Category: Kevin’s Tuesday Blog

If your business is seeking a short term cash infusion, a merchant cash advance may be the answer.

 

A merchant cash advance is an advancement of funds based on future credit card processing. For example; a business that processes $35,000 per month in credit card transactions would be able to obtain $50,000 in upfront funds deposited into their account. Going forward, a small percentage of each credit card transaction would go towards paying off the balance. Within a few months, the loan is paid without the business owner having to pay a lump sum at once.

 

Cash advance rates are not cheap. Rates can vary from 1% to 5% per month. However, for some business owners this is the smarter and better option.

 

Some businesses have a “buying season.” Buying strong and in quantity can make all the difference as to whether the season will be profitable or not. A short term cash advance (from buying season until selling season) will enable the business to buy smarter and yield a larger profit for that year.

 

A business may need to renovate or invest in capital improvements. A run-down retail store is not an inviting environment for customers. A 6 to 12 month cash advance would allow the business to stay alive and make the necessary improvements.

 

A business owner with an urgent need for cash may resort to finding an investor or partner thus giving up equity in his business forever. On the other hand, a merchant cash advance – as costly as it may be – is a short term ‘partner’. After 6 to 12 months the advance is paid and the business owner retains 100% equity in his company.

 

To find out more about our merchant cash advance program or if you know a business owner who may benefit from such a program, please email us at MCA@Banquest.com.

 

Happy Tuesday & Happy Selling!

Kevin

 

cats ice creamA recent example would be Bella’s Pizzeria in Caldwell, NJ. For years, customers have been asking for ice cream. Bella’s did not have an ice cream machine. The owners simply could not afford to spend $28,000 to purchase the machine. The owners estimated the profits from selling ice cream would be $50,000 per year. With Banquest’s Merchant Cash Advance they were able to purchase the ice cream machine and still make a profit the first year.

Banquest Business Funding

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Many businesses are reluctant to accept American Express cards due to Amex’s reputation of making it too easy for cardholders to dispute charges.

 

Merchants around the world made their voices heard and Amex has finally made some changes to their dispute policies that will enable simpler dispute management and fewer chargebacks.

 

In fact, Merchants saw a reduction of approximately 17% in disputes and have saved over $21MM in chargebacks during the first 3 months after all of the disputes policy enhancements made by American Express in 2016 went into effect.

 

Here are some very welcomed changes:

 

  • Redispute Limitation

The number of times a dispute can be raised on the same charge will be limited to two in most cases.

 

  • Chargeback Timeframe Reduction

Now, in most cases, you may see significantly fewer Chargebacks 120 days after the Transaction date.

 

  • Fewer Low‑Dollar‑Amount Chargebacks

Amex reduced the number of low‑dollar chargebacks you see.

 

  • No More Missing- Signature Chargebacks

You will no longer see chargebacks for missing signature on Card Member fraud claims, but Amex still officially requires that you capture signature.

 

 

For a full brochure of the new Amex policies please click HERE.

 

Happy Tuesday & Happy Selling!

Kevin

Big Changes to Amex Disputes Policies

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We’ve seen these 3 words before.

 

We’ve seen – and written – these 3 words before.

 

“Just checking in…”

 

But is that true? We’re not just checking in. We’re actually trying to accomplish something!

  • We’re desperate to hit our quota
  • We’re lost on how to re-connect with prospects
  • We’re trying to close that deal that seems stuck

 

So we send the dreadful “just checking in” email.

 

The problem is: they don’t work.

 

Prospects feel like you’re virtually ‘poking them’, making them reluctant to answer. So not only is it unlikely to get a response, you can even turn prospects against you.

 

Here is the key: make sure each follow up email adds another piece of value or information to the prospect. It’s not easy! I can personally attest to sometimes sitting 15 – 20 minutes thinking – what more can I share with this prospect than I haven’t already told them – before sending off my follow up email.

 

Here are just two examples of how to replace the “just checking in”:

 

  • I read just your blog / article / LinkedIn post (look up something about your prospect before emailing)

I was thinking about how much this product/service can really make a difference…

 

blog

 

Another idea that I find gets a high response rate is to send along a funny cartoon or gif with your follow up email. It does help if the cartoon is applicable to the subject at hand (which is not always easy to find ;)).

 

Happy Tuesday & Happy Selling!

Kevin

No, You’re Not “Just Checking In”!

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This week I would like to share an article (my abridged version) written by Tony Parinello; a well known expert on executive-level selling. For CEO’s and business owners – this is well worth the 5 minutes of reading time!

 

At some level, of course, all business leaders must “sell.” But why do so many CEO’s and business owners either remove themselves from the sales altogether, or limit their selling involvement to “closing” or “VIP Client” meetings?
The answer is that most leaders of companies have gotten used to delegating. Even though they exercise their analytical, interpersonal and persuasive skills during interactions with employees, vendors, board members and other key players, most CEO’s find a way to rationalize away any personal involvement in their organization’s selling activities. Maybe they’ve forgotten the importance of selling; maybe they feel they’ve outgrown the world of sales; maybe their idea of selling is coming in at the end of the process and hobnobbing with a client or prospect.
Revenue-focused CEO’s know better. They know there’s much more to a sale than a ‘close’, and much more to a relationship with a customer than schmoozing. In my experience, CEO’s who get out there and sell tend to do so in very large volume indeed-by adhering to the following principles:

  1. Personally and consistently model the ideal sales process. Talk about a morale-builder! Everyone needs role models. Who plays the role better than the head of the company?
  2. Personally monitor changes in the marketplace. There’s nothing like talking to customers directly about how they’re using your product, service or solution. Leaving this to the marketing department or a team of consultants can lead to missed opportunities and a slower-than-necessary time to market for new products and services.
  3. Constantly build interpersonal skills to secure one-on-one loyalty from customers. Top CEO’s send personalized, handwritten thank-you notes to each and every one of their customers. (Don’t underestimate the power of a hand-written note-these can build truly extraordinary customer relationships.)
  4. Increase the amount of high-margin add-on business. Often, this occurs when a CEO assumes direct, personal responsibility for connecting with people at the highest level of the target organization and building long-term partnership plans.
  5. Call a meeting of your best (noncompetitive) customers. Not a fiscal quarter should pass when you don’t have a customer “touch point” that will keep you and your ideas in the “top of the mind” category. Customer summits are a great way to do this.

The moral of the story: When CEO’s sell, two great things tend to happen. First and foremost, more deals (and bigger deals!) close. Second, every employee gets to witness top-down involvement in Priority One: revenue-generating activity. Let’s face it: When a CEO, president or owner does something, everyone in the organization takes notice and perceives that activity as important. So if you’re a CEO who wants ground-level selling to take on added importance, hit the phones and make some cold calls in a visible way.

 

Happy Tuesday & Happy Selling!

Kevin

When CEO’s Stop Selling…

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