Independent Sales Organizations, or ISOs, resell payment processing services to merchants. In exchange, payment processors provide ISOs with commissions from merchants' payment processing fees. Starting an ISO is a great way to enter the payment industry, but it requires significant industry knowledge and financial resources. The registration process alone can cost over $10,000, making it unaffordable for many new entrepreneurs.
However, not all hope is lost if you don't have the resources to start your own ISO. Becoming an ISO agent is an alternative that allows entrepreneurs to resell merchant services and benefit from recurring sales revenue. ISO agents are independent sales agents who act on behalf of ISOs — it's their role to provide sales and support services for ISOs.
This is a step-by-step guide to becoming a merchant account reseller. We'll outline exactly how to begin reselling merchant services as an ISO agent!
Reselling Merchant Services as an ISO Agent
An ISO, or Independent Sales Organization, is a company that has permission to resell a payment processor's merchant services. Merchant service providers use ISOs to outsource the sales and support elements of running a payment processing business. In doing so, merchant service providers can focus on the backend and technical elements of settling payments.
ISOs recruit ISO agents (also known as ISAs) to help with sales and support. ISO agents are independent contractors, so they're not required to fulfill the role of a full-time employee. In most cases, they receive recurring commissions from their merchants' payment processing fees, but remuneration can vary depending on the ISO. As an ISO agent, you generate leads, resell payment processing services, and provide ongoing support to your merchants. It's your job to fulfill the client-facing role of an ISO, just on a smaller scale.
8 Steps to Become a Merchant Account Reseller
If you follow the correct processes, selling merchant accounts to businesses is attainable for anybody interested in payment processing and sales. Below, let's explore a step-by-step guide for becoming a merchant account reseller:
Step 1: Partner with a Reputable ISO
If you want to begin selling merchant services as an ISA, you must find an ISO to partner with. The ISO is the entity registered with card associations, sponsoring banks, and other stakeholders. Without an ISO, an ISA cannot resell payment processing solutions.
So, how do you find a reputable ISO?
- Search for ISO Programs: Start by looking for ISO programs with ISA partnership opportunities. By working with an ISO that already has an ISA partnership program, you'll benefit from a well-organized system designed to help you succeed.
- Create a Shortlist: Next, it's time to create a shortlist of ISO programs. Prioritize programs with extensive agent support, ensuring you have the necessary resources to succeed in the payment processing industry.
- Assess ISO Reputation: Lastly, assess the reputations of the ISOs on your shortlist. Use industry watchdog groups like the Better Business Bureau and other online review platforms to determine if an ISO program is worthwhile.
Step 2: Get All the Information About Their Agent Program
After you establish that the ISO has a strong reputation and offers industry-leading features to its merchants, it's time to learn more about its agent program. As an ISA, the agent program impacts your success and remuneration. The more you know about its agent program, the more likely you are to make an informed decision. Make sure to explore the following features when learning about an ISO agent program:
- Commission Structure: First, ask about how ISO agents receive commission. If you want to reach success in reselling merchant services, you need to make sure the commission structure is profitable for ISO agents.
- Payment Features: Next, explore the payment features offered by the ISO. You must offer potential merchant partners excellent payment features. Otherwise, it will be hard to sell your services.
- Marketing Support: Ask for more information about marketing and sales support. As an ISO agent, your ISO should provide you with sales collateral and various marketing materials so you can appear professional in front of prospective merchants.
- ISO Agent Expectations: Finally, ask the ISO if there are any specific expectations for ISO agents. As independent contractors, ISO agents have control over their hours and how they conduct their jobs. However, specific expectations or restrictions may exist; you must be aware of them before you make any agreements.
Step 3: Understand the Services You Will Offer
Next, it's time to understand the services you'll offer to your merchants. As an ISA, you're responsible for the merchant-facing interactions during the sales process and after you sign up a merchant. This means you must have strong client relationship skills and the capacity to provide ongoing account support.
However, outside of your customer interactions, you must also understand the services offered by your ISO. As an ISA, you're simply reselling the services offered by your ISO. So, what are some typical services your ISO might offer to merchants:
- Customer Onboarding: When you sign a new merchant for your ISO, it's your responsibility to provide them with onboarding. This involves setting up merchant accounts, training merchants on your ISO's processes, and more. A good onboarding experience can set the stage for a long-term relationship, so don't underestimate its importance.
- Hardware: ISOs also provide hardware to their merchants. Whether it's POS machines, mobile card readers, product scanners, or any other payment-related hardware, an ISO can help merchants connect with the tools they need to sell their products and services.
- Software: Along with hardware, ISOs also provide various payment-related software products. This may include POS software, customer loyalty software, payment gateways, virtual terminals, staff management software, and various other merchant solutions.
- Ongoing Training: If you want to keep your merchants happy, you must provide ongoing training to ensure they get the most from their payment solutions. Ongoing training is especially critical if you introduce new features or payment tools.
- Technical Support: Lastly, providing ongoing technical support to your merchants is essential. If there are payment outages, software issues, or any other problems, your merchants will turn to you for assistance. You must have a robust support structure in place to keep merchants happy.
