Intro/Outro (00:00:03):
Welcome to Supply Chain Now, the voice of global supply chain. Supply Chain Now focuses on the best in the business for our worldwide audience, the people, the technologies, the best practices, and today’s critical issues, the challenges and opportunities. Stay tuned to hear from those making global business happen right here on Supply Chain Now.
Scott Luton (00:00:32):
Hey. Hey. Good afternoon. Good morning. Good evening. Good night, wherever you are. Scott Luton and Kelly Barner with you here on a Dial P for Procurement episode right here on Supply Chain Now. Kelly, how are you doing this morning?
Kelly Barner (00:00:44):
I’m doing well, Scott. We actually have a really fun, different session for people today. It continues to be all about the P. Today’s not about P for procurement though. It’s not about P for purchasing even. Today, we were doing payments and credit card processing and who doesn’t like payments.
Scott Luton (00:01:01):
You know, it’s revolutionized global business, right? Everyone these days, everyone, regardless of size, certainly if you’re in supply chain, the transactions make global business move forward. And a lot of those are payments processing, credit card payment processing, you name it. And we’ve got a thought leader in that regard here today to answer all of your questions.
Scott Luton (00:01:24):
Really, I think we’re breaking up the conversation, Kelly, in two main veins, you know, how payment processing works and the power of payments in an episode written by the one and only Anne Rice of supply chain, Global Supply Chain Procurement, Kelly Barner. We should note, Kelly, that, of course the P for procurement is presented jointly by Supply Chain Now and are our dear friends at Buyers Meeting Point. And, we’ve been wrapping up a home run quarter with our friends at Una, right?
Kelly Barner (00:01:53):
We absolutely have been and very much following in the theme of what we’ve been talking about is that, you know, you can’t have a good experience on one side of the fence and not have one on the other side. And, I think this topic of payments kind of brings everything together because at the end of the day, global business hinges on that capital flowing from one set of hands to another.
Scott Luton (00:02:12):
That’s right. Excellent point there. So, of course, if you enjoy today’s conversation, be sure to find us wherever you get your podcast from and subscribe. But most importantly, we want to hear from you today in the moment. This is live. This is not recorded. You can pinch us, but we’re right here, live in the flesh, talking with you. We want to hear from you as we chat through our conversation with our two awesome guests, Jim and Kris, which we’ll introduce here momentarily.
Scott Luton (00:02:36):
But hey, really quick, Kelly, as we see folks in our cheap seats, in our sky boxes as we’ve renamed it, we see two of our favorites, right? Let’s go ahead and call out two of our favorites. Azaleah is with us, a new resident of the great State of Tennessee. She says, “Supply Chain Now Fam! Excited to be here for Dial P.” She had a change in schedule last week.
Scott Luton (00:02:58):
Hey, Azaleah, congrats on your new professional opportunity. We look forward to big things continuing to come from you. And, Kelly, one of our favorite, you’re talking about perspective that’s dropped in the sky boxes. Azaleah is one of the best, right?
Kelly Barner (00:03:13):
She definitely is. And, I’m glad you were able to be here this week, Azaleah, glad your schedule interfered with whatever was happening last week and not interfering with you being here with us today. You would have been missed.
Scott Luton (00:03:22):
Always, she’s always missed. And, she says she has acquired some experience lately. We’re going to have to check back in with her.
Scott Luton (00:03:29):
Keivan is with this once again as he has coined the new abnormal that we’re all working through. Keivan, I hope this finds you wherever you are and you continue to do big things in global supply chain.
Scott Luton (00:03:43):
Peter Matheka is here with us. He’s bringing the gun show to the livestream via LinkedIn. Hey Peter, let us know where you’re tuned in from and thanks for joining us here today. We look forward to your POV.
Scott Luton (00:03:55):
Okay. So –
Kelly Barner (00:03:56):
Actually, hold on Scott, really quick speaking of Peter, in absentia shout out [inaudible] RSVP regrets from Peter Bolle, all night and all day. So, this is, Peter as you’re listening on demand, we already miss you, buddy. But I know you’ll enjoy it on replay.
Scott Luton (00:04:13):
Yes, he is here in spirit, undoubtedly.
Kelly Barner (00:04:15)):
Yes, he is.
Scott Luton (00:04:15):
Especially on any conversation that’s dominated by procurement. So, all the best to our dear friend, Peter Bolle. Okay. Kelly, are we ready to introduce our dear guests here?
Kelly Barner (00:04:28):
I don’t think the question is, are we ready? I think the question is, is our audience ready? Today’s going to be a wild one. If you’re not already, please sit down, move hot beverages and sharp objects to a safe distance away. Just hold onto your hats because this hour is going to be something else.
Scott Luton (00:04:43):
Oh, we’re going to have a lot of fun. We’ve got some colorful personalities, and that’s what makes the world go round. So y’all stay tune or more –
Kelly Barner (00:04:49):
[Inaudible] personality.
Scott Luton (00:04:49):
That is right.
Kelly Barner (00:04:51):
[Inaudible].
Scott Luton (00:04:52):
One more shout out. TSquared is with us. TSquared holds down the fort for us on YouTube. Thanks so much for being here. He says, “Looking forward to the nourishment.” I have enjoyed your comments here lately, TSquared.
Scott Luton (00:05:03):
Okay. So with no further ado, we want to –
Kelly Barner (00:05:06):
Let’s do it.
Scott Luton (00:05:07):
Yeah. Let’s bring in our featured guests today. We’re going to be welcoming Jim Luff, Marketing Manager at Chosen Payments, and Kris Lance, repeat guest, Senior Director at Una. Hello, hello, Jim and Kris, how are we doing today?
Kris Lance (00:05:22):
Doing well.
Kelly Barner (00:05:22):
Welcome, guys.
Jim Luff (00:05:22):
Doing great. Thanks for having me on your show today. Really appreciate it.
Scott Luton (00:05:25):
So, Jim, you had us all in stitches and appreciate as you’re sharing some of your experiences and I wish we had three or four hours with both of y’all here today to get them all out there, but nevertheless, a pleasure to have you here and thanks for making time as busy as y’all are.
