– Decrease their credit card processing rate and leverage online training to give them a competitive advantage hiring and retaining staff (decrease fixed costs they were already paying and help them increase their revenues)

– Three locations at $325k per month in credit card transactions

– Using Bank of America with Aloha point of sale system

– Already had a competitive rate for their credit card processing % (every 2 years they shopped processing companies to ensure lowest rate)

– Struggling to attract new applicants (very competitive post-COVID marketplace)

– Struggling to retain existing long-term staff (could only provide them monetary/promotion/vacation opportunities)

– Forced to stay competitive by offering $500 bonus if new hires stayed employed longer than 4 weeks (all competitors were doing same – also poaching of employees with nearby competitors was common and a concern)

– Obtained slightly lower processing % – monthly savings of $430/month for all three locations (they were surprised because 3 other firms quoted them at their same rate, BestCardFees was the only one that came in lower)

– Advertising that new hires will be certified in nine Customer Service courses (How to Handle Difficult Customers, How to Build the Best Customer Relationships, etc.). This streamlined their onboarding of new employees and ensured that they hit the ground running as they interact with patrons

– Made it mandatory that their long-term staff take Leadership certification courses. This will be leveraged as continuous education and required for promotions within the different management levels

– Eliminated $500 bonus (this was replaced by something of much more value – company-branded certification from the online training)

– Private branded the online training platform to look like it was theirs (should an employee not work out, the person now has their certification on their resume)

“This will save my managers a lot of time training new hires during the onboarding process. They can now take these online courses in advance of starting and hit the ground running as they interact immediately with our customers. Combined with the leadership courses for my more seasoned employees, it will ensure my workforce is better than any of my competitors. Having the best staff internally will drive repeat customers and ensure all of my employees are versed on the critical aspects of being successful in this customer-facing industry.”

* Business Management Certified (9.2 hours, 11 courses)

* Competitive Intelligence Certified (7.2 hours, 13 courses)

* Customer Service Certified (3.7 hours, 9 courses)

* Customer Experience Certified (9.7 hours, 15 courses)

* Strategic Thinking & Modeling Certified (6.4 hours, 13 courses)

* Product Intelligence Certified (5.1 hours, 10 courses)

* Business Financials Certified (8.3 hours, 9 courses)

– Decrease their credit card processing rate and leverage online training to give them a competitive advantage hiring and retaining staff (decrease fixed costs they were already paying and help them increase their revenues)

– One location at $740k per month in revenues (96% via credit card transactions for online reservations and hotel stays (~$710,000/mo))

– Using SimplyBook.me as their hotel reservation software hooked to their Merchant ID (to a Wells Fargo business account)

– Already had a competitive rate for their credit card processing % (every 3 years they shopped processing companies to ensure lowest rate) (made sure that their hotel reservation software did not require them to use them also as their processor)

– Struggling to attract new applicants to fill positions (very competitive post-COVID marketplace)

– Struggling to retain existing long-term staff (could only provide them monetary/promotion/vacation opportunities)

– Forced to stay competitive by offering bonuses if new hires stayed employed longer than 3 months (all competitors were doing same – in addition to poaching of employees between all nearby competitors) (challenge to attract nearby talent for positions needed – especially cleaning crews)

– Obtained slightly lower processing % since they already had a very competitive rate – monthly savings of $4,733/month (BestCardFees came in lowest out of the three institutions they did an RFP with) (~$56,800 in savings per year)

– Advertising that new hires will be certified in nine Customer Service courses (How to Handle Difficult Customers, How to Build the Best Customer Relationships, etc.). This streamlined their onboarding of new employees and ensuring that they hit the ground running as they interact with guests in various positions (also allowed them to issue training certifications to their staff with their logo and allow employees to build their resumes)

– Made it mandatory that their long-term staff take Leadership certification courses. This will be leveraged as continuous education and required for promotions within their different areas

– Eliminated new-hire bonuses and replaced it with education certifications instead (a win for the employees and a win for the company since the online training is included if BestCardFees is used as the processor)

“It’s obviously in our best interest to save costs wherever we can, so that cost reduction in processing cards was great. I also think we’re going to be able to weather the post-covid storm a lot better knowing that we can provide training and education to our staff with the intent that they are better at their jobs. We have a better understanding that we’re providing something none of our competitors are and also hopefully retain our staff longer because of those education options. Now we need to determine which courses our various departments should have and leverage it to incent them. It’s something we never had the option to consider before.”

