We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joe Gallucci a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Joe, appreciate you joining us today. Finding those key vendors can often be make or break for a brand. Can you talk to us about how you found your key vendors?
Finding a good vendor takes a good amount of time, research, discernment & vetting. Hire slowly and fire fast! Just like there are “sales” funnels for new clients/customers, there should also be a funnel for identifying and narrowing key vendors.
The Top:
You have to put in a wide variety of vendor options at the top of your funnel and determine where you are going to source them from: referrals, vendor trade shows, online. Referrals are the best if you can get them, but online and trade shows can be good as well if you verify there’s a good reputation there.
The Middle:
Potential vendors should be interviewed with a custom question list that will help you discern the differentiating factors between them: price, terms, speed, quality, expertise, service.
The Bottom:
At the end of the process, I think what everyone is looking for is a solid RELATIONSHIP with their vendor whereby they care and serve your business needs and you can reasonably rely on their efforts. So the best way you can start the relationship is by asking your contacts for an introduction to vendors.
I think it’s also key to treat others how you’d like to be treated. Negotiating is fine when appropriate, but remember that the kindness and courtesy you offer to others is often reflected back to you…either now, or down the road.
The best vendor relationships we’ve ever gotten have come through referrals.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a Certified Payments Professional at PayFrog. I help businesses, non-profits, and government agencies setup merchant accounts to be able to accept debit and credit cards. I also handle any card processing equipment and related software.
When my clients come to me, they often have problems with an existing payment processing vendor: pricing too high or keeps increasing, lack of customer service, missing tech functionality, etc. I take time to get to know each client individually and find out what their needs are so I can best try to meet their needs.
One thing that sets us apart from others is that we represent various credit card processors so it’s gives us options to best meet the various needs of our clients.
I am very proud that I’ve been in business and profitable for 14 years and our company has no debt!
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
This business was primarily bootstrapped. We’ve maintained 100% of the equity and the only debt incurred was after our first year. We were growing and I could see a steady upward trajectory, but I noticed that we could grow even faster with a bit of extra capital. I was only looking for about $5,000 but my bank turned me down because they only lended money to businesses over 2 years old. So I ended up getting an 18 month no-interest personal credit card that I put all my groceries and gas and personal expenses on which slowly freed up the cash I needed to grow. It ended up being cheaper for me then whatever the bank loan rate would have been.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
My most effective source of growing clients has been from building relationships and getting warm referrals. If you treat people as more important than you, they will remember that and want to share you with others. Serving and loving others should be at the heart of your business, and profits are a byproduct that will come as a result of that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.merchantcardservicespro.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/payfrog/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MerchantCardServicesPro
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/payfrog
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/PayFrogPro
- Other: payfrog.us