Faint At Heart

One of the frustrations that every representative of merchant services has is when they spend a great deal of time and effort into providing the best solution and best competitive prices for a merchant, especially when it relates to their credit card processing, and then an unbelievable thing happens.

The merchant is pleased that you can save them hundreds or thousands of dollars depending on their situation. They are pleased with your offering, but they are afraid of or reluctanct to change. So what do they do? They GO BACK to their present processor and ask them to match what you have offered.

Now that doesn’t seem so bad from the merchants view point. But let’s evaluate it a little. If your present processor really wanted to save you money, don’t you think they would have charged you less ALREADY and saved you the hundreds or thousands of dollars that your new rep and merchant services can and will do for you? If they are making a huge profit off you now, and cut back JUST TO KEEP YOU, what will stop them from raising the prices again exhorbitantly down the line, when interchange goes up?

I’m aware of a company that could have saved some $30,000 in three years, but stayed with their present processor, AFTER THEY PROMISED THE SAME RATES. Now i know those rates won’t stay there if they do roll back their rates. What a frustrating thing, when you really care about your future clients and present customers. Evidently the present processor wasn’t too keen on caring about whether they took advantage or not.

I would recommend that if you are serious about having your present situation evaluated, then be very careful about staying with your present processor, if you find out that they have grossly overcharged you, …because they can.

There really are reps and merchant service companies that do have you in mind when they want to help you and even though they are in business too to make a profit, they don’t believe in ripping you off.

Just my word of caution for today, and to share why we reps sometimes get frustrated but can’t really show it.

For loan officers and mortgage brokers on the market for mortgage leads, the quality of the lead should be a top priority when determining which company to invest in.

For this reason, before you invest, be sure to do a little research. After reading about the lead company on their web site, be sure to call and speak with someone in customer service.

The best way to find out about the quality of the leads before you purchase them is to ask some specific questions.

Ask where they obtain their leads from.

The best answer you can get to this question is that they own and operate the web sites where customers visit and fill out the on line form.

If a lead company is obtaining their leads from a third party vendor and than reselling them to loan officers at a profit, than they are basically recycling leads. Better put, they are selling junk.

And you never know how many times that third party vendor sold those leads to other lead providers.

Another question to ask is about their delivery method.

The most efficient way to have leads delivered is by way of e-mail.

Especially if you are purchasing real time leads, the lead will literally end up in your mail box within seconds of the customer hitting the submit button on the on-line form.

To sum it all up, a good quality lead is one that is fresh, not dated, or recycled.

And remember, you work hard for your money, so make sure you are getting what you pay for.

Jay Conners has more than fifteen years of experience in the banking and Mortgage Industry, He is the owner of http://www.jconners.com, a mortgage resource site. You can also check out his blog at http://wwwmortgagespot.blogspot.com for more articles related to the sales and marketing of your mortgage products.

Most people are always striving to better themselves. It’s the “American Way.” For proof, check the sales figures on the number of self-improvement books sold each year. This is not a pitch for you to jump in and start selling these kinds of books, but it is an indication of people’s awareness that in order to better themselves, they have to continue improving their personal selling abilities.

To excel in any selling situation, you must have confidence, and confidence comes from knowledge. You have to know and understand yourself and your goals. You have to recognize and accept your weaknesses as well as your special talents. This requires a kind of personal honesty that not everyone is capable of exercising.

In addition to knowing yourself, you must continue learning about people. Just as with yourself, you must be caring, forgiving and laudatory with others. In any sales effort, you must accept other people as they are, not as you would like for them to be.

One of the most common faults of sales people is impatience when the prospective customer is slow to understand or make a decision. The successful salesperson handles these situations the same as he would if he were asking a girl for a date, or even applying for a new job.

Learning your product, making a clear presentation to qualified prospects, and closing more sales will take a lot less time once you know your own capabilities and failings, and understand and care about your customers.

Our society is built on selling, and all of us are selling something all the time. We move up or stand still in direct relation to our sales efforts. Everyone is included, whether we’re attempting to be a friend to a coworker, a neighbor, or selling multi-million dollar real estate projects. Accepting these facts will enable you to understand that there is no such thing as a born salesman. In selling, we all begin at the same starting line, and we all have the same finish line as the goal - a successful sale.

Most assuredly, anyone can sell anything to anybody. As a qualification to this statement, let us say that some things are easier to sell than others, and some people work harder at selling than others. Regardless of what you’re selling, or even how you’re attempting to sell it, the odds are in your favor. If you make your presentation to enough people, you’ll find a buyer.

The problem with most people seems to be in making contact - getting their sales presentation seen by, read by, or heard by enough people. There is also a problem of impatience, but this too can be harnessed to work in the salesperson’s favor.

We’re all salespeople in one way or another. So whether we’re attempting to move up from forklift driver to warehouse manager, waitress to hostess, salesman to sales manager or from mail order dealer to president of the largest sales organization in the world, it’s vitally important that we continue learning.

Getting up out of bed in the morning; doing what has to be done in order to sell more units of your product; keeping records, updating your materials; planning the direction of further sales efforts; and all the while increasing your own knowledge - all this very definitely requires a great deal of personal motivation, discipline, and energy. But then the rewards can be beyond your wildest dreams, for make no mistake about it, the selling profession is the highest paid occupation in the world!

Selling is challenging. It demands the utmost of your creativity and innovative thinking. The more success you want, and the more dedicated you are to achieving your goals, the more you’ll sell. Hundreds of people the world over become millionaires each month through selling. Many of them were flat broke and unable to find a “regular” job when they began their selling careers. Yet they’ve done it, and you can do it too!

Kim Haas is a WAHM and Founder of Womans-Net.com, a popular online networking community focusing on working from home and women in business and owner of http://Article-Host.com To learn more about Kim, visit http://kimberlyhaas.com

Copyright 2005 Kim Haas

If you are in sales there is a difference between making friends with every client and selling your product and service and you should know this already but in case you do not, let us discuss this for a moment shall we? First off a salesperson must never forget why they are there; you are in front of the customer to see if they are interested and to close a sale if they are.

Yes, you need to understand where your customer is coming from and therefore you must indeed work to get to know them and build a relationship, as well so they know you are a straight shooter, a problem solver and that you are working for them, as well as the sale. In other words they need to know you care and will service them.

If you do not intend to give good service, do not believe in your product, wish to manipulate people or care about those you do business with, then get out of sales, you really belong in another profession. Maybe you could be a lawyer, scoundrel or really ugly corrupt politician? Yah! Because I sure as heck do not wish to give you any of my 27-years of experience or advice to help you screw people, there are already too many salesman out there giving sales a bad name.

Now then you need to keep your sales calls on a professional level and get to know your clients, but not set out to purposely make them all your friends. It is okay to become friends, but remember you both know why you are really there right? Consider this in 2006.

Lance Winslow