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Choose Your Success April 2012 Featured In This Issue: CEO's Message Sales Message Earn Extra Money  News and Services Company Highlight Awards     NEW OPPORTUNITIES Chosen Payments is proud to announce a new processing relationship in Canada.  Look out for more information in the coming weeks.  If you have a need for this immediately please get with your sales or support representative. Chosen Payments has partnered with GETI for check processing.   Using both GETI and Profitstars for check acceptance will allow us to capture the market share in all verticals.     Earn Extra Money   -IT'S TAX TIME:  As a business owner tax time is not a fun time. If you need extra cash let us know as we can assist with cash advances and loans.      Click Here For More Info    -EARN $150:  If you are an existing merchant of ours and refer us a new merchant, we will give you a $150 referral fee!  Let us help you and your network! Company Highlight    I wanted to take a special moment to congratulate Shira Alon, our administrative Manager for bringing her second beautiful baby girl into this world.  Shaylee Alon was born March 23rd, 2012 and is in great health.  Congrats to Shira and we look forward to your return to the office! Quick Links Our Website     Chosen Payments Digital Handshake      CEO's Message By Jeff Brodsly President & CEO As Quarter 1 of 2012 wrapped up I could not believe our growth when being told by my operations teams, that I had to see it myself.  During our end of month sales meeting the hard facts came out and I am extremely proud to know we have  far exceeded our goals  for Q1 2012.  Being a visionary and pioneer at heart, anyone that knows me will agree, I have unrealistic expectations at time.  Well, the good news is that not only did the Chosen Payments team reach these expectations that one would call "unrealistic" but we surpassed our goals by 21%!  I thank all of our merchants for believing in us and allowing us to become their partner in success.  I thank our sales team, for turning your career into a passion and actively helping merchants out.  I thank our support team for keeping merchants happy and providing "unrealistic" customer service.  Lastly, I thank all the executives of Chosen Payments for playing their role in Q1 allowing the company to organically mature while the roots continue to spread.  I wish everyone a productive 2nd Quarter as well as a very happy Easter and Passover! Sales Message                           By Adam Yaras  Senior Vice President     Building and maintaining relationships with your merchants   In this industry, the old saying, "it's who you know" rings true.  This is an industry of people, and building relationships is the key ingredient to success.  Building and maintaining relationships with your merchants will set you apart from the other guy, and is also a large reason that they will keep their business with you for you years to come.  Over the years, those relationships will result in more business and referrals-when someone asks your merchant " who does your processing?" ...think about how they will answer that question, and now you want them to answer that question.  Strong relationships and good service will assure that your merchant has only good things to say when that question arises.   News and Services    Global Payments Breach    Ironically as addressed in our last newsletter the word "breach" is becoming more wide spread.  Global Payments, one of the largest processors of major card brands, suffered a date breach last week.  As quoted by Forbes, "But the more serious concern is whether or not this can be put aside as a one-off incident.  The growing dependence on plastic really puts a lot at stake, and this incident brings to light the fact that sensitive information can be breached at any point in the long chain of companies that handle this information."  What this means to you, as a merchant, is a few things; First off, you are safe with us as we have nothing to do with Global Payments.  You are relieved as many merchants nationwide may start to feel the effect of this breach either directly or indirectly.  What this means to you, as a sales agent, is a few things; First, this is a great time to educate your merchants on PCI compliance, verify they have gone through the Chosen Payments hassle free compliance program, and answer any questions they may have.  Secondly, this is a time to start conversations with new merchant prospects by leading in with PCI or the Global Payments breach.  This is a great opportunity to shine among your competition by showing your prospective merchants how much you care about them and their security in payment processing.  Lastly, for the sales agents, if your have not offered data breach protection to your merchants, you need to.  Imagine how bad you would feel if one of your merchants was effected by data breach, you had the capabilities to offer this great product, yet you never brought it up to your merchant because you were concerned with th fee involved?  For $72 per year, a merchant can be covered for up to $50,000 in losses due to a data breach by offering them a data breach protection plan.  Most merchants will be thanking you for keeping their costs down and educating them that such protection exists as opposed to squawking at you for bringing up "another fee".  As an agent, do yourself, and your merchants a favor and open conversation about the data breach protection offered by Chosen Payments. Awards Top Producer Rob Crowell This goes to Rob for his long hours paying off by helping more merchants than anyone else last month!  Great job! Outstanding Performance Michael Tung This goes to Michael Tung for having his best month ever, and acquiring his largest client since his birth in this business over 7 years ago!  Keep up the hard work Michael!   CEO Recognition Jorge Alvarez This goes to Jorge Alvarez for really shining when the opportunity arose.  Jorge all of your efforts are noticed and appreciated! This concludes our monthly newsletter for Chosen Payments. Have a wonderful month and we wish you continued success.

