explain the cost-savings you can offer a business, you need to understand the details of the deal: deposits, transaction types, processing rates, and fees. The more knowledge you have, the better service you will be able to provide. And remember: just as you want a transparent provider, your merchants want a transparent agent.
3. Always Follow Up
Following up with potential merchant is an integral part of keeping your sales pipeline flowing. Once you’ve initially contacted a merchant or visited their business, don’t let them forget about you!
Now, you don’t want to inundate their inbox with emails, but you still want them to keep your conversation at the top of their mind. The key to a successful follow-up strategy is timing.
HubSpot recommends following these steps in their blog post, "How to Be Persistent in Sales Without Annoying Your Prospects":
- Choose the right channel to reach out (phone, email, social media, etc.).
- Use less-formal channels to build rapport.
- Get your prospect's attention with a brief and clear email or voicemail message.
- Be persistent, but only for a reasonable amount of time.
- Know when it's time to call it quits.
- Work the company, not the prospect.
- Stay unemotional and remember that prospecting is a numbers game.
4. Provide Great Customer Service
To be successful as a merchant services reseller, you should make your merchants’ goals your own. Because when your merchants succeed, you succeed.
This goal-setting starts the very first time you contact a merchant. One way or the other, they will communicate to you what they are missing from their current payment processor. It’s important for you to listen to their pains and take note of what they need.
As noted in The Green Sheet, merchant level salespeople need to, “listen well [to their merchants], take good notes, and later, draw conclusions about what matters most to each merchant‒then write those priorities down.”
Once you understand the unique needs of the merchant, you can begin to build a positive rapport and provide personalized customer service to help them achieve their goals. Don’t just tell them you are on their team – show them!
5. Partner with a Reputable ISO
An excellent career as a merchant services reseller starts with a reputable agent program. At Electronic Merchant Systems (EMS), we understand that our success depends on the success of our agents. Therefore, we support our agents and provide them with the tools they need to build their dream career.
If you’d like to learn more about how to become an ISO Agent with EMS, click on the link below!
Sources: HubSpot, Green Sheet
