Accepting Credit Cards for Your Small Gardening Business
The only reasons for a small gardening business to accept credit card payments are that they want to stay in business and they want to grow their business. Research suggests that about 80% of the potential buying public is not buying from you because you don’t accept credit cards for payment. That means that your business is not growing as fast as it should, because it’s not attracting enough customers. That, in turn, makes it more difficult to add as many new products, because you have less money to do that with. Worse still, you may eventually have to start inching up your prices to keep making ends meet, and that is going to turn away even more customers.
Even if you don’t especially want to grow by adding more products, you still need to keep the customers you have and to attract buyers for the products you already sell. If you are not moving forward, then you know what comes next. The average consumer walking around may have no more than $20.00 cash in their pocket.
Accept Credit Cards as a Convenience for your Customers
Customer convenience is another reason to accept credit cards for your small gardening business. Your customers can always pay cash if they want to, but if they prefer to use credit cards then it’s bad service not to accommodate them.
Also, it’s not just about attracting more customers. Studies confirm that another thing that happens when customers use credit cards is that they tend to spend more on average. You can stay small if you want to, but to survive, your profits need to always be inching up. For example, you might be thinking that your products are low-priced items, and so there’s no reason for people to charge their purchases to their credit cards. Consumers don’t necessarily use a charge card because they can’t afford an item. In fact, the majority of credit card users pay off their entire balance each month. Rather, they use a credit card because they like the convenience.
Consumers today also believe it’s safer to use a credit card instead of carrying cash, because, for one thing, flashing large amounts of cash can make them a target for muggers. They use their charge card for everything including fast food or a bottle of water from a vending machine. It helps them keep track of their spending.
Why Shouldn’t You Accept Credit Cards?
Accepting credit cards as payment at your small business is a convenience to the customer, and it offers you, the small business owner, a lot of convenience as well. Your money will be secure in your bank account, so you’ll have reliable and safe cash flow, instead of waiting (and hoping) for checks to clear. You will have a record of all your sales without having to enter them yourself. It’s easier to track inventory as well as trends. Once your business is set up to accept credit cards as payment, you can expand your business at any time.
You can stay small if you want to but once you accept credit cards, it will be hard to ignore the possibilities.
For more information about why you should accept credit card payments for your small gardening business, or to sign up for a merchant account, please call (888) 924-2743 or go to Charge.com.
