Small businesses face many risks. Whether it’s raising capital, working with untested business plans, entering mature or unknown markets, growing pains, and more, the list can be intimidating. When looking to expand, some steps must be taken to minimize risk and ensure the long-term health of the company and its finances. Small business credit card processing is a great way to expand payment options and customer service with a very low level of risk.
Credit card processing automates many business functions by integrating incoming payments with account software. Offering more convenient payment options will generate more business, and expanded account services will help promote repeat business.
Overhead Reduction
Overhead expenses can be detrimental to any business, but especially small businesses. Many company functions will not have dedicated staff or departments. Often times, employees will pull double duty as accountants or human resource managers or will have to perform inventory and invoice reconciliation.
Small business credit card processing can be integrated with existing account software to help automate many accounting tasks. Orders can be automatically entered into a system and can then be searched and sorted. Cash flow is easier to manage since payments take less time to clear than checks. Leveraging technology to reduce overhead and free up labor will help small businesses stick to their business plan instead of being overwhelmed by administrative work.
added options
Credit payments through a terminal are much more convenient than cash or checks. Customers will appreciate this convenience by giving the company more business. Credit card processing for small businesses can make it easy to make payments via the Internet and mobile phones. Sales people on the go can also use a remote system to enter orders as they make sales, speeding up the process of delivering goods and services. Adding options will ultimately increase customer satisfaction. Satisfied customers will bring repeat business and use word of mouth to provide free advertising.
Beyond payment methods, small business credit card processing opens up interactive account features for customer use over the Internet or through a mobile phone. Customers can place orders, edit billing information, pay invoices, track shipments, monitor milestones, or create recurring transactions. These features facilitate both business-to-customer and business-to-business transactions, improving supply chain management with the ability to automatically place orders based on inventory levels. Payment gateways also provide a level of customer support, such as checking shipping dates and viewing a service history, which saves employees from having to act as customer service representatives to resolve common issues.
Small business credit card processing offers a wide range of opportunities. Automated payments and record keeping can reduce overhead, payment gateways and account services can improve customer satisfaction, and additional payment methods will expand your customer base. All of these benefits come from a system that is highly dynamic and can scale to suit businesses of any size, from freelancers to large companies with multiple departments.