Welcome back to another installment of WWYD Wednesday’s. You spend three weeks courting the owner of a high-volume auto body shop. You buy him coffee, you tolerate the smell of motor oil and paint thinner, and you finally convince him to hand over his processing statements.
You take them back to your desk, crack your knuckles, and open up your pricing analysis tool, ready to show him how much money you’re going to save him.
Then, you see it.
The merchant isn’t on a tiered pricing trap. He’s not getting gouged with hidden junk fees. He is on a true Interchange-Plus model with a razor-thin markup. You realize that to even compete with his current setup, you’d have to slash your margins to the bone, leaving very little money to be made, if any at all.
He actually has an unbeatable statement. You can’t save him a single penny on processing without completely wiping out your own residuals.
The Dilemma
This is where the rubber meets the road for us. You’ve built rapport, the merchant expects a proposal, and you don’t have much to show him.
Do you pack up your binder, tell him he’s got a great deal, and walk away? Or do you try to find another angle to salvage the deal?
What Would You Do?
If you find yourself staring at a statement with virtually no profit margin left on the table, which route do you take?
- Option A: The Value-Added Pivot. You stop talking about rates entirely. You look at his clunky, outdated terminal and pivot hard to technology—offering text-to-pay, automated invoicing, or a modern POS system that saves him time.
- Option B: The Integrity Play. You call him up and say, “John, I ran the numbers. To be completely honest, your current provider is giving you a spectacular rate. If I match it, I’d just be lateral-moving you for the sake of switching a terminal, and your current setup is already optimized. Keep them. You have a great deal. But if they ever raise your rates or drop the ball on service, I want to be your first call.”
- Option C: The “Buy the Business” Route. You slash your pricing to the absolute absolute minimum to match his current provider, sacrificing almost all your residual just to get the account on your books, hoping to upsell hardware or software later.
SO, WWYD?
Let’s hear it, How do you handle a prospect when there is little to no money to be made on the processing side?
Drop your strategy in the comments below. Do you walk away with your integrity, or do you find a way to close the deal anyway?
Happy Selling,
David
