Looking At A New Payment System? Here Are Some Features To Consider with Selina Meere
When Looking At A New Payment System, Not many merchants only accept cash these days. If they do, they are missing out on sales with debit and credit cards as well as online. So today it’s almost a must to have a debit and credit card processing option in place. This can be a terminal in a brick and motor location and/or it might include an internet process. there are many things to consider.
About Selina
A Chief Champion Officer, Selina Meere has spent more than 20 years as an advocate and cheerleader for the products, people, and companies she represents. As the Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Park Place, a rare women-founded payment processing company, Selina is building it’s reputation as a company you can rely on.
Before joining Park Place team, Selina was an executive in New York’s book publishing industry, holding positions at Penguin Random House and Workman Publishing where she built a full-service in-house agency. She holds a Masters Degree from City University in London, a Bachelors Degree from Gettysburg College, and currently lives in Los Angeles with her family.
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Full Transcript Below
Looking At A New Payment System Here are Some Features To Consider with Selina Meere
Sun, 8/1 1:08PM • 44:09
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
business, payments, terminal, people, industry, payment processing, service, merchant, paying, square, selina, clients, question, happening, place, consumers, reach, park, sell, decision
SPEAKERS
Selina, Roy Barker – Looking At A New Payment System
Roy Barker 00:00
Of course, we are the podcasts that we bring you a wide variety of guest. That can talk about a lot of diverse issues that we have to deal with in the business world. Hopefully, we can hit on some things that maybe you hadn’t thought about to make you even more successful. Or if you know that you’re having some issues. We can also provide you with some professionals that can help you, you know, work through those issues so you can be successful again.
So today is no different. We’re we have an awesome guest that I’ve been looking forward to talking to for a while now. She is the chief champion officer, her name is Selina Meere. She spent more than 20 years as an advocate and cheerleader for the products, people and companies that she represented as the vice president of marketing and business development at Park Place. Looking At A New Payment System. It’s a rare woman founded payment processing company. Selina has built a national brand with a reputation as a company you can rely on. As they disrupt a broken industry with honesty, diversity and professionalism.
Before joining Park Place, she was an executive in New York’s book publishing industry. Holding positions at Penguin Random House, and workman publishing, where she built a full service in house agency. So Selena, welcome to the show. Thanks for taking time out of your day to be with us.
Selina 01:21
Oh, thank you. It’s a pleasure.
Roy Barker 01:23
Good, good. So you know, we’ve talked a little bit about it. But you know, I really think you have two good insights for us, we’re gonna talk about payment processing. Because if one thing that the pandemic has done for all of us. It’s moved a lot of people out of bricks and mortar and online.
And so Looking At A New Payment System there’s a lot of payment systems online in businesses. And, you know, to be honest with you, I wouldn’t know one from another, what’s good, what’s bad. So we’ll get you to explain that. But then also, you’ve got such an awesome. I guess from the marketing and development far is building from the ground up. Or taking smaller businesses and making them big.
So we’d like to also get some insight. You know, just some things that you have seen and implemented that could really help other small businesses. Great. Well, I’m excited. Yeah. To dig into all of them. Yeah, fine. Yeah. No, we got a lot. But so first off, how did you end up at the park place? First off, and it’s a it’s a woman own payment processing place? Just wanna make sure I got that correct.
Selina 02:31
Yes, when Looking At A New Payment System, it’s a rare women owned payment processing company. And also one with a dedication to service. But we’ll get into that later. However, you know, the, that those fundamental values are part of the journey that led me here. So what’s really cool about what led me here is something that’s crucial to every business owner and marketer. And that’s the power of your network, right, and how it holds trust for such a long time.
So when I started my book publishing career, I was at a division of Random House called crown. And their imprint, Clarkson Potter published three books with a woman named Samantha Ettus, who came in and gave this presentation. And that really stuck with me. I knew her because I knew all the authors on the list. I didn’t work with her directly. But the presentation just really, really dug into so much in your. She talked about her process for follow up and her it’s kind of tenacity.
And as she was speaking, I was thinking to myself, Well, isn’t that what everybody does? But you know, it’s not. There was this one key takeaway when Looking At A New Payment System, which I thought was just natural. But I’ve learned to teach it since, which is when cold calling. And I was doing it for pr at the time. You call somebody and leave a message and have your email ready. As soon as you hang up, you send me an email and give them that like one two punch. So anyway, that was one of the things that stuck with me.