Scott Luton (00:05:40):
So, we’ve got a ton of stuff to get into. And, hello, Michael Hills, back with us. He was with us yesterday on the bus. So, Michael, great to have you back. We’re going to dive right in. So, upfront, Kelly, you know, we like to have a lot of fun with this lightning round that isn’t always enlightening style, but that’s okay. We’re going to pick and choose some of our best stories and some of our best questions here. And I want to start with you, Jim. So, pray tell, we hear that you spent some time as part of your career journey as a luxury limousine driver. Now, with that said, we know you can’t tell all the stories, you’ve got a lot of good ones, you shared some early on, but give us an anecdote or two from that stop in your career.
Jim Luff (00:06:19):
Sure. You know, I spent 30 years in the limousine business, and I actually got into it quite by accident. I had a friend of mine who called me one day and said, “Hey, can you – would you be willing to drive a limousine on Friday night, a privately-owned limousine? And, I need somebody to drive somebody in and this is a private limo.” And I said, “Okay.” And, I went to pick the limousine up from her office. It was an accounting office. I had no idea that later that night I would be driving the legendary country, western singer, Merle Haggard.
Scott Luton (00:06:53):
Wow.
Jim Luff (00:06:54):
So, I became Merle Haggard’s regular driver on a, you know, driving a private limousine. And that of course led to Buck Owens. I hail from Bakersfield, California, which is known as Nashville West. So, in my career, I’ve driven people like Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks, Randy Travis; the list goes on and on. If their country, they’ve been here to Bakersfield and I’ve driven them and –
Scott Luton (00:07:21):
The streets of Bakersfield driven by Jim Luff.
Jim Luff (00:07:24):
There you go. There you go. So –
Scott Luton (00:07:26):
Well, you know really quick, Jim –
Jim Luff (00:07:28):
Yeah. That was the great solid Buck Owens and Dwight Yoakam.
Scott Luton (00:07:30):
You’re right. And, a lot of folks may not know, I didn’t know really until I watched a couple of documentaries on Buck Owens. His legend far surpasses his time on Hee Haw, where maybe the nation saw him. He was an absolute legend when it comes to country and western music.
Jim Luff (00:07:47):
Yes. And, and here in town, in Bakersfield, he built a venue called Buck Owens Crystal Palace. And it is like a miniature version of the Grand Ole Opry located here. So, it’s been closed since COVID started, but rumor has it as of last night that they’re planning on reopening in November, but it really gave me the opportunity to do and see a lot and have one-on-one conversations with celebrities that was fantastic.
Scott Luton (00:08:18):
I love it. Okay. I’ve got to ask you one more question, and then I’ll promise I’m coming to you, Kris. And, by the way, Crystal says, yes, Jim has the best stories. I believe it. Hey, Crystal.
Kelly Barner (00:08:26):
Hi, Crystal.
Scott Luton (00:08:27):
I believe it. We miss you and the dog. But, Jim, did you ever convey any big time wrestling stars like Rick Flair, you know, the 13-time heavyweight champion the world?
Jim Luff (00:08:38):
I did not personally, but I had a contract with the WWE to drive all of their wrestlers when they came to my town to be performing at the local arena. But I would like to share my best story and I’m sure that everybody listening knows Bob Hope. I got the honor to drive Bob Hope, which I grew up as a child watching Bob Hope on TV and entertaining our troops. And, he was really kind of an idol to me. So, to be able to drive him was fantastic. But as we were returning to the airport from his speaking engagement, he repeatedly asked me if I could make him a Brandy Alexander. Well, folks, I don’t know what goes in a Brandy Alexander. So, even if I had all the ingredients, I probably wouldn’t make it for him and we’re [inaudible]. We were in a limousine.
Jim Luff (00:09:25):
So, there was no way for me to make it, but he must have asked me this about six times in the span of a 15-minute drive. And, I’m thinking my hero, my idol, he’s just lost it. He’s mushed. And, we pulled up to the plane, his private plane, and he looked at his wife and he said, “Hey, did you get the check from those people from my speaking engagement?” And, I thought, well, Bob, you remembered the most important thing about why you came to Bakersfield, California. So, that’s my best story of driving celebrities, and having that moment with someone really famous.
Scott Luton (00:10:02):
Legendary. The legendary Bob Hope and Bob Hope clearly gets what he wants in demand, tell ya. Jim, thanks so much for sharing some of the stories from 30 years, gosh, in the limousine industry. We’ll have to have you back on and dive in a little deeper in some other things that you couldn’t share here today.
Scott Luton (00:10:16):
Kris Lance, great to have – we love our repeat guests. And, we got a ton of feedback on your last couple of appearances here. Let’s talk about any big time experiences, rubbing elbows with the rich and famous, Kris Lance.
Kris Lance (00:10:31):
You know, every morning, I look in the mirror and I talk to myself. I don’t know if that counts, but –
Kelly Barner (00:10:36):
I thought you were going to say Anthony.
Scott Luton (00:10:37):
In our book, it does.
Kris Lance (00:10:38):
Yeah, no, all joking aside. I don’t think I’ve actually I spoke or connected with any A-list, you know, celebrities, but there are two instances, ‘cause I grew up on the Connecticut/New York line, and so there were two instances. I remember being in New York with my dad after a Knicks game, leaving Madison Square Garden, I walked past Spike Lee, which was just cool. We didn’t talk or anything, just walked right past each other. And then, the other time was at a very nice hotel, downtown New York City, it was Mike Tyson and I saw him, Jim, getting out of a limo. I don’t know if it was yours or not, but the large crowd and the face tat gave it away. That’s about it for me. Yeah.
Scott Luton (00:11:18):
You know, Mike Tyson. Man, back in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s, when he was coming out to that ring, it was an energy that I’ve seen very few times when it comes to sports, and, of course, Spike Lee, iconic. We’re watching his latest documentary on HBO Max now. I’ll just add one more and, Kelly, I’ll promise I’ll throw the baton over to you. Is Mike – I had a chance to sit down with Mike a few weeks ago, virtually, and you never know what you get when you interview folks that are, you know, wildly successful, but I’ll tell you all, Mike was the same guy and, no, I’m not on a first term basis. Mike was the same guy that you see him on anything on TV. He was just the same in a small private interview session. And, that authenticity is going to stick with me for a long time. So, that’s always cool when you meet someone that’s doing good work out in front of the world and they’re just a fellow human. So, with that said, Kelly, we’ve got two, between Jim and Kris, we’ve got an outstanding conversation teed up here today, right? Really quick Crystal, remind us the name of your dog. That was the star –
Kelly Barner (00:12:19):
Louie.
