Straight Talk for ISOs: A Q&A from First American’s Angela Carranza and Ross Paup

“Relationship” has become a dirty word in the industry. It’s overused and empty. What’s so different about the First American approach?

Angela: We take the time to know our prospects from both a business and personal level. We also invite potential partners to our corporate office to meet everyone—the CEO, the underwriters, customer service reps, product and integration teams, and marketing. How many CEOs do you know who will actually take the time to get to know a prospect? How many companies do you know that encourage partners to call when they need help solving a problem or simply want to tap into a team’s expertise? Once a prospect becomes part of the First American family, we collaborate with them to add value to their brand, whether that’s through integrations, products or marketing.

Are last year’s mergers really the big bad boogey man? How is First American faring?

Ross: The acquisition activity has, in most cases, had a negative impact on the level of service and support the ISOs working with those companies receive. While many of the acquired companies are justifiably focused on merging systems, platforms, and products, our focus continues to be on helping our ISOs grow and evolve in the market. As a privately held entity, First American is nimble, offering a true one-to-one partnership with our ISOs, a benefit which has only become more important during all of the M&A activity during the past 24-36 months.

ISOs are exhausted by unmet product promises. How is First American’s product strategy energizing ISOs and helping to distinguish them in the market?

Ross: Many companies will develop a solution they believe in and then hope their customers fall in line to sell it. First American tailors and builds solutions to meet the needs of the merchant and the opportunities in the market. This partner-centric approach is not always the easiest path, but it continues to generate success among our ISO partners and ensures a better merchant experience.

Put real dollars and a real-life use case to how your company has legitimately helped an ISO accomplish its growth targets.

Ross: Our willingness to adapt to the need at hand is the key. In many cases, tailoring a solution has nothing to do with the payment processing or software, it may be as simple as boarding, underwriting, or other operational efficiencies. One of our ISOs, for example, wanted to provide a custom, simplified merchant experience for a marketing organization with a large number of retailers. We created a custom pricing model, boarding process, and payments integration to work within the ISO’s mobile application. As a result of First American’s custom underwriting and onboarding solution, nearly 80,000 retailers migrated to the new system within the first 60 days.

In one sentence, tell the ISOs reading this piece why First American is worth their time.

Angela: First American creates tangible value for our partners through high-touch relationships, custom integrations, product solutions and award-winning support.