And I’ve kind of started following her career. She is a public speaker, and she has a really incredible newsletter. And when I relocated to Los Angeles, 20 years later, it turned out. We had a lot of friends in common who kept saying, you know, you should call Samantha Addison. And to be honest with you, and for listeners who are scared to reach out to their network. I was really like, intimidated by the idea of calling her as a civilian. And thought, Well, you know, she doesn’t know me. Even though we have this, you know, common ground from years before, but I did it anyway.
And at the time, you know, we just chatted for a little bit. And she was in the very, very early days of conceptualizing what Park Place would be. But you know, there wasn’t an opportunity Looking At A New Payment System. And, you know, we just kind of she gave me some advice and connected me with a few other people. I went on and I was consulting. When my new consulting clients kind of came up, you know, on their ability to work with me any longer.
Samantha actually knew that client just as well as she knew all these other friends we have in common. And was reaching out to find someone to run her marketing and business development. And Looking At A New Payment System this client said. You know, you too, should speak and I was like, Oh my gosh, like, here we are again. And, and then the timing was right. So it really is just a testament to how powerful a network can be. And, and that you really do give a network mastery when you reach out to it.
So no matter what it is, you’re growing as a business leader, or, you know, as an entrepreneur, a unit. Make sure you’re reaching out to that network. It’s, it’s your biggest marketing tool, right? And, you really do give everyone in it, power. They want to help you when you say like, here’s what I’m doing. And here’s why I need assistance and guidance and advice, right?
Roy Barker 06:02
Yeah. And we kind of learned this weekend, how small our networks are. My girlfriend, one of her best friends, her mother is in the same industry. And we, you know, are separated by just a couple people. So anyway, I think that it’s a good point to how this world has become so much smaller. And you just be surprised who you know, who knows the right person that you need to talk to?
Selina 06:29 – Looking At A New Payment System
Well, everyone is an opportunity to grow and to share your story and to help you build your story. But they have to know what your story is. Right? So they can’t share it. And, you know, we do a lot of this now at our place. Part of which again, you know, we’ll get into this. But part of what we do with our sales team and our account executive team is to educate them on how to share their story. And how to work with the people around them to really accelerate it and grow it. And anyway, I’m sure that those are topics that you’ve covered quite a bit on this show. It’s crucial that story and that through line,
Roy Barker 07:09
we have. But you know, we tend to cover so many things that it’s never hurts to go back, especially for sales. And just reiterate that you got to have a good story. Looking At A New Payment System, you got to have a good use story. You got to have a good company story. It can’t just be in it. You can’t knock on the door and like I’m here. Here’s, you know, here’s the contract, I’m here for you to sign up.
So let’s, you know, move on. It just takes more than that. Because you have to build that trust relationship people buy from people they like, can’t say that enough. And so you have to get to know them. And also, I think it’s just good, common sense that I need to care about Selena. I need to know what what are your needs? What you know, maybe don’t even need this contraption that I’m trying to sell. But so having those conversations. The other thing, I was jotting some notes, as you were talking is that follow up component. You know, that is something that we are usually fall short on as well.
Selina 08:07
Yeah, no question. I mean, so. So I think that it does become kind of easy to get a little spammy these days. And, and so it’s given a follow up sort of a bad name. But if you are more thoughtful about it, if it’s clear that you know who you’re speaking to. If you’re also following that person on LinkedIn, at the same time, you’re trying to pitch them business.
If you’re following their business on Facebook and Instagram and commenting on what they do. You know that there’s so many ways to follow up these days. It’s not just another phone call, it’s not just another email. When you make it that full circle, you show that you really are watching and learning what this business does. And that you’ve done enough research to understand that you’re a
Roy Barker 08:52
fit. Yeah, because, again, something I just feel like our harp on it is follow up. Thoughtful follow up is different from, hey, I’m circling back to see if you’re ready to buy now. I still fall out of my chair when I hear that because I’m like, you know. I mean, I’m just sitting here looking at you thinking about your bio. And think, you know, you could talk about the public.
You know, like, Hey, I’m thinking about publishing a book myself, you know. What can you tell me about that. Or as all this great book that came out? There’s always a conversation starter to let people know that you really care about them, you know about them. It’s not just a selfish, you know, I meanLooking At A New Payment System , we are here for the sale. That’s how we make money, but there has to be a win win for both of us.
