Are you overlooking this opportunity to grow your business?
Selling payment processing to high-risk businesses can be a challenge. They’ve likely been burned before by excessive fees or suddenly losing their ability to process if they exceeded a chargeback threshold. They may also be hesitant to consider a change because the application process is too complicated. Even if their onboarding experience was smooth, they may struggle with cash flow problems when processors put holds on money or caps on monthly transactions.
As a Sales Partner, you know that selling payment processing helps businesses provide the types of checkout experiences that consumers want while maximizing revenues. But from a high-risk business owner’s point of view, payment processing can seem more like a hindrance than an advantage.
What is a high-risk business?
You may not immediately recognize that your prospect is a high-risk business. Some fall into this category based on the work they do. For example, high-risk businesses include buying clubs, bail bond insurers, card-not-present tobacco merchants, firearms and ammunition dealers, and ecigarette merchants.
But other organizations that fit the high-risk category aren’t as apparent. The business may be a start-up that doesn’t have much capital or a company that has been the victim of fraud or has bad credit. Merchants with international clients or a high volume of ecommerce or high-value transactions can also be high-risk.
How to provide value to high-risk businesses.
Selling payment processing to these businesses requires a different approach than when selling to other prospects. The following tips can help.
Just because they’re high-risk doesn’t mean they’re less valuable clients.
The first thing you need to overcome is the reservations you may have about selling payment processing to these businesses. The category “high-risk” doesn’t mean they aren’t good businesses. They can be valuable clients if you meet their needs for payment processing.
Show them you’ll help with cost control.
Work to help your high-risk clients get the best pricing. Payment processing fees for high-risk businesses are higher than for others but assure them you’ll help them control costs.
Reduce the risk for high-risk businesses.
Your clients may work in industries that are targets for chargeback fraud. For example, 75% of ecommerce merchants experienced an increase in fraud attempts in 2021. Additionally, “friendly fraud” is impacting many merchants: This is when consumers make a purchase and later claim it was fraudulent to get a chargeback; however, they or other family members actually made the purchase.
With these prospects, highlight the fraud and chargeback mitigation solutions you offer and explain how these services can help them resolve chargebacks quickly.
Increase cash flow.
Some payment processors hold some of a high-risk business’s funds in reserve to mitigate their risks. Assure your clients that you’ll work to help them get their funds to them on a schedule they can live with.
Grow your business by selling payment processing to high-risk businesses.
Today, virtually all businesses must accept payment cards to meet consumer demands. Without this capability, they run the risk of losing business to competitors that do.
The key to selling payment processing to high-risk businesses is to work with a payments partner with experience in providing solutions to these companies. Look for a partner with in-house underwriting, high approval rates, solutions that help mitigate fraud, and competitive fees.
This partnership will allow you to sell payment processing successfully to more businesses in your market and grow your portfolio!
Contact North American Bancard to learn more.
