sales
When Merchant Cash Advance isn’t the Right Fit
August 12, 2013
“I know you do a million in gross sales monthly but since you process only $5,000 in credit cards, we can only approve you for $7,000.”
Before ACH repayment became mainstream, the MCA industry was incredibly restrained in its ability to help businesses. A merchant seeking a half million dollars with the cash flow and size to back that request up was being told that the absolute best they could get would be maybe $10,000, and that’s with a 100% holdback in place instead of the industry standard max of 30-35%. It was an awkward sale for both parties.
To pitch a business owner generating $12 million a year in sales a paltry $10,000 is like telling your boss that the only thing you did at work this month is forward a single e-mail. To the business owner, they’re probably left wondering if lending really has dried up that much or perhaps they’re wondering if they’re just talking to the wrong people. Some of these mismatched situations actually turn into closed deals. I can personally remember one where a semi-serious request for $2 million became a $6,000 signed contract. I think they waited only 24 hours before applying for a renewal. The majority of these sales calls go nowhere though because what’s being offered is not a fit for what is needed.
It’s okay to have mismatches in life. As a salesman, your product is not the right solution for EVERY problem, no matter what your rebuttal script says. If a man is wheeled into an emergency room with 7 deep stab wounds, Johnson & Johnson is going to have to pass up the opportunity to offer him Band-Aids as the answer. A million Band-Aids might work, but they’re not the right solution.
In 2013, I am hearing a wider call to diversify product offerings to stay competitive. Yes, offering a fixed daily repayment loan based off of gross sales is a nice way to compliment the purchase of future credit card sales, but that’s not really diversity anymore, that’s a necessity to stay alive. By really diversifying, I’m talking about financial products beyond daily repayment loans and advances. Almost everyone agrees that being able to service more deals is a good thing but when it comes right down to it, they may see it as a distraction from their main focus.
We’ve all seen a friend or two bite off more than they can chew by trying to broker an SBA loan or commercial real estate deal. There’s no shortage of financial companies sitting on the periphery of the MCA industry waving a flag that says “if a deal isn’t compatible for you, then send it our way.” They don’t really speak the MCA language though and they expect you to do a lot of the closing and negotiating on your own. Some of these deals take months to process and if the lender believes the deal is only a one-time thing, they might not even pay you for it. Ugh! Looking at it from this perspective, perhaps it’s better to just stick with MCA and let every other type of deal fall by the wayside, that is until you look at your marketing expenses again and wonder…
An inbound lead is one that you’ve already paid for, so if they’re not a candidate for a daily repayment loan or advance, then what is the most efficient way to monetize and service them? Who can you really depend on to make servicing it a reality and how long will it take? How easy will it be? I searched beyond the industry for answers but began to find them inward. It seems New York City based Strategic Funding Source has recognized the need for product diversification and is eager to assist account reps in servicing more clients and closing more deals. Your marketing dollars are already spent, so now it’s time to monetize what they’re bringing in. There is a universe beyond daily repayment deals and if you hope to stay ahead of the curve, I recommend you become intimately familiar with programs like invoice factoring and accounts receivable factoring. You can and should be doing deals of this nature every month, not once in a blue moon.
While I like to consider myself knowledgeable on a wide range of financial topics, Lenny Leff, who heads Strategic Plus, a new division of Strategic Funding Source, has offered to write his own regular column on Merchant Processing Resource.
I spoke to David Sederholt, Strategic Funding Source’s COO, about this first in regards to Lenny’s role at the company:
“Through this new division of Strategic Funding Source, led by Lenny, we can say ‘yes’ to more businesses seeking capital to grow and are not limited to cash advance and loan products. We take a human approach to financing and know that the needs of small business owners are as diverse as the businesses themselves. With more product offerings, we are able to continue to be true partners to the small businesses we finance.”
– David Sederholt, Strategic Funding Source COO
Lenny’s posts will provide guidance and information about opportunities outside of MCA. After a few in-person meetings, I think he is uniquely positioned to discuss this topic, especially considering his prior experience in the MCA industry. I asked if Lenny would introduce himself in this post and he added the following:
“I am happy to be joining Strategic and look forward to sharing my 15+ years experience in factoring and asset based lending. The blog will give business owners and ISOs the opportunity to learn more about the different solutions and alternatives available when they go to someone offering a one-stop shop; Purchase Order Financing, Invoice Factoring, Equipment Leasing, Healthcare Lending to Business Loans and MCA. Our goal is to expand the knowledge within our community and help our partners find customized financing for their clients. We are thrilled and excited to share our insights with Sean and the Merchant Processing Resource site.”
