December, 2011:

Petroleum Merchant Services have evolved over the past 10 years.  Pay at the pump merchant services technology is the only way to go.  Gas stations that offer the convenience of paying at the pump see an increase in gas sales of in excess of 40% compared to gas stations that do not offer this convenience.  It is a necessity in today’s petroleum business to consumer as well as business to business industry.

The question is, how does a gas station keep up in-store sales while at the same time increasing gas and diesel sales at the pump with pay at the pump technology?  Here are two solid ideas to increase your sales and profits:

1) Sell merchandise at cost in the gas station store to get people in the door and then advertise this at the pump in an at pump display and on the gas station door and windows.  An example of this is sell a $0.50 hot dog and $0.50 king size candy bar.  This will get consumers inside your store.  When they are there they can then purchase higher profit items like fountain drinks, chips, snacks, tobacco, lottery, or alcohol.

2) Then in your convenience store accept payment through the First Data FD100, Hypercom T7P, or the Omni VX570.  This merchant service equipment can save your petroleum station a lot of money in processing costs and the best merchant equipment providers will provide this to you for free – especially if you are in need of petroleum merchant services.

3) Another way to beef up sales is to put a Subway or Jimmy John’s franchise inside your convenience store.  Sheets has learned how to grow sales dramatically with the MTO sandwich shop inside the store location.  You could do this as well.  If you are at a gas station that already has a lot of foot traffic you may want to strongly consider this as adding a Subway or Jimmy John’s will create an additional very strong profit center for your company.

Yesterday, we talked about using the iPhone to accept credit cards wirelessly anywhere you can pick up a wireless internet signal.  Today, we are showing that you can do the same thing with the iPad2.  What this 30 second video about how to use your ipad to accept credit cards wirelessly.

Wireless merchant services just got easier with the iPhone.  This setup gives you the power to credit cards from anywhere you can get a signal on your iPhone.  You can do both swipe and keyed credit card transactions on your iPhone.  In addition, you can then print out a receipt on the spot or get the email address of your customer and email them their receipt. 

For a business that works in the field this is a cost effective way to accept credit cards as your merchant equipment can essentially be built into your iPhone, your wireless Internet that you need to accept credit cards is included in your iphone’s data plan, plus you can use your iPhone as a mini-PC, and phone all at the same time.

Watch this 2 minute video to see how the iPhone mobile credit card reader works on the iPhone4.

This four minute video from PPC Hero shows you some simple steps you can take to grow your business through display marketing.

Strategies like this can help your business grow like the growth we have seen at Choice Merchant Services.

In business we are often faced with a decision on if we should find an expert, or an outside consultant to help us find the answer to our question of the day.  Sometimes these questions are significant to the future of our business.  Other times, the questions are important but not as significant.  Yet the answer as to when to find and expert and when not to may surprise you.  In this video Noreena Hertz gives us insight on how to know when to use experts and when not to.  Watch How to Use Experts & When Not To and learn.

This morning at 8 AM, my grandmother of 97, almost 98 years, passed away.  She had been suffering from the effects of a stroke in a nursing home for about 4 years.  Yet through it all, although human, she smiled, was a joy to be around, and had an enduring and very real faith in Jesus Christ. 

Yesterday, suddenly, she suffered a major stroke which put her unconscious.  Our family was called by the nursing home staff and we came to see her.  Her family came to see her and many of those out of the local area called to pray and tell her that they loved her. 

Around her deathbed were many members of her family who stayed with her for hours praying, talking to, and being with her.  During this time of prayer there were many Rosaries said, many Divine Mercy Chaplets prayed, the Anointing of the Sick, Litanies of the Saints, Prayers for the Dying, and reading of scripture.  We loved her deeply and we were very sure that God was there to protect her and bring her home.  I am also sure that her late husband of 20 years was there waiting for her as well, yearning to be with his beloved wife once again.

