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Having a flat rate may sound like a great idea because you always ‘know’ what your rate is. In the majority of cases, flat rates are actually more expensive. Service providers often like to hide their fees within the flat rate so your effective rate is typically much higher. In addition to other added expenses depending upon whether the card was a rewards or business card and how that card was taken.

This blog post will break down the differences between flat rate and cost-plus, or also referred to as interchange-plus pricing to depict the differences to help you make a decision between the two so you will know the best option for your business.

What Does Flat Rate Mean?

Flat rate processing is when businesses will pay their processing fees based on the set percentages. Typically those rates are around currently around 2.75% – 2.9% for swiped transactions with an additional per-transaction fee which is usually around 20 – 30 cents per transaction.

Your flat rate is actually 3 rates, not typically disclosed to the merchant. Merchant is under the impression that this flat rate percentage will be for everything across the board, in reality, there is much more that goes into it such as whether the card was in person or not, transactions via phone, a corporate card and even hand keyed.

How Does It Work

How can they offer a great deal or free equipment and not go under? Flat rate pricing is how. Once you see the difference between the two options you will question why you even thought a flat rate was a good idea.

Statistics show that at least 70% of purchases are made with a debit card, would you rather the majority go through at 0.05% or the 2.75%?

While you may not have any standard monthly account fees, the higher transaction fees offset that cost for the service provider so they are able to be highly profitable.

For example, let’s say that Mr. Merchant does 50 transactions a day at 25 cents per transaction. With 22 open business days that month, he will be paying $12.50 a day or $275 a month in transaction fees. I have yet to see a monthly statement fee that is above $15, which means there is a $260 dollar difference that was paid out in transaction fees alone.

That is a LOT of profit margin allowing them to be profitable while still covering the costs of the equipment they offer, I can’t say that it is free because, with flat rate, you will buy that thing 3x over plus more in fees.

What is Interchange-plus and why it matters to you?

With the interchange-plus pricing structure, the interchange fees will fluctuate depending upon what you are processing while you are still saving money on eligible transactions vs the flat-rate model.

Interchange-plus allows for a regulated debit card, which is primarily the type of payment used, to go through at 0.05%, so why would you want to pay the 2.75% Flate Rate fee?!

Interchange-plus has much lower per-transaction fees, commonly under 15 cents. If we take the example from above and this Mrs. Merchant is paying 15 cents per transaction with the same 22 business days and 50 daily transactions, she is paying $7.50 a day, or $165 a month. Mrs. Merchant saves $110 a month.

We understand that interchange-plus seems scary and more complicated when you are used to the simplicity of flat-rate pricing, we assure you it is not. Our payment professionals will take care of everything to help you decide which pricing structure is best for your type of business.

Talk to us today to learn more about how Interchange Optimization paired with the interchange-plus pricing can drastically reduce your fees.

I would be willing to bet my life’s staple of tacos that when you thought about starting your own business, collections would be something you gave any thought and attention to.

Unfortunately, that is a reality that everyone faces on one side or the other. The best way to avoid it and make sure you are paid on time, every time, or not to worry about remembering to pay a bill each month, is by recurring billing. Being able to offer this type of service adds a huge sense of relief for both parties involved.

Sometimes life happens and you need to extend payments. Being able to work with a customer and offer some type of a payment plan, not only is it good for payee to be able to take care of an account balance, the Merchant is also going to get the money owed and not have to deal with the hassle of involving a third party and paying the fees to send it to collections, where things could possibly run the chance of a settlement for a lesser amount, or no payment at all. Recurring billing ensures that the full amount due will be paid and avoiding all of the excess hassles.

It is also a great tool for other types of businesses, like construction for instance. A supplier can keep a company card on file and run a payment at a specified time each month, while the contractors are still getting the supplies that they need.

It’s great for a parts store that is sending merchandise out to other mechanics and shops as needed.

Repeat customers account for 40% of a business’ revenue. Subscription-based services that are set to bill customers monthly are more appealing than having to come up with a lump sum all at once. It is easier for consumers to budget in a smaller amount in an installment plan and better for the business because it helps ensure that they will be paid. A business may take a risk for non-payment if the customer needs to make payments not set up through reoccurring billing.