– Lenny Leff, Strategic Plus
When the deal doesn’t fit, will you try to sell it anyway? Will you throw it out? Or will you try to monetize the lead you’ve already paid for? I don’t like the first two options… and I’m sure many of you don’t either.
Learn more about Strategic Plus at http://www.sfscapital.com/news/view/3596
Contributors
David Sederholt
Lenny Leff
Discuss factoring on DailyFunder
http://dailyfunder.com/showthread.php/353-PO-Financing-Factoring/page2
The Alternative Business Lending Worker Shortage
July 1, 2013“You open 40 accounts, you start working for yourself. Sky’s the limit.“
Is the dream getting harder to sell? The alternative business lending industry is booming and so much so that many job openings are going unfilled. I am asked on almost a daily basis if I know any experienced sales people that are looking for work. There really aren’t that many people out there with a strong merchant cash advance background and I think it’s impacting how fast this industry can grow. On the one hand, the industry is a lot less sophisticated than it used to be. Hold on for a second and allow me to explain myself. There was a good chunk of time in this business where saying the word, loan could get you fired. Loan?! Are you kidding? We buy future receivables at a discount!
Anyone could sell a prospect on working capital but only a select group of people could explain the purchase of future sales properly all while justifying the relatively high cost. And an even smaller group of people could take the deal to the next step and discuss the merchant’s current 3 tiered or interchange based rates, pick out the junk costs, and sell them on a better deal with a new payment processor. And an even smaller group of people could sell the merchant on the idea of using a new terminal due to PCI compliance issues or acquirer compatibility. And an even smaller group of people could sell or lease the merchant a new terminal instead of swapping out their current one or lending one for free with a multi-year contract. And still an even smaller group of people could convince the underwriter to approve their file in order for the 5 closed sales to even go through. Merchant cash advance in the traditional manner was and is a highly complicated multi-layered sale. The men and women that churn(ed) these deals out month after month on a consistent basis are nothing short of pros. Let’s not forget that payment processors have underwriters too so even after 6 closes, the payment processor could decline the approval of a merchant account, nuking the entire deal from start to finish.
Do you have any idea how comical it was when the mortgage brokers invaded the industry as the housing market neared collapse? They had no idea what they were doing and some of them barely lasted for 90 days before saying “I give up, this makes no sense.”
In today’s market, there’s a faster learning curve. I’d estimate that 55-60% of all new deals being funded with daily repayment in this country are using direct debit ACH to collect. Some funders and brokers lean towards this model so much so that they report funding more than 90% of their deals on ACH. That’s good news for new account reps because there isn’t much to learn about the product. There’s the amount being funded, the cost, and a daily debit to pay it back. Pretty simple stuff. This isn’t to say it’s not a tough sell or that it’s not competitive, because it is both of those things. Companies that swear by the ACH product have a hiring advantage because they don’t necessarily need salespeople with MCA specific experience. Almost any financial sales background will work or even no experience at all.
The smaller part of the industry is a mishmash of the old school sophisticated reps and the newbies that rely on the old schoolers to help them out with anything technical. When companies post ads saying they are looking for MCA sales reps with experience, they’re implying that they want people that can handle the multi-layer sale. A good craigslist ad should say:
Are you hungry?!
Must be able to do the following in a single phone call while driving at least 65 MPH on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway regardless of whether or not traffic is backed up:
- Convert a Micros POS system
- Lease an additional wireless terminal for off-premise sales
- Shave 12 basis points off the non-qualified tier (but make it back up by adding a $15 monthly statement fee)
- Close a 150k deal on a 1.40 (but know that the reduced factor rate is coming out of YOUR end)
- Write in a 6% closing fee
- Cut off 47 cars in traffic without hitting them
- Eat a slice of greasy pizza with your left hand without getting a single drop on your lap
Oh and below it will be a note that says “THIS POSITION IS COMMISSION BASED ONLY, NO DRAW, SELF-STARTERS WANTED, HOURS ARE 7-7 Mon-Sat“. Don’t laugh. This was the MCA industry for a time and a lot of people did very well in it. If you wanted to make money, you had to be able to do it all. For some of you, it’s still this way.
