Merchant Sales Podcast

"Hone in on automation and technology," explains Ben Griefer of Maverick Payments. This week's podcast also features tips for landing more sales from Rich Norton, and reporting from Patti on how card acceptance fees paid by U.S. merchants compare to fees paid by merchants in other countries.

Passion, not being afraid to fail, and making time for family, explains Vlad Sadovskiy, CEO at Netevia. Vlad a successful entrepreneur and his daughter, Emma, a budding entrepreneur, sit down with James for a far-reaching discussion around the changing complexion of entrepreneurship in this week's featured interview. Then stick around for more tips on selling from Rich Norton, and Patti's reporting on bank-to-bank payments.

Omni-channel payments are evolving—don’t get left behind. In this webinar, I share insights on terminal placement in an omni-channel market, alongside an interview with Mony Zenou, CEO of Dejavoo/iPOS. We discuss Dejavoo’s "POPUP" program, which offers discounts on new gateway-enabled devices, and explore key topics such as payment integration with POS systems, the pros and cons of gateway-enabled versus stand-alone devices, and strategies for promoting your brand to merchants. Watch the replay to catch all the insights, including a Q&A session with Mony and myself.

Building a restaurant point of sale portfolio in 2025 isn't going to get any easier for the lone wolf payments rep. In this webinar I discuss the role of the merchant sales agent in the restaurant POS project, how to successfully partner with a POS company, and what restaurant owners want in order to choose your solution over Toast. I am joined on this webinar by Saleem Khatri, CEO at Lavu. After working with Lavu on the consulting side to design an agent reseller program, then boarding some restaurants myself, I recently worked with them to make some major changes to their program in order to position agents for success in building a portfolio in 2025 that takes feedback and market realities into consideration.

Discover how AI is streamlining sales, approvals and customer service in this week's interview with Dave Fiegle, president of the AI Agency. Then James describes how he uses AI in his businesses, and Patti reports on how regulators are honing their focus on BNPL.

It's a sticky proposition, explains Alan Noe CEO at Evolv, in this week's featured interview. James continues on this theme, encouraging sales reps to think more broadly about building relationships that go beyond payments. And Patti wraps up the podcast, reporting on how the CFPB is taking issue with fees merchants charge for cash-back transactions.

In our recent webinar, we explored strategies to reduce friction in the sales process, increase the lifetime value of your clients, and boost payment processing margins by white-labeling your own gift card program. For those looking to create long-lasting relationships with merchants, regardless of the technology solutions they choose, it's crucial to control the gift cards and offer a flexible program. During the event, Ryan Rose, CRO at Factor 4, joined us to discuss three key revenue drivers that are often overlooked by ISOs and Agents—drivers that can significantly impact your portfolio's value.

"If you build it right, buyers will come," explains Danny Mikhail in this week's featured interview. Mikhail built Zuza, a POS and business management software company, which he sold earlier this year to Bank of America. This week's podcast also features sales tips from Rich Norton and Patti's reporting on instant payment networks and fraud.

In this week's episode, James interviews David Morris about which payment methods are most important and how ISOs and ISVs should adjust their payment acceptance strategy. Then, we get a sales tip from Rich Norton and James finishes this episode with a special segment recorded a few days ago at his dinner with Green Payments on the future of the payments industry and how Agents and ISOs should focus on partnerships as they move forward.

In this week's episode we are joined by long time industry veteran and recruiter Chris Sandifer to discuss the history of the ISO model, how things have changed and what the future holds. We also discuss the keys to building a 1099 sales team and how to leverage technology in this effort. After this interview, James talks with Rich Norton about how to raise your floor and remove your ceiling for success and Patti Murphy talks about the innovations happening today with debit cards. We hope you enjoy this episode, thanks for listening!

In this week's episode, James shares his thoughts on a framework for effective strategy. You will learn how to identify, create and combine strategic puzzle pieces in the payments industry to create maximum value for yourself / your organization. Rich Norton gives a quick sales tip from the field and Patti Murphy shares a disruption to the growth of the BNPL space as card issuers begin to stop payments from their cards to pay off their BNPL loans. Thank you for joining us!

