Business owners have already had the right to suggest that their customers use a form of payment different from a credit card. Have you ever seen the handwritten sign “$10 minimum on credit cards” or notice the cash price vs. credit price at the gas station?

A recent judgement by the Department of Justice gives business owners the right to also suggest or encourage their customers to use a different type of card.

In case you haven’t been brought up to speed, “rewards” cards cost you more to accept. Hey, someone needs to pay for the cost of the rewards programs. There are over 200 cost categories, each more expensive than the next. This recent judgement gives you the right to suggest that your customer use a card with a lower cost.  You can suggest a non-rewards card, or Visa instead of MasterCard…or vice versa. You can even suggest a debit card, or American Express or Discover. Here is how it can be done:

• Offer a discount or rebate
• Offer a free or discounted product
• Offer an incentive or benefit
• Express a preference for a particular brand of general purpose card
• Promote a particular brand of general purpose card
• Communicate to the customer that the cost of the card they wish to use is higher than other cards

Credit card processing rates have gotten out of hand, but now with a little understanding on your part, you have even more control over what you pay.

You can see the actual DOJ judgement here www.justice.gov/atr/cases/f273100/273170.pdf.  You can also see the text of Visa’s rules here http://usa.visa.com/merchants/operations/op_regulations.html.  I assume you can also find MasterCard’s rules on their web site, although I have not yet seen a link.

 As always, if you have any questions just ask.

Jeff Tieger

President

Business Advantage Group

jeff@BizAdvantageGroup.com

(888) 377-3331 ext 3

How many phone calls have you received regarding energy savings?  It is no secret that the cost of energy has dropped dramatically.  Finding an alternative to the public utility is easy, but finding the right one is the hard part.  Considering all of your options can easily create enough confusion to stop the process altogether, but doing nothing is the biggest mistake you can make.

For years, Business Advantage Group has been saving its clients a lot of money in many different ways.  In response to our clients’ requests to clear up the confusion surrounding energy costs, we developed Energy Advantage, a unique three pronged approach to energy savings.

First – Rate reduction.  With our direct connections to ALL energy suppliers that service deregulated states, we can do the shopping for you in order to find the best rate available

Second – Consumption reduction.  Our certified efficiency experts will evaluate your facility and show you  how to reduce the amount of energy you use.  We will also complete and submit any necessary paperwork for the state incentives for which you qualify.

Third – Overpayment recovery.  We will go back in time in an attempt to find and recover any overpayments or billing errors that may have occurred over the past 6 years.

Energy Advantage can not only reduce your expense by more than 50%, but can actually put money back in your pocket. 

Don’t waste YOUR energy trying to find the right alternative.  Contact us today.

Energy Advantage video intro

Jeff Tieger

Business Advantage Group

jeff@BizAdvantageGroup.com

(888) 377-3331 ext 3

Building your pipeline and keeping it full is always a challenge.  Getting in front of enough prospects to generate a buzz and create interest in your business takes a lot of time for potentially minimal return. No matter what your product or service is, the most important thing you are selling is yourself.

Print ads in trade mags, Wall Street Journal, Crain’s, NY Enterprise Report, etc can be very expensive with the potential of no return.  TV commercial campaigns can be tricky and pricy as well, unless your target audience is watching Seinfeld re-runs on TBS at 2 am.  Any expert will tell you to diversify and attack multiple mediums in order to be effective.  For small and mid size businesses, the cost and risk of an advertising campaign is just not feasible. 

Like many other issues, this too can be solved by using the internetto your advantage.  All you need is 60 seconds in front of an infinite number prospectsto open countless doors.  You can create a 60 second video to play directly from your web site or even on You Tube.  The link to your video can be e-mailed to your entire database as well as being out there for anyone to see on You Tube!  This gives you the unique opportunity to speak directly to your prospects and give them a reason to visit your web site or contact you directly.  

Business Advantage Group has partnered with 18 Productions (www.18Productions.net) to provide small and mid size businesses with an aggressively priced video of you communicating your message, that can be sitting in your next client’s e-mail within 48 hours.

For more infomration contact

Mike Lauer

President

18 Productions

(908) 510-5920

mike@18productions.net