Scott Luton (00:12:20):
What?
Kelly Barner (00:12:20):
Louie is the VP of snuggles.
Scott Luton (00:12:22):
That’s right. Okay. All right. Kelly, take it away.
Kelly Barner (00:12:24):
Okay. So, Kris, your own personal little lightning round here. First question. Can you drive a limo?
Kris Lance (00:12:32):
I want to say yes, but I haven’t attempted it. I’ll have to ask Jim. Like, is there a big difference between a sedan?
Jim Luff (00:12:38):
You can do it. You can do it.
Kris Lance (00:12:39):
All right. Sure. Yeah, absolutely.
Jim Luff (00:12:42):
But it’s just too much wider turn, just a wider turn.
Kelly Barner (00:12:44):
Second question. Have you ever had a Brandy Alexander?
Kris Lance (00:12:48):
I don’t know what that is. So, I can’t say that I have, not that I recall.
Jim Luff (00:12:52):
That’s two of us.
Kris Lance (00:12:53):
Yeah. Okay. So, third question, in all seriousness. So, you’ve been with us or Una has been with us for multiple episodes now. We know Una is a group purchasing organization. We know Jim is in the community on the provider side. He’s with Chosen Payments. Just for folks that have either never worked with the GPO or maybe just don’t know Una and are coming to this conversation. How would you characterize the larger context in which Una and companies like Chosen Payments and folks like Jim worked together? Give us just sort of like the lay of the land so people understand the dynamic between your organizations.
Kris Lance (00:13:28):
Yeah. So, Chosen Payments and Una, we work together essentially to bring unparalleled value, right? So, we’re aggregating spend, looking at very specific service levels. What makes sense for Chosen Payments? What makes sense for our members? And then, our two entities or our two companies work together to shoulder all of that work, so essentially the members don’t have to. They can say, “Hey, what’s the offering?” And, we can essentially present Chosen Payments and Una’s best foot forward on a regular and consistent basis. And, it does extend beyond, you know, just lower pricing where payments and fees and things like that, which Jim will definitely do a good job hitting on that I’m sure, so.
Kelly Barner (00:14:04):
Awesome. So, basically Chosen Payments is one of the companies that your buy-side members would get the opportunity to work with us as part of Una.
Kris Lance (00:14:13):
Absolutely. You got it.
Kelly Barner (00:14:14):
Okay. Awesome. So, then in that case, Jim, we’ve talked about the value of the dollar, the important of payments to people receiving them and also people making them. Give us a really quick rundown on sort of the basics of payment processing in the context of corporate procurement supply chain.
Jim Luff (00:14:36):
Sure. Boy, that’s broad, Kelly. That’s really broad.
Kelly Barner (00:14:41):
Okay. But you’ve got 60 seconds.
Scott Luton (00:14:42):
If anyone can tackle it, Jim Luff can. I promise you.
Kelly Barner (00:14:45):
That’s right.
Jim Luff (00:14:46):
Sixty seconds. There are five parties involved in every transaction, all right. And, to begin with, I have some credit cards laid out. I’m going to put my finger over my number so you don’t see it. But this is a Wells Fargo Visa. So that would be party number one. They issued the card to me. Party number two is you, the merchant. You were accepting my car. Party number three is a part that most people don’t know of known as the acquiring bank. Now, as merchants, and Kelly and Scott, you both talked about this, we want to get our money fast and there’s really no effective way to do that when you have Wells Fargo out there, you have Union Bank out there, you have Capital One. So, the acquiring bank agrees to basically put up a short-term loan for, say, Union Bank. So, Union Bank, I own this card and I do a transaction for $5,000.
Jim Luff (00:15:45):
Well, an acquiring bank, the largest in the world is called First Data. First data is going to immediately put the $5,000 into the merchant bank account overnight. Chosen Payments is going to be in the middle as kind of a traffic cop between the buyer, the merchant, the funding bank, and the card issuer, and then we’re right in the middle. So, now, Wells Fargo owes First Data that $5,000. So, over the course of the next few days, First Data is going to go to Wells Fargo and they’re going to say, “Hey, you know, we advanced a $5,000 on behalf of Jim Luff to ABC merchant and we need to get that money back.”
Jim Luff (00:16:28):
So, that’s really how it all moves. But I really wanted to stress here that the funding bank or the acquiring bank is the most important key component in the transaction because if you don’t have somebody to give you the money upfront overnight and literally if you’re with chosen payments under the Una plan, if you run transactions by 5 o’clock today, we guarantee the money’s in your bank account by 7 o’clock in the morning. The only way we can do that is to have an acquiring bank loan that money. So, that’s a quick high-end version of how credit card processing works behind the scenes.
Kelly Barner (00:17:06):
And, it’s sort of like, I mean, we use the phrase supply chain finance, right. Companies look for all kinds of different ways to ensure that their suppliers of all different sizes have the liquidity and access to cash that they need. And so, something like this might be part of a supply chain finance program that somebody would put in place just to make those payments, transactions, processes faster and easier and get that money out to suppliers.
Scott Luton (00:17:30):
Right. And, that’s really that cycle, right. Condensing that cycle is so important regardless of the size of business. Hey, really quick before Jim, you were going to add something else. I should recognize Michael Hill. I just learned something about Michael Hill. He played keyboards in a show band back in the day, and he agrees that Jim has the best stories. There’s a championship belt for you, Jim, somewhere.
Jim Luff (00:17:50):
Thank you, Michael.
Scott Luton (00:17:52):
Nurf is back with us. Nurf, appreciate you. Your sense of humor is always, but your expertise in supply chain, great to have you here, Nurf. Okay. So, Jim, you’re going to add something else as we are talking about condensing these cycles, right?
