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Cash Advances sometimes have bad connotations, but they are a great source of working capital for your business. Today, I am going to go over the pros and cons of merchant cash advances and give you a little education about them so you don’t get burned and possibly hurt your business in the long run. Let’s start by answering, what is a merchant cash advance? Well, if you accept credit cards from a processor or Point of Sales system, you’re accepting the form of payment that you will use to pay back the advance. A cash advance company keeps a percentage of your credit card volume that goes through your terminal. Normally, the “batch” sends all the money in the terminal to the credit card processing company, who then sends to your bank account. If you have had your business for a year or more, you have a predictable source of revenue, meaning that if your revenue is $1,000 a month, it is assumed that you will continuously make $1,000 a month for the next 12 months. Picture this scenario, you want to open another location and you need capital. What do you do? You could go to a bank. Yes, they have good interest rates and the payment terms are long, but it is very hard as a small business to get approved. Even if you did get approved, it could take 60 to 90 days for the money from the bank to process and you may need that money now. I have personally used cash advances for my company. Sometimes, you just need the money.  Here at Transaction Expert, we are partnering up with Strategic Funding to create a merchant cash advance program. If you make $10,000 in revenue through credit card processing, they will give you an $8,000 to $12,000 loan or advance. This is about 80% or 120% of your monthly credit card processing revenue, like a factor rate loan. Let’s cover the Pros and Cons of cash advances. Pros: Quick- You can get the money in 3 to 5 business days No Personal Guarantee (in some cases) – Normally, credit is not a major consideration. Cash advance companies care about if you will still be in business by the time the cash advance is paid back. They want to make sure that the money will help your business, not hurt it. Not a Fixed Loan Payment- If you were to get a loan from the bank, they would give you a specific amount of money to pay each month, such as $1,000 a month. With a merchant cash advance, it takes a small percentage, usually about 10% to 20%, of ONLY your credit card processing revenue on a daily basis. It’s nice, because you don’t really notice in your cash flow management compared to having to try to find a certain amount every month that you may not have. The amount of credit card revenue you make goes to the credit card processor, then with your loan, 10% gets taken out and that 10% gets sent to the cash advance company, and the rest will be sent to you. This process continues until the loan is paid off. Cons: Higher Rates- The rates on a cash advance will be higher than those at the bank, but this is because of the no personal guarantee and how fast you receive the money. Short Term- This is the real issue with cash advance companies. Usually, your business only has 3 to 4 months to pay the money back. If you get a $20,000 cash advance and need to pay a third of that every month, this will take away all of your credit card processing revenue and will end up hurting your cash flow. I do not recommend getting the 3 to 4 month cash advances, even though sometimes you may get a slightly lower factor rate. It’s not worth messing up your cash flow over the next few months. What we offer with Strategic Funding is a 10 or 12 month program. This means that you would be paying the cash advance back over a 10 to 12 month time frame, making it a lot easier for you. We base your time frame off of the average amount of credit card processing revenue your business makes per month. Its always about the percent. This type of program is beneficial to a business owner because if you have a week where your revenue is 30% down, your loan payment will also be down 30%. Now, let me explain a factor rate. This isn’t really a loan. Depending on how much risk the cash advance company is taking on and the time period of repayment, that will determine your factor rate. The rate will usually be between 1.3 and 1.4. In other words, if you borrow $10,000 and your factor rate is 1.3, you will end up paying $13,000 back over 10 months. So, the company will withhold 13% out of every day’s “batch.” With our company, we stand out from our competitors with the term of repayment we provide. Usually, interest rates are about the same, but instead of having to pay back $13,000 within only 3 to 4 months, you can pay back the same amount of money within 10 to 12 months. You then get to keep more of your cash flow while you’re paying back the cash advance. If you have any questions, go to transactionexpert.com/cash. Just fill out the form and we will get you in touch with one of our in house cash advance experts that same business day. I know if you are interested in a cash advance, you need the money now. Our goal is to get the money into your account within 3 to 5 business days of filling out the form, so we can get you a cash advance that meets your business’ needs. James Shepherd// The post How a Merchant Cash Advance Works appeared first on Transaction Expert.

