The month of January is always a great time for reflection, no matter who you are.
But if you’re a business owner, now is the perfect time to take stock of everything related to your business.
This includes things like looking at your objectives for the coming year, considering whether you reached the goals you set last year, and thinking about where you and your team have room for improvement.
And more importantly, with the inflation rate at a 40-year high, one of the most crucial things to consider in today’s economic climate is where you can cut the fat.
That being said, unfortunately, there are far too many business owners out there who are paying through the nose to have their payments processed.
And for whatever reason, many of them are unaware of the fact that you can find significant savings on your payment processing if you know where to look.
So, if you’re looking to start the new year off right by finding the most efficient, versatile, and cheapest payment processing, and you want to learn how you can go about doing this, then you should definitely keep reading.
Because in this article, we’re going to explain why now is the best time to consider your options, and how smaller, local providers like us may be able to give you the best service, and the best possible deal.
Why Is Now the Best Time to Consider Your Options for Payment Processing?
Typically, December and February are months when many businesses see the highest volume of sales.
As you probably already know, this is because people tend to spend more money during these months, as they’re shopping for Christmas and Valentine’s Day gifts.
That being said, if you’re shopping around for your payment processing, now is the best possible time to do it.
But why is that?
Well, one of the ways we work to save potential clients money is by analyzing their last statement from their current provider to look at the volume of credit transactions they’ve had, what kinds of credit cards their customers tend to use, and the interchange rates and other fees attached to those cards.
This allows us to determine where you’re spending the most, and what we can do to save you money by adjusting our rates.
But if you come to us during a month when you’ve only done a couple of thousand dollars worth of credit transactions, and your fees for those transactions amount to $30, then we don’t really have the wiggle room to offer any significant savings, as the fees we’d charge on that would probably only amount to a few dollars, at most.
That being said, even if we did shave 20 per cent of our fees off of that bill, the savings would be minuscule at best, and it wouldn’t be worth your time to go through the process of switching providers or learning how to use new equipment.
But when your volume spikes, the amount of credit transactions you’re processing tends to spike, as well, and when it comes to payment processing, credit transactions are always the most expensive.
At the same time, a lot of payment processors will raise their rates during these high-volume months, which makes things even more expensive.
So, why is January the best time to consider your options when it comes to payment processing?
Well, now that January is here, your last statement would be from December, when you probably had significantly higher sales.
And if we analyze that statement, it’ll allow us to figure out how much you’re spending during high-volume months, and how we can save you money by adjusting our rates.
At this point, if you do choose to switch, we’ll know how we can adjust our rates so you can see significant savings during the month of February, when you’ll probably see much higher volume again.
Simultaneously, this also gives us the opportunity to determine whether or not your provider is inflating your rates during high-volume months, and look at the kinds of credit cards your customers prefer to use, so we can have a better idea of how to continue to save you money moving forward.
How Can Smaller, Local Providers Offer the Cheapest Payment Processing?
We can’t speak for every payment processor out there, but typically, it’s the smaller, local providers who are able to offer the cheapest payment processing.
But why is that?
Well, first of all, the big players in this industry tend to be multi-billion-dollar operations, and that means they have thousands of employees and massive overhead.
This means that they really can’t afford to give you a good deal, and they also have very little incentive to even try to be competitive.
Because for years, these companies were the only game in town in the payment processing industry, so they’ve built up trust and familiarity in their brands, and as a result, they’re pretty much guaranteed a steady stream of customers and therefore have no incentive to lower their prices.
Moreover, smaller, local providers know what it’s like to be a small business, so they can relate to what you’re going through and are more likely to want to give you a better deal.
What’s more is that because providers like us are struggling to compete against behemoths of the banking industry, we have much more appreciation for each and every one of our customers, and we’re willing to do more to keep them happy.
You see, unlike the big banks, who like to treat everyone with the same cookie-cutter approach, we actually take the time to do everything on a case-by-case basis, working with our clients to provide personalized service that addresses their unique needs.
For example, if you’re primarily doing business online, where the interchange fees tend to be higher, then we’ll look at how we can lower our markup on those transactions. Or, if you mainly accept debit payments, then we’ll see what we can do to reduce our markup on those.
At the same time, unlike some providers, we refuse to rip off our customers with deceptive flat rates that end up costing them even more money.
In addition, we also pride ourselves on using cost-plus pricing, which means that when credit card companies lower their rates, that will always be reflected on your bill, and we’ll never inflate our rates to make up the difference.
Something Else to Consider
Believe it or not, many payment processors provide payment terminals that are old, beat up, or about to become obsolete. This is true of many providers, including the giant corporations that dominate this industry.
These machines are much slower than newer ones, and many of them can’t process certain forms of payment, such as Tap and Apple Pay.
This can have a significant effect on your business, not least because you may have to turn away some customers, depending on what form of payment they want to use.
Over the years, we’ve been shocked to see how rundown and outdated a lot of these terminals are, and the effect that this is having on business owners.
That being said, we’ve made a commitment to always provide our clients with new, state-of-the-art equipment, which helps their businesses to be more productive, profitable, and flexible.
So, while you take stock of how to maximize savings on your payment processing, why not choose a provider that also offers the most up-to-date equipment, so you can maximize the efficiency, profitability, and versatility of your business?
Are you looking for the cheapest payment processing? We strive to provide our clients with the best prices we possibly can. Give us a call today to learn more about what we can do for you.
