[ COVER STORY]
The Ties That Bind How ISOs can be better service providers, build more loyalty, and own a bigger share of the merchant By Bryan Ochalla
W
hile ISOs may dream of a perfect world in which terminals never break down, merchants always understand their statements, and customer service calls are nonexistent, the smart ones know merchant interaction is a must. But the even smarter ones know the ability to effectively assist and educate merchants is key to differentiating themselves from competitors and retaining steady business. Unfortunately, many of today’s ISOs have a less than stellar system of providing that level of customer service.“As an industry, our approach to customer service is pretty archaic. Some industries have become really good at leveraging new technology and new customer-service techniques; others—like ours—have remained somewhat stagnant,” says Henry Helgeson, co-CEO and president of Boston-based ISO Merchant Warehouse.“In fact, I would say our industry hasn’t evolved much in this regard in the last 10 or 12 years.” “I don’t think ISOs could be considered best in class,” agrees Todd Ablowitz, founder and president of Double Diamond Group, a Denver-based payments consultancy.“They’re very much reactive, in my experience.” Rather than focusing on the tried-and-true methods of customer service—responding to questions via phone, Internet, or face-to-face meetings—Ablowitz suggests ISOs concentrate on preventing those questions in the first place. “[Merchants] just want their payments to work,” he says.“They want them to work the first time, they want them to be easy, and they want them to not take strategic energy away from what they really want to do, which is to sell stuff to people.”
12 July 2011 | Transaction trends