Selina 09:36
Yes, and you have to listen, right? I think what you’re getting into is, is the importance of listening and I can’t, you know, stress that enough. And it’s what I’ve always done as a mentor. And when I had a department, a large department at a big company, it’s what I do now. You have to listen in order to understand, you know, truly where the person you’re talking to is headed, and also.
When you’re a good listener, you can really you can read between the lines, you can understand what they’re actually trying to say. And it goes a really, really long way Looking At A New Payment System to be a good listener. Then to empathize. And, you know, say I get that, and and talk more about what they want to talk about. So you get to the real issue. Yeah, yeah.
Roy Barker 10:21
Yeah, I think. You know, jokingly, we say that me learning about you is not me telling you how great that I am. Or my product or whatever, you know. Looking At A New Payment System we spend, unfortunately, you know, we can get sucked into that pretty easy. We want to tell, you know, we’re excited about our product or service. And we just want to do at data dump and tell you all these great things.
But you know, what, I guess one thing I’ve learned over the years is that cost. Okay, let’s just take cost. That may not be your main concern. maybe you’ve had trouble with this functioning because of something special that you do. So if you listen in that conversation. Instead of trying to hit you on cost, I can be like, Oh, you know what, we can solve that problem. And that’s what people want is Problem solved.
Selina 11:04
Yeah. I would say, Well, one of the things that I’ve always done is, I’ve always listened to talk radio, and now more and more podcasts, which is great for you, right. And I think I would encourage everyone listening to this, to make sure they’re growing their list of podcasts, They’re Looking At A New Payment System digging back into your archives, and they’re practicing their listening skills by listening, right?
Then you just get better at it when you’re in real life interactions. And the more you listen, the more curious you become, and the better you become through that on curiosity. I mean, curiosity is such a gift. But it’s a skill that you can learn by really just kind of honing in on how you’re asking questions and how you’re paying attention to the answers. And, and you can, you can practice that outside of the conversations that are going to, you know, make or break you right? To find other ways to practice these really crucial skills.
Roy Barker 12:02
Yeah, that’s a good learned habit that we, you know, we always have to think you always have to be conscious and think about, I’m gonna get my chance to speak, I need to be patient. And that’s, you know, that’s another thing, a lot of think good salesmen are probably known for that more than the mediocres that, you know, Looking At A New Payment System , we want to get in a hurry, we want to close it today, it’s the end of the month, and I really need this to get turned in by five o’clock today. So we could come in this month, and then we kind of lose our focus of why we’re here, we’re here to solve this customer’s problem.
Selina 12:32
Well, you know, like, the traditional salesperson, or the one that you see in media or a nemes is, you know, gregarious, and is always doing the talk and, and is, you know, really excited and in your face, because like, you know, you’re not going to make good entertainment by showing a good listener, but it’s actually the listeners that are winning the deals and doing really well, but you know, that they’re not sexy enough to show on TV. And you know,
Roy Barker 13:01
and that’s a good point is that strategically place, pauses, and kind of slowing the cadence down a little bit. Those are all good things that you can do as well, you know, because Looking At A New Payment System I think the kind of like you said, the caricature of the salesman is talking 90 miles an hour, he never, he’s never quite long enough for the poor prospect to even get a word in edgewise, you know,
Selina 13:25
where they start throwing out what that person’s problems are, before they have any idea or you know, what their rate is? Or it’s like, well, how do you know we just met? Right, exactly, exactly. Yeah, exactly.
Roy Barker 13:38
You know, and I think the, I think it’s on a range to the higher the higher the price of the product or the service, it tends to take more time, because I’m not going to make a huge decision. You know, you called me one time. I’m not, you know, unless I need it and have to have it, it’s not something I mean, I’m gonna want to check around compare things. And so we have to have that mindset. Especially like I said, as we climb up that ladder of cost is that people want to, they have a lot of resources available to check other things out. So we need to make sure we’re answering their questions and giving them the information they want.
Selina 14:14
Yeah, no question and and that Park Place what we’re selling is a commodity, right? So pretty much every business already has something in place, but there are a lot of pain points, but they may realize it may not realize or Unfortunately, they think is best, unnecessary evil and something that they have no control over when truly they do and so you have to help them get to where you are, right?
You can’t in PR and marketing in sales. You can’t walk into a conversation and start it where you are. You’ve got to start it where the person is who you’re speaking to, and you can only do that by no remembering to start asking the warm up questions and then get them to your place.
