The other day, I was searching for something online…just like you probably do. Certainly, because of my company and the trends in my searches, the suggested ads are skewed just a bit. I kept seeing ads, banner and pop ups for companies who offer credit card processing.
If you are a small business owner or manager and you have been thinking about credit cards, you may be seeing the same offers online, too. It is certainly something to spend the time researching.
Working with a large corporate call center, verses one that has in-house staff expertise can affect your company’s bottom line and should be part of your company’s decision.
Wouldn’t you want to know your service provider expertise level and ability to support you and your business the right way? I certainly do.
Online credit card processing companies offer discounts and collect large groups of clients to leverage their expenses, which can be smaller than larger scale banks or local office based processing companies. From our research, and from helping transition clients from an online provider to our platform, we have found out a few pitfalls to avoid:
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• Hidden Constraints buried in the terms & conditions like long term commitments and early termination fees.
• Lack of Flexibility with client payment options or additional fees to collect payments in the office/store/restaurant, online, via e-check and onsite via tablet or smart phone.
• Lack of Service and Inexperienced Support that makes you choose a pre-packaged offer.
• The inability to grow with you and your business and never having the ability to talk to the same person twice.
• If you have problems, can you get on the phone with them or are you stuck with an online FAQ that doesn’t actually get to a solution?
Being an experienced credit card service provider, my team at TransAct has been working hard to become recognized as a boutique service provider. With concierge services that align with our client’s needs, we meet our clients face to face and learn exactly what is needed to support the business model. We can help with integration of QuickBooks® record keeping, offer personalized and secure online payment portals, help our clients accept e-checks and we are here to listen and to help solve any problems that might arise or just to answer a direct question.
We do all of this AND we save our clients money, save time and reduce expenses while offering a broad range of extended services – at no extra charge.
~ Mary Ann