When your business was enrolled for payment processing with your (hopefully local) sales rep, what were the questions like when it came to MCC code? They’re hard to spot, but if you’re dealing with a true payments professional, you’re going to get some seemingly strange questions and many of them are very specific:
If you’re a restaurant owner that has a bar these questions should have been asked:
- About what percentage of your sales are coming from alcohol?
- Are bar sales a focus item – custom cocktails, mug club, etc
Why You Should Care:
The cost difference between qualifying you for 13 vs. 12 or 14 code suffixes is significant. Take out a calculator – for real, do it – and type in your monthly sales. Then multiply that number by 0.002. That’s what you would save by being coded properly.
If your business deals with energy production and delivery or waste management, you should have been asked:
- What has your processor told you about utility interchange?
- Do you offer convenience fee options or accept payment from businesses?
- Is your system passing tax and AVS information?
Why You Should Care:
This one is insane. Think about it this way – most of my merchants see about 30-50% of their purchases are being made by customers using debit cards. The rest are using some type of credit card, many of which are rewards cards. So do this – take out a calculator (yes, you). Enter your monthly sales. Divide by two. Then, multiply that number by 0.015. That’s what you could save by being coded properly.
For real.
Your Rep Didn’t Know MCC Code Matters
Chances are, none of these questions were asked. I know this because I’ve been in the industry for quite a while, even trained sales reps, and all merchant services sales professionals are taught is now to prospect. Rarely does any company offer any nuts and bolts training below the barest surface levels.
For several years I led sales teams at a huge national payment processor. When I left, the company had 400 outside sales people. One of my biggest gripes was a lack of product training resources for the sales teams. They were selling devices they’d never used and often were positioning technology and devices that weren’t the right fit – not through any maliciousness, but just lack of understanding.
I’ve always been a bit obsessive about mastering my craft – whether that was as a beer salesperson, a seminar sales director, or a payments professional.
After many years, I came to understand that most people don’t want to be an expert. Let’s face it – it’s hard to be an expert any anything, let alone something as complicated as electronic payments.
Payments is where my OCD intersects beautifully with my ability and I’m happy to leverage that for your business. And remember, salespeople act the way they’re compensated. I don’t get paid to get you, I get paid to keep you. The longer you stay with me the more I make and therefore service and support are paramount to what I do.
