iving yourself the edge on the competition is a big part of being successful at sales. Whether you're repping widgets or merchant services, staying current on market trends, the latest products, special deals and sales techniques keeps you at the front of the pack.

A comprehensive new ISO marketing program addresses the complexities of making pitches and closing sales with useful, tangible and very real features. Approaches for cold calling that get attention, closing techniques that really work, effective copy for telemarketing scripts and mailings, features to add on to your merchants' packages and irresistible incentives for signing are just the beginning of how this program works. Ongoing sales support, good processing rates and Web hosting also are included.

Through their Austin, Texas-based company, More New Customers, Daniel Wadleigh, Director of Marketing, and Ken Givens, Director of Sales, have structured their marketing program to cover all of the bases in the merchant services sales game. They've gathered ideas gained through their combined 40 years of experience in sales and marketing.

"These are not new ideas, but we've put them together so that anyone can follow these steps," Wadleigh said. Their staff includes seven people, "each with a specialty, not all under one roof, to move the parts around."

Givens said, "The whole point of our program is to make ISOs and independent agents successful. The underlying tone is that we're supporting sales agents and their efforts. We're trying to make this a career for people, to better the profession and the industry. We want to help make a better image for ISOs by giving them quality and reliability to pass on to their merchants."

"This package is geared for existing businesses," Wadleigh said. "There are numerous advantages to going that route. First, their credit ratings will most likely be better, since they've been in business awhile. Second, while new businesses will want the cheapest machines, existing merchants realize that they need to provide additional services to their customers. They also know they need more customers.

"When ISOs approach merchants with our program and explain the unique benefits and services it includes, it means the merchants are not out shopping for price. They're looking for the benefits you're offering."

What More New Customers has done is assemble a comprehensive package of results-boosting sales-techniques training, revenue-generating value-added benefits, promotional tools and products and services that will open doors to new markets. For example, as a signing bonus, the merchant gets two free nights in Las Vegas or Orlando, including airfare.

They go beyond all of that, too - when a new or existing ISO signs on with them, Wadleigh and Givens will continue to help along their career with ongoing support. Twice-weekly conference calls, which are free forever (excluding any long-distance phone charges) to program participants, let ISOs and their agents ask questions and get valuable marketing information.

"One of the biggest problems with sales organizations today is the lack of ongoing support," Givens said. "When they hire someone, companies offer a short training session and then send them out into the field. But if a sales agent doesn't understand something, if he can't figure it out, he can't make money. Many times they just don't know what questions to ask.

"I'm not going to train someone if I can't help them. I want them to be successful. Otherwise, the turnover will kill you."

As Wadleigh said, "We make money on their results."

More New Customers provides new and even more seasoned ISOs with an overall package to perfect their approaches and increase sales. As Givens said, "Business gets more and more competitive each year. How are you going to set yourself apart, generate leads and close deals?"

Wadleigh explained that the program has four strong suits. First, through printed materials and in-person seminars or telephone training sessions, they'll show how one sentence can make all the difference in the effectiveness of your opening pitch. "We teach wording for sales success. You'll go from a guy who wastes the merchant's time with the same old story to becoming the merchant's hero," he said.

"With the right ads, promos and lead-ins, you get 'em to listen to the whole story. By showing the benefits, you're making high impact. You're leading in with attention-getting. We show you how to convince the gatekeepers. We're talking real benefits, not features."

The second part of the More New Customers program is the added values. Show merchants various ways they can grow their businesses. Educate them on methods for selling their products or services that they might not have previously considered with free manuals and a referral program. Wadleigh and Givens will provide all of the information you need to teach merchants about accepting check cards and gift cards, using check conversion and creating effective do-it-yourself Web sites, and they stand behind it all by providing processing solutions.

PIN pads are the third feature of this package. "Two out of three brick-and-mortar retailers don't have PIN pads," Wadleigh said. When merchants install PIN pads, their costs are lowered dramatically, going from usually paying more than 1.5 percent per transaction plus a transaction fee to zero percent and only a small transaction fee. Wadleigh believes this point is a great closer. "The monthly savings from this alone usually exceeds the lease cost. We teach exactly what to say."

The fourth aspect of the More New Customers program is Givens. "I'm a marketing guy - I'll show you about packaging, the lead-in and how to close," Wadleigh said. "Ken is the sales manager. He encourages and inspires people. He knows how to put a sales package together and train salespeople."

ISOs will gain access to his expertise through training conference calls and in-person seminars. When ISOs buy into the program, one major bonus is access to two conference calls a week to help bolster their knowledge of the package features.

Those features include a long list of services and products for both the ISO and the merchant in one package. Sales training through printed materials, conference calls and face-to-face seminars as well as marketing scripts and materials for mailers benefit the sales agents' careers. ISOs also can offer Web site hosting and do-it-yourself Web site design to their merchants.

An IT consultant with whom More New Customers works designed the do-it-yourself wizard that merchants use to get their business online, and he hosts sites on his servers. Wadleigh added, "The merchant also gets 'How to Create Effective Web Site Copy' to maximize results and gets search engine optimization services. Search engine optimization is usually very successful in getting the merchant's Web site listed in the top 20 choices of the major search engines and directories, for pennies per visitor."

Some real differences in the More New Customers program, such as health and dental insurance coverage and even incentive trips to locations like Orlando and Las Vegas, might tip the sales scales in your favor.

To help close tough sells, Wadleigh and Givens will even conduct a weekly conference call that reps can invite their potential merchant accounts to listen in on. Wadleigh and Givens will educate the merchants on the program and help the ISO close the deal.

The overall program is complex and detailed; in order to get a full understanding of the various nuances and all of the features it covers, ISOs first go to the company's Web site at www.MoreNewCustomers.com/isosuccess and download a 12-page overview of the program. After they read it, they are directed to a conference call, where they'll learn all about the program and can decide if it's right for them.

Wadleigh said, "The name of the game is getting them to go to the Web site and providing information that gets them to listen in on that conference call so they find out what will elevate them above the competition." The regularly scheduled conference calls allow Wadleigh and Givens to explain the program to dozens of ISOs at one time.

The price of setting yourself apart from the competition might not be as high as you think. According to Wadleigh, "Compared to the potential money they will make, what they pay for the program is fingernail dirt."