Jim Luff (00:18:05):
Yes. Because you know, Kelly was talking specifically about cash flow and the movement of it. So, 10 years ago, a credit card processor was probably just that. They process credit cards. Today, we have evolved to a point where we’re involved in a lot of other things that make money move faster, including ACH processing. That is an automated clearing house process. And, in the past we used to speak of that as wiring money. I’ll wire you the money. It worked good if you were from another country and needed to move money fast. But the same concept has been adapted through the automated clearing house that let’s say, Kelly, I want to pay you money but I need you to have it today, not tomorrow. I need you to have it today. So, I can generate an ACH or automated clearing house payment to you from my bank account directly into yours. That’s another service that Chosen Payments provides.
Jim Luff (00:19:08):
But the really cool thing that we’ve implemented within the past three years is digital invoicing and digital payments. So, in the past, we all know that when we wanted to get paid and we had one of our customers set up on billing terms that you are periodically running statements in a month. Some companies do it every Friday, some do it once a month, whatever your thing is, but you know this. Number one, you’re going to spend a lot of money on paper. You’re going to spend a lot of money on ink. You’re going to spend a lot of money on postage, and then you’re going to sit and wait and wait and wait until the customer does what they call AP day. And, maybe they cut checks every Friday. Maybe, they only do it once a month. Well, by switching to a digital invoicing system, which we offer, you eliminate all that because the ink is going to be printed on the end of the receiver who’s getting the invoice, but really there isn’t even any reason to print the invoice anymore. And we embed right in the center of an invoice, click here to pay now.
Scott Luton (00:20:11):
Love that.
Jim Luff (00:20:11):
This causes the money, Kelly, to move 40-60% faster in payments. Because if you think about this, all of you that are listening right now, when we get an email, a work email, it is considered an action item. I don’t care what it is. If it’s a work email, you’re taking some kind of action. And, if you’re like me, you want to be done with it. You want to get this email –
Scott Luton (00:20:38):
One touch.
Jim Luff (00:20:39):
And you’re going to address whatever it is and be done. Now, you have the ability to click a button and pay that invoice. I guarantee you people are going to pay faster because they want to be done with the email. So, you know, whether you attach a bank account to that payment or you attach a credit card to that payment, we’re seeing more and more people attach their American Express to it, because let’s face it American Express has the coolest gifts and gadget for points, hotel stays, airlines, et cetera. So, you know, we really, as a credit card processor have evolved into much bigger areas that allow companies to move money faster.
Scott Luton (00:21:17):
Hey, really quick, I bet Am Ex should add a night in Bakersfield on the town with Jim Luff to that list of awards. That’d be the top of the list. And, by the way, Kelly, Amanda has looked up Brandy Alexander, which Jim was talking about earlier, cognac, crème de cacao, [inaudible] how you said it. I don’t know. Maybe not. A heavy cream is what we’re after there. And, we should say hello to our dear mutual friend, Katherine McCleery. Katherine –
Kelly Barner (00:21:40):
Hello, Katherine.
Scott Luton (00:21:41):
I hope this finds you very well. Okay. So, Kelly, Jim’s really dropping a lot of knowledge on us here today. Where are we going next?
Kelly Barner (00:21:50):
So, I think my last question for Jim, and actually first a note to the audience. So, Jim, we have a lot of really famous people that watched Dial P every month. So, I would just like to extend the offer that any of you famous folks watching Dial P that have been in Jim’s limo, if any of you would like to offer us Jim’s stories, we will be collecting those through the livestream. And, we’ll also take them after the end. So, anytime, no limitations on that, you just reach out.
Scott Luton (00:22:16):
Love it.
Kelly Barner (00:22:18):
Last question around the basics of credit card processing. We’ve kind of talked in the abstract. You know, I love the overview of how the money moves and all the players. But just to give us a sense, you don’t have to name company names, but what are the types of companies that would work with Chosen Payments? So, if I have someone in enterprise procurement, which of their suppliers might be companies that are working with Chosen Payments to expedite those funds?
Jim Luff (00:22:45):
Well, my easiest answer to that would be all, but I will be more specific that Chosen Payments, we really try not to be, you know, marketing to the masses and trying to get, you know, Bob and Joe that have convenience stores on the corner of their neighborhood because those aren’t profitable for us.
Jim Luff (00:23:10):
So, we work with very specific niche industries, and one of them is associations such as Una. We find that, in this particular case, the sheer volume of members that Una has allows us to apply a lower discount. And I would like to talk about rates before we go, but we can negotiate rates on behalf of our members. But it’s just like, I know that Una, if I want to get, I don’t know, let’s say I want to get reams cases of paper. The paper I buy and the more other people buying paper through Una sources, the lower the rate is going to be, very same concept for us.
Jim Luff (00:23:54):
So, we serve industries where we know that there’s a lot of blank, whatever it is. And, consequently, let me go back and say that Chosen Payments was my credit card processor during the limousine and Chosen Payments has approximately 10,000 limo companies that they process credit cards for.
Scott Luton (00:24:15):
Plus [inaudible] Jim, is that right?
Jim Luff (00:24:19):
Yes. And so, limousine is one. Another really kind of odd but there’s a lot of them is funeral care providers that means cemeteries, funeral homes, cremation facilities. And then from there, we get into a whole subset of caskets sellers, body bags sellers, embalming fluid. So, it’s a very, very large industry. I got to tell you my first convention in the funeral industry, I probably looked like a gear in the headlights.
Scott Luton (00:24:55):
Well, you know, Jim, it sounds like a niche industry, but at the same time it’s like toilet paper, right. And, we all know how big that’s been here in recent years. Everyone has that that other bookend event in their life, right, so naturally it’s going to be big business, Jim.
Jim Luff (00:25:11):
Yes. And so, we do jewelry stores. But we really – I mean, our real niche is working with associations that have lots of members and it’s a whole lot easier to go and find somebody like Kris and sit down and make a partnership with him and then let Kris and Crystal sell our product on behalf of us. So, then they come back and say, “Oh, you know, we have 45 members that want to use you today.” So, it’s an easier sell that way, but we really do deliver a service that is vital, including credit card processing, ACH payments, merchant service loans, contactless payments, digital invoicing, so much.
Scott Luton (00:25:56):
Options, options, options. Okay. You mentioned Kris. Kelly, I know we want to pull Kris’s expertise in here too.
Kelly Barner (00:26:01):
We do.
Scott Luton (00:26:02):
What’s next?
