Introducing ServiceMonster Pay

I am happy to announce the addition of ServiceMonster Pay to the SM Marketplace.

Though this new payment option has additional benefits to both our clients and ServiceMonster directly, I first and foremost want to be clear that our existing payment providers like Stripe, and gateway providers like Authorize will continue to be available. We will always be committed to offering our clients choices, that’s just how we do business.

The relationship between software companies and payment processing is rarely discussed, but I have always pushed a culture of transparency at ServiceMonster. That is why I am using this post to share not only the details of our new payment option for ServiceMonster, but also why our competitors have been offering their own payment options for years.

All CRM companies that offer their own payment processors get a kickback from charges processed with their internal system; in our case this system is SM Pay. So, let’s talk about why this is so popular among CRMs, and why I think this is a good move for ServiceMonster. Our competitors get up to $12,000 for every $1,000,000 they process through their system. This adds up fast when you consider how many invoices get processed through CRMs every year.  At ServiceMonster, our platform processes $500,000,000 in cleaning invoices each year, so if only a small number of ServiceMonster users choose SM Pay it could mean a big upside for our company.

You might be wondering, where does that upside come from? Let me explain; If you’re not using SM Pay and instead opt to use PayPal, Square, or Authorize, all fees you pay to process a transaction go directly to the merchant you’ve chosen. In short, the percentage you pay with every transaction goes straight to the bank.

With SM Pay, things are different. Because we are now direct partners with a merchant, we can control our rates by cutting out another bank or payment processor. Operating SM Pay has its own complexities and expenses- for example we are responsible for chargebacks, reconciliation, PCI compliance, and fraud. These are all expenses we need to factor into the rates offered through SM Pay, but ServiceMonster makes its money on subscriptions, not ancillary payment charges, so we can keep our payment fees as low as possible.

At launch, our fees will be set up to give you the best rate we can offer. The rates we charge are based on how many payments we process, and as the number of people using SM Pay increases so too will our power to get better rates.

As SM Pay grows, we have three options:

1.    Use the extra cash from SM Pay to continue to improve ServiceMonster with more development resources, more hardware, and more benefits to you.

2.    Reduce the credit card charge rates.

3.    Pocket the cash.

I have no interest in pursuing option 3.  ServiceMonster is doing well, and we don’t need to pocket the extra cash, so we will be implementing a combination of options 1 and 2. Our plan is to use any kickbacks we get to reinvest in our product, to improve the experience for you in your scheduling software, and to offer even lower rates in SM Pay.

From a fellow business owner, the most important character trait I look for around cash, is trust. We take great pride in the relationships we have established with you over these last 20 years. This is one reason it has taken us so long to offer a direct payment solution. Not only do we want to maintain the trust we have earned, but we needed to have some idea that the partner we worked with would help us maintain that level of confidence- and I’m proud to say I have full confidence in ServiceMonster Pay. It is safe to say the wait has paid off.

So yes, ServiceMonster is now offering a direct payment solution.  While the kickbacks we may get are a win for us and our product, that isn’t the only reason I’m excited about ServiceMonster Pay. The team here has been working hard to meet one of my biggest objectives; with SM Pay you will be able process checks in ServiceMonster. This feature is one of the biggest reasons we developed SM Pay, and it is unique to our product. Check processing in SM Pay is another great example of how we are always working hard to make your business easy to operate, and hopefully more fun to operate too.

Get the most current rates and features here, and you can sign-up for ServiceMonster Pay in the SM Marketplace.

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