Why Merchant Services Agents Fail: It’s Usually Not a Lack of Information

I've been in merchant services for more than 16 years, and I've watched a lot of people enter this industry excited about building a portfolio and creating recurring income.

I've also watched a lot of them disappear.

They didn't disappear because merchant services was too complicated to understand. They didn't disappear because there wasn't enough information available. In many cases, they had more training, technology and resources available to them than I had when I started.

They disappeared because eventually the excitement wore off and they stopped doing the work.

That's the part of merchant services nobody wants to talk about.

When you're brand new, everything is exciting. You're learning about residual income. You're looking at what a portfolio could potentially become. You're learning products. You're watching training videos. You're getting contracted. You're thinking about the money you could make.

Then you actually have to go sell.

You have to walk into businesses when you don't feel like it. You have to pick up the phone after somebody just hung up on you. You have to follow up with the merchant who told you to call three times and still hasn't answered. You have to hear no. You have to get rejected. You have to stay in the field when you'd rather go home.

That's when motivation starts disappearing.

And that's when the real business starts.

Merchant Services Does Not Have an Information Problem

There was a time when getting good merchant-services training was genuinely difficult.

That's one of the reasons I created Merchant Service University.

Today, I give the core education away.

You can learn the fundamentals of merchant services, payment processing, statements, pricing, residual income, prospecting, selling and modern commerce through MSU without spending thousands of dollars on a course.

And MSU isn't the only place information exists. YouTube alone has more sales and merchant-services information than most people could realistically consume.

Information isn't scarce anymore.

I can take it another step.

Through EZ Direct Sales, I help qualified agents connect with trusted merchant-services partners so they don't have to blindly search the internet trying to figure out who they should work with. You can get connected, get contracted, start submitting business and begin building your own merchant portfolio.

So think about what we've eliminated.

You can get the education.

You can get access to the industry.

You can get connected to partners.

You can get products to sell.

You can get support.

You can get scripts and training.

And people will still fail.

Why?

Because information is useless without execution.

NEW TO MERCHANT SERVICES? START HERE

If your problem really is information because you're brand new, I've already built the first part of the path for you.

Step 1: Merchant Service University — Learn. Get educated on the merchant-services industry before you blindly sign with a company.

Step 2: EZ Direct Sales — Start. When you're ready to move beyond education, I can help connect qualified agents with trusted merchant-services partners where they can begin submitting business and building a portfolio.

Don't spend six months researching an industry without ever entering it.

Learn the business. Find the right partnership. Then get to work.

Watching Another Training Video Can Actually Become an Excuse

This is something I've watched happen over and over again.

An agent isn't producing, so they assume they need to learn more.

They watch another training video.

Then another one.

They learn another pitch. They study another product. They listen to another podcast. They ask another question.

Learning feels productive.

But sometimes learning is actually procrastination disguised as productivity.

There absolutely is a learning curve in merchant services. You need to understand what you're selling. You need to understand the merchant. You need to know enough about payments, pricing and technology to have an intelligent conversation.

But eventually you have to get out of the classroom and into the field.

You aren't going to learn how business owners respond to you by watching me talk about business owners.

You learn it by talking to them.

You aren't going to master objections by memorizing 50 responses.

You master objections by hearing them over and over again until answering them becomes natural.

And you aren't going to build a residual portfolio by becoming the most educated agent who never prospects.

At some point, more information stops being the answer.

You have to execute.

“If I Hit 100 Doors, How Many Deals Should I Close?”

I've been asked some version of this question for years.

“If I hit 100 businesses, how many deals should I expect?”

The truthful answer is:

I don't know.

And neither does anybody else until we have your data.

That's one of the realizations that ultimately led me toward building EZ MerchantTracker.

I've spent years around merchant-services agents, and I almost never meet someone who can tell me their actual numbers.

Not what they think they do.

Their actual numbers.

How many businesses did you prospect last month?

How many owners did you actually speak with?

