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Daniel
Wadleigh
The world is moving closer to a cashless society. If you were watching any
television during the holiday season, you saw an endless barrage of e-bay,
e-buy, e-everything! With $300 billion in 1999 e-commerce (and another
$300 billion in “Internet influenced” purchases), and projections of
$1.2 trillion by 2002, it is interesting timing for a number of leasing
companies to announce that they are dropping the leasing of e-commerce
software.
We all understand the reasons. Terminal sales are in the high 90% of their
volume and Internet (card not present) purchases have far more
risks/losses. Perhaps higher discount/transaction rates and/or lower
funding would help encourage participation.
Nevertheless, with ISO salespeople, the foot soldiers of the credit card
acceptance industry, calling on every start-up and small business, there
is definitely a large opportunity for all parties involved.
Every business wants a Web site. According to an American
City Business Journal study, businesses with a Web presence grow 46% faster
than those without one. According to the bestseller
Killer
App, if you
are not a business on the Internet in the days to come, you will be
road-kill. According to a study by Southwestern Bell, only 11% of
businesses use e-commerce right now. Of those without a Web site, 33% said
they expect to use the Internet in the next four years!
Source:
University of Texas
There is no question of the future and its direction. The question is, how
do the ISO sales professionals get in on offering a workable product for
this monster demand for Web sites and e-commerce?
First, get yourself set-up with a group who has a simple and comprehensive
package that does the selling for you instead of you having to become an
Internet/e-commerce expert.
Second, businesses find Web and credit services with a Web site. They use
the Internet search engines to compare what’s available. Either create
your own Web site or find one that convinces merchants to do business with
you, including an Internet package. Consider this, a retailer,
distributor, or manufacturer spends many thousands per month to conduct
business: location, personnel, inventory, and advertising. A Web site with
e-commerce spends less than $100 per month for hosting and processing, and
$100 to $1,000 per month for advertising. Anyway you look at it,
generating leads and selling products is very inexpensive online compared
to the overhead of a physical location.
With 19 million businesses in the U.S., and almost 1.5 million expected in
2000, there are presently only 7.86 million .com’s. That’s a maximum
of 41%. Plus, a lot of .com names are bought but not used, and tied up to
sell to the highest bidder.
Whatever level of the credit card industry you are in, take the Internet
seriously and find a way to be effective and profitable. There is a lot of
money on the table and someone is going to take it.
Daniel Wadleigh is President of Profit Experts of Austin, Texas. They
offer a turnkey Internet package and have a Web site available for ISOs
for retail and Internet. He can be reached at (512) 379-4084 or the Web
site sample can be seen at www.profitexperts.com/iso/.
© Copyright 2000;
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