How can I stay ahead of my competitors? Well, there are many ways, but the one which will put you streets ahead is a card machine. They’re not complex, and they’re certainly not expensive. We’re living in an ever increasing technological society, and if you keep with it, your business will flourish.

Consumers no longer carry cash, and with plastic being the preferred method of transaction, it’s your job to make sure you aren’t alienating those plastic payers. So, imagine if an enthusiastic sweet-toothed consumer comes through your door, he picks out six delicious cream cakes, you bag them up for him, “That’ll be £8.40 please.” He pulls out his debit card. “Ah, I’m sorry, we don’t take cards.” He walks out cake-less, and you have lost a sale. Does that sound all too familiar? If so, now is the time to change. We’re not talking a whole business strategy change, just the introduction of a simple counter-top card machine.

Card machines are simple and easy to use, just plug in and go! Your very own machine will fix to a static location perfect for customers to easily and securely tap in their pin and go about their day. If you run a large busy bakery you may want to think about a portable card machine. Portable terminals allow for flexibility which is handy in a crowded establishment. At Card Processing we use the very best in card machine technology, our machines are the fastest, safest and most advanced card terminals on the market. You can order a counter-top machine from as little as £15 per month, that’s just 50p per day. Receive a free quote online in seconds, and place your order with our non-pushy sales staff in a matter of minutes.

Do you have happy and satisfied customers coming in and out of your doors at a steady rate? Do you see the same loyal customers come and go, but have often wondered how you could reach out to a more diverse and wider market? This can all be done with a simple switch to a card machine.

In an ever increasing technological world and cashless society, card payments are rapidly becoming the preferred choice of payment. It’s safer to carry plastic, as in the unfortunate event of a theft, debit cards can be cancelled in seconds. Cash, however is much harder to reclaim. “But I’ve always dealt with cash, that’s the way I run my business, I wouldn’t get on with a machine, I’m not techie.” Well, card machines aren’t scary, in fact they’re very easy to use.

Simply displaying in your shop window that you’re a ‘card machine ready’ business will invite so many customers to your doors. As a business it’s your duty to give the consumer the freedom of choice when it comes to payment. This flexibility will prevent alienating potential customers and will keep you at the forefront of business technology. Better still, paying with plastic will give you the opportunity to ‘up-sell’ at the point of transaction. The customer’s lack of ready cash wouldn’t be an issue.

A counter-top card machine will work perfectly in a barber shop, and it’s so easy to use, for you and your customers. Here at Card Processing we use the best machines in the business. Ours are sleek, compact, and user friendly. You can enjoy a counter-top card machine for as little as £15 per month, which translates to just 50p a day. Providing up-selling opportunities and the chance to build your business.

“You what, you don’t take cards?!” Is this a phrase you and your staff hear on a regular basis? On a busy Saturday night in a bar, it’s the last thing you want to hear. By not having a card machine service, you may as well point your customers towards your nearest competitor. To stay ahead in a business as competitive as bar tending, you must give the consumer payment flexibility.

Cash is no longer the preferred payment method. Paying with plastic is now the predominant choice, and it’s easy to see why. It’s safe, you don’t have to worry about carrying large amounts of cash in your pocket. It’s quick and simple, all it takes is the insert of a four digit number.

At Card Processing we use the best in machine technology. This doesn’t mean that terminals are complex. Plug in and away you go. We offer three types of card machines; counter-top, portable and mobile. The mobile machine would suit a bar area perfectly. With its mobile ability, the machine can be passed from colleague to colleague, allowing for a quicker transaction and satisfied customer. If you run a bar/restaurant and opt for the mobile machine, you’ll be able to take payments at your customers’ tables. This is so convenient for customers, and customers LOVE convenience.

Offering card terminals ensures that each transaction you make isn’t restricted to a limited amount of cash. They give you the freedom to up-sell; “Would you like to make that a double for £2 more?” This flexibility is available at just £25 per month. That’s a tiny 82p a day. Better still, set-up with Card Processing is free. Unlike other card processing companies you won’t be tied into lengthy contracts. We offer short 12 month contracts. So, stay competitive and choose Card Processing.

