To date, I have mailed in excess of 5,000,000 sales letters to targeted lists, produced and hosted two television infomercials, and I've had my full page ads in various magazines, including Success and Entrepreneur, appear in excess of 30,000,000 times.

And despite all the changes in the direct marketing industry, the seemingly endless ways through which one can promote their business, there has been one vital constant that has steadfastly remained unchanged, and that is the ability to tell your customers, "Charge it!"

Everyone in the offline retail business today knows...you will make more sales if you accept credit cards. Period!

Did you know credit cards, now in their fourth decade of use, are firmly established in our culture? Simply put, many Americans would rather purchase a wide selection of products or services using a credit card than by cash, check, or any other means.

The powerful attractions of consumer credit easily translate into powerful benefits for credit card taking merchants. Consider the following:

INCREASED SALES
:If you are selling to the public, you will have a higher average sale (i.e.:higher average ticket). You will also have more customers when you accept credit cards. Studies show that companies accepting credit cards enjoy up to 40% higher sales than those that do not accept them.

Selling on the phone? You are cutting off up to 50% or more of your customer base by not being able to take credit cards!

And guess what? That figure is higher, much, much higher, if you are selling via the Internet. In fact, it is currently estimated that 90% or more of all sales taking place as a result of internet promotions such as target opt in email, and through the viewing of web sites, are via the purchaser's credit card, and there is one enormously powerful reason for this phenomenon. And that's this: Consumer confidence.

Internet purchasers are well aware that they can, should the product or service being purchased via the net is not delivered, or in some way is unsatisfactory, reverse the charge through their merchant bank.

And, it just flat out is much more convenient to enter credit card information on a secure order form. Which by the way you must always offer if you are accepting credit cards over the net. Otherwise you're simply wasting your time.

Look, let's face it. You can be the most honest, ethical, legitimate business person operating in Cyberspace, but unless your customer knows you as well as they know their kid brother, they don't trust you. And because your customers will expect you to offer them a credit card purchasing option. If you don't they'll consider you to be either unethical, illegal, or untrustworthy, and they'll simply take their dollars elsewhere.

There's yet another way merchant account owners can leverage their position with their customers, and that's this..

IMPULSE BUYERS:
Credit cards provide "instant financing" for any product or service, generally up to about $3,000, or more. So when prospects are excited about your product, they can purchase it "on the spot" whether they have cash in the bank or not. Credit cards simply make it easy for people to buy what they want, when they want it, from you!

Today, more than ever, the American economy runs on credit, and people are buying just about everything with them, including automobiles and now even homes! And there's proof in the pudding. Credit cards in business transactions continue to grow every year.

Those retailers both online and offline are not only limiting their success, turning away countless numbers of potential customers, but they are also short changing themselves on the working capital side of the equation. As you know, it can take several days or weeks for a customer's check to clear and be liquid funds in your account. But a credit card transaction typically will clear and be deposited directly to your bank account within two days of processing. And in business we all know the more working capital you have, the greater your advantage.

1. CREDIBILITY It establishes you as a legitimate business online or offline.

2. CONVENIENCE Let your customer decide the most convenient way to purchase from you.

3. INCREASED SALES It's true. Merchants who allow their customers to say, "Charge It!" simply make more sales.

4. IMPULSE Your customers can now buy even if the fungolas are not sitting in their checking account.

5. CONFIDENCEPurchasers today know that sales made via a credit card can be reversed if they experience shoddy merchandise, no delivery of promised goods, broken promises, etc.

6. INCREASED WORKING CAPITAL Gets the money in your account sooner rather than later.

7. EASY & AFFORDABLE Now anyone without a pending bankruptcy can have a merchant account in their name, business or personal, without purchasing or leasing any expensive equipment.

Obtaining a merchant account for the direct marketing of products and services can be challenging. In fact, depending on your credit history, it can be near impossible. Most local banks won't even touch direct marketers.

And guess what? If you are selling via the Internet, you are a direct marketer. And even when those local banks will accept direct marketing applications, typically their discount fees (which is the percentage you pay per transaction value) can be exorbitant, so watch out.

There are lots of merchant account programs proliferating on the net so it pays to shop around. Many of them suck you in with no fee application offers, and then require you to subscribe to their secure server program, and purchase or lease expensive processing/terminal equipment.

And, obviously, these kinds of programs limit you to selling only on the Net. Take it from me, a seasoned direct marketer who has career total sales well into the millions of dollars, a great deal of money can be made offline direct marketing, regardless of your product or service being offered. In fact, chances are pretty good if it's a non-internet related product, and it's selling well via the net, you will also be very successful selling it off the net. So why limit yourself to Net based merchant accounts that tie your hands and prevent you from selling via card decks, space ads, classifieds, 800 numbers, television commercials, sales letters, etc.

Nonsense! There are better deals. Much better.

One of the very best merchant account programs that I have discovered that fits this bill, allows you to accept both Visa and MasterCard from your customers, and they do not require you to purchase or lease any terminal equipment because all transactions can be faxed between you and the merchant provider, where they handle all the processing work, is available at: http://www.mysiteinc.com/cgi-bin/menu/webmaster/merchant/index.cgi?d ist=hbea

Do it now please. There's no telling just how much longer this exceptional deal will last.

And while at the site you just might want to sign up as an Associate and save 25% off your merchant account set up, as well as all of the products featured. In fact, as an Associate of theirs you can earn monthly residuals just helping them give away free web sites & $20 cash over & over.