If you think that this would be a benefit for your business, contact one of our Professional Consultants, to start a positive business experience and get started in the right direction with the best options in a business plan.

3 Simple Ways to Enhance Social Media Marketing for Business

So there’s a lot of rumors out there saying that the more you post on your business account the better. Let me explain to you 3 Simple Ways to Enhance Social Media Marketing for Business that make things happen on your social media business profile.

1. What is Quality?

I’ve talked about posting up quality vs. quantity. But let’s talk about what exactly is quality. First of all it will always depend on what your customers, or prospective customers want to see. Now, there’s no crystal ball that will tell you, but there is definitely a way to find out what they want to see through a simple survey.

The beauty of surveys is that it can become a great return customer or acquisition tool. If you place a survey out there with a reward, people are much more likely to answer it, and answer it honestly!

2. Live Feed vs. Stories

Be very cautious when using Live Feed in ANY platform. I have seen some amazing companies with great branding, do some horrible things live.

LIVE: If you are planning on doing a live feed, make sure there is a 1) Simple and non-distracting background, 2) Simple Message. The message should be simple, easy to understand and easy to hear (no background noise) and if possible use a microphone! (Use this one to try out and hear the difference!) 3) Short and sweet message. I cannot stress the importance of simplicity. The faster, concise, and more focused you are on your message, people are more likely to pay attention!

STORIES: If you have any offers you’d like to put up and don’t want to pollute your feed or timeline use Stories! They increase urgency and help people want to act since it’s only available for 24 hours!

This can also help with fun things such as moving, funny moments in the office, etc.

3. Original is not really original

Don’t stress about the content being original. The fact that you have your logo on it and the a story is being said, is original enough. In all honesty, there’s very very little of original, it’s just said it a different way.

So go out there and make things happen on your social media profile. If this is too much, never hesitate to talk to a professional to help you out!

The 2019 Race – How To Conduct Effective Marketing

EOY or End Of Year. Pretty awesome…or pretty daunting. Either way, it’s the end of a cycle and the beginning of another. I’d like to help you purposefully come up with a strategy for next year on How To Conduct Effective Marketing, by learning and focusing on the right skills, and if you don’t have time, then allowing a professional to help you with it!

The Right Soccer Skills

My personal favorite sport, and the world’s is soccer. This being said, I spent all of my high school years in the sport, allowing me to learn more and more about myself, and less and less about the rest.

On a practice day I saw one of our teammates do some amazing tricks, and it looked pretty easy to do. I practiced the move. It consisted of the ball moving backwards while I was running backwards on top of it and placing my feet right next to the other while allowing the ball to “meg” me, or go under my legs, making it look awesome! Time happened and I reached the goal of accomplishing the trick.

Highly confident in this newly learned trick, I tried to use it during a game, which failed miserably and allowed the other team to score on us.

The same thing can happen to us during the year as we learn what the

The beauty of marketing is that what you’ve built in 2018 may help you in 2019. So Here are 3 How To Conduct Effective Marketing things to do today in order to plan your next year, marketing-wise.

1. Company Inventory

Take an inventory of what’s been going on this year. This includes revenue, high-sale amount, low-sale amount, average sale amount and marketing expenses throughout the year.

As you understand where your money went this year and if it was correctly invested, you can duplicate the process and success in the one hand, or on the other hand stay away from mistakes that cost you time and money. Your Point of Sale System should have all of this information.

2. Brand Identity Assessment

A lot of people have a misunderstanding of what a brand is. The brand is what the customer thinks of your company and product as a whole. Different items such as logo, certain colors in posts and flyers, the feel of design, product design and more essentially create the brand identity.

It is very important that the brand identity is parallel to the service and customer satisfaction and as that grows, your brand should be built upon such reviews. Consider a re-brand as well if it’s not reaching the right audience or doesn’t connect with it.