Kris Lance (00:26:02):
I was just going to jump in there real quick too because those two items that Jim just mentioned that’s actually been, especially the last 18 months, that’s been probably the largest area of inquiry we’ve had. It’s been digital payments and contactless payments, which I kind of remember pre-COVID being able to walk up with your phone or walk up with your wallet and just place things. And I was like, “Oh, that’s, that’s cool, right.” But once COVID hit, or once we got through there, we’re still getting out of this pandemic, it’s everywhere. And, it’s almost like a new standard now. Even some of the vendors, just from our internal processes, our invoices are coming over in a very digital form, click here, pay, and then it’ll open up, and it’s do you want do an ACH? Do you want to sign here at a card? And so, I see the value internally for us and more and more business or businesses are really starting to access the contactless payments and the digital payments as well.
Jim Luff (00:26:49):
Just Real quick, real quick. Seventy contactless payments went up 71% during the pandemic.
Kris Lance (00:27:02):
Wow.
Kelly Barner (00:27:03):
Wow.
Scott Luton (00:27:03):
Wow. Seven one. Okay. So, Nurf, by the way, we’re talking national pepperoni pizza day yesterday on the buzz. Nurf says, “Hey, I’m sending a bunch of pizzas to a secluded island for the ultra-rich. Can you help me with the financing on that?” Hey, Nurf.
Kelly Barner (00:27:18):
Nobody could drive the pizza over.
Scott Luton (00:27:19):
That’s right. Nurf’s in the (27:21), man.
Jim Luff (00:27:21):
[Inaudible] island. [inaudible] driving the islands.
Scott Luton (00:27:21):
I’ve got a couple of great questions from Azaleah, but I want to make sure, Kelly, and then we’ve got a bunch of work through, but Azaleah we’re going to try and circle back to that here just momentarily. All right. So, Kelly, a lot of information. I’m a little bit slower than all three of y’all. So, I’m still processing, no pun intended, but where are we going next?
Kelly Barner (00:27:41):
So, next – one follow-up for Kris. I actually think this is an important point for us to make because people that think they know what a GPO is and what it offers them and what they should look to it for may have actually been really surprised over the last 18 months to find out that something like payments processing was available, right. People think of the typical indirect spend product and service categories as being associated with the GPO. From your perspective, and Crystal, you’re also welcome to chime in, I know you’re here with us. This notion of becoming part of a member community, which I know is the way that you talk about it, you really have an opportunity to become sort of a first tier set of resources because a lot of things changed over the last 18 months in ways that people had to figure out how to handle it overnight and they didn’t necessarily know they needed these things.
Kelly Barner (00:28:29):
So, do you find that as member companies at Una discover new needs, they would turn to you and say, “Hey, Kris, I have this new business problem. We’ve never needed to satisfy this before.” Is this something you ever hear? I mean, I have to think it must be very rewarding for you to be able to say, “Yeah, we have all of these other partnerships that maybe didn’t bring you to own it but that you can benefit from now that you’re here.” Is that a conversation you end up having?
Kris Lance (00:29:01):
Yeah, absolutely. Because, you know, again, we’re not necessarily the experts in all of these different categories, but we do have the network to tap into those experts whether it be through vendors and Jim himself as an expert, right, or whether it’s tapping into other members and seeing what they’re doing, how they’re defining success and how they’re exceeding their own internal expectation.
Kris Lance (00:29:20):
So, you know, we’ve seen as obscure asks, “Hey, what’s your COVID policy supposed to be?” And it’s like, “Well, that’s a little different. You know, what state are you in?” But, yeah, a lot of times a lot of members will come to us and say, “What are other businesses in our industry doing? Where can you help?” And, you know, interestingly enough credit card processing, we’re really talking about fractions of pennies that add up to very, very large sums. So, a lot of times, you know, a lot of businesses, they tend to look at it, that’s too much to tackle. You know, insert Chosen Payments. You don’t have to tackle that. That’s why they’re here. That’s part of their value add.
Scott Luton (00:30:00):
That’s excellent point. You know, it brings them on, Kelly. You know, no one wants to major in the minors as the old phrase goes. However, as Kris just points out, those minors can add up quickly where it’s a massive opportunity, right?
Kelly Barner (00:30:12):
Absolutely. Kris, any other categories of spend or I should say products or services that were sort of surprise areas of focus or increased interest either over the last 18 months, let’s say, or even now indications that you’re starting to see going forward as we go back to this? I forgot what was it, new normal, Scott? How did Nurf –
Scott Luton (00:30:32):
The new abnormal is what –
Kelly Barner (00:30:33):
New abnormal.
Scott Luton (00:30:33):
Keivan has as a themed.
Kris Lance (00:30:37):
I think the biggest thing that I’ve noticed, and I don’t know if it’s maybe [inaudible] play or just everybody’s turning over any rock possible, but there are more and more very, very large organizations reaching out, even using this as, you know, a tentative price check, and then looking at some of these savings like, wow. So, GPOs actually can benefit a 2 to 5 to $10 billion organization. Yes, absolutely. We can, right?
Kris Lance (00:31:05):
But typically, you know, before COVID, when the bottom line wasn’t necessarily as important as the top that was very different conversation, whereas, now it’s yes. Please help. You know, I need to look at all of these categories and, you know, specifically in plastics, right, with the cost of resin and oil and gas. You know, everybody’s looking to be as creative as possible. So, that’s the biggest thing that I’ve noticed as far as a temperature change in some of the businesses we’re working with.
Kelly Barner (00:31:32):
Yeah. And, it’s those wise companies. I mean, I came up through procurement in retail and we always used to have this expression that if you watch the pennies, the dollars will manage themselves, right? And so, just being a big company, just having a lot of money doesn’t mean you don’t have to watch those pennies, especially if they’re distributed across however many transactions you’re processing, your payments coming in or going out. It’s always an opportunity.
Kris Lance (00:31:55):
Yeah.
Scott Luton (00:31:56):
All right. So, we’ve got some great questions from Azaleah. I want to go ahead and post one of these that I could, Kelly. Going back to Jim, really quick. Azaleah is asking about Chosen Payments retention. Do you often work with associations 10 years, 10 plus years, or do you jump to the current business that kind of rank as trends shape associations? Can you speak to this a little bit?