How many real presentations did you make?

How many legitimate opportunities did you identify?

How many proposals did you submit?

How many POS demonstrations did you schedule?

How many deals did you sign?

How many became approved and activated accounts?

What percentage of your opportunities became deals?

What percentage of your signed deals activated?

Most agents can't answer those questions.

And historically, I couldn't tell an individual agent exactly what their activity should produce either because we weren't collecting enough long-term individual data.

Now we can.

That's a completely different way of looking at merchant sales.

Your Merchant Services Sales Ratios Are YOUR Ratios

I can give an agent activity standards. I can tell you what I believe a serious agent should be doing. Inside my training and software, I can give you benchmarks to work toward.

But eventually, your own historical data becomes far more valuable than somebody else's average.

Imagine two agents perform the same amount of prospecting.

One creates several legitimate opportunities and multiple signed accounts.

The other creates almost nothing.

Telling both agents to simply “work harder” isn't very good coaching.

Maybe the second agent isn't reaching enough owners.

Maybe they're reaching owners but aren't getting through a complete pitch.

Maybe they're pitching but aren't identifying legitimate targets.

Maybe they're creating opportunities but failing to get a commitment.

Maybe they're getting commitments but not following up.

Maybe they're signing deals that aren't activating.

Those are completely different problems.

You can't diagnose them accurately if you don't have the data.

That's why I've always taught agents to think about the Results Pyramid:

Contacts → Owners → Full Pitches → Targets → Closes → Activations

Every stage tells you something.

If the top of your pyramid is weak, you may have an activity problem.

If you're generating activity but very few real targets, you may have a prospecting, qualification or presentation problem.

If you have targets everywhere and nothing closes, now we can start looking at your closing process.

If you're signing merchants but they aren't activating, that's another issue entirely.

The point isn't simply to collect numbers.

The numbers tell us where to look.

Feeling Busy and Producing Are Not the Same Thing

This is where accountability gets uncomfortable.

Someone can tell me they worked all week.

Okay.

What did you do?

How many businesses did you prospect?

How many owners did you talk to?

How many legitimate opportunities moved forward?

Show me.

You can have a very busy week without doing much that actually builds your portfolio.

You answered emails. You reorganized leads. You watched training. You researched a new POS system. You talked to your processor. You drove around. You updated social media. You spent an hour tweaking a proposal.

You were busy.

But did you produce?

There's a difference.

This is one of the biggest reasons I built EZ MerchantTracker.

There are already important CRM systems and processor platforms in our industry that manage merchant information, onboarding, processing relationships and company operations.

EZ MerchantTracker isn't being built to replace those.

It's focused on something different:

The agent.

Your activity.

Your leads.

Your pipeline.

Your production.

Your ratios.

Your commissions.

Your consistency.

Your accountability.

And ultimately:

Are YOU doing what you need to do to build the business you say you want?

Why I Built EZ MerchantTracker

I've never met an agent who could consistently give me all the data I wanted about their own business.

Their exact activity.

Their historical conversion ratios.

Their pipeline.

Their estimated commissions.

Their actual payouts.

Their production trends.

Their personal bests.

Their progress toward their goals.

How they compare with other agents.

All in one place.

So I decided to build it.

EZ MerchantTracker is a merchant sales CRM and production-tracking platform built specifically around the individual agent's activity, pipeline, results and accountability.

The objective is to make your business visual, measurable and incredibly difficult to lie to yourself about.

Track your leads.

See exactly where they are in your pipeline.

Track your production.

Watch your personal ratios develop over time.

Track potential commissions and actual payouts.

See your production calendar.

Measure progress toward goals.

Compete with other agents through leaderboards.

And use the built-in AI Sales Tips & Suggestions Coach, developed around my merchant-sales methodologies, for additional guidance while you're building.

But one of the most valuable things MerchantTracker does is much simpler.

It makes it harder to bullshit yourself.

You either did the work or you didn't.

