A Comparison Between Credit Card Processing

July 5, 2010 - PRLog -- Small business owners are always on the look out to reduce their costs, which is excellent. However, if you're planning on “saving” money by choosing not to invest in the basic tools and processes that your customers demand, expect or enjoy – then you could be losing a fortune by trying to save money...
For the sake of example, let's assume that there are two new enterprises, Business A and Business B. They're both in the plumbing business, and have extensive knowledge of what it takes to excel as a plumber and do the job right, every time. (From this point on, I'll simply be referring to them as “A” and “B”.)

While Business A is driven by a motivated owner that likes to have his business make an impact, Business B is owned and managed by a someone that hates to spend money, and insists on finding ways to cut costs in every possible way.

Both have an excellent plumbing service, which meet and exceed the requirements of their customers. They both make a great splash with the right advertisements and they are getting tremendous response after opening up shop.

However, after the first quarter, A shows about 25 percent more sales/jobs than B. So a consultant, hired by company B, takes up the assignment to find out why their competitor is well on its path to success while the their business (B) is always behind. When he conducted research to compile a report, he was very surprised with the results. The findings will surprise you, too.

Read on…

A has only one thing that differentiates it from B - they accept credit cards while the other, B, does not.

A has decided to pay $20 per month for mobile credit card processing abilities and a discount rate of 4% per transaction. The CEO of A made this decision based on his perception that unless the customer can feel confident and flexible about their payment, getting paid will be a struggle every time. Also, it cuts the transaction time (it takes only seconds) and the money gets automatically deposited to their business account, which simplifies their entire accounting process.

B's owner decided he would apply for a merchant account only if and when his volume of business reached a specific level. Until then, he thought it would be wiser to reduce overhead costs by simply not processing credit card payments until later on. He is aware that he is losing about five jobs a month (which @ an average of $500 per job is $2500 lost in business each month!)

Sadly, B's misguided owner fails to see that he would have a continuous flow of business to justify the cost of $20 + $120 (the 4% per transaction) per month for accepting credit cards. He's unwittingly losing $2500.00/mth in order to "save" a measly $140/mth.

In the meantime, the business lost by B floods the gates of the A – since the service is just as good as the other. A, like B, takes extra trouble to ensure that its customers are taken care of in a highly personalized manner. This has created an extremely valuable reputation for the company; happy customers are busy promoting the A by word of mouth to all those they know and hence, helping the volume of business grow exponentially.

Many of these customers aiding in the viral growth of A's marketing campaign would've patronized B's service, but didn't, because they preferred to pay with credit for their plumbing repairs and installations with their card – and a large percentage of these did so simply because of their rewards program associated with the credit card itself...

The customers who actually hire B are just as satisfied with the service, and that's not the problem. The problem is that several potential customers ask up-front if they accept credit cards when they respond to the ad – and then move on to someone who does. Namely, A.

So while B penny-pinches their way to mediocre profits, A's investment in credit card processing abilities is starting to pay huge dividends, in more ways than one...

Yes, the above example is very simple, and yet the principle of the matter will apply to almost any imaginable consumer market, with consistency.

It all goes back to doing what makes your customers happy – catering to what they want. Cutting costs is a good thing if you're eliminating waste or needless expenses – but if you're neglecting something that will either:

a) Attract more customers,

b) Create a better experience for your customers,

c) Reduce your accounts receivable (balances owing to your company)


Then, whether you like it or not, you're not saving money at all.

All you're doing is "shooting yourself in the entrepreneurial foot"...

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