Your ISO should offer BNPL. "At the end of the day, it's all about stickiness," says Derek Barclay, CEO at Enable Inc., which offers ISOs a white-label approach to financing consumer purchases. Plus, another installment of sales tips from Rich Norton, and Patti's reporting on how consumers are embracing tap to pay.

"Building a great, profitable agent relationship is a lot like building a great friendship," explains Chris Del Grande, Co-Founder & President of Valued Merchant Services, in this week's featured interview. Then James discusses the value of finding and teaming up with the right business partners, and Patti reports on a Supreme Court ruling that deals a blow to the Fed over its debit interchange cap.

Learn how to offer Dual Pricing, Compliant Surcharging, Invoicing (email / text), subscriptions and so much more to card not present merchant types. In this event, James is joined by CTO and co-founder Jeff Rooney of Fluid Pay to discuss how to provide the right solutions to these merchants and how to do it in a way that is fully white labelled to promote your ISO brand.

"It's a new twist on a winning model that works especially well for restaurants," explains Alejandro Swaby, Director of Sales at Cervion. Plus, Patti reports on the ongoing legal fracas involving the card brands and merchants.

Learn strategies for successfully raising capital to grow your ISO from a panel of experts in this week's featured interview. Plus Patti reports on predictions for travel spending.

It's a new twist on an old strategy: merchants earning reward points for card payments processed. "We're seeing merchants who are wiling to sign long-term contracts," because of this type program, Jeff Moskowitz, Co-Founder of Tuzo Rewards explains in this week's featured interview. And stick around for more sales tips from Rich Norton and Patti's reporting on what's up with the Fed's planned debit interchange haircut.

That's what Dee Karawadra is hoping is the case for the CRM he's building at ImpactTechLab - a CRM ISOs can use to streamline operations, he explains. Plus get sales tips from merchant sales guru Rich Norton. And stick around for Patti's reporting on state initiatives to rein in interchange.

This week James & Patti interview industry attorneys James Huber and Matt Luciani on the proposed $30 billion legal settlement Visa and Mastercard just inked with retailers to make a longstanding lawsuit go away. Then James interviews uber-salesman Rich Norton on mastering the one-call close, and Patti reports on research into consumer and business payments preferences.

In this new age of integrated payments, point of sale systems, and ISVs, sales professionals are losing their edge. The key to growth is still closing business. In this episode, James shares 10 key characteristics of closers and breaks down the closers mindset. Optimize your own sales performance, or the performance of your sales team.

The Merchant Lifecycle - Future-Proofing Your Portfolio by Merchant Sales Podcast

Join James Shepherd, Ben Ross of Green Payments and Jeffrey Sanders Of Union POS to discuss the high volume venue opportunity. These include bars, food service, event venues and many others. During this event we will be sharing the keys to prospecting and selling these large venues and rolling out a free video training program James created in partnership with Green Payments and Union.

"Everyone is looking at monetizing payments," says Brian Abernethy of Utopaya. But you have to understand the tradeoffs. Plus James talks about prospecting ISVs and Patti has an update on the Fed's plan for capping debit interchange.

Selling point of sale systems has become a crucial component of a growing payments portfolio. But there are challenges! How do you know which system to offer? How do you demo complex systems and close deals? What does the installation process look like? For this event, I will be joined by Ben Ross of Green Payments to discuss these an other challenges related to selling point of sale systems in 2024 and how Green Payments has structured their organization to specialize in point of sale deals. Learn how you can build a portfolio of point of sale solutions in 2024!

"It's not for everybody," explains Vigyan Kaushik, CEO at Quantic, a cloud-based POS solution firm. "Mostly it's for organizations that are looking to create brand awareness and sell something they own." Also this week, James offers some ground rules for focusing on growing a team and taking your company to the next level.

"In a lot of cases we're simpler and more efficient," says Ryan Rose of gift card company Factor4 in this week's featured interview. Plus, James continues his multi-part interview on selling merchant services with uber salesman Rich Norton, and Patti has an update on the a merchant lawsuit challenging interchange.