The numbers are sitting right there.

STOP GUESSING. START TRACKING.

If you're already selling merchant services, this is where I want you to go next.

You probably don't need another beginner course.

You need to know your numbers.

EZ MerchantTracker was built specifically for merchant-services agents who want to track their activity, manage their sales pipeline, understand their own conversion ratios, monitor production and hold themselves accountable.

Stop guessing how hard you're working. Stop guessing where your pipeline is breaking. Build actual data around your business.

EXPLORE EZ MERCHANTTRACKER

A Merchant Sales CRM Should Help You Manage More Than Contacts

The traditional purpose of a CRM is customer relationship management.

That's important.

But as an independent merchant-services agent, I also want you managing something else:

yourself.

Eventually, I want you to be able to answer:

What does my prospecting normally produce?

Where do my opportunities fall apart?

What is my proposal-to-close ratio?

What happens when my activity increases?

What happens when it decreases?

Am I getting better?

Am I becoming more efficient?

What activities actually correlate with my deals?

Where is my pipeline weak?

After months and eventually years of using MerchantTracker, that's incredibly valuable information about your business.

Instead of asking someone online, “How many deals should I get from this much activity?” you'll eventually be able to look at your own history and know what your activity actually produces.

That's a much better answer.

Motivation Is Not a Business Strategy

This might be the biggest issue of all.

Motivation comes and goes.

Everybody is motivated when they start something new.

People get motivated to go to the gym in January.

They get motivated when they start a business.

They get motivated after watching a great video.

They get motivated after attending an event.

Then Tuesday happens.

You're tired.

It's raining.

Somebody rejected you.

A merchant backed out.

You don't feel like prospecting.

The workout doesn't sound fun.

The crappy food sounds really good.

Now what?

If your feelings determine whether you execute, your results will eventually become as inconsistent as your feelings.

The result is what everybody wants.

The work required to create the result is where people disappear.

Motivation doesn't get the work done. Execution does.

And for most people, accountability is what helps bridge that gap.

Most People Need Someone in Their Corner

There are people who are extraordinarily self-accountable.

They don't need somebody checking whether they worked.

They set a standard for themselves and meet it.

They stay in the field until the last bell. They do what they said they were going to do whether they feel like doing it or not. They don't need a babysitter and they don't make excuses.

If that's you, I have a tremendous amount of respect for you.

Go work.

Go close accounts.

Build your portfolio.

I'd still recommend EZ MerchantTracker because even an extremely disciplined agent benefits from knowing their own performance trends and ratios over time.

But if you genuinely don't need someone holding you accountable, I'm not going to pretend you do.

You're also a rare breed.

And even among top performers, there's a reason some of the most successful athletes, executives and entrepreneurs still use coaches.

A good coach isn't there to babysit you.

They're there to help you perform closer to your potential.

For everybody else, there's another piece that's even more important.

Someone needs to hold you to what you said you wanted.

Sometimes that's staying in the field another hour.

Sometimes it's making the calls.

Sometimes it's following up instead of avoiding rejection.

Sometimes it's going to the gym.

Sometimes it's passing up the crappy food.

Sometimes it's somebody in your corner saying:

You told me this is what you want. Now let's do what it takes to get there.

That's accountability.

That's Why I'm Building Portfolio Builders Coaching

EZ MerchantTracker gives us the data.

Portfolio Builders Coaching gives you the accountability and coaching behind it.

I'm not interested in creating another expensive training program where you buy access to a giant library of videos.

I've already given you the education.

That's what Merchant Service University is for.

Portfolio Builders Coaching is for agents who want to perform closer to their potential.

We're going to look at the work.

We're going to look at the pipeline.

We're going to look at production.

We're going to look at what's actually happening instead of what you feel like is happening.

And then we're going to work on execution.

The objective is to improve productivity, identify where you're getting stuck and work toward adding more deals to your portfolio.

I also believe peak performance is bigger than merchant sales.

