Arkansas HVACR NewsMagazine January 2019

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well as how different sales and promotions might be performing).

5. Credit Payments Can Help Your Upsells It’s always a good day when you win an on site upsell. Your $2,000 job just turned into a $3,500 one! But onsite upsells are tough. Most customers have an amount they expect to pay based on the estimate and don’t like to feel like they’re being nudged out of the agreed upon price. Cost equals pain. But if that’s the case, you are going to want to accept payment in plastic. Why? It’s the least painful way of parting with one’s money. Study after study shows that people are willing to spend more when they use a credit card – sometimes up to 100 percent more, according to this study from a professor at MIT Sloan School of Management . Simply put, when presented with an ok versus great option, there’s a better chance that your customer will choose the higher cost option if you’ll take a credit card payment. They want something great, and this helps them purchase it. 6. Customers Expect It Nearly six in 10 customers regularly ask small businesses if they take credit cards, according to a 2013 survey by WePay . No doubt that number is even higher in 2018. The inescapable truth is that this is becoming an increasingly cashless society. Rather than credit card payments being a “perk” offered to high- end consumers, customers often rarely have anything but credit on hand. While after hiring a contractor, a customer will often consent to write a check or even draw cash if necessary. A better tactic for repeat sales and higher

This can reduce errors by having your team process payments in the field, on the fly, stored in one, central location. 4. Credit Payments Can Help You Close Deals Remember that consumers often use their credit cards as a form of self- financing. 57 percent of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings in their bank accounts, according to a 2017 survey from GOBankingRates. If you need a new roof, or a pipe bursts, or you’ve got termite damage – or any of a million other things that can wrong with your house – you’re going to get it repaired immediately. In cases like this, offering credit card payments might be one of the only ways to close the deal. The customer might have to walk away entirely if they’re required to pay with cash. That’s a total loss of potential revenue. After all, most contractors can’t and don’t offer financing for their customers. But they can offer credit card payments. A piece of advice: Try to find business management software like FieldPulse’s comprehensive contractor software that integrates mobile payments. With all of the credit card rewards being offered today, some customers will choose a contractor that accepts card payments over one who doesn’t. This can give you a competitive edge.