Recently, the answer to this question became extremely important. Google has decided to block websites from the search engine results that are NOT mobile-friendly. Now, how important is Google search for your business? Well if you think about it, no one is looking through the yellow-pages or even paying much attention to billboards. What customers want to do is pull out their smart-phones and go to their Google App to search for whatever they are looking for. Personally, I pull up my Google App up to 10 times a day and search for whatever I need. For example, if I want to go out to eat somewhere and I am in an area that I’m not familiar with, I just look up, “restaurant in _____,” and get results instantly to choose where I will eat or even shop. Google has discovered an important fact.  If someone goes to a website on their smart-phone and it is not mobile-friendly, the user will simply leave your site right away. Meaning you may be losing a valuable customer. Patience runs very thin now a days, and in order to keep the focus of a user, you must prevent them from hitting that dreaded “back” button before they click on the next result and find someone else. When this happens, Google considers you to be an irrelevant site. Therefore, you’re blocked. What can you do about this? Get a FREE Web Grader Report.If you go to http://transactionexpert.com/web/, we have a FREE Web Grader Report. All you need to do is fill out some information about your site, and then one of our online presence experts will check to see if your website is mobile-friendly. We also go through your competitors’ sites as well as Google to check SEO ranks. After, we will give you back the report that has about 10 categories about how your website is doing. I would suggest doing this ASAP to check or double check if your site is mobile friendly because if not, you will be in some big trouble with Google. Find a Website company with ongoing support. We offer our clients customize design for their mobile site. We don’t provide one of those packages where they cram your desktop site into a mobile setting. A mobile site and a desktop site are different. Certain features on the mobile site need to be a certain size or in a specific place so you’re content can be seen. Through our report, you can actually see what is happening with your mobile visitors compared to your desktop ones. You can see if users are bouncing from the website, how long they are staying, and even what pages they are visiting. This will give you insight on how to change and adjust your mobile-site to be optimized so visitors can come to your mobile-site and navigate through it efficiently and successfully. Get a  FREE Web Grader Report at http://transactionexpert.com/web/ to make sure your website is mobile-enabled and also to cover a few other topics to help improve your online presence. Then, be sure to speak to your local transaction expert so they can help you take the next step. Our dedication is helping local businesses increase the number of transactions that happen in their business. A major part of that is your online-presence, and your mobile website is a major part of that. James Shepherd   The post Is Your Website Mobile-Friendly? appeared first on Transaction Expert.

Today, I will be discussing 4 different sources of capital for your small business to help you grow and expand. Also, I will be talking about our exciting upcoming event,“How to Find Capital,” on Monday, April 13th at 4 p.m. EST.  Register HERE. Here are 4 different sources of cash to grow your business.  1. Traditional Financing  Traditional financing is where you would take a trip to your local bank. Usually, this would be for some larger projects where there is a business plan or you are a business who has been around for a longer period of time with some personal credit, business history, and have acquired assets. The two main factors that are considered during this process are business performance and personal credit. The pros to this kind of financing are the low interest rates and the longer time frame to pay the money back. However, once you are approved, it takes about 60 to 90 days to secure the financing you need. For my upcoming live event, I will have Steve Koval, who is my personal financing consultant for Transaction Expert as well a partner at B2B CFO Services, as a special guest. Steve has over 34 years of experience dealing with banks and other financial institutions. He will be giving us more specific information about traditional financing and exactly what these banks are looking for. 2. SBA Loans  Even though these are similar to traditional financing, there are lower requirements because you are going through the government. During our live event, we will cover how to qualify for an SBA loan and what the next step would be in order to receive it. We will also be discussing different types of government funding that are available such as tax credits. These next two sources are more for short-term working capital needs whether its an opportunity to grow your business or a situation where you can purchase something for your business at a discounted price. My other special guest, Hellen McQuain of Strategic Funding, will be covering some of the non-traditional loans available. Strategic funding has given out over $500 million to small business owners. With her vast experience, Hellen will go over when it would make sense to look into a non-traditional loan and the requirements to receive one of these loans. 3. Merchant Cash Advance  A cash advance is a form of short term working capital that our merchant services company offers to clients. It’s pretty simple. You are actually selling your future credit card processing sales. The benefits are that you receive the money quickly, there aren’t many requirements other than having some credit card processing volume, and you do not need any personal guarantee. You do need to make sure your credit card processing volume is steady. A cash advance is usually funded within only 3 to 5 business days which is much faster than the traditional loan. However, the interest rate will be significantly higher because of the greater risk. 4. Non- Traditional Financing Non- traditional financing involves something like a receivable loan or a ACH loan. These are revenue based financing. For example, a company like Strategic Funding will look at your over-all revenue or if you have recurring revenue. Even if your business may not be processing much credit card volume, it is raking up a lot in revenue, which is what these types of financing focus on. Like the cash advance, this is not based on personal guarantee, but the revenue based financing can benefit those who have more of a business to business approach. Once again, there are less constraints for business owners and interest rates are increased. No matter where your business is at right now, it is important to be aware of all 4  types of financing because during the life of your business, you may need both types of financing. As your business grows, you will end up going toward the more traditional route, but when unforeseen situations happen, there is the non- traditional option. Don’t miss  out our special live event Monday, April 13th at 4 p.m. to learn even more about these sources so your business can grow and expand to it’s fullest potential. Register HERE! James Shepherd   The post 4 Sources of Cash to Grow Your Business appeared first on Transaction Expert.

