What can a blackout teach us about the Merchant Services Business? Well as I recently found out it can be a lot. Those who know me know I'm not real big on large cities and glitzy lifestyle. I recently traveled to New York City to go to our BPS (Business Payment Systems) sales conference. It started out like many that I'd been to in the past for many other companies but turned out to be anything but normal.
   Setting out on my journey to New York I already had a pretty high regard for my partners at BPS and our processor NPC (National Processing Company). But as we all know it's easy for people to be your buddy when things are going well. Especially in this business we all too often find all our "buddies" abandon ship when things get tough or when we stop sending in applications. I can sure remember groups I'd worked with in the past that I actually thought were my friends. But of course that's while I was sending them a steady stream of deals. Of course things changed pretty quick when the application flow dried up. I've placed a few deals with many, many companies over the years and there are a couple that deserve positive mention. Kudo's to John Rante of Online Data Corp. and Garry O'Neil's group EXS (Electronic Exchange Systems) for doing the right thing. I consistently talk to reps who are working with companies that they are not happy with but are afraid to leave for fear of watching the relationship turn sour. So they continue to throw good money after bad. My heart goes out to you guys and gals.
   To get off the subject a little one of my reps comes to mind. Johnathan, of Websurfsolutions.com. He was with a group selling 60 month leases at $99 per month and only getting a portion of that and, no residuals. Yet they were providing him with a steady stream of appointments and it was safe. It was almost a blind leap of faith when he went with our program. I'm happy to say in less that a year his monthly residuals are now greater that what he was earning pedaling equipment. So to all those that feel stuck, there is hope. If you're good enough to know things aren't right, and honest enough to care then you're good enough to make it with one of the good companies out there. There are some great companies in our business!
   Back to my New York story and the lessons that can help us all in our businesses. You learn a lot about the people you're working with when you're in adverse conditions. How do they handle it? Do they roll with the punches or do they panic? Are they concerned about you or are they out to save their own skins? Will they adhere to the promises and commitments they made when the chips are down or when it's going to cost them money? Well I'm happy to say I got to see all my partners, vendors and associates, under some of the worse possible conditions. At 4:11pm, right in the middle of product training, the lights went out. We were in NYC where the last time this happened there were riots and looting. Was the blackout terrorist related? Was there going to be other attacks? We didn't know. Cell phones weren't even working. We traded our fancy awards banquet at the Sky Club atop the Met Life Building for 350 sandwiches ordered from a local deli and we were lucky to get that. The awards banquet continued in a 90 degree conference room illuminated by blinking emergency lights. The evening's entertainment went on in front of the hotel with music thumping from Sam Chanin's, of BPS, new SUV nicknamed the "pumpkin" because of its orange color.
   After days of no hot water, messed up travel schedules and having none of our plans go right, I truly can't remember one person complaining. We all looked out for one another and still got our business done. The moral here is that it's beneficial to any business or business person to have such relationships. Try to see how the people you work with will react when stressed. Maybe it can be as small as asking for a small advance on a portion of your monthly residual? Will they consider it? Will they make you pay interest or drag you through the ringer? Or will they say okay partner, here you go. Ask them to go halves with you to sponsor your kid's baseball or soccer team. Will they do it? Will they even listen? Or are you like many thinking, I wouldn't even ask because I already know the answer. Well maybe it's time to expect more! But don't forget expecting more means that we should give more, as true success is a two way street. Lastly, I'd like to thank all of the agents, offices, staff and vendors that helped make the NYC Blackout not only memorable but inspiring!