* Business Management Certified (9.2 hours, 11 courses)

* Competitive Intelligence Certified (7.2 hours, 13 courses)

* Customer Service Certified (3.7 hours, 9 courses)

* Customer Experience Certified (9.7 hours, 15 courses)

* Strategic Thinking & Modeling Certified (6.4 hours, 13 courses)

* Product Intelligence Certified (5.1 hours, 10 courses)

* Business Financials Certified (8.3 hours, 9 courses)

– Decrease their credit card processing rate and leverage online training to give them a competitive advantage hiring and retaining staff (decrease fixed costs they were already paying and help them increase their revenues by having a more versed staff in customer-facing aspects)

– $23m yearly revenues (53% of revenues comprised of project invoicing and monthly subscriptions using credit cards ~ $1m/month) 

– Using Wells Fargo for their business banking and Heartland as their credit card processor (have 5 national offices with accounting personnel only at their corporate location)

– Run manual credit card charges through QuickBooks and also have customers on monthly billing subscriptions for various support-type service offerings (did not need to leverage mobile swipers)

– They had a 2.83% transaction rate from Heartland

– Had changed processor companies about a two-years prior to get a lower rate

– Training in place but dated and generic. Continuing education could be obtained through manager approval and travel expense forecast for outside vendors

– Obtained lower processing % – yearly savings of $85,330 ($7,110/mo.)

– Obtained a new merchant ID through BestCardFees and leveraged QuickBooks plugin to seamlessly integrate

– Set up an online portal with their logo and provided them unlimited enterprise-wide training access. Mapped out various roadmaps designed for their top customers and certifications they’d value. We then set up secure access for each of their primary customers to receive online training and certifications that looked like it is being provided by our customer to add-value (they focused on offering Project Management Program (PMP) and Leadership courses)

“Every couple of years we would shop different credit card companies to help us maintain a lower rate. I was surprised BestCard came in lower because we just changed processors a few years ago. In addition to saving money, every dollar saved means we can invest that elsewhere in the company and offset costs. We also really took advantage of branding their courses as our own and providing those to our top customers. There are a lot of benefits for us to help their organizations get better through various training and certifications from us. It also means they’re healthier and stronger to continue doing business with us.”

* Business Management Certified (9.2 hours, 11 courses)

* Competitive Intelligence Certified (7.2 hours, 13 courses)

* Customer Service Certified (3.7 hours, 9 courses)

* Customer Experience Certified (9.7 hours, 15 courses)

* Strategic Thinking & Modeling Certified (6.4 hours, 13 courses)

* Product Intelligence Certified (5.1 hours, 10 courses)

* Business Financials Certified (8.3 hours, 9 courses)

– Decrease their credit card processing rate and leverage online training to give them a competitive advantage hiring and retaining staff (decrease fixed costs they were already paying and help them increase their revenues by having a more versed staff in customer-facing aspects)

– One city coverage and $1.2m per month in credit card transactions 

– Using First Data for manual transactions at office location, leverage a local Credit Union (CU) and for the 62 drivers they use: Square, Stripe, Venmo. Also use Shopify for online merchandise sales

– Majority of 62 drivers (~80%) used Square with their mobile phones to swipe upon completion of a run

– Running cards manually at their office with Square represented their highest transaction rate at 4.21% (issue compounded by incurring 1.5% additional penalty for transferring daily to their CU). Stripe swipes came in second highest at 2.91%. Square swipes came in third at 2.83%

