Help merchants understand processing fees and implement solutions to minimize them.
To provide the customer experiences that today’s consumers demand, merchants must accept digital payments. Doing so allows them to capture sales from consumers who aren’t carrying cash and gives their customers choices of which of their accounts to use for payment. However, Sales Partners often encounter prospects with concerns about payment processing fees. Businesses pay, on average, between 1.5% and 3.5% of each credit card transaction. For small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that operate on a thin margin, those fees can make operating profitably a challenge.
In addition to being able to offer low North American Bancard merchant fees (some of the lowest processing rates in the industry), Sales Partners also have the advantage of NAB’s expertise and of taking solutions to the market that can reduce fees and the impact they have on a business.
A plan for optimizing payment processing fees.
The first step in helping merchants control costs is to go into meetings prepared to answer questions. Your prospects will want to know if partnering with you can save them money. They’ll also want to know that the merchant services you offer will give them the capability to accept all of the payment types their customers want to use, including EMV chip cards, contactless cards, and mobile wallets that leverage near-field communications, such as Samsung Pay and Apple Pay.
However, you should also be prepared to ask questions. Your prospect may not realize that different types of transactions are processed at different rates. Some payment companies use a tiered payment structure. Under this arrangement, merchants pay “qualified rates,” the lowest rates, for debit cards and credit cards without rewards if they’re run as EMV transactions. There’s a mid-rate for rewards cards and cards that are keyed in manually and a non-qualified rate, the highest rate, for card-not-present (CNP) transactions.
Your prospects may not be aware that how their employees run a transaction, for example, allowing customers to swipe instead of inserting the chip or keying in card numbers, may be costing them in terms of extra fees.
Learn everything you can about your prospect’s business, including where and how it accepts payments, and use your knowledge (backed by the North American Bancard Team) to show the merchant how they can save money.
Cover the cost of NAB merchant fees.
At a time of economic uncertainty and rising costs, your prospect may be looking for more. NAB Sales Partners can deliver with a Cash Discount Program that allows merchants to add a “service fee” to all transactions and remove it if the customer pays with cash.
Cash discounting is legal across the U.S. under the Durbin Amendment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. It differs from credit card surcharging, which isn’t permitted in some states and involves charging extra when a customer uses a credit card.
The Edge Program that Sales Partners can offer to recover North American Bancard merchant fees is a comprehensive solution. It’s a dual pricing program comprised of Cash Discount and Flat Rate Pricing and includes the software necessary to manage the program and free point of sale (POS) hardware if needed. It also includes free signage that explains the program to customers, a requirement to remain in compliance.
Show merchants that high payment processing fees don’t have to be a cost of doing business.
Your prospects may be skeptical that you can help them save money on payment processing fees. However, by listening to your merchants, understanding their business models and processes, and how their customers choose to pay, you can minimize their fees — and even give them a legal way to help cover them.
As your prospects look for ways to keep their businesses in the black, they may consider the payment processing fees they pay as a necessary cost center. However, you can show them there are ways to reduce this expense.
Showing your clients how to save money and demonstrating that their business success is a high priority will continue to help you build strong, lasting relationships. Contact us to learn more.
