It's Not Finding a Leak and Plugging It...

It's Finding A Problem And Getting Rid Of It.

All too often something happens.

A company is having their rates reviewed. They are high, sometimes really, really high. The would be new merchant services provider quotes the company that is paying too much a number that is not just lower, it's a good rate. The company that has been paying way too much reviews it, but never signs with the new firm. Instead, they go back to their existing provider, tell them the quote, and when they say, "We can match that," they stay with them.

Did you see what just happened?

The company was paying too much. They were paying too much because their current provider was rooking them on fees, or didn't monitor their account, or any number of reasons; but when the rubber meets the road, they were being overcharged. A new, prospective firm quotes them and saves them mucho dinero. Is the new firm rewarded as they should be by giving them the account and switching? No. They are used. Please understand what I am saying when I use the word 'use'. I mean it in the sense of something dirty. Like someone who had been lied to just so the user could get what they were really after. The new firm was used, because the company didn't really have an intention of switching. It's too much hassle. They just want to make sure they aren't paying too much. To them, it's like they found a leak in the roof and they plugged it.

In fact, it's more like they found a thief in their midst. Think about it. If you caught someone with their hand in the till, you don't tussle their hair and say, "OK now, I caught you. Quit stealing you little scamp...". No, you fire them. I was once in a man's office giving him his quote which apparently was much lower than what he was paying now. He asked me to wait a moment, put his phone on speaker phone, dialed a number and waited while it rang. When Bobby (the names have been changed here to protect the guilty) answered, he said who he was, and stated that he had a competitive quote on his desk from a competing firm. He gave Bobby the numbers from the quote and Bobby quickly replied in a very sunny voice, "We can match that for you", as if he was doing this man a great service for his years of loyalty. He asked Bobby, apparently just to make sure, "OK, so you can match this for me?" "Yes, of course," answered Bobby.

I couldn't believe it. I knew this scenario. This man was actually going to cut me out of the deal even though I was saving him thousands of dollars a year. His old company would have kept charging him the exorbitant fees unless I had given him a good rate to compare to. That's when it got really interesting...

"You're fired!"

""Sir?!"

"You are fired. Unless you can answer three questions to my absolute satisfaction."

(dead silence... on the other side)

"One: Why is my business only important to you now that I'm leaving you?

"Two: Why didn't you give me this rate to begin with? And

"Three: Are you going to retroactively pay me back all of this money that you have overcharged me since I opened my account with you and issue a formal apology?"

I have never been so proud of an individual that wasn't in a cowboy movie.