And let’s face it, the split-funding market may shrink but it will never die. Split-funding’s advantage is the ability to finance businesses that have poor cash flow. The risk of a bounced check is removed when payments are diverted to the funder by the payment processor. You hear that kids? You should be brushing up on your payment processing-ology.
Even as the ACH market boom continues, there are whispers of woe as funders deal with ACH rejects and closed bank accounts. It’s no surprise then that some companies are looking for pros, not just bodies to put on the telephone. It seems as the product has become less sophisticated, merchants have become more sophisticated. In 2007, I’d be willing to bet that more than 90% of small businesses had never even heard of a merchant cash advance and that was basically the only alternative available. In 2012 I actually did a presentation to a large room of business owners about merchant cash advance and none of them had ever heard of it until I taught them about it. That’s astounding!
Now I don’t think that many more people know about the purchase of future credit card sales in 2013 specifically, but I am inclined to believe that 90% of merchants are at least aware that alternatives to bank loans exist. And when they encounter somebody offering an alternative, they do their homework and check these companies out online. They get 2nd opinions and question why they have to switch processing when four other account reps said they don’t have to. They ask for better deals, longer programs, and they look you up on facebook to see who you really are. This is a different sales environment than what there used to be. The lowest price, the fastest process, or the most charming personality won’t guarantee you’ll win anything. Seeing that you’re backed by Wells Fargo or learning that Peter Thiel is on your company’s board of directors might be the hook, line and sinker for a business with a full plate of options at their disposal. Yes, it’s a different world, a different sale, and even a different product.
Funders and brokers need human resources to keep up with the fast pace of growth and there’s not too many of the old school guys looking for work. Not to mention that fewer people are willing to work on a 100% commission only basis these days. During and after the financial crisis, the herd of out-of-work financial service people flocked to whatever opportunity the could find. It was like you could throw a fishing net in front of the Lehman Brothers entrance and use it to scoop up 50 brokers as they all ran out the door for the last time. Newly minted graduates wanted to build their resumés instead of remaining unemployed. Some people were willing to work all 31 days of a month just for the opportunity even if they walked away with zero dollars at the end of it. Although the economy hasn’t recovered much, that hunger has relaxed and job seekers are being a bit more selective of the opportunities they choose. They want a base salary (even if small), benefits, and vacation time. Somewhere out there in another universe, Ben Affleck’s younger self is crying at the thought of this. “Vacation time?”
So when you put up an ad on LinkedIn or Craigslist and say you’re looking for 10 guys with MCA experience, just know that breed is in short supply and high demand. If you’re heavy on ACH, you can train new guys quick but they’re not going be equipped to take on the multi-layered sale if the tide turns back towards split-funding. There are tons of job openings out there for sales reps but those spots aren’t as easy to fill as they used to be.
“You become an employee of this firm, you will make your first million within three years. I’m gonna repeat that – you will make a million dollars.”
Happy hiring.
– Merchant Processing Resource.com
https://debanked.com
MPR.mobi on iPhone, iPad, and Android
Don’t Get Banned by Your Target Market
March 19, 2013
I’ve watched this happen a lot over the last several weeks, particularly on Google Plus. Businesses both large and small join a community, start posting links to their blog and then they get banned. Some are posting crap and others are posting genuinely good content, but the good content is being pushed on people and nobody likes that.
Communities and forums exist for discussion, not for marketers to disseminate their blog posts with titles like 10 ways for small businesses to maximize profits. Now there are a few instances where it makes sense to post a link to your website, but only if it truly results in a healthy engaging debate and shares. If that doesn’t happen, then you’re probably in trouble.