Jim Luff (00:32:17):
Sure. So, our retention rate currently runs at about 90%.
Scott Luton (00:32:23):
Nice.
Jim Luff (00:32:24):
So, we don’t lose people very often. And, I can tell you that our association with the national limousine association began 10 years ago and has been – you know, we went from sponsoring a meeting to now being more of a $35,000 main corporate sponsor. So, we like those relationships to grow and develop and to become stronger. We’re very selective in the industries that we go out and choose preferring instead to continue developing relationships that are existing as opposed to mass marketing outside of what we’ve already built.
Scott Luton (00:33:01):
Love that. I really appreciate the great question and your response there, Jim. Really quick, Peter Bolle, all night and all day, is back with us once again, and Michael Hill. Thank you for asking this question. We have too many acronyms, the GPO, group purchasing organization, right. So, Michael, thanks for asking that question and keeping us on our toes there. Great to have you. Okay. Kelly, where are we at? I’m keeping count, but where are we at now? Where are we going next?
Kelly Barner (00:33:27):
So, we’re actually going to start talking about the power of payments themselves. We’re going for literally as many pays as we can get into this hour as humanly possible.
Scott Luton (00:33:35):
Well, hey, really quick. When you said that, did anyone else – that He-Man with the sword, I have the power come to mind? ‘Cause that’s what the second half of the livestream is going to be about, right, Kelly? Yes, Jim.
Kelly Barner (00:33:46):
Of course.
Scott Luton (00:33:46):
That’s right. He’s wielding Excalibur there, folks. All right. So, the power of payments, Kelly.
Kelly Barner (00:33:53):
The power of payments. Jim, given that you are working with the companies that most of the folks in corporate procurement would think of as suppliers, what is it that happens to your customers when large companies take too long to pay them for products and service that has already been, not only invoice, but in some cases delivered?
Jim Luff (00:34:14):
I’m so glad that you asked that because so many people, so many smaller businesses don’t really see how important that is and the direct negative impact it has to their bottom line. So, as you’re aware, we are in a constant state of inflation. So, what you paid for gas last month is probably not what you’re paying for gas this month, the same as meat and every other product that you buy. So, let’s just talk on really small terms that you did an invoice for $50 and a company takes 90 days to pay that bill. Well, when they do pay that and you actually received the check, the money is worth less value. It has less buying power because even if you did a $50 transaction and $20 of that was going to be your net profit, that same $20, 90 days later, will not buy you as much as it would have 30 days ago or 60 days ago.
Jim Luff (00:35:18):
So, getting paid promptly is really a very important part of running your business. Along that same line, Kelly, you know, I see people say, “Well, you know, I don’t want to accept credit cards for payments because I have to pay a percentage of it.” Well, I guarantee you, depending on who your credit card processor is, I know that for Una the rate for visa transactions is negotiated down to, I believe it’s like 1.5% of the transaction. For a merchant using Square or PayPal, they’re paying 3.5% flat. And so, that money is gone, but I guarantee you that if you take a payment 90 days late and they did put it on a credit card, and even though it costs you 1.4%, you’re still ahead of the game.
Kelly Barner (00:36:09):
Yeah. So, it’s a time value of money, right? You talked about inflation. You’ve waited that amount of time. You’ve had to either pay the people to perform the service or pay for the materials, the inventory that went out for you to fulfill the offer. So, it’s the difference if I’m getting it right between working with a payments processor to help bridge that time partially by compressing it and partially by working through the financing and then just playing, being smart about how much you actually pay for those digital payment services.
Jim Luff (00:36:40):
Right. And, I mean, every business is a little different and every business will have to evaluate it from themselves. One thing that we do as a service for Una members is we’ll say, give us your last two months of credit card processing statements. We want to look at actual transactions. And then, we’ll tell you, had you been with us in the same two months? And, in theory did the same exact transactions, here’s how much it would have cost you to use us through Una or whoever you’re currently using. And actually, I’m going to say we’re so strong on that, that we have this crazy offer. I think it’s crazy anyway, that if for some reason we can’t beat an Una member’s current rates, we pay that member $500 on [inaudible] cash.
Scott Luton (00:37:32):
Wow. That is a crazy offer.
Jim Luff (00:37:33):
[Inaudible] no gimmicks. It’s just what we do. I’ve been with the company for six years and that’s only happened one time in six years. So, we’re pretty confident about that. But, you know, I think that many merchants and I would say, Kelly, that along these lines of where you’re leading the viewers, I wish we could do it by show of hands right now how many people have actually looked at their credit card processing statement in detail in the last year.
Scott Luton (00:38:01):
So, Jim, we can. So, folks in the sky boxes put a one in a quick comment and send it and we’re going to take a tally of who’s done that. And, by the way, as Azaleah is enjoying the points you’re making. She says I know a lot of restaurants and businesses in her hometown that will not accept credit card because they won’t pay the fees. But that inconvenience draws many young customers away because in her follow-up point after COVID-19 I felt like I used cash even less than before. And then, one other quick comment, Michael Hill, back to GPO. He says, “I love TLAs!” Three-letter acronym. I hadn’t looked that one up, Michael. So, nice job there. But that’s true.
Jim Luff (00:38:40):
Did I throw one out?
Scott Luton (00:38:41):
Yeah, please.
Jim Luff (00:38:42):
Did I throw one out? Did [inaudible] the acronym?
Scott Luton (00:38:45):
No. We were talking GPO a minute ago. So, three letter acronyms.
Jim Luff (00:38:49):
I had to ask them what that was too.
Scott Luton (00:38:53):
Good things come in three’s.
Jim Luff (00:38:55):
I have to ask them. Are you Una? Are you Yuna?
Kelly Barner (00:38:57):
U-N-A.
Jim Luff (00:38:58):
What are you?
Scott Luton (00:39:00):
Hold on a sec. We have got majesty with us in the sky boxes, Phil Ideson, Art of Procurement, is with us. He says, “I was just in Europe – many retail businesses are now refusing to accept cash and are card only – I imagine this is coming to the US soon.” Nurf says, “I only use chocolate-filled golden coins to pay for my stuff.” But, you know, to that point though, less cash usage is that kind of y’all’s experience, this panel’s experienced. Are you all using cash less too?
