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The Add Me! Newsletter *** ISSUE #8 ***
"Free tips for promoting your website"
Add Me, Inc http://www.addme.com
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!! HAPPY HOLIDAYS !!
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December 19, 1998 Newsletter #8
This week's article:
The Seven Best Reasons For Having A Merchant Account...
And How To Get One Without Sacrificing Your First Born
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.....THIS WEEK'S ARTICLE.....
The Seven Best Reasons For Having A Merchant Account...
And How To Get One Without Sacrificing Your First Born
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Way, way back in the ancient days, I think it all began about 1986,
I took a stab at direct marketing. And you know what happened?
I slipped, I stumbled, I fell, but I pushed on. Others were making
it big in those days selling all kinds of products and services via
television commercials, postcards, card decks, sales letters, etc.
I tried them all. Full page ads in magazines, 900 numbers,
you name it. Eventually I got pretty good, but it didn't happen
overnight.
To date, I have mailed in excess of 5,000,000 sales letters to
targeted lists, produced and hosted two television infomercials, and
I've had my full page ads in various magazines, including Success
and Entrepreneur, appear in excess of 30,000,000 times.
And despite all the changes in the direct marketing industry, the
seemingly endless ways through which one can promote their
business, there has been one vital constant that has steadfastly
remained unchanged, and that is the ability to tell your
customers, "Charge it!"
Everyone in the offline retail business today knows...you will make
more sales if you accept credit cards. Period!
Did you know credit cards, now in their fourth decade of use, are
firmly established in our culture? Simply put, many Americans would
rather purchase a wide selection of products or services using a credit
card than by cash, check, or any other means.
The powerful attractions of consumer credit easily translate into
powerful benefits for credit card taking merchants. Consider the
following:
INCREASED SALES: If you are selling to the public, you will
have a higher average sale (i.e.:higher average ticket). You will also
have more customers when you accept credit cards. Studies show
that companies accepting credit cards enjoy up to 40% higher sales
than those that do not accept them.
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Selling on the phone? You are cutting off up to 50% or more of your
customer base by not being able to take credit cards!
And guess what? That figure is higher, much, much higher, if you
are selling via the Internet. In fact, it is currently estimated that
90% or more of all sales taking place as a result of internet promotions
such as target opt in email, and through the viewing of web sites, are
via the purchaser's credit card, and there is one enormously powerful
reason for this phenomenon. And that's this: Consumer confidence.
Internet purchasers are well aware that they can, should the product or
service being purchased via the net is not delivered, or in some way is
unsatisfactory, reverse the charge through their merchant bank.
And, it just flat out is much more convenient to enter credit card
information on a secure order form. Which by the way you must
always offer if you are accepting credit cards over the net. Otherwise
you're simply wasting your time.
Look, let's face it. You can be the most honest, ethical, legitimate
business person operating in Cyberspace, but unless your customer
knows you as well as they know their kid brother, they don't trust you.
And because your customers will expect you to offer them a credit
card purchasing option. If you don't they'll consider you to be either
unethical, illegal, or untrustworthy, and they'll simply take their
dollars elsewhere.
There's yet another way merchant account owners can leverage
their position with their customers, and that's this..
IMPULSE BUYERS: Credit cards provide "instant financing"
for any product or service, generally up to about $3,000, or more.
So when prospects are excited about your product, they can purchase
it "on the spot" whether they have cash in the bank or not. Credit
cards simply make it easy for people to buy what they want, when
they want it, from you!
Today, more than ever, the American economy runs on credit, and
people are buying just about everything with them, including automobiles
and now even homes! And there's proof in the pudding. Credit cards in
business transactions continue to grow every year.
Those retailers both online and offline are not only limiting their
success, turning away countless numbers of potential customers, but
they are also short changing themselves on the working capital side of
the equation. As you know, it can take everal days or weeks for a
customer's check to clear and be liquid funds in your account. But a
credit card transaction typically will clear and be deposited directly to
your bank account within two days of processing. And in business
we all know the more working capital you have, the greater your advantage.
Here are the seven best reasons for having your own merchant
account.
1. CREDIBILITY It establishes you as a legitimate business online
or offline
2. CONVENIENCE Let your customer decide the most convenient way
to purchase from you
3. INCREASED SALES It's true. Merchants who allow their
customers to say, "Charge It!" simply make more sales.
4. IMPULSE Your customers can now buy even if the fungolas are
not sitting in their checking account.
5. CONFIDENCE Purchasers today know that sales made via a credit
card can be reversed if they experience shoddy merchandise,
no delivery of promised goods, broken promises, etc.
6. INCREASED WORKING CAPITAL Gets the money in your account
sooner rather than later.
7. EASY & AFFORDABLE Now anyone without a pending bankruptcy
can have a merchant account in their name, business or personal,
without purchasing or leasing any expensive equipment.
Obtaining a merchant account for the direct marketing of products
and services can be challenging. In fact, depending on your credit
history, it can be near impossible. Most local banks won't even touch
direct marketers.
And guess what? If you are selling via the Internet, you are a direct
marketer. And even when those local banks will accept direct marketing
applications, typically their discount fees (which is the percentage you
pay per transaction value) can be exorbitant, so watch out.
There are lots of merchant account programs proliferating on the net so it
pays to shop around. Many of them suck you in with no fee application
offers, and then require you to subscribe to their secure server program,
and purchase or lease expensive processing/terminal equipment.
And, obviously, these kinds of programs limit you to selling only
on the Net. Take it from me, a seasoned direct marketer who has career
total sales well into the millions of dollars, a great deal of money can be
made offline direct marketing, regardless of your product or service being
offered. In fact, chances are pretty good if it's a non-internet related
product, and it's selling well via the net, you will also be very
successful selling it off the net. So why limit yourself to Net based
merchant accounts that tie your hands and prevent you from selling
via card decks, space ads, classifieds, 800 numbers, television
commercials, sales letters, etc.
Nonsense! There are better deals. Much better.
One of the very best merchant account programs that I have discovered that
fits this bill, allows you to accept both Visa and MasterCard from your
customers, and they do not require you to purchase or lease any terminal
equipment because all transactions can be faxed between you and the
merchant provider, where they handle all the processing work, is available
at:
http://www.mysiteinc.com/cgi-bin/menu/webmaster/merchant/index.cgi?dist=hbea
Do it now please. There's no telling just how much longer this
exceptional deal will last.
And while at the site you just might want to sign up as an Associate and
save 25% off your merchant account set up, as well as all of the products
featured. In fact, as an Associate of theirs you can earn monthly
residuals just helping them give away free web sites & $20 cash over &
over.
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Michael T. Glaspie, a renowned direct marketer, author, and founding
director of www.bannerco-op.com (where you get a 1-1 exchange
+ cash), now shares his insights through his Free e-zine available at
www.mysiteinc.com/mglaspie (home of FREE web sites & $20 cash)
or e-mail newsletter@iodmail.com and put subscribe in the subject block.
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