I have actually had to watch a few people I know in financial services get the boot in communities, and there was nothing I could do to help them. Their brands have literally been BANNED from talking amongst their peers and potential customers and that’s probably the worst thing that can happen. I’ve all seen hundreds of small businesses make the same mistake, younger businesses that have finally decided to give social media a shot, only to be shown the door 10 minutes after they jump in. It’s disheartening. Many communities don’t offer a warning, so the best chance to let sometime know the basics of human interaction, is to do it before they join anything. If you were thinking of joining a community or have been banned by one, particularly on Google Plus, I’ve written up a little road map titled: Banned from a Google Plus Community?
– Merchant Processing Resource
https://debanked.com
MPR.mobi on iPhone, iPad, and Android
Social Media for Small Business: Food for Thought
January 29, 2013Here’s an interesting trend: blog posts on the subject of the “decline” of social media. Within 90 seconds you can locate three such articles on Forbes.com:
- 3 Reasons You Should Quit Social Media In 2013
- Facebook, Twitter? Can The Decline of Social Media Come Fast Enough?
- Why I Dumped My Smartphone – 2 Months Into Building My Personal Innovation Lifestyle
OK, so three articles can’t be considered a “trend” – but they definitely provide some food for thought.
Should You Quit Social Media in 2013?
The very notion that people are suggesting there might be value in at least “taking a break” from social media should get our attention. Take the three reasons J. Maureen Henderson gives in her article for doing so:
- It harms your self-esteem
- Your blood pressure will thank you
- Online is no substitute for offline
Henderson is speaking to personal self-esteem and gives the example that there are those of us who might feel better about ourselves if we weren’t constantly exposed to technology that forced us to compare ourselves to and compete with over-achieving peers. Yes, it can be personally humbling to discover the jerk you sat next to in biology graduated from Harvard when you barely made it out of State. Small business owners overdosing on social media just might have a similar problem trying to duplicate the social media activities of large competitors whose marketing budget is a big as their small businesses’ net worth – which can be very discouraging and demotivating.
Personal social media activity definitely can get pretty ugly. Name calling, ostracizing, bullying and just generally disrespectful communications can certainly cause your blood pressure to rise. Small business owners can have a similar reaction to preserving and protecting their online brand reputation. While it’s great to be able to communicate directly with customers and clients, the flip side is small business owners don’t have total control over the conversation any longer. Even if you’re monitoring your own platforms (for example comments on your business Facebook page), there’s always the opportunity that you could be missing some “flaming” commentary about your business online somewhere out there on the Internet.
Henderson notes a study stating that one-quarter of those surveyed feel they haven’t fully experienced real-life events due to activities necessary to place those real events on virtual social media platforms. She also points out that most people looking for a job do so online even though 70% of jobs are never posted online and are instead filled via in-person networking. Here is a lesson small business owners might want to take to heart – the impact, effectiveness, and value of getting in front of your customers and clients “in-person.” Real customer experiences are as important as virtual customer experiences.
Are People Dumping Their Smartphones?
We could give you a ton of statistics, but the short answer is a definite NO. As a matter-of-fact, the trend now is major increases in consumers using mobile devices to stay connected online. Some people may be becoming less enamored with “traditional” social media – but we’re definitely going to see an increase (at least for the foreseeable future) in the use of these devices according to a wide variety of studies by reliable resources such as Mashable.
The point is small business owners need to be aware that social media is constantly evolving (and most likely always will be evolving.) And that fact is both a blessing and a curse for small business owners. Certainly having new ways to effectively engage consumers along the “pathway to purchase” is a valuable opportunity. The threat can be not only keeping up with new technologies, but also the ways those technologies impact consumer behavior.
Even “expert advice” can be both confusing and in conflict. For example, here are two predictions in an article you can find at business2community.com:
Joey Sargent, Principal, BrandSprout Advisors: In 2013, we’ll see more social maturity in both B2C and B2B applications. Business will get “social smarts” and more fully integrate social media into their day-to-day operations across the organization. This means less social for social’s sake, and more focus on social media as a legitimate business tool to facilitate communication, engagement and loyalty.
Jayme Pretzloff, Online Marketing Director for Wixon Jewelers: Going into 2013 social media will impact sales more than any other metric because of the continued integration as a marketing platform and the acceptance of users to be marketed to. In 2011, almost 70% of users said that no social media platform influenced their buying decision and in 2012, that was cut in half to 35%. In 2013, this number will be decreased significantly again because these sites have become an integral way to gain access to information on companies, promotions and products.
