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Kipling also acknowledged that wild animals fiercely
The very point of salery point of sale compete during normal, non-drought times. When the
The ve
Water Truce is not in play, he noted, animals move stealthily
in the shadows, looking over their shoulders when eating,
drinking and hunting until they return, well-fed and wet-
muzzled, to their herds.
Collective wisdom

Commerce waters An NEAA panel moderated by Peggy Olson, president
and CEO of Strategic Marketing, explored opportunities in
merchant acquiring with panelists Lazaros Kalemis, CEO
run deep at Simpay; Mike DePinto, director, partner relations for
Talus Pay; and John Buchanan, senior vice president, sales,
at Agile Financial Systems. When asked how selling styles
By Dale S. Laszig have changed in recent years, panelists agreed MLSs have
become less product centric and more vertically focused,
DSL Direct LLC citing the following examples:

he 2022 Northeast Acquirers Association confer- • Bundle technology, cash discounting: Kalemis point-
ence brought memories of other times and other ed out that tiered pricing structures, popular 20 years
shows. For many, it was our first live conference ago, mostly deferred payments acceptance costs onto
T since the onset of COVID in 2020. With April cardholders. Today's MLSs need a more bundled ap-
showers streaming down the hotel's skylights, I reflected proach to get airtime with merchants, one that bundles
on how our selling styles have changed. In early days, mer- cash discounting and technology, he stated.
chant level salespeople (MLSs) marketed solutions they • Value-driven: DePinto emphasized that today's mer-
didn't use themselves. Over time, commerce became less chants are informed and technically savvy; their needs
product-centric and more of an open marketplace where are more value driven than price driven in today's mar-
consumers, merchants and vendors connect, interact and ketplace.
engage. • Multichannel: Buchanan noted that omnichannel is
more than just a buzzword; merchants need this capa-
As an industry, we've always been concerned with the bility to compete and facilitate an uninterrupted cus-
movement of transactions, and today we can view those tomer experience across physical, virtual and mobile
transactions from our personal devices, apps and websites, channels.
where we check in, check out and accept payments. As gig
workers, freelancers and micro merchants, we have become Same deal, different dashboard
our former prospects. As an industry, there is no more
them, only one diverse, inclusive and multidimensional us. Kalemis additionally noted that merchants need to
aggregate data from multiple providers into a single-access
Water truce view on an easily accessible dashboard. "We may be ISOs,
ISVs, agents or processors, but we are all business owners,"
Like the waterhole gatherings in Rudyard Kipling's The he said. "ISOs and agents need to partner with business
Second Jungle Book, published in 1894, payments industry owners and help them access data to understand customer
tradeshows are peaceful assemblies where competitors put needs."
aside differences and share information. While deals are
inked and alliances are forged in meeting rooms, dinners Indeed, the dashboard brings us all together in much the
and hospitality suites, there is also tacit agreement that the same way as the last remaining pool in Kipling's Wainganga
payments ecosystem is interdependent and relies on its River attracted diverse, competing herds. Data-driven
stakeholders for nourishment, education and knowledge as technologies have made abundant insights and knowledge
well as revenue. You could say our tradeshows serve as a available to the entire commerce value chain.
Water Truce, by invoking a no-kill mandate on all animals
that must drink from a common source when water "MLSs use a dashboard to track merchant account
supplies run low. onboarding, processing and activity," Kalemis said. "They

can speak from experience when presenting the merchant
"By the Law of the Jungle it is death to kill at the drinking- dashboard, because in both cases, it's a tool that helps
places when once the Water Truce has been declared," business owners better understand their customers."
Kipling wrote. "The reason for this is that drinking comes
before eating. Everyone in the Jungle can scramble along Dale S. Laszig, senior staff writer at The Green Sheet and managing
somehow when only game is scarce; but water is water, and director at DSL Direct LLC, is a payments industry journalist and content
when there is but one source of supply, all hunting stops strategist. Connect via email dale@dsldirectllc.com, LinkedIn www.
while the Jungle People go there for their needs." linkedin.com/in/dalelaszig/ and Twitter @DSLdirect.
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