Card payments are the normal, mainstream method of payment for todays consumer.

In todays ‘cashless society‘, there’s more reasons than ever before, for why your business needs to accept card payments. In fact, in todays society, being able to pay for services and products is the norm and those companies that do not offer such payment methods are beginning to feel the pinch, as consumers look elsewhere, to places that welcome cards.

The best ways to accepting card payments

Retailers and fixed point of sale businesses

Basic and rugged, our secure, technologically advanced ‘countertop’ card payment machines are best suited for those businesses that need to take payments from a fixed location. In other words, your customer comes to you to make the payment.

Restaurants and hotels that need ‘movement’ for card payments

If it is deemed as an inconvenience, or asking too much for your customer to come to a specific location to make a payment, then the ‘portable’ card machine is most definitely suited to your business. This easy to use card machine allows you to give a professional ‘pay at table’ service.

Business on the go and needing to accept cards away from the office

Always on the go? Perhaps you’re an electrician or mobile hair dresser? Any small business that’s looking to take payments while away from your home or office location will be best suited to a ‘mobile’ (GPRS) terminal, which can be used anywhere in the UK, where a mobile phone signal is available – this, for most mobile phone carriers covers 99.9% of the UK.

Alternative ways to accepting card payments

Over the past year or so, a new ways of accepting card payments have come in to the industry, such as small devices that you can connect to your smart phone and take payment this way. There are several key issues that have stopped such services from really taking off, especially by providers such as iZettle and Paypal ‘Here’ and that’s the fact it doesn’t look professional enough and because this is still a new technology and payment method, people think twice about allowing you to slot their credit or debit card in to your smart phone, especially as we know smart phone device security isn’t up to speed yet, as in comparison to the industry standard of taking card payments (the way we do).

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It was once said that nothing is more certain than taxes and death, but as a car driver, there’s one other necessity unfortunate event  - MOTs!

Passing an MOT is of course a legal requirement for ALL vehicles that are over 3 years old in the United Kingdom and as such, one of the main reasons for failing this vehicle test is due to the condition of the tyres being less than adequate. The legal limit for minimum depth of the tread on tyres is 1.6 millimetres and of course, each tyre must also be free of other neglect/damage.

As a tyre fitter, you probably come across, more often than not, people with below standard tyres that come to you that are way below the legal limit and we’re quite sure a lot of these people come to you that do not even realise this! But the question is – how can you gain more of this business and at the cheapest rate possible when it comes to advertising for the prospective customers?

The number 1 cheapest and most effective way of gaining new customers

Leafleting. Not just anywhere or anyhow, but being highly selective. For example, you don’t want to be handing out to random people in the streets and nor do you want to be putting under the windscreen wipers of just any car, but you DO want to find those cars that have tyre issues and advertise to them.

What you need and the message you want to communicate

Leafleting means that you can cost effectively reach many people, very quickly. In particular to those that are in car parks or common ground where there are many cars next to each other, but what should your message be? The most important thing of all that you can communicate is twofold. A) It’s a legal requirement to have tyres fitted that are in full working order – you may wish to point out the current fines that are imposed for each illegal tyre and B) the safety aspect and the dangers of running about on below legal requirement tyres and perhaps add a scare story.

Furthermore, you want to be as helpful as possible, not just a ‘hard sell’. You may want to think about putting a typical vehicle inspection diagram on the leaflet (which you probably already use) and for each car, mark on the diagram which tyre(s) are effected. Perhaps also add the estimated mm recording and ensure they realise this is under the legal requirement.

Can I leaflet cars legally?

