In business for 20 years and don’t need to accept credit cards

I cant count the number of times that I have come across businesses that have been around for twenty or more years and just don’t need to accept credit cards. The two most common business types that I run into with this attitude are self owned auto mechanics, and small town restaurants.

One of our sales agents convinced a bakery owner of thirty years to finally start accepting credit cards. He lived in a small town in Colorado, with no more than 200 people in it. I have been successful for over twenty years without accepting credit cards, why would I start doing it now, he asked. It took some convincing, but finally he decided to try it out. Overnight, his sales jumped up 30%. He gained more customers in his small town, and his good customers came to his business more often. He started asking them why they started coming more often. The nearest ATM machine was several miles away, and for most, it wasn’t worth the drive to go to the ATM and then come back. For others, they just didn’t ever carry cash, so even going to the ATM machine wasn’t an option.

The simple truth of business in America is that everyone has a credit or debit card. It doesn’t matter if the town you live in has fifteen people in it, I can pretty much guarantee that most of them have a credit card. The US is moving away from paper transactions and I think it is a safe bet that at some point in the future, paper money and coins will no longer be used. What makes credit card processing for small town businesses even more successful than one would assume, is that there often isn’t a nearby bank or ATM machine. Customers that don’t have cash simply wont go to a business where they cant pay, even though they might want to buy something. Accepting credit cards provides the ability for people to shop on impulse, which is often the driving factor of many businesses. Do you think that people drive out of their way to shop at that cookie store in the mall? Or, do they smell the cookies and just ‘have to have one’ when they walk by it.

Convenience is one of the most important things to consumers in the US. If it isn’t convenient then business is lost.

For those who just don’t need to accept credit cards:
I highly recommend trying it. I have only seen a handful of businesses actually not benefit from accepting credit cards, and the reasons were not because of the area they lived in, but because they had very unusual transaction processes.

Find a provider with no contract and give it a shot for a few months. If you get nothing out of it, then I am wrong, but I think that at the very least you will have some happier customers, and you will be surprised by how many people actually want to pay with their credit card. Just because you have never used accepted credit cards and have survived, does not mean that you will not benefit from accepting them now.