Roy Barker 14:59
So you might get lucky. And, you know, maybe a new business reaches out to you. But I sure I would feel like a lot of your business is calling on people, like you said that have the existing product. So let me ask, is that a benefit? Or is that make it harder for you to sell me, if I’ve already got something in place, because you know, people are just, we don’t like change, sometimes even if it’s a good change, it’s difficult. So
Selina 15:29
it’s true. Like you kind of you mentioned, like going virtual. And that’s a change that, you know, we’ve been wanting to educate people on how they can do that simply, you know, adding that kind of functionality. And even just that it’s hard. People don’t like change, it’s true. And that’s probably one of the, that’s a barrier. And then the other barrier is the reputation this industry has.
So Park Place has a lot of depth in the bunch in terms of people with, you know, decades of payment processing experience, but it’s people who have been within it who have not been satisfied by the way this industry behaves, by the way it treats its customers by, you know, just really seeing what happens on the on the back end and confusing pricing and the bogus fees and the poor customer service and, you know, rewarding a customer service team for getting off the phone as quickly as they can or you know, a customer service team that is only there for pieces of it rather than the full lifecycle of a relationship.
So we do have people with experience, but we also have a lot of leadership, you know, myself included Samantha, our founder, who doesn’t who comes from outside of the industry. That’s because, you know, we saw in the building of Barclays, that there was just too much of Well, that’s the way this industry has always done it. And so that’s why we do it this way. And so I will say to anyone listening here, that’s a clue that you have real room to disrupt and make change, and that you probably should strike and pounce, and you know, whatever that area is. So what tends to happen, so I’ll paint this picture for you.
And you’ve probably experienced it. In in this or in other areas of running a business. So in this industry, most of the sales reps out there are called agents. And actually, there was an Atlantic article many years ago that made it everyone aware that a lot of people who men mostly who left a used car sales lot took this on as their next gig, right?
So this industry has kind of grown from that type of sales persona, like literally the absolute worst stereotype of a sales person. And there’s a lot of these agents kind of come into a business. They’ll say, what’s your rate, or I can beat your rate or you know, and they start just writing numbers in chicken scratch on a piece of paper, or, you know, the back of a business card.
And it’s like what just happened, and you know, and so it’s really easy, a for that rate to be manipulated. The second thing is that per transaction rate, which the industry with this behavior has gotten merchants and business owners and operations and finance heads to think that that per transaction rate is all that matters, but it’s only a small piece of the picture, right, there’s a there’s more of a cost to having a merchant account than just your rate, but you want to make sure that you’re still making the right decisions, right.
So if you make it based on a per transaction rate alone, you’re making a rate that maybe in the fine print, and most likely in the fine print, they’re able to manipulate at any point. And you’re also not looking at what other costs they’re going to throw in. And what also tends to happen is costs are thrown in maybe every other month or every three months, so that a merchant is unlikely to look at the statement and see it. You know, customer service is absolutely barely exists.
In fact, we have someone on our customer service team. Last year, you know, we multiplied our customer service team and we hired somebody who was at a competitor that had over 1000 clients and one person in the customer service team who was let go, it was like basically considered like a call center. And it’s our like, one of our main value propositions is a really extraordinary service that is in house that is here, you know, that knows your business.
So there’s a lot that a business should educate themselves on in order to make the right decision. And the way that this industry has been behaving has kind of perpetuated this feeling of like, I have no choice I have to deal. This is how they all are. And so it’s just a little education, you can really make the right decision for you for your business and you can come to know what is a reasonable cost, what is the cost you can and can’t control and then also just how to manage it. You know, it is going to always Be a cost center for your business.
But it doesn’t have to be as outrageous as industry has, you know, kind of enabled. And so that is one of the things that we do. So we act very, very differently. Workplace comes in, truly as a consultant at first. We do what’s called a payment checkup, we invented this, no one else does it. And unless you’ve gone through it with Barclays, you’ve never actually looked at the health of your payments, I can guarantee that. So we just want to look at your price, your service your technology, and run a full report, we present that back to you with our findings.
And 10% of the time, we find you’re in the right place, we say stick with what you have. The other 90% of the time, we say this is where we found a discrepancy that we can fix. But it’s completely up to the recipient of this report to decide whether or not it makes sense to move forward. And no matter what, whether or not you move forward, whether or not you do it, it’s free. It’s no obligation. And you’ve learned something either you have peace of mind, like alright, I don’t really love the situation I’m in but it is the right one for me. And so I will stick with it. Or like, Oh, look, here’s areas for change. And I can do that. So that’s like a super high level. What Park Place can do.
