www.capital-bankcard.com

When I first decided to sell merchant services with Capital Bankcard I was a little skeptical about how successful I could actually be in a commissioned outside sales job. My previous experience selling was with companies that always supplied me with warm leads and a guaranteed salary of some sort.  (At the time i had other offers to take salaries of $50k+ but I thought maybe this once I’ll take a risk, step out of my comfort zone, and give this job a 6 month trial period.)  What really convinced me to sell credit card processing was the possibility of earning residuals and essentially building my own business.  I was sick of being only as good as my last sale.  (Think auto sales – how many cars did you sell THIS month!) Every time I signed a new contract I would earn income on the client for as long as they processed their credit cards with Capital Bankcard!  This could really be huge if I could bring in enough clients!

I began like everyone else, with barely enough knowledge of the product to be able to have an intelligent conversation and no audience to present what little i did know! My first foray into making sales was by going into the businesses where I shopped every week.  I went to my dry cleaner, gas station, dentist, doctor, and local restaurants that I ate at often.  These people knew my name and face and after some convincing they allowed me to take a copy of their merchant services statement for analysis.  I didn’t write all of them as clients but i did sign on more than half!   More importantly I gained a lot of knowledge in a short period of time!  I took this newfound knowledge of the credit card processing industry  and I started cold calling door to door.  I will be the last person to tell you that this part was easy.  If I walked into 40 doors a day i would get kicked out of 38 of them!  ( didn’t care though – I knew that every no as one step closer to a yes!) I learned that it was best to walk in and just have a conversation with people.  Nobody likes a hard sell so I would just stop in, say hi, and chat with them.  First I would ask them about their business, the pictures on the wall – anything to get them talking –  and slowly work my way into talking about the product.

What I found out surprised me. Once I got the business owners to open up about their monthly fees I realized that most of them knew very little about their current credit card processing rates, or how their merchant processing rate system even worked. Most of them were under the impression that they were paying a certain percentage, but after looking at their statement i was able to point out what they actually paid much more than they thought in monthly processing fees!   After that they seemed very interested to learn anything I could teach them about our pricing structure!  (As long as it saved them some money on their monthly fees!) The next thing I knew I was signing deals – fast! I had appointments booked out two weeks in advance because I always asked my new clients to pass my name and  phone number to their friends who own businesses.

My apprehension quickly  turned into excitement and my fear about not being able to sell merchant services at all turned into fear of not having ENOUGH time to sell everyone I was referred to! My income quickly grew as my client list got longer and longer!  After my personal 6 month trial period passed I calculated that within a year I would easily be doubling the $50k salary that I was considering taking!  I also noticed other personal changes. I was eating at nicer restaurants, going out more, wearing nicer clothes. There was definite change going on in my life and it was because I had something I had never had before, job security and a future with a growing company.

Not a day goes by now that I don’t thank myself for taking a risk and trying something new!  This year I am going to make more money than most of my friends and if I continue to hit my goals I plan on not needing to work anymore within the next few years!  ( I’ll just sit back and collect my residual!)