Bill Corbett, Jr., President of Corbett Public Relations: The hype proliferated by “marketing” people about the tremendous business generating benefits of social media for small business will wind down.
Beverly Solomon, Creative Director at musee-solomon: People are over saturated with social media. They will gradually remove themselves from all but a few networks, blogs, etc. So many ads come in everyday that they have lost their impact. Most people just delete them before reading them. Social media will function more to alert friends of rip-offs than to encourage sales. Only the most clever sales campaigns will have any impact. More and more advertisers will be leaving social media and returning to snail mail, print and other traditional ads. Social media will continue to be a dating hook up, gossip fest and avenue for “gurus” to sell seminars. But real businesses will use social media less and less.
Who’s Right?
With such conflicting advice from subject matter experts – how is a small business owner to know who to listen to? Fortunately this question is easy to answer: Listen to your customers and clients because they – and only they – know how they prefer to be contacted as well as what the content of those communications must be in order to be of value and meaningful to them. This means small business owners need to find out where their target market “hangs out.” Are they already online and using social media? If so, how and where? If not, why not and what other ways would they like to hear from you?
The one constant advantage of social media is the ability to communicate with your market. But it is certainly not the only channel. As for our position on the matter? We’re making social media a bigger priority. We’ve just gotten more involved on Google+, a social network that just passed twitter and youtube to be the 2nd most used platform in the world.
It might be time for the everyday small business owner to take a peek at the big G, especially if they feel like Facebook isn’t delivering.
Guest Authored
– Merchant Processing Resource
https://debanked.com
MPR.mobi on iPhone, iPad, and Android
Coming In From the Cold: Connecting With Prospects
January 29, 2013
A small business owner posted a great question on the LinkedIn group “Small Business Networks for Startups and Entrepreneurs” board:
Are cold calls effective? Or is it old school? For a small company, what is the best way to promote the business? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.”
The small business owner who posted this question got more than her fair share of advice and opinions regarding the practice of cold calling. And, while most every single comment had a jewel of truth and wisdom when it comes to cold calling – the comments also conflicted with each other. For example:
“Not only is it old school but its intrusive and offensive.”
“Cold calling is old school indeed but it is still one of the most effective ways to reach prospects.”
So – which is it? Offensive or Effective?
Fortunately for the small business owner uncertain whether to pick up the phone there was one comment that simply rocked. Sandra Hoedemaker owner of ChefinDemand.com an online business coaching service specializing in providing services to personal chefs, posted a completely different perspective and approach to cold calling – something she calls “Connect Calling.”
Connecting is Warm – Cold is…well, Cold
Those commenters who identified cold calling as intrusive and offensive make a good point. Today’s consumer not only isn’t interested in hearing uninvited sales pitches, they can (and quite often do) find unscheduled sales calls as a definite intrusion into an already too busy day.
Sandra notes that she does, in fact, “cold call” and also indicates that these calls are always most successful when she is able to connect with the decision maker. So far her comment sounds like your run-of-the-mill cold calling advice. However, Sandra definitely breaks rank because she goes on to say that she “doesn’t sell on the phone.”
OK, if she’s cold calling, but not selling – what exactly IS Sandra doing when she makes those calls?
Sandra knows prospects aren’t interested in “being sold” – but they are interested in learning real ways to solve their problems and get their needs met. Sandra knows that the best way to do that is to establish her credibility as an expert who knows how to solve common problems and meet the special needs of her niche. How does she do that? She offers to provide them with carefully selected free services. This allows her to:
- Build her email list and then connect with prospects freely because they have invited Sandra to contact them.
- Stay connected to her prospects via blogging, teleclasses, and other virtual events (she’s also in the process of putting video presentations in place.)
Outside of the above, connecting with prospects versus cold calling prospects has resulted in Sandra receiving referrals and she’s also garnered invitations to speak as well. Sandra has successfully used Connect Calling as a tactic to connect with prospects in meaningful ways. She’s taken an “old school, annoying” tactic and turned it into a powerful tool to build a community of prospective buyers.
What is most impressive about her approach is the opportunity to begin to establish trust with prospects via Connect Calling. Offering useful, applicable free services and information allows prospects to begin to build a relationship where Sandra becomes a Trusted Advisor who’s got their back versus someone trying to make a sale. Sounds more like networking than cold calling doesn’t it?