Roy Barker 21:23
And I think I think that’s something that a lot of businesses should think about is that audit component, because it’s a, it’s a good value proposition to get in the door, you can gather information to not only help your client, but you can also gather intelligence about your pricing, and maybe somebody provides a service that you don’t. So it’s, it can be very beneficial in a lot of ways.
Selina 21:48
Absolutely. And what we find is, you know, there are a lot of businesses out there with who’ve made the wrong decision, or they are using a terminal that is about to be sunset in a couple months, and no one has contacted them to tell them. You know, we find businesses that have terminals that should be programmed for contactless payments, but their merchant services provider didn’t do that before shipping it to them.
You know, can you imagine last year being a business and not being able to provide contactless or even still now and going forward, like that’s the way you know, there’s simple things like we program all of our terminals for next day funding all of them for contactless, like, you’re never not going to get that just basic, that’s just what we do. At other at some of our competitors, you have to ask for that or pay extra for that.
And it’s kind of upsetting when you really dig into, like, what’s that? So, as a business owner, just find out, you know, if you are among those, you know, businesses that aren’t getting everything that you should,
Roy Barker 22:54
right, right. And I would assume that customer service should be a big part of this because it’s like any other piece of equipment, it’s always good as long as it’s working. And I really don’t you know, I don’t really need the customer or the the person that sold it or the business until something goes bad. So it’s distressing to hear that somebody let their entire customer service team go but you know, I can only imagine if you’re looking at this that you need to ask that question you need
Selina 23:25
to ask that question you also have to remember like what is great service right so for example, you know, I was talking to someone who was employed by a really big sort of software company that is Oh, it is a payments company but it’s kind of masked by something else with a lovely with other services that it provides and her main role as a customer service representative that you know.
There’s several things it’s first of all make the calls as short as you can and keep the price as high as you can and so all of her clients were paying completely different prices and on completely different pricing structures dependent on what she had to do in that moment to both keep the business.
But also keep them paying as much as possible and that is like she is an absolutely lovely human being you would be on the phone with her you would felt taken care of but you weren’t actually right and so what is real service so just the whole concept that we start with this audit and this console like that’s where the service begins.
And we carry it through for you know for the life and and when you know really think about like your payment as a business when you’re getting paid. That’s the final kind of interaction between you and your own consumers. So what do you want that to look like? how smooth Do you want that to be? Do you want again to meet like you know, we come into a business we want to meet you where you are.
You want to meet your clients where they are. So for example, your chimney sweep company or you know a roofer when you’re selling Sending out an invoice, can that person pay it at 10 o’clock at night? Which is probably when they’re getting to it right?
Like, what is your capability for accepting payments for whatever it is that you’re doing, and is that where the customer needs to be. And so when it comes to virtual, which you brought up earlier, like there are virtual needs, that are maybe not just having Looking At A New Payment System an e-commerce shopping cart, it’s that ability now, you know, to be able to accept payments, when the person who needs to pay you is ready to do that and get on their computer.
Roy Barker 25:35
Yeah, and as a consumer, I will say, there’s nothing more disheartening and upsetting is when the payment system doesn’t work. I’m like, Oh, my gosh, I just need to get, I just need to find somebody at this company that wants to take my money to finish the transaction is like, you know, everything else went good and is like, okay, but now the hardest part is just giving them the money to make this happen.
So it can be like that. And, you know, there’s some services that I use the same thing I get sent the invoice with the payment link, and just had one that went through the process of changing and oh, my goodness, it was a nightmare for a couple weeks, doesn’t hurt it. I mean, I guess it doesn’t hurt me, I got to hang on to my money a little bit longer.
But that frustration is that if you got to think about this, if if I was on the fence with this vendor, and this payment process has taken me 15 or 20 minutes to do you know, every couple of weeks then is like, you know, maybe I need to look at this other vendor. So it needs to be part of that business’s customer service proposition too, is that we make it easy for you to give us money.
Selina 26:43
No question and time is hugely valuable. I mean, we’re all should know that certainly by now, right? That time is a major resource. And so saving time and money. I mean, all of that, you know, we’re always looking at the full circle. And, and every entrepreneur business owner, and like, you know, everybody who’s running a business needs to pay attention to both of those things, for sure.