3. Marketing Cost Analysis

Not spending money on marketing or spending too much can be a problem. The best way to make sure you’re not going too far on either side is by finding out the COS (cost of sale) and ACS (average customer spending) and of course marketing budget spent.

Once you find out these numbers you’ll see if the budget you have created for next year is accurate. NOTE: Use last years numbers as a soft guide, since next year may be different and add a little cushion for testing.

Marketing: Similar To Soccer

In soccer, there’s a 90-minute amount of continuous play. Within the 90 minutes there are lows and highs. The same way, your marketing strategy throughout the year will have lows and highs. Before a soccer game, the coach sets up a strategy that the team will have to follow as closely as possible and together, as a unit without any time-outs. Your company should have a strategy before the beginning of the year and it should work as one unit with the other departments such as operations, production and sales.

Focus on the right skills and enhancements. It doesn’t matter if one is getting a nice brand out there, if no one is looking at it, and it doesn’t matter if millions of people look at your service if your brand identity doesn’t go with the quality of your service and customer satisfaction.

Feel free to connect with me through my LinkedIn Profile if you have any questions about partnership opportunities that you may be looking at!

$89,000 is a lot of money, but that is what it cost for me to learn the importance of empathy.

Empathy is a rare skill but is vital in the sales process. That is why it is one of the four wheels of success. Empathy is the ability to understand the emotions and feelings of another truly. This does not mean you pity them. It does not say you can help them resolve the person’s issue because you had something similar happen in your life. It is being able to relate to the person and share the burden that comes from the emotions the person is experiencing.

I spent a vast majority of my sales career in the furniture and mattress industry. The sales aspect was exciting and challenging. I built relationships with the customers because 1.) I valued the interpersonal connection and 2.) I liked making lots of money. However, these relationships were only focused on getting the customer from point A to point B.

I suffered from a variety of spine issues and had surgery earlier in the year. I was twenty-two when I had my second surgery and had the lower three levels of my spine fused. The bill for the surgery was $89,000…thank goodness I had insurance. Leading up to the surgery, I was very nervous that after recovery I would be limited in my sales ability. The following six weeks after the operation were the longest of my life. So much pain. I could not do anything on my own for the first two weeks. I had to learn how to let others help me. My appreciation for others and the simple things grew so much. I will never take for granted the ability to put on my socks again. Though difficult, this experience opened my eyes to how many people suffer through back pain.

My focus switched when I returned to work. I was not focused on how much I could sell the customer, but instead, I focused on what did my customer need? One of the first customers I helped was Susan. She was looking for a comfortable chair. In the past, I would have taken her straight to our most beautiful and most expensive chair and tried to sell her on all the benefits of the chair. Instead, I began to ask her questions about herself. I wanted to know more about Susan and what she enjoyed. We had a pleasant conversation which led to us talking about what she valued in a chair and how she would use it. It turned out in the upcoming week she was going in for very serious spine surgery. The same spine surgery I was recovering I recently had.

Susan was terrified. She had never had a surgery before and did not know what to expect. She knew she needed a chair but was so overwhelmed with the anxiety and fear of the operation that it all just seemed too much for her to handle. No one understood her situation more than me. Together we talked through her fears, and we’re able to help Susan feel safe and confident. She felt comfortable and wanted to buy a chair. She told me she trusted me and would buy any chair I picked no matter the cost. (Trust is everything in sales, and we will discuss it’s importance as one of the wheels of success at a different time.) The most expensive chair would not help her and would not support her necessary for a healthy recovery. I instead showed her a chair that would give her all support and comfort she would need at half the price. Susan wasn’t just a customer to me; she became my friend. We stayed in contact, and I ended up helping her with many different projects over the next couple of years. Because of her experience, many of her family and friends came and purchased from me.

Empathy helped me take my sales career to the next level. I found joy in my job. My customers had a better experience. I doubled the amount of business from before my surgery. Now, I am not saying that you have to have a life-altering experience or spend thousands of dollars to learn about empathy. Take a couple of minutes a day and reflect on yourself. Think about experiences that have shaped your life for the good or the bad. Take time to point out the people that helped you learn during those experiences. When it comes to working with customers, think back on your skills. Find common ground and unity with the customer. Take time to understand their needs and do your part of fulfilling them. As you build your ability to empathize with others, you will find that your sales will increase and you will have more and more customers return for your business.

