Mike: Today, we have with us Mary Beth from MersaTech, and we’ll be talking all about payment processing and all the things that we need to do to make sure that everything is compliant and understandable. Welcome, Mary Beth.
Mary Beth: Thank you for having me, Mike.
Mike: Let’s get started. Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into this field of business.
Mary Beth: Very interesting. You know, you never, I guess I should say, most people don’t think, “Well, today, I’m going to be working in merchant services.” It’s fun and interesting because if you have any curiosity, even if you’re an entrepreneur or like the idea, you get to learn all these different businesses, hear people’s stories, how they got started, if it was a family business or they got a great idea. Every day is fun and new in that sense. I really, really like that about this job. Of course, that carries over to my work too, that helping me to grow my business. Somebody’s done it smarter, better, faster. It’s great.
It really came years ago through mortgages, so I had the numbers background. Of course, residual income is nice. I get paid every month based on the volume of sales that my clients do, whereas, if you have a regular job, you either wait for the check or you wait for the commission check. You have to sell or buy repeatedly like that. You start over every month, so this is a true building of a business.
Mike: Well, that’s an interesting concept, where there’s residual income for you. Am I correct in thinking that that is a big benefit to the business owner because you have a vested interest in their success? You’re there to help them and guide them and coach them to make sure that everything is working the right way. You’re not just disappearing.
Mary Beth: That’s correct. We’re not like, “Here’s your machine. Go off into the sunset. I’ve made my money. I’ll never answer your phone call ever again.” It’s very true. We’re here to say, “What are your questions? How can we help you?” Then, that comes to gift cards or mobile apps that we also create. Everything is driven to increasing sales; how do we get more traffic to our businesses, which obviously helps us. When their numbers are higher, so are ours, but, incrementally.
Mike: Yeah, exactly. What is your main product? If you were talking to a business owner, what is the main product and service that you present to them?
Mary Beth: Number one is merchant services. It’s how everybody walks into your store and pays you. Hardly anyone carries a credit card, I mean, cash, I should say. They’ll probably have a $20 in there. Everything is on the credit card, debit card. It’s really the norm of how people pay. Of course, that’s translating with even younger people. Google Pay, Apple Wallet, Apple Pay, Google Wallet, I kind of mixed that up there. Everybody’s coming out with a mobile app to try to have payment services happen through your smartphone, which is great. That’s our number one.
Secondary to that, as a courtesy and a service, a lot of merchants have struggled with gift cards, punch cards, loyalty cards. People forget them, or they’re not loaded right, or you have to train employees. People will turn around and go home and get their smartphone. They’ll carry that with them all the time.
That’s been a great way, because, there again, with the mobile apps, if a merchant has a mobile app, they can ask their customers to download it for free. They’ve just captured their contact information. People will look at a text, even if it’s to swipe it and get rid of it, to say it’s off. Of course, we don’t encourage our merchants to bombard people, but, run those specials. Let the people who have been to your place share it with other people on Facebook, or Twitter, or anywhere. It’s an exponential way to grow your business, very easily, with very simple offers.
Mike: When you say “mobile app”, are you saying that it’s a functional app that the merchant can then conduct different types of business through or is it more of a means to get the text numbers so that you can communicate through mobile?
Mary Beth: There’s both options. The majority use it just for information and advertising, “Download today, and get 5 or 10% off.”, or you’ll get our punch card, a virtual punch-card, “Buy 5, get the 6th free.” There’s other merchants who actually use their mobile app as a true payment gateway. We do have that capability. We provide for golf courses, restaurants. Of course, we’re huge with any place that has music, or even auto and service companies. It’s awesome to say, “Great, here’s your ability to ping out to everybody, “It’s time for your monthly service.””
Mary Beth: It’s great. No one wants to give their email, but they’re happy to download an app, and then, you’ve got their phone number.
Mike: It’s really interesting, the perspective. You can delete an email, you can delete a text message. All of that you can “NOT” pay attention to whatever you want to not pay attention to. It’s just a perception. These days, I think, people are more connected through their pocket with their phone.