What if coming to your business felt a little bit more like coming to Disney World for your customers?  In this post today I am going to give you three practices that you can implement to bring a bit more happiness and magic to your customer experience. #1 – Encourage your employees to “Put on a Show.”  In today’s society many employees feel that they need to “be real” and “be themselves” all the time.  Explain that working in your business is like being in a play or drama performance.  They can be in a bad mood in the break room but once they walk through the door, they are on stage! Disney World actually has a yellow line at the edge of each break or employee area and every employee no matter what job they hold is reminded that once they cross this line they are on stage, performing for the guests. #2 – Keep your business clean and professional.  This sounds obvious but many employees simply are not trained to understand that a dirty business literally drives customers out the door, never to return.  If Disney World has anything to teach us, it is that a sparkling clean experience can be a magical experience! Does your team know what behavior is appropriate and professional in your business?  Is it ok to curse?  Is it ok to have their shirt un-tucked?  Is it ok for them to be on facebook using their phones?  Put all of this in writing and engage your team on how to make your customer’s experience even better. #3 – Know your customers.  Even in a business setting as large as Disney World they find ways to customize your experience.  I recently took my wife to Disney World for her birthday and they marked down that it was her birthday when we made our reservation.  They gave her a special name tag and that whole day every worker at Disney World wished her a happy birthday using her name!  Here are a couple ways you can customize your customer’s experience in your business. Pizza Shop – Utilize a POS System like the one we offer our clients “POS on Cloud” and add the “Caller ID” box.  When a customer calls in to make an order their name, address and recent orders will all pop up on the screen allowing your employees to customize their experience and process their order quickly. Retail Store – Make sure you employees work hard to remember the names of your most faithful customers.  Calling them by name is a powerful reminder of how important they are to your business.  Also, utilize an eCommerce website synced with your point of sale system to send them automated email offers, like, “Hey Susan, I see you purchased running shoes a few days ago, here are the exercise clothes we have on sale right now and a 10% off coupon just for you!” Auto Repair – Create an automated email reminder system and offer to text or call customers when scheduled maintenance is due.  You could also send an email the day before to prep them like, “How Changing Your Oil Every 3,000 Miles Could Save You $1.000 or More in Maintenance Fees!” I hope these short tips will help you make your customer experience more magical this year!  What are some of the ways you are personalizing your customer experience?  Make a comment below… James Shepherd The post How Your Small Business Can Feel More Like Disney World appeared first on Transaction Expert.