Recasting Merchant Services with Embedded Payments by Merchant Sales Podcast

Get the inside scoop on Fluid Pay's cloud-based gateway. "We are API first," said Nick Cucci, Co-Founder and COO. Also, Fluid Pay will always remain behind the scenes, he adds, as the company has no interest in poaching clients. Then stick around for a conversation between James and Rich Norton concerning opportunities for newbies in merchant services. "This can a big as you want it to be," says Rich. And don't miss Patti's reporting on the government's war on junk fees and the potential implications that could have for differential pricing.

"Timing is everything," says Blake Wilson of Phase 3 during this insightful discussion with James about when and how he decided to strike out with a partner and build an ISO business from scratch. Then James continues his series on overcoming common objections by offering vertical-specific software paired with dual pricing. And Patti reports on the demise of Google Pay.

Generate extra revenue in the process. Merchants have until May 31 to apply for their share of a $5.5 billion class-action settlement with Visa and Mastercard. Collectively can help agents help merchants claim their share of that settlement, while also generating agent revenues. Louis Teplis, CEO at Collectively, provides the details. Then stick around for James's thoughts on working smart vs. working hard, and Patti's reporting on the latest consumer spending data. Visit ccsalespro.com/settlement to learn more.

Tune in this week to get a lawyer's take on protecting your merchant portfolio from (upstream and downstream) poachers, and upstream partners who hold back residuals. "Think of who you're doing business with," says Eugene Rome of Rome LLP. Then stick around for James's advice on overcoming objections around dual pricing through vertical-specific solutions, and Patti's reporting on Visa's cybersecurity investments.

"As ISOs we need to stop being generalists and start being specialists," Elaina Smith of Secure Bancard explains in this in insightful discussion with James on what the future holds for ISOs. Then James talks about how vertical-specific solutions can 86 cost objections, and Patti has an update on the BNPL market.

"Selling payment processing requires always being on the lookout for better and more streamlined solutions," explains Russ Hayes, Pinnacle Business Products, in this week's featured interview. James continues on the theme of B2B, which he describes as "primed" for the 1099 distribution model, and Patti reports on the escalating cost of financial crime compliance.

Particularly 1099s. "Selling POS is more important today than it ever was," says Dustin Magaziner, Founder & CEO at PayBright. Learn what PayBright is doing to help 1099 agents adjust to this new reality. James follows that with insights for managing and running a 1099 team, and Patti has a report on Sen. Durbin's latest doings in Washington. Learn more about Paybright here: https://www.gopaybright.com/join-our-team

Fresh off the sale of the ISO Beyond, industry veteran Michael Peters explains what goes into building and executing an exit strategy for a payment processing ISO. "You need to have full command of the sales model and what drives revenues," he advises. Then James talks about the power of telemarketing in today's marketplace, and Patti reports on the acquisition of Discover by Capital One and what it means for competition.

Crypto is on fire, and crypto payments are no longer a one-off. "We're seeing a lot of activity in niche markets, especially for high-ticket items," Eric Brown, CEO at Blockwyre, explains in this week's featured interview. Blockwyre has developed a suite of blockchain tech, from digital wallets and payments to digital asset custody and partners with ISOs and agents. Then stick around for James's advice for creating demand to support your prospecting efforts, and Patti's reporting on new surcharging regulations for merchants in New York.

Learn how Netevia is helping ISOs and agents rewrite the merchant sales playbook to include banking services as new sources of residual income. "We see massive opportunities," said Vlad Sadovskiy, Netevia's CEO. Than stick around for James's take on value-added services for sub-verticals, and Patti's reporting on a new surcharging law in New York.

Learn how and why Dejavoo Systems has positioned itself as a Fintech for ISOs. "Our job is to help them compete better than they can on their own, by providing new technologies for their agents' tool boxes," explains industry legend Mony Zenou, the firm's founder and CEO. Then James offers a new model for using telemarketers to get solid merchant leads, and Patti has an update on the social media platform X's plan for taking on PayPal.