Kelly Barner (00:39:30):
Definitely.
Jim Luff (00:39:30):
Less.
Kris Lance (00:39:31):
I feel like I am, but I actually prefer cash. That’s just a personal preference, right. But what I’m seeing more and more though, it’s not even just the simplicity. It’s just the speed, being able to get in and out and go. And then, I agree with what Phil has to say though. I think that will be coming to the US very soon.
Scott Luton (00:39:48):
Agreed. Agreed. Okay. And we’ll get back to a couple of comments in a second. Kelly, I know I’m going to ask Kris about Una here in a second. But what else? What else? Well, we have Jim here and we’re all learning – I think we’re getting a certification in credit card and payments processing with these two. What else would you like to ask for before I post a couple of questions at Kris?
Kelly Barner (00:40:06):
Sure. For both of you guys, I actually have a few questions about how understanding whether it’s the benefits of belonging to a GPO or it’s the benefits of having a payments processor. You know, large enterprises are so focused on starting to work with small businesses, hubs zone-based businesses. We need to be very aware of how our operational procedures and systems and processes affect these suppliers. So, Jim, starting with you, is there something as, you know, too small? Is there a supplier that you would consider too small to benefit from being part of Chosen Payments? You know, how might we think about that if we work for a large company and we’re trying to help small localized hubs zone-based businesses into our enterprise network? We’re sort of the sweet spot that we should be thinking.
Jim Luff (00:40:57):
You know, for us, and that is a good question that we do have merchants that we turn away, that we just say, you know, we really can’t help you because the volume level is too low for us to really – as Kris mentioned earlier, we’re talking about pennies on the transaction. So, for us merchants that are typically generating less than 25,000 in a month in credit card transactions, they’re not ideal candidates for us. And, there’s a high likelihood that we would be no better or worse than their current provider. So, it’s not, you know – I guess that would be our breaking point for small businesses.
Kelly Barner (00:41:36):
Sure. Do you ever have companies that try to connect you, sort of provide you as a solution to their suppliers? I can actually see the advantage of that to a company finding out that Chosen Payments exists, not necessarily needing it themselves, but saying to suppliers, “Hey, look, this is going to make it easier for you to send us this digital invoice where I can just hit the button and pay it.” Do you ever end up having relationships that way?
Jim Luff (00:42:01):
Yes. And, I can tell you we do track that as well. You had asked me about retention earlier, and I can tell you that our growth rate, we attribute a growth rate monthly of 8% to direct referrals that come from our partners that require no marketing effort on my part. They’re basically just dropped into our lap and call us and say, “Hey, we were referred by blank,” and, you know, that does happen.
Kelly Barner (00:42:33):
Kris, were you going to jump in there? I didn’t want to talk over you.
Kris Lance (00:42:36):
Well, no, I was going to say, but that’s kind of what Jim was saying is, you know, there may be unfortunately, right, you know, merchants or, you know, groups or entities that may be too small. But going back to his path forward is, if you can find other like-minded or like similar businesses and you can approach in Una, we can start creating or forming these groups to position it to where it does make sense, you know, for Chosen Payments and they’ll be able to receive that same or similar types of value.
Jim Luff (00:43:04):
That’s very true. And, I appreciate you bringing that up because I miss that. That if we have – if Una delivers 20 merchant to us that are all at the $25,000 level, then it becomes a different game because it gives us more negotiating power with the card brands, MasterCard, Visa, American Express, to say, “Hey, you know, we’re representing 419 people here.” And, it gives us clout where, you know, if I bring one merchant, went to Visa and MasterCard and tried to negotiate it, it would be amusing to them.
Scott Luton (00:43:39):
Right. Kind of means of scale. And folks, Jim, I’d love for you to be negotiating our contracts. Do you do any contract negotiating? But it’d be quite a lucrative opportunity for you.
Jim Luff (00:43:49):
Yeah. I don’t do those myself, but we do have contract negotiators in the house.
Scott Luton (00:43:54):
I bet Jim can bring the hammer. I got to share a couple of quick comments here. Azaleah says she only pays in bubble money. If you have any Spongebob fans out there. Peter says, “Cash back credit cards are where it’s at.” We had two folks respond to you in particular, Jim, when you we talk about auditing their payments. So, Rhonda Bompensa-Zimmerman’s back with us. Dr. Bompensa-Zimmerman. She says, “Yes. I look at my statements and rarely use cash. My credit score/report is important to my financial health.” And, also Peter says, “I go over my credit card statements all the time.”
Scott Luton (00:44:30):
So, a lot of other comments, I can’t get to quite right now. But, Kris, I want to, as we kind of turning the home stretch of today’s livestream, you know, one of the big takeaways I think we’re all going to have here, especially if you look back at our last three livestreams, is just the resources and the experts like Jim Luff and so many different areas that Una brings to the table. So, talk a little more about the feedback y’all get from your clients in this regard.
Kris Lance (00:44:58):
Well, so here’s the thing. I think a more and more pricing, while it’s still important, it’s not the only focus any longer. But I’ll also say that your response times, transparency, service levels, those are almost no longer viewed as value add. It’s almost like an expectation. You have, you know, a ridiculous response time or poor customer service levels. You know, members will just leave immediately. So, those are expectations.
Kris Lance (00:45:25):
But what I’m seeing more and more being requested and is not so much an expectation yet is it’s the ability to integrate into current processes or current systems. And, that’s where I think that Chosen Payments really comes to deliver because they actually look to fill that gap. And they’re very transparent with it. Like, no, we can’t do that, but here’s what we can do. Here’s the value that we’ll bring. Here’s the value that you’ll see in just one year, two years, three years, and how that compounds, and they’re really good at providing that education in a way that doesn’t almost come off as disparaging, right? Because again, we’re not experts, but we’re responsible and accountable for all of these very large dollars. And so, Jim and Chosen Payments, again, that’s one of their sweet spots, but that would be what I say is becoming more and more close to an expectation, but the ability to integrate into current processes or systems.
Scott Luton (00:46:15):
Excellent point. Any follow up to that, Jim.
