You’ve established your portfolio, refined your pitch, and developed relationships to get you off on the right foot as a payment professional — now what? When you’ve hit a plateau with growing your book of business, there are plenty of ways to jumpstart the process of capturing new merchant markets.
An important aspect of any market strategy is mapping out new types of customers you haven’t reached yet — but don’t overlook opportunities within your existing customer base. In many cases, once you solve your customers’ primary challenges related to payment solutions, you can introduce new opportunities they may not have considered.
Whether you focus on expanding into new customer segments or capitalizing on existing ones, these techniques can help you expand your reach and get more out of your payment portfolio.
Identify and Match Your Target Audience
No matter how well you understand a merchant market, it helps to map the information about that market, which will help you make the case for payment solutions. A helpful way to define this information is by explicitly defining a customer’s pain points, goals, and fears.
For instance, a pain point might be, “Merchant A can’t keep up with new payment methods their customers expect.” An associated goal might be, “Merchant A wants to more quickly offer new types of payment options,” while a fear may be, “Merchant A is concerned about security.”
The better you understand these pain points, goals, and fears, the more prepared you will be to recommend relevant payment solutions, connect those solutions with a customer’s goals, and assuage fears with effective objection handling (more on this later). Use this insight to refine your pitch for new and existing customers that may have more they could learn from you.
Survey Their Technology and Hardware
Your customers may not always recognize the opportunities right in front of them, but you can find clues about how to expand your reach by simply surveying their tech stack. If you visit a physical location, for example, look for POS systems and other payment hardware.
Is their technology potentially holding them back or limiting their access to features they might want? Could an upgrade to devices and apps available through point-of-sale systems like Clover give them the customized experience they’re really after?
Often, a single integrated solution that includes access to features like contactless payments, ISV integrations, and virtual terminals can be an intriguing opportunity for merchants looking to keep up with what’s new.
Focus on Incentives and Outcomes
There are lots of payment solutions available to merchants, so it’s important to focus on what makes your offering unique. Rather than focusing on features and options, shift the focus to outcomes. Customers are often thinking, “What’s in it for me?” Be ready to show them.
Resources like testimonials from other merchants can be a great way to demonstrate product satisfaction and highlight unique incentives and benefits. At CardConnect, programs like Clover Capital are a great value add to highlight for potential customers.
Be Ready to Respond to Potential Fears
No matter how enticing the benefits are, prospective merchants will harbor certain fears that may stand in the way of moving forward. Proactively communicate what customers can expect and how they can get help along the way, especially when it comes to potentially intimidating financial information.
The earlier you address these concerns, the less your customers will be caught off guard throughout the process. This is also a great opportunity to highlight any benefits that mitigate these concerns as well — benefits like onboarding specialists there to streamline success.
Above all, finding and capturing new merchant segments is a matter of consistency. Your customers will look to you for continued guidance on how to stay on top of payment trends and technologies. Use this as an opportunity to expand your reach and deepen trust with your network of merchants.
The best way to capture new business is by working with the right merchant services partner program that has the technology and customer support to deliver an exceptional experience for you and your book of business. If you’re an ambitious sales agent or ISO looking to grow your portfolio with a range of powerful and patented solutions backed by a Fiserv payment platform, look no further than the CardConnect Partner Program.