By Dominic Ferrara
It's a proven fact that mail order marketers can increase salessubstantially by offering their customers a credit card option.
Some marketers enjoy increases of 10% to 30% in sales when theyget up with a Visa/Mastercard merchants account. Others havereported increases up to a whopping 100%, or even more!
If all of your sales are made by mail, you can expect to up yourtotal sales by at least 10%, and more likely 15% to 30% simplyby offering the credit card option. If you plan to use thetelephone a great deal as a marketing tool, offering a creditcard buying option could double or triple your sales.
Credit card buying is seductive. Many people like the option ofbuying something today that they won't have to pay for untillater. Also, most consumers tend to spend more using theirplastic, than when they're writing a check, or paying cash.
REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD BECOME A CREDIT CARD MERCHANT
There are many good reasons why you can benefit from securingcredit card merchants status. Here are some of them...
* People with credit cards are more affluent than those withoutplastic. They can afford to spend more money. * They tend to bebetter "credit risks", if you want to sell "open account."
* Overall, they buy more by mail than those without cards.
* You cannot effectively sell from commercials on radio or TVwithout offering credit card purchasing. Visa and Mastercard areby far, the cards most consumers have.
* They often will make credit card purchases even when they areshort on cash, and/or when their checking account balance is low.
* You can sell on installments, obtaining permission to chargethe buyer's card on a monthly basis.
* You can ship goods with the secure knowledge that payment hasbeen secured before shipment is made.
THE PROBLEM
By now, you're probably convinced that accepting credit cardorders is a darn good idea. But how can you obtain credit cardmerchants status? Truth is, it's not always a piece of cake. Inrecent years banks have been playing hard-ball with manybusiness people, especially anyone doing business by mail. It'sthe same old story, a handfull of mail order crooks have almosttotally screwed-up a good thing for honest dealers. The majorcredit card companies have told the banks to be very, veryselective in issuing merchant accounts to mail order sellers andhome business operators.
Because a few scum-bags have ripped off some banks, and run offwith the money, your local friendly banker may not be too"friendly" when you tell him you want a merchants account. Ithas become increasingly more difficult for mail order sellers tosecure a merchants account, and if you only sell by mail, butalso do consider setting you up for Visa and Mastercardprocessing. That happens to be reality...but always rememberWHERE THERE IS A WILL THERE MUST BE A WAY! In this specialvaluable report I'm going to cover some of the best way toobtain your merchant's status.
THE BEST WAY TO OBTAIN YOUR MERCHANT ACCOUNT
Although your banker may have already told you that they"cannot" accept you for a merchant account, the simple,unvarnished truth is that he/she can. Visa and Mastercard do setsome rigid guidelines for their affiliated banks to follow, butultimately the banks must approve or disapprove eachapplication. Excuses concerning "doing business by mail","operating a home-based business", "not having a long businesstrack record", are just that-excuses! A somewhat polite way totell you "no"!
Could a mail order businessman, (books, home-study courses,etc.) but how also conducts his business exclusively in his homeget a Merchant Account? Fat chance of him getting a merchantsaccount. Right? Wrong: He happily processes credit card ordersfor his customers will full knowledge and cooperation from hisbank. How did he do it? He never stopped asking for what hewanted.
When his own bank refused to even consider him for a merchantaccount, due to the fact that he was in mail order, and alsodoing business from his home, he beat path to several otherbanks.
The first four banks he visited also said "no", (2 were largeinstitutions, 2 mid-size), so he decided to try some smallerbanks. Guess what? The very first bank he went to said "Maybe".
They asked him to transfer his account to their bank, so thatthey could "monitor" it for six months. He told the bankofficial that he would consider their proposal, and theproceeded to another small bank one block up the street.
He liked what the second small bank said. They said "Yes!" Allhe needed to do was establish a checking account with them andmaintain a modest $1,000, business checking account balance.This he quickly did!
He is not unique. But he was very persistent and kept asking forwhat he wanted, and you must also. Probably th two best ways toget a merchant account are: (1) Keep pestering your own bankabout granting you charge card privileges, until they agree todo so.
(2) If your bank outright refuses, make a list of all banks inyour immediate area, putting some special attention on smallbanks. Next, get out a pair of your most comfortable shoes andget to it! Ask...Ask...Ask..Ask.. Ask! You have nothing to lose,and much to gain by being persistent, and by constantly askingfor what you want (that's good advice in all areas-business andpersonal) of your life!
CREDIT CARD MERCHANT ALTERNATIVES
If you absolutely have no success in obtaining a merchantsaccount from a local bank, you should consider the alternatives.Here are some of them...
***Ted Nicholas, best known as the best-selling author of "HowTo Form Your Own Corporation Without A Lawyer For Under $50.00",has established a small business organization entitles"Entrepreneurs of America." Membership is $50.00 per year. Thisorganization intends to offer reasonable rates on credit cardprocessing to their members. For more information write to:Entrepreneurs of America, 2020 Pennsylvania Ave., Suite 224,Washington, DC 20006. Phone: (800) 533-2665.
*** The Late Howard E. Welsh is the founder and director of thefast growing National Association of Publishers and Mail OrderDealers. His association has many exciting programs to helpsmall order tabloid publishers and small mail order dealerssucceed. Just prior to printing this report, For moreinformation, write: NAPOD, 12 Westerville Square, #355Westerville, Oh 43081.
***If you sell books, manuals, magazines, or forms of "paper andink" products, you may wish to join the American BooksellersAssociation (ABA). This is the No. 1 booksellers professionalassociation in the United States. In addition to many otherbenefits (National and regional conventions and trade shows,educational programs, etc.), members also can have their creditcard orders processed through the ABA's Merchant ServiceDiscount program. Write to: American Booksellers Association,122 E. 42nd St., New York, NY 10168.
***Barry Reid, owner of the Eden Press, has advertised that hecan help mail order marketers obtain credit card processing.Write: Eden Press, Box 8410, Fountain Valley, CA 92728.
***Mountain West Communications of Colorado offers a businesstelephone answering service that handles inquires or orders.When you subscribe to their service, they can also process yourcredit card orders for you. Write: Mountain West Communications,P.O. Box 216, Hotchkiss, CO 81419. Phone: (800) 642-9378.
NEVER GIVE UP!
Although this special report gives you various sources thatmight be able to help you with your credit card processing, themain message of this report is "NEVER GIVE UP" Never take "NO"for a final answer. Keep asking for what you want! Those whokeep asking and seeking, usually obtain what they want
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