Yet, as I saw my near 98 year old grandmother lying in bed and struggling for life, I reflectively saw her as a little girl, skipping, jumping, and being an adorable and playful child.  Then I snapped back to the present moment, and I saw my grandmother covered in the love of her family and the faith that she had taught us through her example.  As it winded down to near 11 at night, quietly, and reflectively I kissed her forehead, thanked her for being a great mom to her kids and grandmother to her grandkids and I told her that I loved her – knowing this would probably be the last time that I would be able to do so.

As I drove home, a bit overwhelmed in emotion I reflected. 

First, I rejoiced in the love and faith that surrounded her as she lay dying.  As I talked with my wife when I got home, I told her that I hoped that when she died some day, I wanted nothing more for her than what my grandma had – to be surrounded by those that love her and those that are praying fervently for her. 

Second, her life made me want to give that gift of love and faith to a child, maybe a child without a Mom or Dad, because I knew that those gifts are the best gifts anyone can receive and my family is always there to give it in a deep and profound way.

Third, her dying moments taught me the same thing that she taught her kids, grandkids, and everyone around her – nothing is more important that faith & love.  If you have faith & love and nothing else – you have everything.

Thanks Grandma.  We love you.  We’ll see you soon.

Google Adwords is the most potent weapon a small business can use to grow its business through the use of advertising.   Why:

#1: The cost – no matter what your budget is – just $300/month or $25,000,000 per month – there is a way to advertise there.

#2 It’s simple to get started.  Just go to http://www.google.com/ads/adwords2/ and follow the prompts to get setup.  Your 1st campaign could be running within 20 minutes.

#3: You can tract the Return on Investment.  Simply paste the Google Conversion Code from your adwords account on your thank you page after someone fills out a lead form or makes a purchase online.  You can then know your exact Return on Investment.

#4: The Return on Investment is Usually Great.  The ROI from online marketing is usually much better than any other form of marketing you can do to grow your company.

The key is that as your AdWords account grows, you want to make sure you are spending your advertising dollars well there.  Once you are spending in excess of $5,000 per month in AdWords spend, you should partner with a leading online marketing firm like Fathom.  Then, no matter what your business whether you sell merchant services, merchant equipment, or business consulting you should see good results.

There is a simple fact that can explain how people get to the top of their field, the top of business, the top of sports – the top of anything.  So I ask you to look at the following names and ask yourself what they have in common.

George Washington
John Adams
Tim Tebow
Bill Walsh
Steve Jobs
Warren Buffet
Martin Luther King, Jr.

The answer:  Work Ethic

More than anything else these people have one thing in common.  They worked harder than just about anyone in their field.  The answer is in their success.  Work ethic got them ahead – despite many handicaps.

George Washington took a rag tag group of under paid rebels, with weak to no supplies and defeated the greatest armed forces in the history of the world as of 1776.

John Adams grew up dirt poor and worked so hard as to become one of the most influental people in history.

Tim Tebow worked his entire career harder than just about anyone to become great.

Bill Walsh took one of the worst NFL franchises in the history of football, and turned the San Francisco Forty-Niners into the best NFL sports franchises in history.  He traiend everyone within his organization on the Bill Walsh work-ethic.

Steve Jobs was up against the monopoly of Microsoft and through tireless innovation was able to grow Apple to be the dominant player of the future in 2011.

Warren Buffet was able to become the richest man in the world even through he came  from humble origions.  He did this by spending decades tirelessly teaching himself investing and learning from mentors while he took just about every penny he made and reinvested it back into his business.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was able to take an oppressed race and give them equal rights against a nation that hated him and black people simply becuase of the color of their skin.  He did this by working incessentanly through just about every kind of persecution a person can endure – including assisination – yet he still won.

So if you ever wonder why somone has so much and how they accomplished so much.  Look at their history and you will almost aways find work ethic as the #1 cause of their success.  If anyone tells you work ethic is not how to win – then you can pretty well ensure that they aren’t successful.