How you sleep matters.

Your health matters.

Your physical condition matters.

Your discipline matters.

Your energy matters.

The standards you hold yourself to outside of business have a funny way of showing up inside your business.

That lifestyle component is optional, but it's there because becoming better personally can help you perform better professionally.

I can't guarantee your results.

Nobody should.

But I can guarantee something else:

I'm going to hold you accountable to what you tell me you want and the actions you commit to taking to get there.

If you refuse to do your part, that's ultimately on you.

But I'll help hold you to the fire.

WANT SOMEONE IN YOUR CORNER?

If you already know merchant services and you're tired of knowing what you should be doing without consistently doing it, Portfolio Builders Coaching is being built for you.

This isn't another information program.

It's about:

Tracking. Accountability. Coaching. Execution.

We'll use real activity and performance data to identify what needs attention and then work on the actions required to improve it.

LEARN ABOUT PORTFOLIO BUILDERS COACHING

Good Merchant Services Sales Coaching Needs More Than Opinions

This is where combining MerchantTracker with coaching gets interesting.

If you tell me:

“Joe, I'm not closing enough deals.”

My first response shouldn't automatically be:

“Let's work on your closing.”

Maybe closing isn't your problem.

Show me the numbers.

If you're barely creating legitimate opportunities, we have no business spending all our time tweaking closing techniques.

If you're creating plenty of opportunities and none are converting, now we have something different to diagnose.

If you've got legitimate prospects sitting untouched because you aren't following up, I don't need to teach you another prospecting script.

You need to follow up.

That's the difference between generic motivation and actual sales coaching.

Data gives us somewhere to look.

Coaching helps us decide what to change.

Accountability helps make sure you actually change it.

The Four Stages of Building a Merchant Services Portfolio

This is the path I've been building intentionally.

1. LEARN — Merchant Service University

Learn the industry.

Understand payments, merchant services, selling, residuals and what you're getting yourself into.

The core education is free.

2. START — EZ Direct Sales

Get connected.

When you're educated and serious about getting started, I can help qualified agents connect with trusted merchant-services partnerships where they can begin submitting business.

3. EXECUTE — EZ MerchantTracker

Now we measure.

Track activity.

Track leads.

Track pipeline.

Track production.

Track ratios.

Track commissions.

Use the AI Sales Tips & Suggestions Coach.

Build real historical data around your business.

4. BUILD — Portfolio Builders Coaching

Now we take the data and add direct accountability and coaching.

Identify what's working.

Identify what's not.

Improve execution.

Work toward greater production.

Build the portfolio.

That's the path:

Education → Opportunity → Execution → Accountability → Coaching → Production → Portfolio

Ready to Stop Guessing and Start Tracking Your Merchant Sales Performance?

Understanding your KPIs is one thing. Actually tracking them consistently and using that information to improve your production is another.

That's exactly why I created EZ MerchantTracker, a merchant services CRM and performance-tracking platform built specifically for individual sales agents.

With EZ MerchantTracker, you can organize your sales pipeline, track daily production, monitor proposals and POS demonstrations, understand your personal conversion ratios, and keep better visibility into commissions and portfolio growth.

EZ MerchantTracker is officially live, and you can try the software free for 14 days.

Start Your 14-Day Free Trial of EZ MerchantTracker

Want to see how everything works before signing up? Watch my full EZ MerchantTracker software demonstration or explore the available pricing and package options.

Continue Learning: Merchant Sales Tracking, CRM and Accountability

If you're serious about improving your production, I recommend reading these related articles:

• Sales Activity vs. Sales Results: What Merchant Services Agents Should Measure First — Understand why measuring productive activity is just as important as tracking signed deals and commissions.

• Merchant Sales Tracking Software: How to Know Your Numbers and Build a Bigger Portfolio — Learn how tracking activity, production and conversion ratios helps identify opportunities to improve.