"There are a variety of ways cannabis dispensaries can take payments," explains Glen Kaplan of Charge Today. Discover what Charge Today is doing to support merchant accounts within this controversial vertical. James continues on the verticalization theme with some insights on stealing customers from Square. And Patti wraps up this week's podcast by reporting on a class action lawsuit brought against Visa by ISOs challenging the card company's surcharging and cash discounting rules.

Learn about the future of ISO sales and marketing from the vantage of industry veteran Allen Kopelman. "Business owners are looking for partners. If we have the right products, they will pay," says Kopelman, CEO at Nationwide Payment Systems. James follows that with his take on why content marketing is so important for ISOs and agents, and Patti reports on a movement afoot in Washington to regulate fintech firms that offer payment services.

Discover how Josh Holden, agent owner at CardConnect, is building a team of local agents to sell complex payment processing solutions. Plus James has the skinny on getting outside capital and Patti reports on how surcharging and cash discounting are getting caught up in the federal government's campaign against junk fees.

This week Patti has a one-on-one with James, discussing his success strategies, and how sales reps can chart their own successes in payment processing. Then Patti reports on the Goldman Sachs-Apple split.

If you're selling payment processing with any form of dual pricing, you also should be offering check processing, say Travis Powers, Vice President of Partner & ISO Relations at CrossCheck. Discover the residual opportunities available with modern check services in this featured interview. Then James discusses the ins and outs of scaling a business, and Patti reports on opposition to credit card routing legislation.

Offer restaurants the ability to receive and manage delivery orders from multiple services using a single interface, says Thibault Le Conte, Founder of OrderOut. "We provide seamless Clover integration, and there's an API for ISVs," he notes in this week's interview. James follows with some insights on additional verticals where there is growing demand for delivery, and Patti reports on Apple's latest legal woes.

watch this replay of the special live event where we will discuss high risk processing and how to build a portfolio in this profitable segment of the industry. We will also be giving away James' latest eBook on this topic that has been created with the help of Maverick, who is the sponsor of this event. James will be interviewing Ben Griefer, COO at Maverick to discuss the best practices to find, sell and service high risk merchants. As our industry continues to shift towards card not present, there has never been a better time to understand how high risk processing works and explore the best ways to build a profitable book of these merchant accounts.

The challenge is in backing up agents with reliability and expert support, explains Ben Ross, COO at Green Payments, an ISO built around the 1099 sales model. "We consider ourselves an independent support organization," Ben added. Then James continues the theme, discussing what processors need to be doing today if they want to be successful with 1099 agents, and Patti wraps up the episode with a report on the BNPL market. [email protected]

Discover what Greg Myers has learned from 250+ interviews on his Leaders in Payments podcast. Plus James talks about an ISO Alliance initiative that dramatically increases good sales leads, and Patti reports on the dynamism of the payments processing industry.

Learn about Axium, a new Android-based terminal line from Ingenico, the company's strategic partnerships like the one Ingenico has with Payroc, and the company's vision for the future. "The payments industry is growing by leaps and bounds," says Tim McWeeney, head of U.S. indirect acquiring and ISO sales at Ingenico. James follows the interview with a briefing on the explosion of card-present ISV solutions, and Patti wraps up the episode with a report on the CFPB's plan to regulate non-bank payments companies, like PayPal and CashApp.

Compliant Surcharging is more popular than ever with card not present merchants, but reconciliation with Quickbooks can be a challenge. In this webinar, I am joined by Biller Genie President, Garima Shah to discuss how to make Surcharging work for these merchants and the process they went through to design and implement a seamless, processor agnostic surcharging integration with Quickbooks. There is a huge market segment of merchants who are invoicing their clients and uses Quickbooks. This market is largely untapped by the ISO / Agent community and surcharging is your best chance at generating interest. Join me to talk about this opportunity and how you can build a solid book of business while helping these merchants cut costs.

HotSauce POS is a processor-agnostic restaurant POS solution built for ISOs and agents to sell, Kai Hsu tells James & Patti in this week's featured interview. "We don't compete with the people feeding us," the HotSauce CEO said. Then James talks about how confidence and expertise add up to sales success, and Patti reports on a new pay-by-bank solution from Chase and Mastercard.