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A company built for its agents

ike some others who have founded ISOs, Chosen Payments President and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Brodsly was a merchant level salesperson (MLS) who, after years of feet-on-the-street work selling merchant accounts, deemed himself successful enough to enter the ISO game.

"I was an MLS for several years, partnered with an ISO for a few years and from there wanted to create a different vision, so I started Chosen Payments in August," Brodsly said. This vision involves drawing from personal experience to create the most comfortable, prosperous environment possible for MLSs, Brodsly said.

"Oftentimes, huge gaps exist between ISO and agent, and we bridge those gaps," he said. "We keep the agent informed about the entire merchant boarding process, and we promote long-term growth. I want the agent to be the master of his own destiny."

Full disclosure

Brodsly said his company's MLSs are kept informed about everything related to their portfolios. When a merchant account is accepted or rejected, agents are told why it happened. MLSs also get the complete financial picture of their merchant accounts.

"Some ISOs will say to their agents, 'I'll give you a 90 percent residual,' but 90 percent of what?" Brodsly said. "We are going to pass on the true cost, the true information. ... You'll get the same raw data report that I get from the processor."

According to Brodsly, CP's approach fosters a sense of honesty and fairness in its MLSs, who are encouraged to take the same approach with their merchants - for example, by selling accounts without hiding fees.

MLSs also have full control over their residuals, Brodsly said. If an MLS quits or gets fired, the individual retains ownership of his or her residuals. When working with CP, agents are free to sell their portfolios to other ISOs, he added.

Brodsly noted that CP typically doesn't offer upfront bonuses to MLSs who make sales, but agents nonetheless have ample revenue opportunities and are encouraged to focus on building long-lasting, growing relationships with merchants. He said giving MLSs ownership of their portfolios encourages them to seek such long-term growth. "This is not about, 'Here's $300 for this sale and you're done,'" he added.

Upselling opportunities

Brodsly pointed out that one way to foster growth is to provide innovative up-sell opportunities. For example, CP offers a short message service- and email-based marketing program, a referral program with businesses that serve merchants but don't sell credit card processing, a merchant cash advance and loan program, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard compliance services, and tax assistance with the new IRS 1099-K reporting requirements for electronic payments.

The company's marketing program provides merchants a "marketing coach" who helps develop new marketing tools and compile lists of target recipients. Merchants can send texts and email blasts with promotions or coupons, as well as use lower-tech approaches such as offering free prizes based on a drawing of business cards customers place in a jar. Those cards can then be used to obtain marketing information, Brodsly said.

With most email campaigns, only about 10 percent of consumers even open the advertisement; with CP's targeted, opt-in campaigns, that number is between 45 and 50 percent, Brodsly said. And those numbers are significantly higher when merchants use text-messaging to advertise, he added.

The company's referral program allows MLSs to sell processing to merchant providers - such as small insurance firms or community banks - that contract with businesses but don't offer card processing.

It gives the client "a level playing field with, say, some of the bigger banks out there," Brodsly said. "It's all about providing new revenue opportunities that build our company and build the agent's residuals and portfolio."

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