As long as I have been in Business to Business Sales, one of the things that I have never understood, and still don’t understand is when a local business will use “shop local” or “shop small” to help drive sales to their business over the large “Big Box” retailers, but won’t use local or small companies to get their services.
This was the often the case when I was in the Industrial laundry business and local, family-owned businesses would use the large national providers like Cintas and Aramark over a local company that supported their business, provided jobs in the community and often were even more competitive while providing more value. This has also translated into the payments industry that I am in now.
For the case of this blog, I am going to specifically talk about Square. Let me preference that Square is really good software, not the best in retail or hospitality, but really good. Square helps a lot of businesses compete in their market, but it is not the only option for small businesses. Square has become the brand that small businesses will often defer to if they have not had the opportunity to work with a payment’s professional. I would say it is the “Walmart” in the payments space. It is the “quick and easy” option, similar to someone jumping on Amazon and ordering what they want instead of engaging local businesses.
I was personally challenged by a friend of mine that uses Square and asked me, “Why you over Square?”
What a great question! Let me take this opportunity to discuss that as I break down certain points and I’m going to start with the most obvious one.
1. Square is a large, publicly traded company, that is not local or small with the vast majority of the businesses they serve. At the time this was written, their Stock price has risen from roughly $70 per share to $215 per share in last year.
2. Square will not support your business with purchasing from you, promoting you, sending business to you or give you council on how to help grow your business. They won’t share your status on social media or review your business and refer you in the way that a local or small provider will. If you are using Square, when was the last time Square spent any money with you?
3. initially, Square helped businesses with offering a low flat 2.75% rate, taking the loss on processing to get market share and in the process, allowed businesses to build their business on a false cost. When they raised their pricing at the end of 2019 to 2.6 and $0.10 a transaction, I believe they knew exactly what they were doing. A business that had a $10 average ticket watched their processing expenses increase by 31%. A business that has a $20 average ticket went up 13%. Could you imagine if your landlord or vendor for another necessary service did this? How is this good for small business?
4. While Square provides a really good software platform, it is by far, not the best depending on features that you want to be able to have or grow with. For example, in a retail environment, Vend will help businesses do more with their light version then Square and still give businesses the options to grow into their Pro version when more functionality and features are needed. You can see the comparison chart here.
5. When you use Square, you are disregarding the importance of the relationship that is often so important when looking at a partner in the point of sale and payments space. Having a partner that you can lean on will help you implement and use one of the most important pieces of your business.
If you have a small to medium sized business and are using Square, Shopify POS, Toast, Aloha from NCR and other large companies to be your technology and payments provider while also promoting “shop small” or “shop local” I have a challenge question for you.
“Have you given your smaller or local payment and technology provider the same opportunity to be your provider that you desire for your community to give you before going to shop at BIG Businesses?”
If you have not, then it is the same thing as a member of your local community going into Walmart or Lowes, purchasing a product that they could’ve purchased from you and then posting on social media, “Shop local.”
Simply doing the “easy thing” instead of looking for a true partner, is no different than a consumer buying on Amazon instead of giving you the opportunity. There is a lot of real help out there that can often provide superior products, more value for the money, save you money or help your business grow and be an ambassador for your business.
All we ask for as smaller or local payment and point of sale providers, is the opportunity. If Square, or any other large company solution truly is the best for your business because of the technology or support, then you need to make the best decision for your business. I know that I will support you if that is the what you need.
All we, as professionals in this space, are asking is, “Will you do what is easy? Or will you do the same thing that you rely on your customers to do, give you the opportunity to show them a better product, have a person to support you, provide a better customer experience, and most importantly build a relationship?”
I love business, and one of the reasons is because I believe that the best business is built on relationships. Relationships or partnerships will always win over a “vendorship” because you are working together for joint success.
In this economy, we need relationships more than we need vendorships. Let’s Win and Grow together!