5 Tips for Selling in a Competitive Market

Good Monday morning everyone. Over the last several years I have had lots of sales professionals tell me that their market is overly competitive,
and that it is high time I provide some insight on how to break into tough or larger markets. I spent this last Sunday evening talking to two agents who live in highly competitive large markets, Dallas and New York.

After spending several hours and taking notes I believe I can give you some valuable insight.  Let’s jump right into it.

In order for this strategy to work, you must get 20 or 25 accounts.They need to be close enough to each other that there is a good chance other business owners in your community will know about two or three of them. You need to start out walking into thirty-five or forty businesses per day for a week or more, trust me that’s not a lot. When you find someone who is interested, you follow up day after day after day until you get the statement. Then you do whatever you need to do in order to get the account.

In a large market like Dallas, Houston, Atlanta etc. merchants are bombarded with phone calls and sales people trying to get their business. Each account is your access point to many more accounts in your market.  Therefore, once you get someone who is interested enough to choose you, treat them like the fifty accounts they represent.  Install the terminal on time. Think through the install before you do it to make sure it will go smoothly.  Walk into their business once per week the first month and then once per month after that. Check on them and continue to build your relationship with them.

After you install the terminal, stop back the first time just to check on it.  Then after the first statement comes, swing by and talk to the merchant.  Be honest about the market.  Say something like, “Issac, I really appreciate your business.  First of all, I want to ask if you are 100% satisfied.  (Hopefully the answer is “Yes.”) That’s great Issac!  As you know, I am in a very competitive market.  A lot of people are out there doing what I do but in a dishonest way, which hurts our whole industry. I really believe in my service.  I want to help as many business owners as I can save money like you have and get the local service that I provide. I depend on my current customers to refer me to other business owners.  I would like to ask for two small favors if I could.  Would you be willing to write a short letter of reference for me basically stating that I did what I said I was going to do and saved you money?  (They usually say “Yes.”)  Also, do you know the names of any business owners in the area?  It always helps if I have a name for whom to ask when I walk in.”

Both of these sales professionals also said to do this

You don’t have to do them all, build on each one as money becomes available. The important thing is to present yourself as part of the community.

Now that you have a letter of reference, email  or call Graphite Payments and get a pdf copy of that merchant’s first statement.  Black out the account info and bring the following in with you on the first visit:

-Industry specific POS flyer
-Letter of Reference
-Copy of existing customer’s (same one who gave you a letter of reference) previous processing statement.
-Copy of Graphite Payments Processing Statement for the same merchant.
-Copy of Graphite Payments Statement Analysis for the same merchant.

Now you have put in the hours to get your first few accounts; treated them like gold; and gotten proof that you keep your word.  Go in to businesses like a pro.  Bring all this stuff in with you – so much that you can hardly carry it all!  The business owner will be thrown off by this. When you walk in you can say something like, “Hi, my name is _____ with Graphite Payments, I have a meeting with Mike down the street today.  But before I go there, Mike told me it might be a good idea to stop in here and talk to Mark.Is he here?”  When Mark comes out, you say something like, “Hey Mark, my name is ______.  I was just on my way to meet with Mike at Bourbo building Company to go over his first credit card processing statement from my company.  I know you probably get fifty guys a week coming in here saying they can save you money.  I actually have a copy of the statement with me along with a letter of recommendation from Mike.  He told me your name and said I should stop in here to talk to you about your processing.  Who are you using right now?”

If you are in a very competitive market, remember that customer loyalty is very low.  People switch all the time.  This information should cause you to do two things.

First, realize that as long as you can prove you are legitimate to business owners in your market and can really save them money, it should be very easy to get them to switch to you.

Secondly, once you get them, you better build a solid relationship or your portfolio will always be at risk in this type of market.

I Hope this helps everyone in competitive markets. It also wouldn’t hurt to do this in smaller markets as well, nothing beats great customer service.

Special Thanks to Eric and Allen for their help.

For more information about joining Payment Lynx and growing your portfolio or to discuss keeping momentum going in July please feel free to contact me at DMatney@PaymentLynx.com or 833-729-5969 ext. 2  to discuss partnering with Payment Lynx.