One thing that has been asked for years is, "Can we get that in Spanish, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), and any other number of languages here in our great melting pot? Oddly enough, it's not the businesses that ask that. It's us the ISO's (independent sales organizations) and MLS's (merchant level sales) that are asking that of our processors for our businesses. Unfortunately for years the answer has been a nearly unqualified 'No'. I say nearly, as the main issue has always been the big one: the contract. Contracts are the hinge pin of the whole environment and incredibly important. After all, 99% of my business is not brand new customers opening doors for the first time, but cleaning up the train wrecks business owners have gotten themselves into. Let me say that in another way: 99% of my business is cleaning up the train wrecks that native English speaking business owners have gotten themselves into after signing contracts written in English. The contracts that processors use have spent years in legal being constructed, reviewed, refined, and re-refined to the point where they are at now. To get them in other languages was always presented as a Herculean task, and was not made an actual labor of Hercules as Zeus thought it would have been unfair to ask the mythical hero to perform such an impossible feat.
However, it has been done.
After years (actually going on four now of Meridian asking its processors to produce), a customer can get their contract in Spanish as well as Merchant Support, Tech Support, and even their credit card machine prompts, menu items, and read outs in Spanish. This is a coup of an extraordinary level.
It is also well timed. The Southeast has many businesses that are native Spanish speakers and this level of Business-to-Business support is a great boost. It allows business owners to read a contract in their native tongue lifting their comfort levels immensely, as well as allowing them to have exchange program students and employees such as from Armstrong's H.O.L.A. (Hispanic Outreach & Leadership at Armstrong) program to come in and not have to concentrate on the machine's prompts and messaging, but to fulfill orders and demands of the business.
Meridian's own due diligence in this area over the years has always shown a large need. This is because Savannah has distributors that service 3,000 Mexican restaurants in the Southeast alone. As well, many of our referrals come from CPA's that want us to review their clients' merchant statements. A follow up of this showed a CPA firm that had added a single Spanish speaking accountant, who once hired had more business than he could possibly handle. Add into the mix L.A.S.O. (Latin American Services Organization), and Savannah's own La Voz Latin periodical, and you have a business case for some real business.
Now forgive me if this part sounds like a commercial, but due to the years invested in getting this done, my own firm was rewarded as the first group (and so far only) that has this capability to provide for their Spanish speaking clients in the Southeast. We would have been happy just to get the contracts translated. However with the addition of Merchant Support and Tech Support being in Spanish so that any questions from day-to-day operations that come up, a business owner does not have to fear that they will not properly explain the issue properly. After all, it's hard enough for native English speakers to explain a merchant account issue due to the technical language barrier, much less explain it in one's second language. As well, add the fact that the machine itself is available to have all of its menu and actionable items come up in Spanish, and you have a business owner which is empowered to achieve their American dream.