It’s very important that a small business owner is prepared to accept all different kinds of payment:  Apple pay, Mastercard, Visa, Discover, American Express, Google Wallet, etc.  Although EMV transactions may comprise as much as 30% of transactions in countries as close as Canada, they are new on the U.S. market.  EMV is often called “chip n pin” cards.  There are new credit cards coming out that are smart cards.  Instead of using a magnetic stripe and swiping the card, the EMV card contains a chip  which requires insertion of the card into the machine and entering a pin number to complete the transaction.  The EMV transaction offers better security so people can use their credit cards more responsibly.  Whereas the magnetic stripes are easy to duplicate, the smart chip is almost impossible to duplicate.  The chip and pin code necessary for EMV transactions makes it very difficult for someone to fraudulently take payment information. By the time you read this, EMV is probably going to be very prevalent in the U.S. market.  You’ll be hearing more and more about it.  EMV transactions will help prevent data breaches such as the ones publicized about Target and other businesses.  The important question for a small business owner then is how to accept EMV? There are two necessary components in order to accept EMV payment.  First, there must be a slot in your credit card machine into which the card may be inserted instead of swiped, similar to an ATM machine.  The card must go in far enough for the chip to be recognized.  Second, there must be a pin pad that’s encrypted in order for a pin number to be entered.  Many machines have a slot and a pin pad but are not prepared to accept EMV transactions.  Probably less than 3% of small business owners are set to accept EMV today. Companies such as VeriFone, Hypercom, Omni, Ingenico who put the machines on the market may say the machines are EMV ready.  However, these companies didn’t consider that technology would advance quickly; the necessary software doesn’t fit into the terminal.  For instance, the VeriFone VX510 and VX570 were made with a slot for the card in preparation for EMV transactions, but the software isn’t included.  Preparing these machines for EMV transactions would be similar to putting Windows 8 onto a five year old laptop. Make sure you are set up for all types of transactions, like EMV, so your business and revenue can continue to grow. James Shepherd The post Are You Set Up to Accept EMV Transactions? appeared first on Transaction Expert.

Many times on your statement you’ll see the term “authorization fee” or “auth fee.” This is the charge to authorize each individual transaction. After you swipe the card, enter the amount, and hit “enter”on a credit card transaction, there must be authorization before the transaction is complete. The transaction will travel over the Visa, Mastercard, or Discover network to the issuing bank for the credit card being used. When authorization is given for the transaction, you can find an authorization code  on the receipt. If there is any dispute or other issue involving the transaction, the processor will ask for the code number. It is a very important number to have! On your statement the authorization fee is the cost per transaction to send out the request and return authorization. A good price range for the authorization fee depends on your business type. I’ve seen some as low as 2 or 3 cents and then others up to 10 to 20 cents. Therefore, this is a very important item to notice on your statement. Especially if yours is a small ticket size business such as pizza shop, quick service restaurant, coffee shop, hot dog stand, etc., every penny counts on every transaction. So pay close attention to the authorization fee. James Shepherd The post What is the Authorization Fee on a Merchant Statement? appeared first on Transaction Expert.

Many small business owners only notice the qualified rate or transaction fees on their statement. Unfortunately, the large percentage of fees on your statement are for mid-qualified or non-qualified transactions. So, it is important to notice these fees and understand them. Today, I will quickly cover what you should be paying for non-qualified transactions.  The non-qualified rate (or “non-qual”) is going to be about 1.5% higher than your qualified fees. If your qualified rate on the statement is 1.5%, you should expect your non-qualified rate to be 3%. On your statement you will probably see qualified, mid-qualified, and non- qualified fees. However, be aware that some credit card processors may list these charges differently. For instance, some may list all transactions as qualified then add 1.5% as a surcharge. If you need some questions answered, go to http://go.transactionexpert.com/analysis. Send a photo of your statement to us, and next day we’ll email back a free Excel spreadsheet with your complete cost analysis. Also, we will get you in touch with a local transaction expert to better explain and answer any other questions you may have. James Shepherd The post What Should You Pay For Non-Qualified Transactions? appeared first on Transaction Expert.

The strategies that we will be discussing in today’s post have helped me to make some tough decisions. These are different strategies that I have read in business books as well as learned from previous advisers and mentors along the way. Here are 3 decision making strategies that will help you to grow and expand. Decide to Accept the Worst Case Scenario There is a tough decision to be made, and even though it needs to be made now, you procrastinate. Procrastination occurs because you are worried about what could possibly happen once that decision is made. What I do is think about the worst thing that could possibly happen, accept it, and then move on. With the worse thing in mind, you can come up with a contingency plan. If you detect any early warning signs of things going south, put your plan into action. Whatever decision is made, move forward. Use Available Time to Gain Understanding When making an important decision, we may have time to decide before time is costing us money. If you have 30 days, 60 days, or even a year to make the decision, take advantage of that time. I’m not saying to keep it on the back-burner until its the week of decision time. However, I am also telling you not to stress yourself out and become emotional about the decision by rushing it. Waiting keeps your options open. You never know if different factors within your business will influence the decision. Just remember to stay on top of that decision and set reminders in your planner or phone of when that decision needs to be made. You can even put reminders in to think it over weekly until the day of your final decision. Make One Small Decision and Move Forward When I have a large decision to make, I break it into small action steps. This could include a phone call or talking with an employee. Even though you may have not made the large decision yet, the smaller ones keep you moving towards that larger decision. See where your action steps lead. I hope these strategies make your decision making process quick and painless. James Shepherd The post Decision Making Strategies that Create Growth appeared first on Transaction Expert.

