Sir Smiley here and Guess What? We just upgraded our phone system! As our business grows and we are privileged to serve more andmore merchants, finding ways to be more efficient is at the top of our priority list! Don’t worry- no call Ques or extensive ‘Press#…’ options at TMC! Just a solid, robust phone system designed to make accepting your calls and calling you even easier! Here are just a few of the features we are excited about: #1- Since the new phone system is integrated with our contact management software, we will be able to go directly to your record when you call from any of the numbers we have on file! #2- Likewise, when we are in your record we can easily click a button

For the past several days, I have been attending an Anthony Robbins Leadership seminar. As a small business owner, I use these types of events to ‘recharge’ my battery and gain helpful insights to continue growing and finding ways to be of even more service to our merchants and referral partners. Yesterday, I heard some powerful statistics that might interest you from a business stand point or from the stand point of a financial partner who provides services to businesses: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Business Survival Rates 2006 50% of businesses fail before their 1 year anniversary 80% of those businesses fail before reaching the 5 year mark 96% of those businesses will never see their 10 year anniversary In other words 4 out of 100 business start ups ‘make it’-

For months, we have been talking about PCI/PED Compliance and how security mandates are requiring changes to the equipment we use to process PIN (Personal Identification Number) based debit transactions. Now that the compliance deadlines have passed, many of our merchants are receiving compliant PIN pads in the mail and are being given the option to replace the equipment or discontinue the acceptance of PIN based debit cards. Here are a few things to consider in order to make the best decision for your business: ********************************************************* #1- Should I Be Using a PIN Pad? With all of the recent changes to debit card pricing, it would be a good time to have our team evaluate whether accepting PIN based debit is still the best and most effective way

Sir Smiley here to wish you and your family the best 3 day weekend ever! Our TMC team will be enjoying the day off with their families (our 24 Hour help desk will still be available if you need assistance!). Please enjoy this walkthrough history as the folks from Wikipedia share the history of Labor Day with us: Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September. The first Labor Day was celebrated on September 5, 1882 in New York City. It became a federal holiday in 1894, when, following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands on the U.S. Military and U.S. Marshalls during the Pullman strike, President Grover Cleveland put reconciliation with the labor movement as a

As businesses, we are paying TONS for credit card fraud prevention! We need to remember that there are simple things we can do to prevent the improper use of credit cards, thereby reducing some of that darn credit card fraud! I was reminded of this recently when I watched a customer get upset after being asked for ID (even though the back of their card said SEE ID ). This past weekend, I saw a ‘Better Signed Than Sorry’ flyer at a local store (call our office if you would like to have one of these flyers!). This reminded me that fraud prevention starts with the basics! The back of a credit card needs to be signed in order to be considered a valid credit card! Personally, make

Slip Showing? This article was taken from the FTC’s web site. Here at TMC we want to remind all of our merchants to be aware of the truncation laws so that you can protect yourself against fines and disgruntled customers! If you need any assistance with making sure the full card number is not listed on your receipts give our office a call at 1-888-249-9919 or email us: Service@TotalMerchantConcepts.com Federal Law Requires All Businesses to Truncate Credit Card Information on Receipts What’s on the credit and debit card receipts you give your customers? The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, says it’s time for companies to check their receipts and make sure they’re complying with a law that’s been in effect for all businesses since