Roy Barker 27:08
Yeah. And so do does the, can you separate that? I guess? I mean, there are some payment systems that don’t have the physical piece of equipment, but then they have the internet component. So do y’all service both sides of that coin as well?
Selina 27:26
Absolutely. So yeah, we have a whole range, you know, it may be that you need a very, very simple countertop terminal, it may be that you need a point of sale system for like a restaurant or a retail store that has a physical presence.
But also you want to be able to sell your goods online, or one or the other. Both, maybe you have a business that really just means to be able to accept payments virtually or have that backup, you know, emergency plan, if your system goes down, is there going to be an app on the phone of the person who’s at checkout, who can quickly just pull that up and get the payment rather than losing it?
And then so there’s virtual terminals that are kind of back office like that, or maybe your doctor’s office has a virtual terminal, as well as a countertop terminal when you know, you’re there paying your bill. And then there’s e commerce, which is that whole idea of building out a shopping cart, and then the logistics, and the shipping and the returns and all that that comes behind it. So we provide solutions for all of these types of scenarios. And it’s a matter of what’s right for you. And is there a combination of the two that you need, or just one of them?
Roy Barker 28:41
Okay? Yeah, and just a hint for the consumers out there. Or for the merchants, even when somebody puts something in your cart, have a link back to where you can continue shopping. That’s, that’s another agitation when Looking At A New Payment System is like, I really wanted to buy like 10 things here, but you get put something in the cart, and then you’re stuck on that page. And it’s kind of a mess to go back. So just put a link I put again, shopping like
Selina 29:12
Well, I think part of what you’re bringing up actually is how payments does tie back to your marketing and your distribution channels. Right. And so when you look at the future of payments and the ability for someone to, you know, sell in various ways, or you know.
To have add that virtual component to a bricks and mortar store, you’re changing your marketing tools, you’re widening your distribution capabilities, and you’re able to reach customers in ways that you couldn’t before and so payments is not often probably ever really thought of as a marketing tool, you know, or distribution tool, but it isn’t. So that’s why you do want to make sure that it’s it’s what services you and your customer base.
Roy Barker 29:56
Yes. Yeah, and the one other thing I wanted to do About for a minute Are these the terminals that go on your iPad or cell phone? I guess a little bit about the safety, but I think it’s there’s a local restaurant that they come out, take your order on the iPad, when you get ready, instead of giving you the bill, they come over swipe the card or whatever, right there. I think it’s an awesome concept, but you don’t see it as much, you know, as kind of trendy for about five minutes. And then it’s kind of gone away a little bit.
Selina 30:28 – Looking At A New Payment System
Well, yes, and no, I mean, part of it going away has to do with like the nature of everything that’s been happening this year. But mobile terminals can come in a range of ways, right. So Looking At A New Payment System I don’t know if what you’re referring to is the square dongle, which was that very simple thing that just, you know, goes into the edge of a cell phone. And so square is is one thing, right?
And what they’ve done is very important, right? They’ve enabled micro businesses to compete in the economy and to accept payments. And that’s crucial. Square does not provide a merchant account to a business. It’s a merchant aggregator. So what that means is that every single business that uses square is using one account. So let’s say there’s a chargeback on your business, you can’t call the card brands because they don’t know who you are, you’re square to them.
And imagine like, you know, we you just can’t resolve anything without getting someone at square to help you resolve it, which is very difficult, especially now, because square makes it so easy. A lot of businesses are drawn to it. And I understand that. But that ease also means that there’s a lot of fraudulent accounts.
so another thing that was happening last year, and perhaps now still is that the legitimate businesses, their money is all in this one big account.
That’s covering a lot of the fraudulent activity. So businesses weren’t getting paid. And certainly they don’t typically get paid next day, but they were really waiting, like 30 more days. When it comes to security, if you’re talking about square specifically in their dongle, it is not a sophisticated solution for a sophisticated business. So if you are transacting more than $10,000 a month in credit cards, it’s not an appropriate solution for you. Now, however, there are a lot of mobility options that are very different.
So So we do have a mobile kind of, you know, piece that can attach to a phone or an iPad, but it is highly encrypted. And it is tied to your own specific merchant account. So you’re not, you’re not like, you know, subject to the same types of issues. Then there are terminals that have 4g, that are also very secure, and that can move around. You know, at a restaurant like that, perhaps they have terminals that have really strong Wi Fi connected to their own Wi Fi account.
