UpClose & Personal - George Makris

“Good morning! This is Mary’s Royal Massage. How can I help you today?”

“Hi Mary. I’d like to come in for a treatment. Do you accept credit cards?”

“Ahem. I’m afraid I don’t. But I accept cash or personal che… Hello, are you there?"

Darn! She hung up on me.

Obviously, this example is exaggerated but it makes the point: if you don’t accept credit cards, you are probably losing business.

According to Issue #72 of the The Nilson Report 79% of Visa and MasterCard users agree that regardless of the nature of the business, merchants should offer customers as wide an array of payment vehicles as possible.

In this depressed economy, if you don’t take credit cards, how can you compete with those who do?

Here’s the good news: According to the same publication, if you begin to accept credit cards, you can expect to increase your sales up to 30%.

How? By getting new customers who are not coming to you today because you don't accept credit cards, and by selling more services and products to present and new customers. It’s important to keep this in mind: the average credit card user spends 2.5 times as much as cash buyers.

It all sounds great but I can’t afford it, you say. I’d have to lease an expensive credit card terminal and be unable to break my lease for four years; I’d have to pay monthly minimums, transaction fees, and statements fees; and if I ever wanted to quit I’d have to pay a $150 cancellation fee for the privilege of doing so.

Not anymore. Thanks to the Charge America Service™, all of the above is history.

Using a brand new technology known as Cell Charge, the Charge America Service allows you to accept credit cards from any cell or touchtone phone. This service was designed with the low- transaction, low-volume business in mind.

It is based on one simple premise: if you don’t use it, you don’t pay. There are no monthly fees, no transaction fees, no statement fees, no monthly minimums to pay, and no equipment to lease.

Using this service, for every credit card transaction you process, you pay a 3.95% fee. For example, on a $50 client bill you would be debited $1.97. Although this discount rate may appear to be high it really is not because no other fee is charged. When all the fees of a traditional credit card service are taken into account, the effective discount rate ranges from 5% to 8%.

Here’s how Charge America works:

   • A customer presents their credit card for payment.
   • You dial a toll-free number and enter your PIN number.
   • You enter the customer’s information and press send.
   • You write the authorization code on a sales draft and hand it over
   to the customer for a signature.
   • The money is automatically deposited in your account within 24 to
   72 hours.

That’s all there is to it. If you can use a phone, you can use the Charge America Service.

Now, what if you are an independent contractor in a clinic, spa or salon? Let your employer know about the Charge America Service. It’s more efficient; it saves them much of the accounting hassles, and you can receive payments faster. It could be a win-win for both of you.
The massage and spa industries could use a financial shot in the arm during these tough times. The Charge America Service is one viable way to generate more business for you.

Best Regards,

George Makris
President, Charge America, Inc.

John Fanuzzi (CEO) and George Makris (President) founded Charge America, Inc. in January of 2003. The company’s mission is to contribute to your success and help you achieve your business goals by providing you with the best merchant account programs in the industry.
You can get the Charge America Service by investing a one-time $99 fee, which comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. For more details, please see page 100 of the new SpaBody Solutions catalog, visit www.chargeamerica.com, or email info@chargeamerica.com

ABOUT GEORGE

George Makris is the president of Charge America. During the previous three and a half years, he served as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing and Executive Vice President of a high-tech company that provides statistical software solutions to Fortune 500 companies. Before that, Mr. Makris managed his own training and marketing consulting company. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing (summa cum laude) and a Master’s Degree in Business Education (thesis in business planning).