Everyday, your employees are down in the action interacting with the customer. They learn what the customer wants and what the customer doesn’t like. So, why not have them involved with the marketing of your business? Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric, wrote the book,”Straight from the Gut.”  The book discusses one of the exciting programs that he had implemented to get feedback from employees in-order to help with the overall company growth. Welch talks about a man who worked in a factory there for 20 years. During one of their open forums, this man said, “For 20 years, you have been paying for my hands, but you could’ve had my brain for free.” This statement really stuck with me because for the first time in 20 years, this employee was able to share his valuable thoughts and ideas about the company through the experience he had on the floor. Here are 3 ways to engage your employees in marketing. 1) Help Your Employees Understand the Buying Process  Every business has a unique buying process. Explain to your employees about this process and even have them experience it. For example, as a salon owner, have your employees receive a hair cut from your business and show them the customer journey. You also want your employees to know about your marketing platforms like email marketing or billboards you have in the area. Letting them know how the customer finds out about your business and how they buy is key. 2) Pitch Your Vision Often In order for your employees to engage in marketing, you need to paint a picture of what winning looks like for your business. Having them know and understand your mission and vision will open their eyes to the impact you want to leave on each customer or the impact you want to leave on the community. This will help your employees share great ideas because they now have a clear understanding of what your business’ goals are. 3) Involve Them in Marketing Now that your employees understand the buying process and the vision of your business, its time to delegate some of the marketing to them! It has always surprised me that many  small businesses don’t have social media due to the lack of time owners have  to monitor the sites properly. Many business owners feel that they cannot keep up with responding to a message or an @reply. When I mention about utilizing their employees, most express that they can’t trust an employee to take on that responsibility.  However, if an employee can answer your phone everyday, why can’t they respond to a customer on Facebook? It may not be direct interaction, but responding to customer inquires online is the same idea as conversing with someone face to face.  With traditional marketing, you can ask your employees, what do customers want to see? Or about different additional services you can add to improve your business. Your employees are extremely hands on when it comes to the customer.  They have the most valuable feedback on  improving the customer experience. By having your employees engage in marketing, you will see growth in your business and revenue. James Shepherd The post 3 Ways to Engage Your Employees In Marketing appeared first on Transaction Expert.

In today’s fast-paced economy, many are focused on getting their company brand out there through social media and email marketing. This will have a large impact on the company brand, but most forget about their personal brand. Local businesses aren’t really competing with other local business.  They are competing against large brands, or corporations. These smaller brands need something to stand out from the rest, and with your personal brand, it does just that. Here are 3 ways to improve your personal brand in the local market to create more business and profit: 1) Interact with Customers As a business owner, it’s tough to stay involved with the customers. Because as your business grows, the more your employees do it for you on a regular basis. However, you need to intentionally interact with the customer, so they can share their experience with YOU to the community. Now, you don’t want to do everything. If you take every phone call, respond to all the emails, and ring up every customer, this makes your interaction less valuable. You need to invest your time.  Definitely be proactive, but let your team be reactive and when problems escalate you can step in. 2) Get Involved in the Community I know networking isn’t quite for everyone. I too struggled with going to local events and networking with others. After doing this I realized the value. This isn’t value directly, but this helps you to create that local brand and spread brand awareness. All you need to do is attend the event and present yourself. 3) Be Your Business What exactly does this mean? A prime example is Dave Ramsey. He is a person who created the “Dave Ramsey” brand while effectively delegating the work to do so. Instead of tying himself down to his business, Ramsey took the opportunity to scale and grow. I hope these tips help you to build your personal brand while growing your business and profit. James Shepherd The post How To Build Your Personal Brand to Benefit Your Local Business appeared first on Transaction Expert.