Monthly Archives: June 2018

Business Tips, Merchant Accounts

Digital Wallet Benefits for Merchants

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Article written by Pierre Zarokian.

There’s a lot of news floating around about how important digital wallets will be for consumers, but the part no one talks about is how they’ll affect merchants. For the most part, merchants do what the market dictates, but these big changes in store maybe aren’t so bad. Here’s a look at the benefits merchants will see when they make the switch to accept digital wallets.

Customer Loyalty

Right now, brands need to work hard to push customer loyalty programs with physical cards the customer has to keep. Larger retailers have more options, but the mom and pop shops can only mimic the idea. With digital wallets, it will become easier to get customers into your loyalty program, distribute coupons to them and get them back into your store. Enticing deals can now go directly to your best shoppers.

Faster and Safer Checkout

Everyone loves a faster checkout, but you’ll appreciate speed, efficiency and security all at once. Using special encryption, these wallets can control the data sent to and from banks as the customer completes the transaction. Everything is anonymous, and no information is held. That means once the transaction is done, a receipt can be emailed to the customer and all payment information disappears.

Optimized Shopping

Customers will eventually have more tools to query your shop. In the future, they may be able to check the items you have in stock, or look at wait times in store to figure out when the best time to arrive is for their schedule.

This Article was written and submitted by Pierre Zarokian. Read a recent press about Pierre Zarokian here.

Business Tips, Merchant Accounts

Tips to Help Make Your Small Business Credit Card Processing More Affordable

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Small business credit card processing is a necessary challenge to overcome. You need to be able to process payments, and some of the advanced features can be useful to the right business, but they do tend to take away from your bottom line profits. If you’re looking for an opportunity to save on some of those costs, these tips should be able to help you without putting too much of that burden on your customers.

Dr. Sid Solomon, a cosmetic dental specialist, advices:  “When we were initially looking for a merchant account provider, we did not know much about it. We talked to several providers and picked one with the lowest rate, so definitely shop around.”

Pay Attention to the Contract

Before you ever sign up for a merchant account, you should be aware of how transactions are processed and which methods offer the lowest rates. With an interchange plus account, the credit card swipe machine will usually offer a lower rate to you than keying in your account number. This is because the processing companies, or payment gateways, have to take extra precautions handling this information. Since you’re keying in the full card number, thieves can intercept that information over the Internet.

That extra security ends up costing you more per transaction, which is why swiping a card through the credit card machine is the best method for processing a payment.

Be aware of those kinds of contract speed bumps. Make sure you’re not signing onto any volume discounts you can’t meet, and make sure you take the time to understand the rate structure for the transactions you’ll process. It will help you more accurately forecast your costs moving forward.

Set a Minimum

One method to ensure you’ll be able to cover the costs of a transaction without raising prices on your customers is to set a minimum for credit card transactions. Most businesses set this limit fairly low, at $10, but that minimum may have to be higher if you’re a big ticket retailer. That’s because interchange  rates are based on percentages.

In the best case scenario, your customer meets that threshold and your transaction is worth the cost. Another way of looking at it, is the customer will pay cash for an item worth less than the minimum. If not, you’ll lose money just processing the sale. Most customers understand this today, but a few may raise some objections. Kindly explain the costs of processing plastic, and remind them that respecting your rule is helping an American small business grow. You’re always going to lose grumpy customers, but as long as clearly place signs indicating your minimum charges, you’ll find most people are agreeable to your terms.

Business Services

6 Ways To Step Up Communication In Your Small Business

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If you are trying to build a successful business, then improving your communication skills should be high on your list of priorities. Here are some tips to help you understand problems, resolve conflict and improve relationships with your employees.

Limit distractions and listen – Listening is key to good communication but it can be difficult when you are working in an office environment. If someone is talking to you, try to close your computer, put your phone on silent and close your office door to reduce distractions.

Be responsive – Once you receive a complaint or a suggestion, look at issuing a response If you are unable to provide an answer, let the person know that you will get back to them and do so promptly.

Ask the right questions – Ask the right questions from an employee or a customer who is unhappy.

Make meetings count – Meetings are known for being a waste of time and are often thoroughly disorganized. If you are heading a meeting, ensure that you have the points that you want to discuss and send an email to the other participants about the goals of the meeting and what information is needed.

Combine communication methods – Face to face communication is best as you will be able to read the person’s body language.

Focus on customer service – Your customers should be heard, and when a problem arises, the resolution should focus on communicating to uncover the problem. Keep communicating until a solution is identified and the customer is happy.