GSQ's for the Year 2005:
GSQ v8n1
The Technology Puzzle - Deceptively Challenging
Technology spending is hot, especially in customer-focused business lines such as retailing and financial services. Neither I nor my staff owns a crystal ball. However, in our conversations and interactions with ISOs, merchant level salespeople, hardware and software providers, analysts, consultants and lawyers, we hear a lot about new technologies and new payment applications. (pdf file is 6.46 Mb in size)
GSQ v8n2
The Fantastic World of Equipment
The point of sale is an evolving concept. Twenty years ago, discussions of POS equipment focused on cash registers—some were new electronic models, although most consisted of leftover manual devices from the 1960s and 1970s—and "knuckle busters," those first-to-market card imprinters. (pdf file is 1.63 Mb in size)
GSQ v8n3
Train Your Brain
Learning the ropes of this business requires focus. As a merchant level salesperson (MLS), in order to be successful, you need to know a lot more than how to sell bankcard services; you need to be mentally fit. In the earliest years, training was an afterthought because sales opportunities seemed endless - all you needed was some collateral and a list of prospects, and you were ready to hit the streets. (pdf file is 2.84 Mb in size)
GSQ v8n4
The Changing Face of Card Acquiring
This year we decided to place less of an emphasis on numbers and to focus instead on some of the companies and trends driving the acquiring business. The reasons are manifold: The pace and scope of mergers and acquisitions, disparities in the way different companies track data, and the spread of new electronic payment options. This is the changing face of card acquiring. (pdf file is 3.16 Mb in size)
GSQ LEADS ISOs IN RIGHT DIRECTION
ISOs/MLSs have a guide to steer them through these confusing times of ever changing technology, policies and procedures. Since February 1998, when the first issue of GSQ: The Payment Systems Authority was published, GSQ has served as a sales tool offering in-depth analyses of the financial services community.
A four-color, glossy trade publication for the payment systems industry, GSQ issues have covered POS equipment, Internet commerce, electronic check presentment, acquiring banks, rankings of bankcard merchant acquiring organizations, benchmarks throughout the industry and profiles on independent sales organizations.
Discussions are targeted to the ISO/MLS, focusing on the burgeoning sales opportunities open to sales professionals, while translating the techno-speak into the kind of sales-speak that you can use to advantage. Display advertising is available.