“We exist to stand with the little gal or guy who believes in the American Dream and is willing to work to chase it.”
For the past sixteen years, this has been the Gravity Payments mission statement. Back when CEO and founder Dan Price was still a teenager, he learned that one of the coffee shops in his neighborhood was being gouged by credit card fees. The cost of accepting credit cards amounted to its fourth-biggest expense, behind payroll, rent, and cost of goods. Dan didn’t think that was fair and decided to do something about it.
Since then, Gravity has constantly tried to come up with ways to help small businesses. In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, this commitment has become even more important. Overall, small business revenue is down more than 50% from before the virus struck, so we’re trying to think of even more ways to help them thrive.
One of our recent initiatives is our Small Business Champions Program, which allows anyone to refer a small business to Gravity who could benefit from Gravity’s services. Here’s how it works:
- You identify a business that accepts credit cards.
- You ask the owner if they’d be willing to explore how to save money on their processing.
- You refer them to Gravity.
- Gravity talks to the business to find out if we can help them.
- If we can, and they sign with us, we give you $200, which you can either keep or donate back to the business.
It’s as easy as that. If you’re interested in signing up, head to gravitypayments.com/small-business-champion to register.
How Credit Card Processing Works
When a consumer uses a credit card to pay for something, the business is assessed several types of fees.
- Interchange fee: This is the fee the bank receives on every credit card transaction. These fees do not change no matter what processor a business uses. Interchange fees make up the largest percentage of credit card processing fees.
- Card brand fees: These fees go to the card brands like Visa and Mastercard. They are typically lower than interchange fees, but they also do not change regardless of which processor you use
- Processing fees: This is the fee your processor charges to facilitate a transaction. These fees can vary widely depending on the processor you use.
How Gravity Is Different
There are four main ways Gravity stands out from other credit card processors:
- Low fees. We always strive to charge the lowest processing fee possible. If we can’t offer you a better rate, we will let you know upfront.
- Transparent pricing. We will always tell you what you’re paying for and never hide fees or raise them without telling you.
- Unparalleled customer service. You’ll never speak to a robot, and you will always be able to reach someone when you need help. We promise.
- Modern Technology. In addition to processing, we offer technology solutions like mobile/online ordering, touchless payments, and integrated software products that make accepting payments a breeze.
What Businesses We Work With
We can work with any business that accepts credit cards–no matter their industry or size. However there are certain industries we’re particularly well-suited to serve. They include:
- Automotive
- Bars and restaurants
- Bridal
- Coffee shops
- Consignment
- Grocery
- Landscape
- Law
- Liquor stores
- Marina
- Outdoor power equipment
- Pet food/toys
- Utilities
- Veterinary
How to Refer a Business
There are six things to keep in mind when referring a business–three about who to ask and three about how to ask.
Who to Ask
Generally, our chances of working with a client increase five-fold if a merchant has each of three qualities:
- You know the business owner. Ultimately, the owner will make the decision about whether to switch, so it helps to speak to them personally.
- They process at least $10,000 a month in credit card revenue. If a business has employees, they usually process at least this much. If you’re not sure, just ask.
- They’re in one of the industries we focus on. Again, we can help pretty much any business, but we have advantages and a lot of experience in the ones mentioned above.
How to Ask
If you don’t have a sales background, it can feel awkward to ask a business owner if you can make a referral. Here are some tips:
- Be friendly. Relaxing, smiling, and taking the time to be friendly goes a long way in improving your ability to have a positive conversation.
- Communicate that you care. Ultimately, you want to refer a business because you hope you can help them save money and address some of their credit card headaches. Tell them this upfront so your intentions are clear.
- Be specific in what you’re asking. In your case, you’ll simply want to ask if they’re interested in letting you make an introduction to someone at Gravity. If they say yes, you’re good.
What Happens After You Make a Referral
After you make a referral, our team will work with the business to see if it makes sense for them to switch their processing to Gravity. Here’s how that process looks:
- Our sales team reaches out. This is usually a short call to make contact with the business owner and schedule time for a more in-depth appointment.
- Identify the problem. In the first full conversation, our sales team will try to find out what problems the merchant is facing and where they’re looking to improve. This will help us assess whether we can offer a solution. Ultimately we want to see if we can save them money, provide better technology, and/or give them better service than they’re currently receiving.
- We present solutions. After we identify the problem, we offer custom solutions to the business. We work with nearly 300 different software and hardware companies, so we have a lot of options we can provide.
- Closing appointment. If the merchant wants to work with us, we’ll set up some time to complete the paperwork and schedule their installation.
- Install the equipment. Our deployment team will ship equipment to the merchant and help them set up their equipment so they’re ready to quickly and easily process payments.
- Train the staff. Our installation team will train the staff on how to use everything and will make themselves available to answer any questions after the fact.
One thing to note: if during the exploratory phase, we realize we can’t help a business save money, improve their systems, or provide better service, we will let them know. We will never try to sell anything that isn’t ultimately a good fit for the business.
Interested in becoming a Small Business Champion? Sign up here. And if you want to find out more, you can email us at [email protected].