And when those prospects pick up a phone to make a call when they find themselves in need of services Sandra charges for, Sandra’s much more likely to be the one who hears it ring.
Sandra’s business serves a unique niche – but Connect Calling can be a valid, productive, and profitable tactic to market your small business no matter what market you serve.
Guest Authored
– Merchant Processing Resource
https://debanked.com
MPR.mobi on iPhone, iPad, and Android
History of Merchant Cash Advance
January 24, 2013The History of Merchant Cash Advance
Before it was mainstream, it was kind of mainstream. Merchant Cash Advance (MCA) is not new or even relatively new and it definitely isn’t a byproduct of the 2008-09 financial crisis. In fact, in 2007 some people thought the best days of the industry were already behind it. In an August 2007 issue of the Green Sheet, Dee Karawadra expressed reluctance to write about MCA because he believed the subject was stale.
When a GS Online MLS Forum member suggested I write an article on cash advance, I explained my research and said, “I think that boat has come and gone, and I missed it.”
Dee’s article is an excellent snapshot of the feeling of 2007. Excitement was running wild and bold predictions were being made. A lot of the same questions being asked today were asked and answered back then. Those employed in the industry that do not take the time to read up on MCA history are at a disadvantage. And one thing this industry did a great job of, was chronicling all of the events that unfolded.
The Green Sheet
Prior to 2007, The Green Sheet’s forum was the only source for information. It is still filled with threads going back as far as 2003 on the subject. The discussion seems to begin by one user posing the question:
Who thinks a cash advance program, (a loan) on future credit card volume will help themselves get more deals and their merchants operate better?
March 2003
By 2004, MCA was all the rage. Competition began to nibble at AdvanceMe’s monopoly, a monopoly they were rightfully entitled to because they owned the patent on split-funding. Many chose AdvanceMe anyway simply because they had already established a name for themselves.
You might want to check out AdvanceMe. I think they have a superior product and service as well as more money too … that you will be better served by AdvanceMe than you would by any of the other Cash Advance companies of which their [sic] are not that many.
August 19, 2004
And many weren’t even sure what they were selling exactly. Merchant Cash Advance had not yet even been coined as a term:
quick show of hands as to what title you would place on this product… A) Factoring of receivables B) Cash Advance C) something else… Just for the record – I don’t know what to honestly call it.
August 20, 2004
Those that responded called it an unsecured loan, factoring, merchant funding, and cash advance. Some that weren’t even familiar with the concept appeared completely lost in the conversations. It was common to confuse cash advance as meaning to take a cash advance out on an actual credit card. The need for a universal term was badly needed. An industry couldn’t progress forward if no one even knew what the industry was.
A Way to Build and Strengthen Merchant Account Portfolios
But on the subject of giving money to merchants in exchange for more back, programs offered by AdvanceMe and Rewards Network were compared on the merit of the cost to the customer. Since reps viewed MCA as an acquisition tool to obtain merchant accounts or retain them, commissions and renewals were rarely discussed. They were basically a non-factor and some folks from this era carried this mentality straight into the financial crisis age of MCA. Funders advanced merchants not to make money on advances, but to build their own processing residual portfolios and to sell or lease more POS equipment. The loan, cash advance, merchant funding, or whatever it was of the day was a tool to drive business, not a business itself. Right before and during the financial crisis, funding companies began to streamline their focus and suddenly it became all about funding and nothing else.
The MCA industry has remained in that state for about 5 years and some are starting to think that it’s time to evolve. A poster on DailyFunder.com recently ranted that his company can’t grow unless it diversifies, coincidentally citing that MCA would be better served as an acquisition tool. If this happened, history would repeat itself.
This should be a lesson to the MCA industry which is trying to make a product out of something everyone else views as an acquisition tool. Are we just lenders or diversified businesses? We are the former. As such, prices will never come down, margins can only get slimmer.
1/19/2013
In 2004, when the MCA industry was joined at the hip with payment processing, becoming a dedicated funder was a way to stand out from the crowd. But perhaps now that the market is saturated with dedicated funders, it is getting more difficult to build a presence in the market.
