9 Steps to Success - Keys to Understanding and Selling Merchant Services (Final) (1)

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“Helping agents succeed in the Merchant Services Industry”

Table of ConTenTs

Page 1 - Table of ConTenTs

Page 2 - Qualify yourself

Page 3 - WhaT is MerChanT serviCes?

Page 4 - hoW Do you Make Money?

Page 5 - hoW MuCh Can i Make?

Page 6 - hoW Do i geT sTarTeD?

Page 7 - hoW Do i finD ProsPeCTs?

Page 8 - DeveloPing your PiTCh

Page 9 - obTaining a ProCessing sTaTeMenT

Page 10 - hoW Do i seT Myself aParT?

Page 11 - Join our TeaM


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Here are a few things every agent needs in order to get started in this industry:#1 - Reliable transportation To build and support a large portfolio of cli-ents you will need to do some driving.

#2 - Minimum 1-to-3 month income cush-ion You will need to have some savings or a dual income household, because your first few months in this business will not produce a lot of income. It will take 12 months to achieve your true earning potential.

#3 - Sales experience You can get lots of industry training but we have found agents with previous sales success get off to a fast start in this business.

#4 - Fairly clean background Most credit card processors will perform a criminal background check and they will check, for recent bankruptcies or tax liens. If your credit is unusually low, try sending in an explanation letter with your application.

#5 - Regular business hoursAlthough some agents build their portfolio part time, your clients will expect you to be available 9 to 5 Monday through Friday; further-more, we have found that agents who work this business full time have a significantly better chance of succeeding.

Qualify Yourself

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The merchant services industry is made up primarily of these 3 major types of organizations.

#1 - Banks Banks issue check, debit, and credit cards to their customers so that they can more easily access the money in their accounts or the credit they have been given. Banks charge “interchange fees” based on the risk of a transaction and the type of card being used.

#2 - Card Brands Because there are hundreds of banks, the card brands like Visa and MasterCard tie all of these bank cards together into networks so that business owners can accept most cards while only needing ac-cess to 3 or 4 networks to verify the money is available and then hold those funds. The card brands charge “dues and assessments” in order to access their network for each transaction. These fees are very tiny but are charged on every transaction over their network.

#3 - Credit Card Processors Neither the banks nor the Card Brands want to deal directly with small-business owners to handle ter-minals, tech support, or billing; so instead, all the “interchange fees” and the “dues and assessments” are charged to the credit card processing company which then marks up these costs and charges them to merchants (small business owners). Profit or “gross margin” is created when a merchant is charged more than the interchange fees and dues and assessments for the transactions they process.

What is Merchant Services?


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There are primarily three ways agents in the merchant services industry make money:#1 – Up front bonuses When you make a sale, as long as you meet some minimum pricing or profitability requirements most processors pay $100 to $1,000 up front depending on the size of the account. These bonuses are either paid on “activation” after you install the terminal or on “approval” the day after the account is approved.

*Understand the chargeback policy – Most processors will take back this up front bonus if the merchant can-cels within a certain period of time, usually 6 to 12 months.

#2 – Residual Depending on the pricing you use, the cost structure of your processor, and the percentage of profits you get paid, you will generate a monthly profit on each account. This residual can vary from $10 per month all the way up to several hundred dollars per month on an account. The residual income is

usually 2 to 3 months behind your sales numbers.

*Who owns the residual? What if you stop making sales for some reason? You need to understand before you sign an agent agreement if you own the residual or if it is simply compensation in exchange for future perfor-mance. With some processors, when you stop selling, they stop paying residuals.

#3 – Equipment sales Our industry is constantly evolving and new termi-nals are always being introduced. Many processors today offer free terminals to their clients, but many agents prefer to lease or sell these new terminals to their clients in order to generate additional profits.

*Be Careful! Long-term leases can be a bad deal for the business owner so look up the value of a terminal and make sure you are not overcharging them. Keep in mind that another agent will likely come along and offer the same terminal for free at some point.

How Do You Make Money?

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The average sales agent working the business full time makes 6 to 12 new sales each month depending on sales ability and number of hours spent prospecting.

Let’s say your average residual per sale is $40. If you were to make 10 sales per month, your residual would grow by $400

per month and this would be in addition to any income you generate in up front bonuses.

The first three months it is unlikely you would have any residual; however, by month 12, you should have about 90 small-business owners actively processing and gener-ating residual income. This would create approximately $3,600 in residual each month in addition to up front compensation.

How Much Can I Make?

If you were to make 10 sales per month, your residual would grow by $400 per month and this would be in addition to any income you generate in up front bonuses.

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Get trained Ask the processor you are considering some specific questions about the training they provide. Does the trainer have actual experience selling merchant services? Will you be trained on how the industry works and specific, proven sales techniques or just the basics of the program and compensation?

*At CCBizPro we start with a six-hour live, small group training webinar with James Shepherd, who has hun-dreds of merchant sales under his belt. Then we follow this up with podcasts, blog articles, and social media engagement as well as one-on-one coaching to help you grow your business.

Choose a processorIt is tempting to sign up with 3 or 4 processing companies, but we recommend choosing just one processor to get started so you maximize your influence with that processor and learn their systems inside and out. Make sure you fully understand their residual split, cost structure (Schedule A) and reputation before signing on.

