TOTAL MERCHANT SERVICES
Opening your business with Total Merchant Services for your customers means a smooth transition thru the buying process. When customers arrive to a well organized business they flow through the process never realizing how the atmosphere you have created is the most important of your marketing techniques. Yes you need to be in the yellow pages, do radio ads, bill boards etc., but how you make the customer feel in your brick and mortar store is key.
I have been in businesses that were very humble but warm and inviting. The check out was a simple new office table with the VeriFone vx and VeriFone pin pad right there ready with all the Visa / MasterCard / American Express / Discover options at the ready. The owner had a warm smile and all the answers.
On the other hand I have been in some stores that made me feel like I was not welcomed or worse had to take a number to be served…
What can you do to give that warm fuzzy feeling to your customers? Make it easy for them to shop. Make it easy for them to check out. Make them feel like they are appreciated.
But what about the other part of your business? The online business must have the atmosphere too. Your merchandise must be displayed properly with easy flow web pages. If your customer gets bogged down they won’t do much searching-they will leave your page and move on.
The next important step is critical. If your customers can’t check out with ease-you are going to fail. To have total merchant services is to have a system that will flow your customers from their shopping cart to the check out with ease. This type of business is called card not present. Since they are not physically present in your brick and mortar store when using a credit card, charge card companies use the term Card Not Present. I have a copy of the Merchant Cost Sheet for your viewing. (CLICK ON THE COST SHEET BUTTON AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE.) You will see the increase in rates that Visa / MasterCard charge when the card can not be swiped through a terminal.
When a purchase is made at your website, the information goes through a gateway to the credit card processing network and then back to their computer when verified. The expense to you is basically the same as your brick and mortar store. You will pay a monthly charge for the gateway.
Don’t forget to give your customers the feeling of “Warm Fuzzes” and not the “Cold Prickles”; you want them to keep coming back. Remember Total Merchant Services is not always a physical experience but can be a feeling too.
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