Behold! Merchant Cash Advance!
In May 2005, The Green Sheet was forced to label the product when it published a story about Merchant Cash Advances. We’re not claiming that this article coined the phrase, but it is a good approximation of when it started to be called such. A few sentences in, they actually disclaim their own term.
There isn’t even consensus on what to call the product, except that it is most definitely not a loan.
The three word term was not even used in the Green Sheet forums until October 2005, and then not again until March 2006. Soon after, that became the term of choice.
The One and Only MCA Blog
As MCA financing took on a life of its own outside of payment processing, the industry turned to a blog to learn about the unfolding events. From 2007 to 2010, David Goldin, the CEO of AmeriMerchant wrote weekly updates about his firm and experiences. He wrote about his harrowing battle with AdvanceMe. After invalidating their patent, he opened the floodgates for any funder interested in utilizing split-funding. He offered honest opinions and had excellent foresight, forever documenting what it was like for the MCA industry during the financial crisis. Anyone that didn’t get to experience that time firsthand should read it start to finish.
As Goldin’s company grew, he turned his focus to other matters. The North American Merchant Advance Association (NAMAA) was formed on April 29, 2010, a non-profit alliance designed to bring peace and order to an industry that had gone through tremendous turmoil in the last few years. He all but abandoned the blog afterwards.
Free Info for All
Where Goldin left off, I resumed by starting a credit card processing/MCA blog in July 2010 named Merchant Processing Resource (MPR). At that time, I was an MCAer that had toiled away as both the head of an underwriting department and as an account executive. The blog covered a lot of topics and was targeted towards business owners and ISOs simultaneously. I believed there was a vast amount of data that newcomers didn’t have about MCA and set off to share as much as I could without self-promoting a product or service.
By December, my web host (a very simple blog site named Webs.com) informed me that the website was using too much bandwidth for the current package. I upgraded it only to encounter the same problem again 9 months later. The site was forced to transfer to a real host in order to grow and be able to handle the surging stream of visitors. Webs.com’s format was not conducive to transfers and as a result, every article written prior to August 23, 2011 was time-stamped with that very date.
Three History Books
To recap, the Green Sheet and their forums were the places to follow MCA from 2003 to 2007. Goldin’s Blog narrated the story from 2007-2010 and MPR has carried the torch since then. If we go further back, and we believe everyone should, you’ll find that AdvanceMe kind of existed in a world of their own in the late 1990s. In 1999, they funded $9 million. What they were funding annually increased to $200 million by 2006, a time when they had already amassed more than 14,000 clients. These aren’t exactly the humble beginnings of a new industry. These are serious numbers that could arguably support the theory that MCA was already well into the mainstream.
MCA in Black and White
MCA information was publicly available nearly two decades ago via the U.S. patent office. Barbara S. Johnson is listed as the official inventor of split-funding AKA Automated Loan Repayment in documents filed in 1997. There were no forums or bloggers to explain how it worked. There was only this:
Systems and methods for automated loan repayment involve utilizing consumer payment authorization, clearing, and settlement systems to allow a merchant to reduce an outstanding loan amount. After a customer identifier (e.g., a credit, debit, smart, charge, payment, etc. card account number) is accepted as payment from the customer, information related to the payment is forwarded to a merchant processor. The merchant processor acquires the information related to the payment, processes that information, and forwards at least a portion of the payment to a loan repayment receiver as repayment of at least a portion of the outstanding loan amount owed by the merchant. The loan repayment receiver receives the portion of the payment forwarded by the merchant processor and applies that portion to the outstanding loan amount owed by the merchant to reduce that outstanding loan amount.
The Automated Loan Repayment kicked off an industry that would evolve significantly over the next 15 years and yet a payment processor was already doing this to fund merchants as far back as 1992. Litle & Company didn’t call it MCA. That name didn’t even come about until around 2005, but they were the first MCA funder in the country. The makes MCA more than 20 years old.
