Payment Veterans Set Their Sights on Training ISO Agents

A new organization focused on training for merchant-level salespeople now has its Web site live and is looking toward its first seminar in Dallas Nov. 15, which it expects will draw 100 to 150 attendees. The Mountain Home, Ark.-based Institute for Payment Professionals, formed this fall by industry veterans Paul Martaus and Brett Mansdorf, has scheduled future seminars in Fort Lauderdale and other cities for the first part of next year, and plans to conduct one in different parts of the country at least every six weeks. Aimed at sales agents who call on merchants to sell electronic payment acceptance, the seminars cost $25 per head and cover subjects ranging from risk management to revenue and expense accounting, with presentations from industry vendors thrown in. “We think there's a huge hole in the market to get the merchant-level salesperson access to training,” says Martaus, president of his own consulting firm, Martaus & Associates. Independent sales organizations and processors, he says, sometimes do a good job of training, but often from their own point of view and on their own systems. The IPP, he says, will maintain an independent perspective, with an emphasis on education in business and sales techniques. The group is not interested for now in awarding any sort of certification, something some in the industry have advocated. “We are teaching the fundamentals” on how the payment system works, says Martaus. The Dallas seminar, he says, is a “proof of concept” for the institute's mission to enhance the professionalism of payment-acceptance sales. “We think if we can get 150 in a room and create that much buzz, it's done,” he says. “This is something we're doing because it's incredibly necessary.” Future seminars in the series, which are intended to be regional to hold down travel costs, are so far scheduled for Fort Lauderdale in January, Los Angeles in February, Philadelphia in March, and Atlanta in April. The institute's intent is to keep membership affordable, with seminars costing $25 for members and membership running $25 annually. Sponsorships have so far been sold to eight vendors in the industry, including terminal manufacturers Hypercom, VeriFone, and Ingenico. The Web site, which the IPP hopes to use to reinforce its seminar content, is still adding features at www.i4pp.org.