Step 4: Network with Potential Merchants
Once you have a firm understanding of the services you're offering to merchants, it's time to start building a network. Determine if there are specific industries or business types suitable for your merchant services. Attend networking events, connect with decision-makers on LinkedIn, and request introductions from people within your existing network. In some cases, your ISO will already focus on specific sectors; as an ISA, it's your job to target the industries within your ISO's specialty. Regardless, the sooner you begin scaling your network, the quicker you'll be on track to landing your first merchant.
Step 5: Learn Phone and In-Person Sales Techniques
As your role's name suggests, as an Independent Sales Agent (ISA), your job is to sell payment processing services to merchants. It's critical to hone your sales skills before you start reaching out to merchants; otherwise, you may burn valuable leads due to inexperience. By partnering with a reputable ISO, you'll gain valuable sales training to help you win customer trust and close deals. It's the best way to gain actionable techniques to help you resell merchant services to businesses of all sizes.
Step 6: Put Together a Plan to Build a Pipeline of Leads
Once you feel comfortable with your sales skills, it's time to start building a pipeline of leads. Generating leads is a critical process for any successful salesperson. It's essential to identify potential merchants and access their contact details. Once you identify your leads, you can begin to learn more about their business and its needs to ensure you approach the sales process correctly. So, how does a new ISO generate leads?
- Local Directories: Local directories are a great first port of call for new ISAs looking for prospective merchants. Many cities and counties have business directories with the contact details of local businesses.
- Personal Network: As discussed earlier, building a network is essential if you want to succeed as an ISA. Hopefully, you'll be able to build a large network that you can leverage as you begin your sales journey.
- Familiar Businesses: Are there businesses in your area that you're familiar with? This can be a great starting point for leads, as you have in-depth knowledge about the products and services they provide.
- Your ISO's Lead Generation Platforms: In many cases, your ISO will have lead generation platforms (or they may subscribe to a third-party lead provider). If so, this is a great resource for connecting with warm leads.
Using a holistic approach is the best way to ensure you generate enough leads. Never rely on a single source of leads!
Step 7: Follow Up or Visit Your Leads
Persistence is key across the sales industry, and the same rings true for ISAs selling payment processing services. You may feel it's enough to call and email merchants at the beginning of your payment processing sales journey. However, merchants are busy running their businesses, and various salespeople are trying to sell them software, services, and products. To succeed in selling payment processing services to a business, you must follow up on communications and visit prospects in person.
Step 8: Offer Great Customer Services
Once you sign your first merchants, providing ongoing customer support is critical. As merchant support is one of an ISO's primary services, it's your job as an ISA to ensure your merchants are well taken care of. Start by informing them about their customer support options — ensure they understand support hours, the best contact methods for support, and other critical details.
The better your customer service, the more likely merchants are to continue using your payment processing services. And as ISOs and ISAs usually receive commissions from their merchants' payment processing fees, it's in your best interest to keep your customers happy. The longer they stay with your ISO, the longer you'll benefit from recurring revenue!
Merchant Services Partner Program
Now that you understand the eight steps you need to succeed as a merchant services reseller, it's time to find a merchant services partner program. With a partner program, you'll benefit from a range of marketing and sales support solutions to help you build your merchant base. ISOs with partner programs invest considerable resources to simplify the process for agents to join their ranks and excel in reselling merchant services. As an ISO agent, you'll have access to top-tier payment solutions through your ISO, enabling you to offer merchants industry-leading payment processing tools.
At EMS, our merchant services reseller program helps our agents succeed. By connecting our agents with the world's most advanced payment systems, we provide them with the resources they need to grow their merchant bases. Your success is our success — we're here to help you scale!
Why Choose EMS
At EMS, we pride ourselves on offering an industry-leading ISO partner program to individuals entering the payment processing industry. So, what sets our program apart from our competition?
- Registration Sponsorship: Becoming an ISA costs money. However, at EMS, we provide qualified individuals with sponsorship for their registration costs, making it accessible to become a registered ISO agent.
- Auto Approval: At EMS, we offer 10-minute auto approvals, making it simple for you to approve businesses for merchant services. Our auto-approval feature helps our ISO agents close deals on the spot.
- Daily Residuals: At EMS, there's no need to wait for monthly or weekly payouts. We allow our ISO agents to choose when to transfer their residuals to their bank accounts.
- Industry-Leading Payment Solutions: At EMS, we provide our clients with a full suite of industry-leading solutions. We offer in-person payment processing, POS terminals, eCommerce payment processing, QR code payments, surcharging programs, loyalty programs, and a host of other premium payment features. You can rest assured your merchants will have all the tools they need to meet their customers' payment demands.
- Reliable ISO Agent Support: We provide same-day support to all our ISO agents. If you need help with a technical issue, we're always on standby to help you and your merchants.
Become a Credit Card Processing Agent
There's never been a better time to become a credit card processing agent. The payment sector is booming as the world continues to turn toward digital transaction methods. The credit card processing and money transfer industry already supports more than 200,000 jobs in the United States. Likewise, credit, debit, and prepaid card usage now exceed $10 trillion annually, meaning there's a significant revenue base available to entrepreneurs in the industry.
Contact EMS today to begin your journey to credit card processing reseller success. We're here to help at every stage of your journey!
