Who Are You Really Dealing With?
A long time ago, I did what every man has to do at some point in their lives (hopefully only once), plan my own wedding. Once the reception hall was booked, I assumed the job was 90% complete. My wife proved that theory wrong and before I knew it, we found ourselves in a wedding vendor tornado. Which photographer was best?…which florist…which DJ…caterer, limo company, hotels, theme, invitations, and honeymoon? But finding the best was only the beginning. Not everyone was available for our special day, nor was everyone in our price range. Even worse, some of our top choices had reputations for being late or not showing up at all.
It was tough to determine who was genuine and dependable. Some of our phone calls would go unreturned for days and others would hide large fees in their contract that they hoped we wouldn’t find. As a consumer, it was an experience I’ll never forget. I was thankful to have most sales presentations face to face and can only imagine how much more difficult it would’ve been to choose over the phone.
And that’s just it… a very large percentage of financial transactions are conducted over the phone and internet. For the Merchant Cash Advance industry, it’s upwards of 90%. Rate shopping can be done at light speed but the warning signs of a bad vendor are harder to spot. Anyone can tell you what you want to hear, but consumers should use the internet to fill in the blanks.
Researching the company helps but it certainly can’t hurt to check up on your salesman too. Believe it or not, bad people can work for good companies. Inexperienced people can too. The Merchant Cash Advance Resource is offering some advice for business owners. Go on Google, Bing, or Yahoo and search any or all of the following:
- The company’s name
- The company’s name (followed by) reviews
- The 1-800 #
- Your salesman’s direct phone #
- Your salesman’s name
- Your saleman’s name (followed by) the company’s name
- Your salesman’s e-mail address
Some additional sites are:
- The Better Business Bureau (www.BBB.org)
- LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com) Find the professional profile of your salesman and view their experience
Need help interpreting the data? Here are some signs this vendor may not be for you:
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The salesman that tells you how much experience they have in the business comes up with this:
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Don’t take any of this the wrong way. The Merchant Cash Advance business has been around for a long time. Most firms perform background checks on their employees and provide them with the proper training. Regardless, any transaction that requires the handling of social security information and bank statements should warrant a little due diligence. This advice applies to banks, insurance companies, stock brokers, and investment funds.
My wedding vendors were fantastic and the time spent chasing the best overall deal (reliability, experience, reputation, price) rather than choosing on price alone was worth it. I hope business owners use the same approach when obtaining working capital.
-The Merchant Cash Advance Resource
By: One of our individual contributors
Last modified: February 21, 2013
Sean Murray is the President and Chief Editor of deBanked and the founder of the Broker Fair Conference. Connect with me on LinkedIn or follow me on twitter. You can view all future deBanked events here.
