Accepting Payment

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TRANSCRIPT:
Avish: Well Fred, now let’s talk about a very happy thing which is accepting payments.

Fred: Oh, yeah.

Avish: This is one of the reasons we’re doing this. So, in this day and age, we’ll start with credit cards. You have to accept credit cards, right?

Fred: Yeah, if you don’t accept credit cards, especially — I mean, if you were doing a seminar that was like, ten or twenty bucks a head, you could take cash and that’ll be fine. But any event that has any, you know, business context to it, any event over twenty bucks that has, yes — credit cards, definitely.

Avish: OK. Now, for you and I who will accept credit cards for a while seems like a no brainer but to someone listening who — those who don’t have merchant accounts. How do they go about getting themselves set up to accept credit cards?

Fred: Well, the thing that they got to know, is that Web Marketing Magic at webmarketingmagic.com has, once you sign up for the account. There is something there where they will assist you in setting up your merchant account. It’s reasonably and it’s fairly priced, and I will encourage every people to go that route. If not, the reason why I want to encourage people to go that route is, people will probably be using Web Marketing Magic in order to setup their seminar links for the shopping cart, et cetera, et cetera. And if they do that it’s nice to make sure that whatever shopping carts you have integrates well with your payment processer in your merchant account. So, by getting it through Web Marketing Magic you’re going to be assured that that’s the case.

Avish: OK. What about them accepting credit cards on site?

Fred: Yes. One of the things that a lot of the merchant accounts, and in fact, the ones that I think that Web Marketing Magic recommend, also have what’s called a virtual terminal which allows you, if you have internet access onsite or sometimes you have this, the cell phone access. You can actually call in and get, you know, you can sort of swipe the card and then. But now they have this, you know the things that go in your iPhone that’ll allow you to swipe the card. So, you must take credit cards. You must take them in advance, and you must take them at the event itself, in order to maximize revenue and to make every body happy.

Avish: OK. So, we credit cards are important. Obviously, we should accept cash?

Fred: Yes. Always accept cash.

Avish: OK. That makes sense.

Fred: Unless we end up being the Weimar republic where cash, you know, is worthless moment by moment.

Avish: Here’s a question: do you keep one of those little receipt books on hand for accepting cash?

Fred: You know what, I always used to. Recently, it is on my seminar checklist.

Avish: OK, got it. So, you should?

Fred: Yes.

Avish: Alright, yes because the credit card or check, they’ll have some kind of record books, some people want for the business record.

Fred: You got it. It’s a good idea that carry receipt book and you can get this at any office facts or staples they give you this little things that look like elongated checks and yes, you can generate somebody a quick cash receipt that way.

Avish: OK. What about checks? We talk about this a little bit with onsite registration but, you know, are we still needing to accept checks?

Fred: Yes, I would. I think you need to accept checks, especially in advance. But at the event itself, it’s probably a good idea to accept checks and now, there is a system by which you can, you know, you can feed the check in and get check approval onsite. So, these things can, and some of them require a swiping, some of them or a feeding through of the check, others require you to call it in. But let’s just say that don’t expect everybody who shows up with a check to be a hundred percent honest. I hate to say it but it’s true.

Avish: Now, if you don’t have one of those checking verified services, you should still accept checks and just realize that a couple people will burn you.

Fred: Yes, probably the other thing that I like to do is, when I’m accepting a check. I have people, number one: give me and usually you should come, especially if we have a big event or if you don’t, you can go at the front desk and borrow, and get a copy of their driver’s license, get a copy of the credit card for back up only, and often times I have them sign form that says, “In the event that something happens with my check, feel free to process my credit card for the same amount.”

Now, doing all of that, only keeps honest people honest. If people are crooked they still can get away with it, but again it’s a cost doing business and you eat it.

Avish: Got it. What about using payment plans, either for your seminar or for products you might sell there?

Fred: You know, depending on the amount involved, it can be a good idea. I think that, you know, just if you’re offering a, you know, something at a high dollar amount. It’s worth certainly testing and I would test it to allow people to make payments, incrementally. And you know, so, that is a, that is something good to do both in terms of product and in terms of seminar registration if you were to do it. Because I mean, you know, let’s say something is nine hundred ninety seven dollars, and you’re dealing with audience were it’s probably a stretch. You can break it up into three payments. But always make it so, that the up front either cash or one time fee payment on their credit cards costs a little bit less.

So, let’s say something’s a thousand dollars. If you want to pay it over three payments, I like the idea of charging you probably an extra thirty dollars per payment to privilege of having that happen. So, by the time you’re done with three payments, it would have cost you almost eleven hundred dollars whereas if you would have pay it upfront, it was a thousand.

Avish: OK. That makes sense.

Fred: Yes.

Avish: For a high priced event you actually recommend on occasion that you let people take after they have made the money?

Fred: Well, you know what, this is one of those things that I’ve done different ways. It depends on what you’re trying to do but it certainly should be taken in to consideration. Often times, let’s say for example that you’re offering a really, high price event at five thousand dollars. But you know that people aren’t going to want to pay that upfront, you say, “OK. Well, you give me a thousand dollars for the event and the remaining four thousand dollars is paid out of the money that you make.” Now, when they—when you do that kind of a deal. Maybe twenty percent of the people actually give you any money, so you should probably make your computation based on, you know, assuming that everybody is only going to pay a thousand dollars.

Avish: OK.

Fred: And it has a really strong perception of value. When you say it’s five thousand but a thousand that is required up front, twenty percent and the balance is paid out of your profits that you generate.

Avish: OK. Now, do you think that, do you do any kind of follow up after the seminar on that? Like you do a regular email or mail campaigns that say, “Hey? Just checking in how’s it going, blah, blah, blah.”

Fred: Yes. And usually the people who aren’t doing anything, or who were even if they’re doing anything, are trying to avoid you at that point. So, just be aware of that. Again, I hate to sound cynical but I’ve done this for a long time.

Avish: Yeah, and so plan you draw all your money based on the initial guaranteed payment, not on what people are suppose to send you later.

Fred: A hundred percent true.

Avish: Great. Anything else we need to know about how to accept payments?

Fred: Those are the basics and the things everyone needs to know.

Avish: Super!