Been There, Done That
We may have closed a chapter in 2012 when it became evident the product had finally graduated from the minor leagues, but there is a forever long story that preceded it. MCA financing existed before some account reps were even born. Sadly some of these kids talk to prospects today without really even knowing what they’re selling. Then again, in 2004 no one knew what the heck they were selling either. There is still technically no formal name especially since split-funding is no longer the standard. If the poster in 2004 posed the same question today about what to label this product as, there would be just as much disagreement. Business cash advance, merchant financing, ach advance, cash flow loan, ach funding, merchant cash advance, unsecured loan, merchant loan. Nobody really agrees and nobody really even does it the same way as everyone else. It’s all MCA to me and I’ll keep reporting on it for as long as it lasts. And as long as it keeps reinventing itself, there will always be a chance to get in early. Those that read up on the past or were there and experienced it firsthand have a major advantage. History repeats itself in MCA.
You know those butterflies you’re getting about 2013? They were felt before in 1998, 2004, and 2007. MCA was kind of mainstream before it was mainstream. 2012 ignited a spark and some of us know what’s going to happen next. As for the rest of you, brace yourselves. It’s going to be more crazy than you can imagine.
– Merchant Processing Resource
https://debanked.com
Getting Permission
January 21, 2013
Numbers don’t lie.
77% of online consumers surveyed said they want to receive permission-based marketing messages via email. Sounds impressive – but even more impressive when you learn that direct mail came in a distant second with only 9% looking forward to opening their mail box. Interestingly, only 5% preferred text messages. (Source: ExactTarget 2012 Channel Preference Survey)
That’s the good news. After all, email is perhaps the most inexpensive means for small business owners to communicate with consumers. The bad news is – before you can communicate with consumers via email – you’ve got to get their permission (along with their email address.)
Permission-based marketing simply means that you have your customer’s permission to contact them. However, if you’re a small business owner just getting their feet wet it’s likely that 77% of your list isn’t exactly a large number.
Collecting email addresses from customers and clients who have given you permission to contact them is the “Catch 22” and “between a rock and a hard place” of small business email marketing. Obviously purchasing lists of email addresses of consumers who fit the demographic of your customer doesn’t cut it. Emailing someone without their permission to ask for permission to email them just doesn’t make sense – not to mention today’s consumer tends to be totally turned off by businesses that make the attempt. Not too many fans of spam out there.
So, if you don’t have a list – how do you create one?
The Usual Suspects
It would be hard to find anyone with even a smidgen of experience searching the Internet who hasn’t encountered an “opt-in” when visiting a website. An opt-in is nothing more than a form that serves to ask permission to contact the consumer as well as collect their information. Visitors to your businesses’ website can opt-in to receive a variety of marketing messages from you – for example a newsletter, blog posts, or special announcements (such as a sale.) It makes sense to have opt-in opportunities on every page of your website.
Sounds great but, once again, if you’ve got very little traffic on your website, that translates into very little opportunity to build a Mondo email list. If the obvious tactic of including opt-in opportunities on your small business website doesn’t help that much when it comes to building your list – what other tactics can you employ?
Plenty – here are a few:
If you’re a retailer, make it a practice to ask for (and collect) every customer’s opt-in at the point of purchase. The same goes for B2B small business owners. For example, train your receptionist to ask for opt-in when taking calls.
Display an “opt-in sign up” book where customers and visitors to your office will easily find it. Be sure to include information that motivates people to provide you with their permission (i.e. a description of your newsletter, let them know you routinely email discount offers, etc.)
Do it the old fashioned way. It’s likely you’ve got the phone number of most of your customers and clients. Pick up the phone and call to ask for their permission to be contacted via email.
Contact customers and clients who’ve already subscribed. Let them know you’re running a “forwarding contest” and tell them they will be entered into a raffle for each person they forward your email to. Include a link that says something like “Forward to a Friend” (there are email marketing services that can identify which subscribers actually forwarded their email.)
Ask in-person. We are so “virtually” oriented that the obvious can escape us: ask people to opt-in when you meet them in person. This can be at professional and business networking events – even with that person you struck up a conversation with in line at the grocery store.
Partner with a related, non-compete business. Are you a web designer? Partner with a public relations firm and send out each other’s messages.
Include an invitation to opt-in on all printed marketing material. This includes everything from promotional brochures, stationary, and your business card. It also includes printed advertising.
Last, but definitely not least (and perhaps the most obvious) include a link to an opt-in underneath your email signature.
– Guest Authored
Merchant Processing Resource
https://debanked.com
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