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Education

fees to the merchant, and it is a speedier setup. Also, no
The significance of having one wants to refuse a merchant because your processor
an agent support person was a or processing platform doesn't work with the merchant's
new software.
surprise: it came in with an average Agent support person
importance of only 5.5. Being a The significance of having an agent support person was

small ISO, I thought this would a surprise: it came in with an average importance of only
come in with a rating of 9 or 10. 5.5. Being a small ISO, I thought this would come in with
a rating of 9 or 10. The only explanation I can think of is
that our processor's customer service and tech support
give above average support, and our duplication of what
gave reports that showed little or nothing. It's not unusual they do isn't as important as I thought it would be. I know
even today to find ISO groups that still have the rip-off my lead support person Georgia Safos is amazing at her
mentality or who train their agents that the business is job and spends most days solving the mysteries of our
based on leasing equipment at high costs. industry for our clients. But it also appears a lot of our
agents never call us or call infrequently, so the importance
Clear low costs, compensation of my office isn't high on the food chain.

The next items in order of ranking were a virtual tie: Terminal and product offerings
Clear, low cost buy rates and Compensation/residual
split. I received some comments on these items along with Across the board without exception these two topics
the check marks. Several agents stated they had signed scored the lowest, or of least importance. It may be that
agreements and though their Schedule A reflected an most of our group members already are familiar with
all-in cost of $0.04 (as an example), other factors bumped terminals, POS systems, gift cards and loyalty products,
their cost up by $0.01 to $0.03. Other monthly fees were not and they are not looking to change. The product offering
fully spelled out, and some responses indicated they still finished a little below terminal offering. Products, with
were not sure how a BIN fee or bank sponsorship fee was the exception of credit and debit card processing, scored
calculated. the lowest.

Regarding the residual split, I received two responses I do believe a lot of the products pushed by processors
from MLSs who thought they were receiving a true 65 today have merit; however, for the small merchant looking
to 70 percent residual share of 100 percent, but it turned at pricing and support, having analytics or payroll
out to be 65 to 70 percent of what their sales office was products just doesn't seem to have enough momentum for
receiving, which was only 75 percent out of the total. our agents. I absolutely wish that we could sell products
like these to merchants for many reasons, but it appears
So I learned it is important to spell out the fees, and our MLSs are myopic in their approach to businesses.
indicate expenses as best as possible with notes or
examples. It appears after reviewing some Schedule A's This survey did not have control groups, and the return
that accompanied the survey, (thank you guys) that listing rate was a disappointing 10 percent, not 50 percent. Several
expense items requires drilling down a bit and insuring participants didn't sign their surveys and several others
that the agents understand it. who did sign didn't want their names mentioned in this
article.
Remember if they omit an expense when writing an
application, their profit margins won't be so exciting, and I would like to thank the following for not only completing
it does affect ISO profit margins as well. and returning the survey, but also for providing additional
comments and related documents: Richard Reid; Dominick
Tech support, platforms, direct integration Viesta; Gary Shull; James Cawdron; Ed Dimas; Laura
Kowalsky; Rafael Guzman. Because of their support and
Overwhelmingly, on almost every returned survey, these the support of many other MLSs, I was able to put together
three items were next in line. I was surprised by the these thoughts.
importance of platforms, since I thought that wouldn't be
a significant factor. The growing consensus was that with
all the growth of POS systems finding their way into even Steven Feldshuh, President of Merchants' Choice Payment Solutions
the smallest merchants, VAR sheets are being requested East, has 18 years' experience in sales and ISO development. Directly
on a regular basis. The importance of being able to easily prior to joining MCPSE in 2012, he was President of Payment Partners.
board merchants on processors integrated with software In his current position, Steven devotes the bulk of his time to assisting
is a huge factor. We hope our own processor is reading agents in building their portfolios. Contact him by email at stevenf@
this, because software integration eliminates additional mcpseast.com or by phone at 212-392-9202.

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