What are your experiences with empathy? Let’s connect and talk about it!

It was a hundred degrees in the shade, and I was out knocking doors selling security systems in a small town just outside of Austin, Texas. Six days prior, I had just graduated from High School and was chasing a dream of making thousands of dollars in the next three months. Up to this point, I had little to no experience in sales. The only thing close I had done was managing a small lawn mowing business, which my clientele consisted of senior citizens in my grandparent’s neighborhood. Though I lacked experience, I was confident in my people skills and determined to prove myself. I thought I was ready but let’s face it…I was in over my head.

One of the four wheels of sales is perception. It is how our experiences, emotions, and thoughts shape how we see something. That hot day in Texas I learned all about perception and the importance it has in sales.

It was a Saturday, and I had a big day planned. I had set up three follow up appointments that showed great promise. This was going to be the best Saturday ever! Especially, since it was going to be very hot that day but not for me! I was going to be inside all day, chatting with my customers drinking sweet cold lemonade. After today I was going to be rich! I was so naive and confident that I did not even pack sunscreen or water…Well sometimes in sales things don’t pan out. I had every single one of those appointments fall through, and I spent all of that long Saturday out in the blistering sun. It came to a point where I stopped talking about the product and would ask for water or even possibly sunscreen. It just was not my day as I was turned down again and again. In this one day, I was yelled at by at least five different people and chased by two dogs. The day ended with no sales but one nasty sunburn.

I wanted to quit. It was too hard, and people were too cruel. I got trapped in thoughts about how unfair life was and that everyone else was the problem. My perception focused on only the negative, and it showed as the rest of that Saturday became worse and worse. It wasn’t until the following Monday that I learned how much my perception could influence everything I do.

That Monday began with little hope of anything spectacular. However, I made sure to pack plenty of sunscreen and water this time. As I was knocking doors, I noticed some kids setting up a lemonade stand. They were filled with excitement as they prepped all of their materials and prepared for a day full of sales and fun. I wanted to go over and tell them about disappointment and sadness that awaited them based on my own experiences. I chose to observe them from time to time between knocking doors. Throughout the day they faced similar experiences as me. They didn’t have a single person stop. It was getting late and my day was about done when I noticed how sad the kids had become. One of them began to cry. This was when I learned what empathy means. (Empathy being another big wheel of sales which we will discuss at another time.) I understood exactly how these kids felt. For once I stopped worrying about my situation and focused on others difficulties. I decided at that point that I was going to forget myself and serve someone else.

I went over to the lemonade stand and purchased a cup of their lemonade. They were so excited to help me as they offered me some of their many products. I bought a couple, but when I went to pay them, I had the idea to do something special. The total was two dollars. I handed them a twenty. The little boy went to grab some change, but I told him to keep it instead. I said to them that sales are tough but to never give up, and things will work out. Twenty dollars to three little kids is like winning the lottery. I can’t even begin to describe their excitement as I walked away with my lemonade.

Their perception of sales changed immediately, and so did mine. While I walked farther and farther down the road I passed by a community pool. A man there started yelling at me to come over. Thinking he was going to harass me for my job I was a little reluctant but I was on cloud nine, so I went over to meet him. He said, “I have been watching you the last couple of days. Are you one of those security salesmen?” I nodded yes. He then said, “Well that’s all right, I just wanted to see if you needed any sunscreen or water?” This was the moment when it all clicked for me. Everything had come full circle. My perception dictated my success in sales. It wasn’t until I focused on the positive and went about doing good that I started to see progress. That experience led to the beginning of a very successful summer and beginning to my sales journey.

In sales, there are many lows, but there are also many highs. What we choose to focus on can determine our overall happiness and success. If you are struggling in sales, change your perspective. Make the most out of the opportunities you are given. Look to be the positive influence instead of waiting to receive it. Focus on the needs of your customers and the results will come.

Let’s connect and talk about your perception of sales!