Small businesses often look for ways to cut expenses to help increase their revenue. The first few years are often the hardest. These years are the years in which these business owners are most frugal. While they know they cannot cut the quality of their products or services, they may employ fewer people, if any. The may avoid certain perks that bigger, more established companies may be able to afford. These business owners may even forego the “perk” of accepting credit cards to avoid the associated fees. This, however, is one way in which the small business owner is actually losing money. Merchant Services and accepting credit cards is a guaranteed way to increase your revenue without raising prices or expanding offerings.
Customers Prefer Credit or Debit Cards
Statistics show that only 12% of shoppers prefer to use cash when shopping. That means that an overwhelming majority of 88% of shoppers shop using a credit or debit card. People no longer want to carry large sums of cash on them when shopping. People feel it is less convenient and much more dangerous than carrying credit and debit cards to make purchases, both large and small.
What does this mean for the merchant? In short, it means that merchants who accept cash only are alienating shoppers. A shopper will tend to avoid stores in which cash is necessary for shopping. Avoiding accepting credit cards makes shopping inconvenient for the customer, forcing them to find a way to obtain cash prior to making a purchase in your store. At that point, the customer will likely move on to a competing retailer who will allow them to utilize their debit or credit card for a purchase.
A Better Alternative: Merchant Services
That being said, a merchant does have a better alternative to avoiding credit cards or paying high processing fees. The alternative is to shop around. Not all merchant services are the same. Furthermore, things like Square are not the only option available to small businesses. As a matter of fact, those types of services are actually more costly than many merchant service providers for small businesses. In addition, they offer no opportunity for negotiation.
Instead, work with a merchant services consultant who will offer to review your account at no charge. If you are not using merchant services, this consultant can review your revenue and discuss the amount that your revenue will increase with the addition of accepting credit and debit cards.
Be willing to negotiate and work with a provider who will be your advocate with the credit card companies, instead of their advocate against you. You will find that while you are paying a fee to accept credit and debit cards, your revenue will increase overall due to the added convenience of allowing customers to shop the way they wish to shop. If you are ready to see the benefits of accepting credit and debit cards, contact Scott Tanker at Tanker Consulting Services today. Scott will help you increase your revenue while advocating for you with the credit card companies to get the best merchant rates possible.