At Fee Navigator, we love data. Data informs nearly all of our processes and systems – with every statement we crunch, data makes our AI-technology stronger, more flexible, and more reliable. You’ll never hear a bad word from us about data-driven decision-making. And yet… we know that some things can’t be measured – and some of those immeasurable things are important.

Consider transparency. Transparency can be built by implementing specific practices and actions, but ultimately, transparency is a nebulous concept that could mean slightly different things to different people. 

Here’s the formal definition:

Adjective:

(Of a material or article) allowing light to pass through so that objects behind can be distinctly seen. Easy to perceive or detect.

LinkedIn takes that definition one step further, and applies it to people and business:  

“When you’re transparent, you invite trust by revealing that you have nothing to hide. You establish yourself as an honest, credible person in the eyes of others. The prospect of being open and vulnerable may make you nervous, but the digital revolution has made transparency a matter of survival.”

Establishing a reputation of transparency within the merchant services industry is no small feat – merchants are inclined to distrust from day one. Transparency takes time and conscious effort, and it can’t be measured with a report or tracked back to a specific sale. But be forewarned – the opposite of transparency, opacity, is often interpreted as corruption, which spells disaster for long-term growth and profitability.

Because we believe that transparency has major impacts on your business and your brand, we’ve built in systems that help you establish transparency with your merchants, one step at a time. Here’s how it works:

Leverage the Proposal Tool During Prospecting

When working to close a deal with a new merchant, utilize the report that gets generated from our AI-Power Instant Merchant Statement Analysis tool. After analyzing the statement, our technology provides you with a clean, simple, easy-to-read Excel proposal that’s fully editable and customizable. Share this document with your merchant, and explain to them, step by step, what each number represents and why it matters. Most merchants are clueless when it comes to the type of fees they incur from their credit card transactions – be their ally, and remove the confusion from the process as they work through their decision.

Give Your Merchant A Star Account 

If you have a S.T.A.R plan with Fee Navigator, you get 49 merchant accounts. These are accounts with Fee Navigator, just like yours – the merchant gets a login, a password, and their own email bot. Merchants have limited functionality – they get some nice tracking graphs, and a summary report every time they submit a statement, which breaks down their fees in a simple, easy-to-understand format. Whether the merchant checks in regularly or not is up to them; however, you’ll have provided them with instant transparency and trust. The best part? Every time they analyze a statement, you get the full analysis in your dashboard, so that you may provide them with add-on services or be in the best position to support them.

Use the Compare Tool to Reinforce Your Promises

After the first month of onboarding a new merchant, use the Compare tool to show the merchant that your word is good. Don’t just tell your merchant that they are saving money, show them! Upload the old statement from their previous provider into Fee Navigator’s Compare tool, along with the new one, and share the resulting report with your merchant. This report shows, in black and white (and green if fees went down/ red if they went up), that you did what you promised you would do.

There you have it: loyalty and trust built step by step, on transparency.

With Fee Navigator at your side, you’ll not only save time and money, you’ll be able to begin building a reputation as a smart, trustworthy, and transparent agent. For more information, visit our website at www.feenavigator.com; and, don’t forget to check out our YouTube channel for a number of helpful tutorials and overviews.