• Merchant Services Agent CRM: Why Processor Dashboards Aren't Enough for Salespeople — Discover why agents need a system focused on their own pipeline and performance, not just their processor's backend.

• EZ MerchantTracker Official Launch: Software Demo, Free Trial and Portfolio Builders Coaching — Learn more about the launch, available software and coaching options.

Want More Than Software? Explore Portfolio Builders Coaching

For agents who want direct help improving their production, I also launched Portfolio Builders Coaching.

This is a separate coaching and accountability program focused on the areas agents have told me they need most: accountability, one-on-one guidance and mindset.

We'll use your actual sales activity, pipeline and performance data to identify what's holding you back, establish meaningful goals, and create a plan you can execute.

You can use EZ MerchantTracker on its own, or combine the software with direct coaching and accountability.

Explore Portfolio Builders Coaching and Available Plans

The goal isn't to track more numbers just for the sake of tracking them.

It's to understand your business, improve your execution and build a stronger merchant portfolio.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do merchant services agents fail?

There isn't one universal reason. In my experience, some of the most common problems are inconsistent prospecting, discouragement after rejection, poor follow-up, insufficient activity and spending too much time consuming training instead of executing. Education matters, but information by itself doesn't build a merchant portfolio.

What is a merchant services CRM?

A merchant services CRM helps payment-processing professionals organize prospects, merchants, follow-ups, sales opportunities and other relevant information. EZ MerchantTracker is specifically designed around the agent's activity, sales pipeline, production, personal performance ratios and accountability.

What is merchant services sales tracking?

Merchant services sales tracking means measuring the activities and results that move an agent from prospecting to activated merchant accounts. Tracking over time can help an agent understand their own performance rather than relying only on generic industry averages.

What should merchant services agents track?

Useful metrics can include prospecting activity, leads, pipeline stages, proposals, demonstrations, signed deals, activations, commissions, follow-ups and personal conversion ratios. The purpose isn't to collect numbers for the sake of collecting numbers. It's to understand what your actions are actually producing.

How many businesses should a merchant services agent prospect?

There isn't one activity number that guarantees a certain number of deals. Sales method, experience, market, consistency and individual conversion ratios all matter. I provide more specific activity benchmarks through my training and tools, but one of the goals of MerchantTracker is eventually helping agents understand their own historical performance.

What is the Results Pyramid?

The Results Pyramid is a framework I use to examine the progression from Contacts → Owners → Full Pitches → Targets → Closes → Activations. Looking at each stage can help identify where an agent's sales process may be breaking down.

Do merchant services agents need sales coaching?

Not every agent needs direct coaching. Some people are exceptionally self-accountable and execute consistently without outside accountability. Coaching can be especially useful for agents who want an outside perspective, greater accountability, help identifying performance gaps or someone pushing them toward the standards they've set for themselves.

What is Portfolio Builders Coaching?

Portfolio Builders Coaching is my direct coaching and accountability program for merchant-services agents who want to improve their productivity, execution and portfolio-building efforts. It also includes an optional peak-performance/lifestyle component because health, discipline and energy can affect professional performance.

What is EZ MerchantTracker?

EZ MerchantTracker is a merchant sales CRM and performance-tracking platform built around merchant-services agents and sales organizations. It brings together lead and pipeline management, production tracking, conversion ratios, goals, commissions, competition/accountability features and an AI Sales Tips & Suggestions Coach based on my merchant-sales methodologies.

Is EZ MerchantTracker meant to replace my processor's CRM?

No. Processor and ISO systems can be essential for merchant onboarding, account management and operational information. EZ MerchantTracker is focused specifically on the agent's activity, sales pipeline, production, performance trends and accountability.

Where should a brand-new merchant-services agent start?

Start with education. Merchant Service University provides the core education for people who want to understand merchant services. Once you understand the industry, the next stages are finding the right partnership, executing consistently, tracking the business and deciding whether additional coaching and accountability would help you build your portfolio.