They can you know, it will work out in the parking lot. So it really depends on on what it is that that mobile device is connected to, that that will determine whether or not it’s secure, and whether or not there’s, you know, things to take into consideration as a business and as a consumer. I mean, look, I do a lot of my shopping on the weekends for groceries at the farmers market, and they’re all using square.
And you know, it’s like you hesitated. I now that I know as much as I know, I hesitated a little every time but I still do it right? Like if I could never become a consumer of square again, knowing what I know, I would that would just mean that I’d have to go to the ATM and get more cash. And I probably should do that to protect everything. But you know, we all do it right?
Even though you know knowledge, it maybe is a little too much sometimes. But I will say that if you are a sophisticated business, like I’m sure your listeners are on it don’t go to square or PayPal, because you’re not you’re not providing yourself the best solution. Okay.
Roy Barker 34:12
No, that’s good advice. Do you have any advice for consumers about sketchy places where they probably shouldn’t be sliding their card?
Selina 34:24
I mean, yeah, that’s a great question. You know, they’re not always going to know if a terminal has the best encryption on the back end. Now, it’s a great question, though. Because not every terminal that’s out there, you could be going to the same, you know, local grocery store forever and they may have the same terminal forever and it works just fine, but it doesn’t have the highest level of encryption on the back end. You know, you just, you don’t know that.
So it’s up to the business to find out and make sure that their consumers are protected when Looking At A New Payment System . Yeah. Now the other thing that, that merchants may or may not know is one is if you have a terminal that swipes first of all you shouldn’t. And if if it’s a swipe versus like an insert, you definitely want to just, you know, avoid anywhere, that’s just swiping.
But if you are a business and you’re swiping, you are responsible for fraud that happens through that terminal, if you have an insert a chip reader, then the bank, the issuing bank is responsible for any fraud that takes place. That’s not fraud, right? That’s fraudulent activity that’s happening, okay. If you have a data breach, no matter what, as a business, you’re responsible for the data breach, and any costs that come around with that.
So that’s if if someone broke into your system and stole information, and then used it elsewhere, for fraudulent activity, you’re responsible for that. So that’s another thing that we do, every single one of our clients gets $100,000 worth of data breach assurance, and that means a reimbursement of 100, the up to $100,000, if there is a data breach, and there and we’ll cover up to $100,000 of the costs that take place.
That can be very, very costly, very costly. And so that is definitely some These are things for sure to keep in mind that probably aren’t going through many businesses heads as they’re making this kind of decision. And they probably don’t even know that data breach assurance is something that is just a given with certain providers.
Roy Barker 36:35
Now, because we have like, and I know it’s a little bit different than the solutions that y’all sell, but we just have a, you know, a couple of gas stations around here, it seemed like they are always having these cloning devices on them. So you know, that’s troublesome to think about that, because I, there was just the lady just reported that, you know, somebody got hurt she, she bought gas in the morning, and by the end of the day, somebody had been over two, four or five other gas stations with the numbers of anyway.
The The other thing is the data part, when Looking At A New Payment System and I know this may be not your it’s not your wheelhouse, but if you know, it’d be good, like, so when somebody swipes a card at your business? Does that data just go through the equipment and to the to your company that processes it? Or does that merchant have some forms? Or replicas of that data in their system somewhere?
Selina 37:33
Um, that’s a great question. I mean, a simplified answer is that it depends on that level of security on the back end, and how encrypted so everything that we sell has the highest level of encryption, which means that there is a unique secure, you know, code happening in the ether as the money’s moved around.
And there are several different components that are happening, right, there’s your credit card, there is the bank that’s associated with that credit card, there’s the bank that the merchant is using, that the money is deposited into, and then there’s the processing bank. So there, you want to make sure as the information is flowing through and the money’s flowing through that it’s a secure system.
A business can’t just download, unless, you know, it’s really shady, the content or the you know, that information that credit card information. So if you Looking At A New Payment System have more of like a virtual terminal set up, you know, and you’re paying your bills, you know, virtually, then you want to make sure as a business that you are, again, using the system that’s very secure is going to very much protect all of that cardholder data. And you know, yeah, that’s absolutely something to keep in mind. But you can’t just extract, you know, the card information unless there is a home security. Okay. Which of course happens, right?