You need to impose caution and check on your local and regional regulations (if any). Here are some common issues that can occur due to leafleting cars:

• DO NOT add a leaflet to a window that has a crack or other form of damage. Some people could claim you are to blame
• DO NOT leaflet on private property – this also includes supermarket car parks, unless you’ve gained prior permission
• DO contact/find details of local council and their view on it. SOME councils have been known to send ‘clean up’ bills if masses of leaflets are found lettering the streets
• DO NOT add a leaflet to every car. In general, people hate leaflets on car windscreens, but if you are being genuinely helpful, this will help your case

Other suggestions

You may also want to try out what we recommend for car window repair shops, by utilising your local car wash.

You may be thinking – how on Earth can I take advantage of new customers via the local car wash? Well, we’re certainly not expecting you to setup a temporary repair station at a car wash – although that could be an option. The problem with that solution being that it’s not a constant flow of customers with broken windows, thus, not very time efficient for you.

The Solution – Basic concept

The concept in gaining new customers from the local car wash is incredibly straight forward. All you need the car wash operators to do, if while washing the car, to pay attention to the state of the windscreen. If damaged, the car wash operator simply needs to explain that car has an issue with the windscreen (which can become worse with wear) and that to contact the local windscreen repair shop.

The Solution – What you’ll need

Now you understand the basic concept, there’s one key item you’ll need – Marketing material. Your marketing material is the single most important sales product that you need to help you close the sale. Let’s face it, the car wash operator isn’t going to bend over backwards to gain you the new business and they probably don’t want to add much time to each car wash that goes through, explaining to them the dangers of a broken, chipped and cracking windscreen.

The car wash operator should literally have to do no other than:

a)      Notice the damaged windscreen

b)      Hand over a leaflet (your marketing material)

It’s as simple as that – your leaflet should be the salesmen, not the car wash owner or employees.

The marketing material should be a very simple flyer, or even a one sheet A5 sized (good quality) that:

a)      Your business name & contact details

b)      Pricing (if possible)

c)       The dangers of a cracked/damaged windscreen

d)      Up-sell ‘free’ work (due to any possible insurance work)

Closing the Deal with the Car Wash owner

The hardest sale probably won’t be with the driver of the car with the cracked windscreen – it will be trying to get the car wash owner to hand out your flyers. If not willing to do for free (highly unlikely and you shouldn’t expect this unless you’re good acquaintances), there are two possible pricing models to look at:

1. Pay per leaflet handed out. The problem with this being that many leaflets could simply be binned. So, while this option will look cheaper, in the long run, it could be more expensive, as there’s no incentive for the car wash to give these out to genuine people who need your services.
2. Pay commission. This would probably be your preferred route to new sales, as there is a clear incentive to the car wash to give these leaflets out to worthwhile car users with windscreen issues.
   1. You’ll need to agree a commission rate, perhaps it’s a fixed cost per new sale or percentage based, which will be dependent on the total transaction fee.
   2. You’ll also need some way to ensure you understand which new customers have come from the car wash, or other marketing channels/word of mouth. Simplest way would be to offer a small discount on the flyer that is used solely at that particular car wash. Thus, any new custom that comes your way and ask for this discount code, you will know that a commission fee is needing to be paid for that specific car wash.

If you’re in the retail business, you’re probably going to be capitalising on Valentines Day this coming year, right? But if you don’t accept card payments – did you know that you’re probably missing out on additional sales, with higher average transaction values?

This year, retailers and restaurants are set to cash in more this year, than in the previous 4 to 5 years. This is down to two key reasons: 1) Valentines Day has been evolving over the decades to be even further consumerised then previous years and 2) Valentines Day this year lands on Friday (14th February 2014). Why is this important? As V-Day isn’t a public holiday, the vast majority of people will be out working, but unlike any other day of the week, most will also be focused on the Friday night and weekend ahead.

Being on a Friday, hoteliers will be making the most out of, what we’d consider this year, to be a ‘Valentines Weekend’. However, being that the official day is on a Friday, when most are at work, men and women will be frantically leaving work later afternoon/early evening looking to pick up gifts, flowers and cards (at the very least) for their loved ones, prior to getting home.

