I have been in the merchant services industry for a while now and I am always amazed by the opportunity. I have worked with hundreds of sales professionals and I have sold many different things as I’m sure you have. Most of the products or services you sell fall into one of two categories. Either you are able to make a lot of up front compensation in the form of salary, one time bonuses, etc. but in these cases you are usually just building a career rather than a business.
The other option you have available is a focus on long term profits with opportunities such as network marketing. However, in these cases it is difficult to give them a full time effort because you don’t make any cash up front to pay the bills while you build your business. Merchant Services really does provide the best of both worlds.
Here are the three reasons I believe you should consider selling merchant services in the Canadian market.
#1 – Up Front Bonuses – The merchant services industry is very competitive in the Canadian market, not because there are hundreds of other processors but because the top 5 banks have partnered with companies like Moneris who have a strangle hold on the market place. This means you will have to work hard to get accounts and so it only makes sense that you should get some form of compensation up front once you make a sale.
There are primarily two forms of up front compensation with Canadian processors. The most common is from the sale or lease of equipment. You should be careful about this form of compensation. There is nothing inherently wrong with it as long as you providing an overall value to the merchant but remember that you need to differentiate yourself from the banks. One of the corner stones of our program is providing a free credit card terminal to every merchant. While this may decrease your up front revenue on a per deal basis, by offering free terminals you are able to differentiate from the banks and make more sales, so your overall up front income on a monthly basis should be about the same as selling leases and your residual income will grow much more quickly.
#2 – Residual Income – As I mentioned above, Merchant Services is a unique service to sell because it includes both up front and long term revenue potential. We offer an even 50% share of all the profit you create from your sales. When you sign up to sell on our Canadian team, we provide you with a schedule of costs for transactions as well as pass through costs such as interchange. We then provide you with a suggested pricing model which will generate a monthly profit.
The average Canadian merchant account will generate between $50.00 and $60.00 in profit or “Gross Margin” which means you will get $25 to $30 per account, per month in residual income. If you are pitching free equipment, using our suggested pricing and following our sales training methods, you should be able to generate 100 accounts within your first 8 to 12 months in the business depending on your skill level. Once you achieve a portfolio of 100 Canadian merchants, you should have a residual income stream well above $2,500 and a solid foundation on which to build your future business.
#3 – Relationships with Small Business Owners – Through a partnership with our company, we will not only provide you with the ability to differentiate yourself in merchant services, we will also work with you to provide other solutions such as web design, online presence and touch screen point of sale solutions. While merchant services is an amazing business, it is really just the tip of the iceberg if you are willing to invest time building relationships with your small business clients. Your goal is not just to make a sale, but rather to build solid, long term relationships so that you can provide future solutions and as the payment processing industry changes, you will be positioned to profit from these changes by helping your clients adapt.
I am excited about merchant services and our Sales Partner team in Canada. If you are interested in joining our team, please click the join our team link above or give us a call at 814-515-9526
Thanks and have a great day!
James Shepherd