At Global Payments Integrated, our business development (BD) team approaches and consults with independent software vendors (ISVs) to find integrated payment solutions that benefit their merchants and their bottom line.
We are excited to share the unique perspectives of Andrew Bell, one of our business development managers. Andrew’s diverse payments background and deep industry knowledge gives him an edge when approaching potential partners about payment integrations.
Q: Tell us how you got started in payments.
Five years ago, I decided to pivot away from the healthcare/fitness industry and dive into a career in payments.
I started in a partner sales support role where I supported hundreds of our ISVs, ISOs, and Agents. We were the organization's primary point of contact for anything partner-related. My days ranged from helping our partners onboard new merchants to supporting existing merchants needing assistance with file builds, pricing, tech support, and more.
It was a great introduction to the payments landscape. I learned a ton about the acquiring, gateway, and processor synergies - how they all work together to enable a business to process payments.
After several months, I worked in our Chargeback department. I learned about pricing, card brand regulations, and chip-card liability. I also helped our merchant portfolio respond to cardholder disputes. I learned a lot in this role, as it taught me more about the association (card brand) side of the industry.
Q: How did you transition from a support role into a more client-facing sales role?
Getting into sales and having more control of my success was a personal goal when I started in payments. After a few months in Chargebacks, I took a position on the Healthcare Sales team, where we sold our Healthcare payment integrations. I gained additional knowledge and started to form a specialty in healthcare during my time in this position.
I thrived in that sales position, successfully blowing past goals for almost two years. Through this role, I built relationships with our healthcare partners, leading me to get curious about how I could help drive revenue and the client experience at a higher level.
Q: What made you get into Partner Success?
I was lucky enough to find a great mentor who took me under her wing and offered me a new sales opportunity: managing new ISV partners who had just signed their partnership agreement with TSYS. At the time, this was a relatively new department, and I got to experience what it takes to build a team and its processes from the ground up.
I enjoyed enabling new ISV partners to be successful. We measured performance on the partnership's success, so I quickly adopted go-to-market strategy best practices that worked and earned revenue for the partnerships I managed.
About eight months into my role as New Partner Relationship Manager (NPRM), TSYS merged with Global Payments, forming Global Payments Integrated. My department was in a great position to grow with the organization; we took what we learned from NPRM and created the Partner Success Team. I found my second mentor, who started introducing me to our new management contacts, allowing me to cultivate and build impactful relationships within the organization.
Partner Success continues to be laser-focused on supporting new ISV partners by aligning the partner’s processes and ecosystem with Global Payments Integrated. They ensure partnership success by preparing our internal organization for incoming new partners.
Communication is key, and I learned even more by interviewing key stakeholders within partner organizations and understanding how their specific unit works. I had the opportunity to launch some big partners; I truly enjoyed creating their go-to-market strategy with them and the Business Development Team.
Q: How would you describe your current role within business development?
My job focuses on qualifying new ISV partners and ensuring they are a good fit for a strategic partnership with Global Payments Integrated. Since our company understands various industries and vertical trends, we are in an excellent position to help our new partners integrate the right products.
Integrating the right products ensures high adoption rates from ISV merchants and adds value to their existing software platform. We also are the creators of the partnership’s initial go-to-market plan, and it’s what I enjoy most about partnerships at Global Payments Integrated.
Q: How has your Partner Success background influenced your approach to business development?
Partner Success taught me how to approach partnerships with an educator and consultant mindset. Understanding our organization, products, and how we need to work together to ensure success is essential to a successful partnership.
Having a well-rounded understanding of our department's capabilities and excellent contacts within our organization are all things I gained as a Partner Success Manager. It continues to help me set the proper expectations with partners and allows me to efficiently build a partnership that earns revenue quickly.
Q: What makes a payments partnership with Global Payments Integrated special and unique?
Everything we do is for our partners. Many don’t realize that we base our product roadmap and innovation plans on what our partners and their merchants need.
Our unique, strategic partnership approach is another big differentiator against our competitors. Many payments companies are still taking a vendor approach, treating payments as a commodity.
At Global Payments Integrated, we are experts in fully understanding our ISVs' current strategy and processes. Understanding how they are selling and communicating to their existing client base allows us to do the same when going to market with their payments product, working in sync, operating as a true partner.
Q: In your experience, what are things that ISVs overlook or don’t realize when they do a payment integration? How does Global Payments Integrated fill in those gaps?
Most prospective partners don’t initially see our payment innovation as a value proposition to their product suite. By providing a first-in-class commerce platform to their users, our integration makes the ISV more competitive in their marketplace.
Prospects might also underestimate our support ecosystem. Every new partner gets assigned an Integration Specialist and Partner Success Manager to guide them through the process. We’ve had many of our partners integrate our solution in less than 4 weeks thanks to this support. Our partnership support also continues post-integration with our Strategic Partner Managers and seasoned sales teams.
One more important thing that commonly goes overlooked is our direct relationship with the card brands (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express). It positions us uniquely in the payment card industry, allowing us to provide more aggressive pricing to the end merchant while empowering us to share more revenue with our partners.
Q: What excites you the most about the future of payments?
For me, it’s witnessing Global Payments Integrated transform into a fintech company. We will continue to host and enhance our payment APIs and acquirer network while building products that improve the entire customer experience.
Some of the latest innovations we’ve added to our suite address the entire customer journey through products like appointment booking, digital forms, telephony systems, customer/patient financing, accounts payable, and a turnkey HR/Payroll platform.
Conclusion
Our Business Development team is ready to help ISVs integrate a payment solution that best suits their software and their clients’ needs. Contact us today to get started.
Michelle Mondonedo
Brand Marketing Manager
