If just the words “cold outreach” strike fear in your heart, you’re not alone. Velocity Funding is here to help new merchant services agents handle cold outreach like a pro. Whether you’re brand new to this industry or a seasoned agent looking to brush up on your skills, we’ve got you.

Cold outreach doesn’t have to feel like shouting into a void. With the right cold outreach tips, tested strategies, and some persistence, you can build genuine momentum that translates into higher monthly residual income.

In this post, you’ll learn:

• How cold calling and cold emailing differ
• Cold outreach tips that work
• Actionable strategies to improve your results

Cold Calling vs. Cold Emailing

Typically, and especially if you are targeting clients nationally or internationally, meeting someone from each company in person is too time-consuming. It’s also expensive. And it’s not typically how things go in today’s world.

That leaves you with cold calling and cold emailing. Each method has advantages and disadvantages. Choose one or incorporate both of these outreach methods into your arsenal. No matter which you use, the most effective cold outreach tips often involve combining both for maximum exposure.

Here’s a quick breakdown of how they compare.

Pro Tip: It’s worth using both methods together. It allows you to determine which cold outreach method you prefer. You can also combine these strategies, such as sending an email on Monday and following up with a call on Wednesday or Thursday.

Follow These Cold Outreach Tips

Recognize It’s a Numbers Game

Besides the merchant services agent tips we present, we also want to set realistic expectations. We’ll be honest: most of your outreach efforts will result in denials or being ignored. Don’t feel dejected—it’s like that for the vast majority of agents and ISOs.

Avoiding rejection is nearly impossible. However, think of these denials as part of the process. You might be surprised to see how quickly you can begin taking on new merchants with a bit of persistence and by combining them with our other cold outreach methods outlined below.

Reach the Decision Makers

The best-written emails or perfect phone pitches won’t help if you’re speaking to the wrong person. That’s why many skilled agents and ISOs take a little time to check the ‘About Us’ website pages and LinkedIn for the titles of decision makers. Finding and reaching the right person is an often-overlooked but crucial tip for merchant services agents.

That’s not to say that those who don’t make decisions are less important than those who do. You should treat a receptionist with the same respect you’d extend to a CEO. Co-workers are sometimes tight-knit groups, meaning being rude or pushy to one person could mean making a major outreach mistake.

Change Up Your Outreach Methods

Another helpful cold outreach tip is to switch up how you contact prospects. This method is useful when one method isn’t working particularly well, or you just want a break from the monotony of reaching out the same way.

So, what can you do besides cold emailing and cold calling?

• Connecting on social media, especially LinkedIn
• Using Loom to film and send a short video/demo
• Sending outreach letters in the mail for a uniquely personal touch

With most of your competitors rushing toward a prospect’s email inbox, switching things up can be just the thing to make you stand out.

Provide Value Before the Ask

Understandably, you want to use this list of merchant services agent tips to gain new clients. However, we recommend resisting that urge to ask for a merchant’s business right away. Instead, offer something valuable. It’s outreach 101. We’re not talking about sending money or your finest watch. In this case, you’ll share information while following one of the most effective cold outreach tips for building trust.

What information is valuable to a potential client and the industry they serve? Examples can include:

• Mention relevant industry trends
• Share a recent study
• Offer a free merchant services portfolio assessment
• Link to recent and relevant regulation updates

Get to the Point

Being excited about what you offer potential clients is a great advantage. Unfortunately, that can also lead merchant services agents to come up with a pitch that’s way too long. According to most studies, you have only a few seconds (sometimes less) to capture someone’s attention.

While there’s no set-in-stone word count for the perfect outreach email, shorter is better. Try to keep your messages under 100 words, ensuring you lay out:

• Who you are
• Why are you emailing them
• What’s in it for them?

Don’t worry about the message coming across as cold. There will be plenty of time to let merchants know about your excellent services.

A/B Test Different Approaches

Sending the same message means missing a huge opportunity to improve your results. That’s why we had to devote one of our cold outreach tips to split or A/B testing, which means (in this case), sending variations of your emails to those you’re contacting. You can experiment with all sorts of things when split testing, including:

• Subject lines
• Tones (serious, playful, light-hearted, etc.)
• Value-first messaging or stretching out your offer

What is the most remarkable thing about this tip for merchant services agents? The more data you create about what’s working vs. what isn’t, the more effective your emails become, and your open and read rates can skyrocket.

The Importance of Following Up

As you’ll soon learn, not everyone will respond to your first outreach attempt at all. Or your second. Or your third. Whether it’s a missed call or an unread email, these situations will happen often. What do you do? Follow up!

Recent research has found that 80% of sales require an average of five follow-ups. How many sales professionals follow up more than once? Just 44%. That means showing up and following up can put you leagues ahead of your competitors.

We recommend keeping a spreadsheet of your contacts, messages, and the dates they were sent, to ensure you don’t bombard a prospect with multiple emails in a day.

Cold Outreach Doesn’t Have to Feel Cold

Cold outreach is uncomfortable for almost everyone. However, dealing with this discomfort and pushing through can lead you to real success in the merchant services industry.

If you’d like a helping hand with building a stellar portfolio, Velocity Funding offers much more than helpful cold outreach tips. We proudly offer free, no-pressure merchant services portfolio valuations. Agents and ISOs choose us again and again for our maximum-value offers, fast turnaround times, and agent-friendly agreements.

Get a FREE Merchant Services Portfolio Valuation

Dean Caso

Dean Caso is a Managing Partner at Velocity Funding, which he founded with this company’s other Managing Partner, David Caso, in 2006. Caso graduated in 1983 from Babson College with a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and Investments. With over 35 years of experience, Caso has acquired over 300 credit card processing portfolios. He has a superior eye for opportunity and an unwavering commitment to excellence. Caso’s leadership instills confidence, fosters innovation, and inspires those under his professional command. His decades of industry experience and proven track record of success continue to drive Velocity Funding’s growth and industry-leading presence.