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Education

StreetSmarts SM

“Starting in the Street

and ending at the

Merchant’s front door”
Steve Norell

How good is your customer service?

By Steve Norell a conscious decision to start re-learning more about the
US Merchant Services Inc. terminal my company deploys.

ustomer service: how do you know how good One customer service model employs an 800 number on
your customer service really is? A mentor once the side of the terminal, and when a merchant calls an
told me your customer service is measured MLS directly, the only answer the merchant receives is to
C only by the last time you provided it. Let's say call the 800 number. Most major banks where employees
you provided great customer service to a merchant 100 sell bankcard teach this as the only answer to give when a
times, but on the 101st, it was below your standards. I merchant calls. However, customer service at the mother
guarantee the 101st time is the only one the merchant will ship will never be perfect or even the best all the time.
remember – not the 100 times you provided great service.
In a typical call to an 800 number at a major processor,
Most MLSs are one- or two-man shows. Their customer the merchant seeks help in the middle of his or her busy
service is usually done in person, or they receive phone hours, for example, and can barely hear due to noise in the
calls from merchants on their cell phones. After hours, bar. An automated teller conveys how to get help, which
customer service is usually handled by the associated turns out to be accessing a bevy of options, none of which
ISO or processor. Typically, a merchant can't find the addresses the merchant's immediate need. Once the call
processor's 800 number, but has the MLS's cell number on finally gets past that automated gauntlet and speaks to
speed dial – and expects an answer by the second ring. someone, the help provided is suspect at best. Sometimes
calls are routed overseas where they speak English ‒ but
As MLSs grow their businesses and monthly revenue, not American. This is not a recipe for success or retention.
they hire in-house people to take calls and deal with
issues that take time away from sales efforts. This is the I won't spend a lot of time describing the differences
perfect solution, and one I cannot stress enough. All MLSs between in-house customer service and outsourced
with growing businesses will find that at some point they customer service. What I want to review is the benefits
cannot sell, provide customer service, answer phone calls and detriments of one versus the other. The top two
and train on new services ‒ not to mention handle the reasons for doing your own customer service are the
administration side of the business ‒ without sacrificing ability to stem attrition and the opportunity to upsell.
something.
Once my team started to do our own customer service, our
The only downside to hiring customer service reps is that merchants began to build relationships with the people in
the MLSs start to forget how to program or troubleshoot customer service. They knew one another by name, and
issues with terminals now that they are devoting all when merchants called in for help, they would request
their time to selling. This happened to me until I made the person they had dealt with in the past. What this told

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