The above event lays the ground work for your business to have an excellent day/weekend with increased Valentines Day shopper footfall. However, your success for this special day will be underpinned by one key factor: spontaneity. The spontaneity doesn’t of course come from your side of the sales desk – but from your prospective customer. It’s a Friday night, it’s wet, cold and you have your potential customer by their wall/purse strings. However, what’s inside their purse or wallet? On average, the typical adult in the UK holds no more than an average of £20 on them at any one time. Credit & Debit cards however – are taken everywhere and this gives you a valuable opportunity at the point of the customer being at their weakest willed point, which allows you to up-sell your higher ticketed Valentines days products and services, without being contested too much.

Not convinced? Read on:

- 5 Reasons You Should Accept Cards

- Is Your Business Ready To Accept Card Payments?

And find out why the MAJORITY of people now prefer to pay for products and services using their flexible plastic friend instead of cash, here.

Interested in taking card payments to improve your business performance? Click here to get a free, non-obligatory quote online. Too late for Valentine’s Day? Next up; Generosity Day 2014!

As a business owner, you’re probably propositioned by marketing companies on a weekly basis offering their service, more likely than not, to be offering website creation for your business. You may or may not turn these sales pitches down, depending on price and how it is being sold to you. But the big question is; do you need a website, or even, how do you know if you really need a website or not?

There are a whole host of pros and cons for having a website and in particular, cons come in the way of additional expenses, that can also include poor workmanship for the end product that’s developed for you, but let’s just say that both the price and workmanship is good – what can you expect?

The retail industry is at the top of their game when it comes to having an online presence, because it sees the direct impact of a website with sales coming from this marketing stream. For this industry, understanding the return of investment of having this method of marketing and sales is invaluable, but how about you’re an electrician or plumber? Seeing the benefit of a website can be less clear, because you shouldn’t be expecting to take transactions online.

A website isn’t a must…

If you’re a retail business that is looking to capture online sales, then an eCommerce website is a perfect match. Local business just looking to get their details online such as a) what you do, b) where you do it and c) how good you are, then a website isn’t needed… or, it’s at least not the first step in building your presence online. There’s much cheaper and quicker ways to be completing online marketing, that doesn’t also include the expense of third party marketing companies.

…but a web presence is! Improve your sales, today

Did you know; many Google searches that are completed on mobile devices are because the user is looking for a local product or service? That’s why it’s fundamentally important to be having at least the very basic of presence on the internet for your small business.

The cheapest and most effective way of getting your company in front of people, online

Google is THE number one search engine, so you should make it your priority. There’s numerous ways in how to do this, both free and paid.

- Google Plus Business Page

By creating a business Google Plus page and completing all the common company details such as business name, opening hours, contact details and address, this will help ‘plot’ you on Google searches for people looking for your services when searching in location X, Y or Z.

- Google Adwords Express

Adwords ‘Express’ is a paid for service to get you at or near the top results for people who are looking to make the use of your services. The great thing about this advertising channel is that you do not pay for it, unless you get either a click to your website (or Google Plus Business Page), or a phone call, that has been activated via a Google search.

Just like G+ Business Pages, Adwords Express can be setup and running within 10 minutes – no middleman required as it is incredibly user-friendly. And what’s more; you are in full control with how much you spend.

Looking for industry specific advice? Click here and find out how card processing with a chip & pin PDQ machine will help to improve your sales and revenue.

Ensuring You Accept Card Payments in the Best Way & Keeping More of Your Money

In a specialist industry such as car performance and modding where invoices for work complete are not uncommon to be ranging from a few hundred pounds Stirling to thousands, we understand that being able to accept debit & credit card payments isn’t a question of if, but a) how (which type of card processing terminal) and b) getting the cheapest rates possible.

Keeping Card Payment Transaction Fees Low

Let’s say you complete some car performance modding for one of your customers that costs £2,000. How will you accept payment? Cash? Very unlikely! So, this leaves us with cheques, bank transfers, plus debit & credit card.