Get out in the fieldNow it is time to put your training to use and get some field experience! Don’t worry about getting leads from your processor, just get out in the field, pick a street, and start walking into small business-es. Read the next section for tips on how to prospect effectively.

How Do I Get Started?

“We recommend choosing just one pro-cessor to get started so you maximize your influence with that processor and learn their systems inside and out.”

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How often should I prospect? The most important tip about prospecting is to do it every single day. Whether you call and schedule appointments, walk into businesses, or get leads from your processor, if you consistently prospect and follow up for 6+ hours per day and have basic sales ability you will succeed in this business.

Which business types are best? You want to go after restaurant, retail, auto-re-pair, and other small, independently-owned businesses when getting started. Al-though large, multi-location businesses are tempting prospects when you are first getting started, they will eat up too much of your time and seldom work out with no good references or track record.

When should I prospect?The four best prospecting hours are 9 to 11 and 1 to 3 for most business types. You will want to avoid quick service restaurants at lunch time and try to hit those up early in the day or late afternoon. Try your best to keep these 4 prime pros-pecting hours free of administrative tasks and focus on prospecting for new clients.

How Do I Find Prospects?


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Your first goal is to make contact with a qualified decision-maker. In most cases this means you need to speak to the small-business owner. I have found that rather than asking for the owner (which will identify you as a sales person) it is much better to simply ask a question that only the decision-maker would know. Here is the opening I like to use when I walk into a business for the first time:

“Hi, my name is ____________. How are you doing today? Great, real quick I was stopping by to introduce myself today because I am a local business owner offer-ing credit card processing services. May I ask who you are using for credit card processing right now?”

You can add some other information to your open-ing, like other clients you service in the area or even a specific benefit you offer like cost savings or upgraded equipment, but the key is to keep it short

and get to your question to identify if you are speaking with the right person.

Once you finish this opening, if you are speaking with the decision-maker they will tell you who they are currently using and you can continue with the pitch. If not, they will say something like, “I don’t know, you would need to speak with Mike, he is the owner.” You then simply reply, “Is he in today?” and repeat the same opening once the decision-maker comes to the counter.

Developing a Pitch

Your first goal is to make contact with a qualified decision-maker. In most cases this means you need to speak to the small-business owner.

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In our industry, the most important piece of information you can get is a copy of the credit card pro-cessing statement. This document is mailed or emailed to the merchant every month and provides details about the volume of credit card transactions they process and the fees they pay. Most proces-sors will help you create a free cost analysis so you can outline the benefits of switching to your pro-cessing service.

You will usually encounter resistance when asking for the statement so don’t ask for it, just assume they will give it to you as follows:

“Mr Jones, with your permission I would like to stop by later in the week to give you a free cost analy-sis which will show you how much I can save you each month and outline some of the other benefits like local service and the equipment we offer. Would I be able to stop by and drop that off?”Response, “Sure”

“Great, I will bring that by on ______________, the only thing I will need is a copy of a processing state-ment so that I can do the cost anal-ysis for you, do you have one handy or should I pick that up when I come back later in the week?”

*Side note, at CCBizPro we not only offer free cost analysis to our agents, but as part of our extensive training we teach you how to read the statement yourself so that you can have an intelligent conversation with the merchant before you send it in to us for analysis.

Obtaining a Processing Statement


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Saving small-business owners money is great, but if all you have to offer is cost savings you may find it difficult to make many sales because this is the same benefit all your competitors offer. Here are a few potential benefits that we offer at CCBizPro that set us apart, you will want to talk with any pro-spective credit card processor you are considering to get their list and make sure they have serious competitive advantages.

#1 - Month-to-month agreement and free equipment I believe these two benefits together are very important because they reduce the risk of a merchant switching to your service. Basically this allows them to try you out and cancel if you don’t come through on your promises.

#2 - Touch-screen point of sale systems Many small-business owners are currently looking to upgrade to a touch screen point of sale system that manages their inventory and/or menus. These systems offer powerful reporting and usually come with a credit card processing service. At CCBizPro we have our own line of point of sale systems that you can sell your clients to help you make more money up front and secure your residual over the long haul.

#3 - Local Service Make sure you point out to your prospective clients that you are local and committed to the community. This will do more than anything else to build trust and differentiate you from your larger competi-tors that are using telemarket-ing to generate new accounts.

How to Set Yourself Apart

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Get the Sales Training You Deserve!At CCSalesPro we have trained over 1,000 agents in the merchant services industry and we know exactly what training you need to succeed!

A few things we offer:

• Free Equipment• $400 Approval Bonus Paid Daily• Prompt Payment of Residual Twice a Month• Merchant-Tracking System (CRM)• Value Added Re-Seller Programs• Advancement/ Team-Building Opportunities

We would love to talk with you more about joining our team! Click on “Free Phone Con-sultation” below and fill out the form. One of our team members will give you a call in the next few days.

Have a great day,

James Shepherd

Free Phone Consultation

Prepare Yourself for Success


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http://go.ccsalespro.com/free-phone-consultation





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9 Steps to Success - Keys to Understanding and Selling Merchant Services (Final) (1)