Roy Barker 39:02
Yeah. And, and it doesn’t even if you’re doing something over the internet, or virtually, it doesn’t take much, you know, they have to enter certain information. So, again, just make sure that the businesses need to make sure that they have secure technology in place to protect themselves as well. Yeah, absolutely. And today, I mean, it’s constant phishing. So everybody’s always trying to sneak in the back door. So it’s something that we really, you know, we don’t talk about it enough on here that we need to, but just the little bitty things that we could do to protect ourself.
Selina 39:38 – Looking At A New Payment System
Yeah, exactly. I mean, that’s one reason why you want to make sure like, imagine how many people are trying to, you know, pop that K. Palin’s square, you know, bubble, and you don’t want to be one of the businesses that is there when that happens. Exactly.
Roy Barker 39:54
Right. Well, Selina, thank you so much for your time. I know we are a little bit over and I appreciate you hanging going in and answering all these questions for us. So, tell everybody again, I know we know you’re in a payment processing, but tell them, you know, kind of who was that target market that you go for? Again? What can you do for them, what you provide them and how they can reach out and get a hold of you?
Selina 40:15
Yeah, so Park Place payments we are a rare women founded and run payment processing company. We are industry first with a very single minded dedication to service. We are fair and transparent and true in everything that we do and every decision that we make. And so our core business is our support small medium, independently owned. We don’t have you know, necessarily like a cap and what they’re earning because Independent Businesses are very lucrative. About 40% of our clients are in the medical field in some kind of way.
But we have everything from storefronts and grocery stores and sunglasses, shops and restaurants to chimney sweeps and roofers and builders, contractors of all kinds car dealerships, RV dealerships, like you know, it really runs the gamut. Any businesses accepting credit cards, is a potential client, but we really focus on those that are independently owned and operated. Okay, great. Yeah.
Roy Barker 41:21
How can they reach out and get a hold of y’all?
Selina 41:23 – Looking At A New Payment System
That’s great. Yeah, thank you for asking. So our website is Park Place payments with an s.com. And I am very reachable Selina.Meere@Parkplacepayments.com. But when you go to our website, there are forms on there to reach out. And please do and schedule a payment checkup. Just find out what you know, or what you don’t know. Or if what you think you know, is true. You know, I it’s my biggest recommendation for anybody that wants to better understand this is how you get paid your goods and services. So, you know, don’t just leave it up to what seems simple.
Roy Barker 42:01
Yeah. And it’s, uh, you know, it’s interesting. I was in somewhere the other day and kind of snicker to the young lady. I’m like, Do y’all still take cash? And, you know, she kind of looked at me strange and say, Well, yeah, we will. But you know, so many people. Now, they don’t want to fuss over the cash that you really have
Selina 42:16 – Looking At A New Payment System
shortage. Yeah. So what are you gonna do? There’s a shortage. So you know, you’ve got to evolve, right? You’ve got to evolve. And if you’re, you know, let’s say you’re b2b, or even, you know, a b2c, like in a contracting space, and you’re like, we don’t want to accept credit cards, like, look at your accounts receivable and see what you’re actually losing there, right? Because there again, like you don’t want to make a decision about not wanting to incur the credit card fees, when you’re losing out on payments.
On this other side, and the cost of all of that follow up. You know, we Yeah, I would encourage that. And also in most states, you can also look at surcharging as an option where the client is is incurring the costs of the credit card fees. And so there are definitely solutions don’t just ignore it, because you you think it’s too much.
Roy Barker 43:08
Yeah, reach out and get the audit you can’t go wrong, you may actually learn something. So yeah,
Selina 43:12
Park place payments.com get your payment and check out we’re gonna check on the health later. But yeah,
Roy Barker 43:17
and I’ll put that in the show notes. It’s Park with a PA R K in the only reason I say that it’s because I was dealing with the company that’s pa RC the other day, so just want make sure that that’s clear. It’s the traditional park with a K on the end of it, but I’ll put that in the notes so everybody can just hit the link and find y’all. Alright, well, thank you. Yeah,
Selina 43:38 – Looking At A New Payment System
I’m excited to meet all of your listeners.
Roy Barker 43:40
Okay, great. Well, thanks so much for taking time out of your day to be here. I certainly appreciate it. Again, that’s gonna do it for this episode of the business of business podcast. You can of course find us at thebusinessofbusinesspodcast.com we’re on all the major social media net platforms as well as all the podcast platforms iTunes, Stitcher, Google Spotify for not a one that you listen to please reach out I’d be glad to add you. So until next time, take care of yourself and take care of your business.
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