– 13 internal staff handled the scheduling of runs, manually running charges in First Data, managing chargebacks and handling customer complaints

– Knew processing rate was possibly higher than average but weren’t sure because they assumed transaction fees dropped as their sales volume increased

– No current training in place other than on-the-job experiences

– Obtained lower processing % – monthly savings of about $6,600 (their blended previous rate was 2.95% for all processors)

– Consolidated all different ways to process into one low rate across all swiping platforms (drivers no longer needed to use Square, Stripe, or Venmo). All drivers downloaded our App and purchased a Bluetooth swiper for all mobile devices

– Office staff now running manual transactions at the same low rate as all mobile devices (thereby eliminating the 4.21% they were being charged internally)

– Set up an online portal with their logo and mapped out what Customer Service courses their office staff and drivers should be trained in (How to Handle Difficult Customers, How to Build Great Customer Relationships, etc.). They are now the only executive car service in their competitive region to offer all their drivers being able to obtain certification to ensure the best customer experience possible

“Besides the cost side of things, which is significant, I really think we’re on a better track to be more competitive by having the best personnel; both internally and drivers that interact with customers every day. It’s a relief that I know I saved a lot of costs and can invest that in other areas of my business. The transition was easy. Where were you guys years ago (said laughing)?”

* Business Management Certified (9.2 hours, 11 courses)

* Competitive Intelligence Certified (7.2 hours, 13 courses)

* Customer Service Certified (3.7 hours, 9 courses)

* Customer Experience Certified (9.7 hours, 15 courses)

* Strategic Thinking & Modeling Certified (6.4 hours, 13 courses)

* Product Intelligence Certified (5.1 hours, 10 courses)

* Business Financials Certified (8.3 hours, 9 courses)

– Decrease their credit card processing rate and leverage online training to give them a competitive advantage hiring and retaining staff (decrease fixed costs they were already paying and help them increase their revenues)

– Two locations at $3.1m per year revenue, 93% of revenues paid via card transactions (~$240k/mo)

– Using Heartland (authorize.net) for their three credit card swipers at each location and also limited with manual transactions keyed into Heartland portal for firearm transfers, etc.

– Leveraged swipers on mobile phones at conferences (SHOTSHOW) and various national gun shows

– Struggling to attract new applicants to hire (very competitive post-COVID marketplace)

– Struggling to retain existing long-term staff (could only provide them monetary/promotion/vacation opportunities)

– Obtained much lower processing % – monthly savings of $2,600 ($31,200/yr) for both locations

– Advertising that new hires will be certified in nine Customer Service courses (How to Handle Difficult Customers, How to Build the Best Customer Relationships, etc.). This streamlined their onboarding of new employees and ensuring that they hit the ground running as they interact with patrons and their two locations that are open to the public

– Allowed other staff to take various online training programs throughout the year (the online training portal was branded with their firearm company logos)

– Decided to upgrade three credit card swipers at one location to all on-screen signature from customer thereby streamlining their current record keeping process (will try out for 3 months and then determine if they do the other location)

– Replaced mobile device swipers so they now get the same low rate whether they manually enter a charge, swipe at their locations, or use their mobile devices at events (Heartland had different percentages for each of those three ways to process a credit card charge)

– Was able to reinvest the reduced credit card fee savings back into the company

“I just never knew that I had an option in this whole credit card equation. Obviously, I never want to overpay for anything, especially to a processing company I have no relationship with. It didn’t take me long to add the numbers up and realize how much I was overpaying over the years. It’s frustrating actually.”

* Business Management Certified (9.2 hours, 11 courses)

* Competitive Intelligence Certified (7.2 hours, 13 courses)

* Customer Service Certified (3.7 hours, 9 courses)

* Customer Experience Certified (9.7 hours, 15 courses)

* Strategic Thinking & Modeling Certified (6.4 hours, 13 courses)

* Product Intelligence Certified (5.1 hours, 10 courses)

* Business Financials Certified (8.3 hours, 9 courses)