Are You Flushing Money Down the Toilet!!
Having spent the better part of the last 4 years learning the nuances of the Merchant Services business by reviewing hundreds of accounts both locally and nationally, it is still amazing to me when I find an apparently well informed, successful business owner literally flushing money down the toilet. Last week I was referred to 3 separate companies that unbeknownst to them were either mistakenly categorized, processing their cards incorrectly, or using the completely wrong pricing structure to benefit from the new federally mandated Durbin Amendment which, if effectively implemented, can slash debit card fees in half from an average of 1.4% to about 0.6% per transaction. Each of these easily rectifiable situations was resulting in thousands of dollars being lost by the respective business owners due to nothing more than a lack of information/knowledge.
However, the most concerning thing to me occured when initially approaching each business owner. Without exception, every one of them swore to me that they were “getting the best rate” from their
current provider when “the rate” had nothing to do with the bad advice (or lack of advice) that they were getting from their rep!!! One particular business owner was losing close to $4,000.00 a year because of one basic step they were simply not following when processing their credit cards at the point of sale; CRAZY!! In this tight economy, when small business owners need all the financial help they can get, wouldn’t it make sense to ensure that you are not in the same position as the aforementioned businesses?
On average, only about 40% of the businesses I review are in a decent position and getting a fair deal; 40% are in a situation where they can be helped out substantially by eliminating unnecessary hidden fees thus significantly lowering their costs; the other 20% are getting flat out taken advantage of by their processor, it should be ILLEGAL what’s being done to them!!!!
As Avant-Garde Marketing Solutions rapidly gains traction in terms of our national market-share, one of the keys to our successful business strategy is not only our ability to evaluate, but more importantly our constant effort to educate. If you feel that a more educated view of how your credit cards are processed would benefit your business financially, please feel free to contact me at any time.
All consultation services are free of charge, confidential, and without obligation.
(Phone): 603-986-0655
(Email): jameson.killeen@a-gms.com