Professional edge for small businesses

Since 2005, Payment Processing Technologies LLC, also known as PayProTec, has prided itself on using advanced technologies to promote economic development within the small business sector. Today, the Indiana-based registered ISO supports a growing network of more than 1,000 authorized resellers.

Leveraging a host of value-added programs, PayProTec caters to diverse commerce channels, including brick and mortar, mobile, e-commerce, MO/TO, restaurant, hospitality, business-to-business, contract labor, public sector and banking enterprises.

Prized programs

As the desire for enterprise-grade mobile tablets has grown among merchants, so has demand for free placement programs. "We have a free terminal, free tablet POS placement program," said Marc Beauchamp, Senior Vice President of Product Development at PayProTec. "We also pay the agent an additional $200 activation bonus."

This program has no annual fees or monthly minimums, Beauchamp noted. "It's a great door opener for the agent," he said. "There is no cash that they need to invest upfront and we'll place that cloud-based POS tablet loaded with business intelligence and all the tools they need to run their business."

In addition, the company's PayProGrow division offers a consumer financing program. Merchants can extend financing to customers who may need time to pay for products and services rendered. Prime candidates include jewelry, furniture, mattress, auto repair, power sports, veterinary, dental, cosmetic surgery and other high-ticket businesses.

Beauchamp pointed out that customer approval with a credit limit generally takes about 15 seconds. "We have several zero percent financing programs, instant approval, and it's all online," he said. "What's nice with this program is we work with challenged credit, so in some of the harder hit areas of the country we can work with people with a credit score as low as 500." Merchants get paid within 48 hours, while customers have the option to pay 90 days same as cash or sign up for the installment plan.

Consumer financing in certain business segments has barely been tapped. "A lot of these people don't even know that financing is available for them," Beauchamp said. "But once a merchant begins to make two or three more sales per month, the dynamics change. For a $2,000 transmission, that could be $4,000 to $6,000 more per month in his pocket."

Another PayProTec program is TxtConnect, a message service platform that allows merchants to interactively broadcast messages to loyal customers via custom coupons and reward programs. Similarly, PayProTec offers an email marketing program through which merchants can integrate email distribution with social networks, install opt-in forms, create email lists and import subscribers, among other features. Print branding for merchants is another area of expertise that is available, the company noted.

Behind each cutting-edge program is a common thread. "Our ultimate goal is to develop new programs bankcard agents can use not only to add value, but open doors to gain trust and credibility, because the marketplace is extremely competitive," Beauchamp said.

Channel support

PayProTec stated it offers a turnkey ISO registration program with no liability and same-day merchant activation when documentation is received by noon. The back-office system is engineered to track each piece of equipment from order to delivery. Agents can also view and receive notification of merchant calls, as well as track merchant batch and statement histories online.

Compensation can be applied on an account-by-account basis, whether ongoing residuals or the 25x program. The 25x program pays an upfront commission based on 25 month's worth of processing and applies to established merchant accounts only.

"Naturally we don't want them to sell a portfolio unless they have to," Beauchamp noted. "But he may spend the first part of the month building residuals and then the next part he might need an influx of cash, and he decides he wants to sell an account on the 25x program. We'll estimate the monthly profit and then we'll pay him 25 times his portion of that monthly profit for the account."

Notice to readers: These are archived articles. Contact names or information may be out of date. We regret any inconvenience.