Cheques and bank transfers are risky, because unless you’re taking payments upfront prior to completing the work, there is a high likely-hood (especially if crooks know you give this option) to literally run away with the goods and services without payment. Elongated payment transfer times make these payment types worse than a cash payment.

So, leaving us with debit or a credit card payment – which is best for you, based on a £2,000 transaction? All card processing companies, including our competitors, have two transactions based on a fixed fee (debit) and percentage based (credit cards). While the entire industry is the same on that point – what differs of course, is the actual fixed & percentage fee amount.

Our current rates are:

- Debit card – £0.21 per transaction – Transaction cost £0.21

- Credit card – 1.55% per transaction – Transaction cost £31

As we can see from the above, a credit card transaction based on such a high transaction value of £2,000 will cost you £31 in transaction fees, making it £30.79 more expensive than taking a debit card payment.

Discount Debit Card Customers

Because of the high transaction value, you may want to offer the customer a discount, if they are prepared to pay on a debit card, rather than credit. Even if you offer a £20 discount, you’re be able to keep £10.79 in your company.

Card Payment Machines – What’s Best for a Car Modding Business?

The main question that needs to be asked here is; is your business working from a static location (business premises) or on the road, potentially at the customers location?

Payment Processing at your Card Modding Garage

Taking a card payment at your business location is by far the cheapest option available to you as you can make use of the counter-top card machine, which you’d use at your point of sale till. Our counter-top terminals cost less than 50p per day (£15 per month). Find out more about our counter-top machines here.

Payment Processing at Customers Location

Taking payments at customers location will require the use of a mobile (GPRS) card processing machine, which are just as simple to use, but you will need to ensure you have a mobile phone signal in the area where you wish to take the payment. However, this shouldn’t be anything to worry about because most mobile phone networks have 99% coverage. These chip & pin machines cost less than 82p per day (£25 per month). Find out more about our mobile GPRS machines here and why they are better than smart phone payment options, such as ‘Square’ & ‘Paypal Here’.

Or, find out more about how are customers have benefited with improved sales and revenue.

Our customers that come on board for our merchant account and card processing services that are in the specific area of industry such as art, craft and hobby shops have found that since accepting card payments, their level of transactions and sales revenue have increased considerably. Why is this?

Taking better advantage of those opportunistic customers

We understand that your business as a hobby and craft shop owner isn’t just that – it’s your life. You love what you do and you are the expert in this industry. Furthermore, we’d never tell you how to sell, but what we do know from talking to current customers is that on many occasions through the year, when just accepting cash, it can be restrictive on your sales – especially those opportunistic shoppers who are just strolling by and see something they really, really want. By allowing for card payments with a chip & pin terminal, you’re giving the opportunistic passer by one less reason not to come in to your store and make a purchase.

Up-sell to customers at the checkout, without cash being a restriction

Supermarkets have been doing it for years – carefully placing products around the store in a strategic manner to ensure the maximum amount of sales. Nothing comes closer to this old trick than the sweets at the checkout counter. Likewise, in your business, you have the same opportunities with your customer.

For example, when the customer comes to the till for payment. Before you take the payment, you’ll obviously be wanting to up-sell additional products, but how many times have you been turned down with, “sorry, I don’t have enough cash”, or more probable, “no thanks” that comes with no additional reason. Did you know – the majority of the times when people politely decline with a simple “no thanks”, it’s typically because they just do not have the cash on them.

Start taking card payments by as early as next week and you’ll be able to minimise the polite decliners and also maximise how much you can up-sell in terms of payment amount without the worry of the customer doesn’t have enough cash of them.

Selecting the best card machine for your hobby & craft shop

Because we believe the vast majority of your payments will be needed to be taken from your primary business location, you shouldn’t require anything other than one of our counter-top card machine terminals – ideal for use from a fixed location, such as a counter.

If however, you tend to join the festival circuit or attend fairs with your business, we’d recommend the use of a mobile (GPRS) card machine, that are very flexible for allowing you to take a payment wherever you are, just as long as there is a mobile phone signal – which 99% of the UK has.