Jim Luff (00:46:17):
Yeah. You know, Kris reminded me of a story that, while the story is three years old, it still has so much emotional impact to me that I carry it with me today. We received a call in our tech support center, which is 24/7, 365 days a year. We received a call from a panic merchant. It was Thanksgiving Day. She had a store in a mall, a clothing store. The next day was Black Friday. She said that her cash register, her integrated cash register that ran credit cards through the cash register was broken. And, she had been trying to call, I’m not going to say the name of the cash register company, but it was really their problem, not our problem. But she called and said, you know, tomorrow’s Black Friday. And, I mean, as you can imagine for a retailer three years ago, Black Friday was everything for them as far as significant income. And, she was unable to run credit cards. So, on Thanksgiving Day, our techs worked for three to four hours with her and had her system up and running when she opened at 5 o’clock in the morning for Black Friday. And, I think that when choosing a credit card processor, you know what Kris is talking about, customer service is so important. It’s not just about the rates. It’s not just about what we do, but it’s about how we do it and when we do it, and for us, it’s 24/7, 365.
Scott Luton (00:47:42):
You know, Jim, to that point, I can imagine that that month had y’all not done that certain bills for that retailer would have gone unpaid whether it’s for the family behind the business or the business itself. So, that’s such an important lesson or a story for you to share and I really appreciate you doing just that.
Scott Luton (00:47:59):
So, Kelly, when Jim mentioned he had a story, Jim, I had my popcorn and diet Coke ready to go for some more [inaudible] stories, but, man, you threw me for a loop with a one that kind of tugs at your heart. Kelly, we got a few more minutes with Kris and Jim here. Before we’re going to ask the question how we can connect our folks with them, what else would you have to say?
Kelly Barner (00:48:19):
So, I actually want to ask Kris a question, very similar to the one that I asked Jim about working with smaller companies. You know, being part of a GPO, group purchasing organization, does not necessarily create an issue so that if a company were to say to its suppliers, “Hey, listen, you know, we feel like your rates are high. Let’s work together to understand your costs.” Do you have member companies that are reaching into what, at least in procurement, we would call tier two where they say, “Okay, I’m a member of Una, but I think these strategic suppliers of mine should also be part of Una because it both directly and indirectly helps reduce my costs.” Do you have that kind of same situation where, you know, Jim and I talked about other people referring in?
Kris Lance (00:49:05):
We do, we do. I mean, in short, yeah. We definitely do. I had a really good thought at the beginning of this, but I lost it listening to it, to the rest of your question there. But no, we definitely do. What I would say is – there’s my thought. I think the world right now has kind of had enough of change management. So, what I’ve noticed is a lot of people taking notes on, “Oh, wow. Okay. So, that’s an option. Let me circle back.” I mean, it’s as often right now where someone will say, “Hey, I’m interested in credit card processing.” We’ll go ahead and we’ll capture that information and bring it back to them. And it’s like, here’s the information, you’re ready for the conversation. And it’s, “Actually, no, because now I need help with this, this, this, this, it’s moved to the front of the line,” which is in procurement that’s kind of just another Tuesday, right. But at the same time, that’s where I think that down the road, some of the success stories that we are seeing through Chosen Payments will actually go into more of those vendor supplier type relationships. Yeah.
Kelly Barner (00:49:59):
Yeah. And, Jim, the one other topic we knew we had too much to get to today, but the one other topic that we didn’t get to that I do want to make sure everybody in the audience has an opportunity to benefit from your expertise on is chargebacks. So, this is back to sort of you’re educating us. What are chargebacks and how do they work and why should the people that have joined us today sort of understand that?
Jim Luff (00:50:25):
Great question and it goes again to customer service. Whoever your credit card processor is, you want to ask them if they offer chargeback assistance. It can be very complicated, but let’s start with what a chargeback is. A chargeback is basically when a card holder disputes a charge on their statement. The number of reasons for chargebacks vary from defective product to, we’ve seen as ridiculous as the hostess didn’t smile when she presented the check. I mean, people do chargebacks for all types of reasons, but the really bad part about this is any one of us on this call, any one of us that’s listening to this call, can initiate a chargeback for any reason and just call American Express and say, you know, I don’t want to pay for that. And what happens now is they take it off the bill immediately. You’re issued an immediate credit while it’s being investigated.
Jim Luff (00:51:25):
On the flip side of that, if you’re a merchant, you have the money removed from your account the same exact day, and the money is put into let’s call it a theoretical bucket, and we’re going to hold it in that bucket until American Express or Discover or MasterCard or whoever decides whether Kelly’s right or I’m right as the merchant. And then, whoever is right is going to get the money back permanently. So, Kelly could get something from American Express that says the credit has now been made permanent, or, I, as the merchant could get it.
Jim Luff (00:51:55):
Now, there are a couple of things that I want to make sure that I really mentioned with chargebacks. Number one, always respond to them. Never ever ignored them. Even if you concede to it, if the customer says, “You know, I ordered a dark blue and I got a light blue,” and you don’t want to fight with it. You want to just say, okay, you can have your money back and keep the light blue product. It’s fine. But you need to write back and say that I acknowledge it. Because if you don’t, what it appears to Visa or American Express is that you got caught doing something wrong, and you’re not going to acknowledge it by writing a letter and saying this is why I did it. You’re just going to ignore it. You get five or 10 of those, and they’ll kick you off the program. And, you won’t be able to take credit cards from anybody regardless of who your processor is. It’s called a NACHA list. And, I don’t really remember what that stands for, but it stands for you don’t get to take credit cards as a merchant.
Scot Luton (00:52:51):
It stands for don’t do it.
Kelly Barner (00:52:53):
Don’t do that.
Jim Luff (00:52:54):
Don’t do it. And, the other thing I want to wrap up with there is that if you get a chargeback, the first thing that you should do is contact your credit card processor and tell them that you have a chargeback. In most cases, we would be contacting you first and saying, “Hey, Scott, we see you have a chargeback coming through for a transaction last Friday. What do you know about this?” And then, we go to work defending you, just like an attorney would. And, we’ll tell you, we need this, we need that.
Jim Luff (00:53:15):
And, you know, today, most merchants don’t know since March of 2016, you don’t even have to get a signature on a credit card transaction anymore. It’s not required. Most merchants still do it. But we would ask you if you have a signature, send it. If you have a copy of the order form, send it. If the order came by email, send us the email correspondence. And then, we basically began a defense for you and we present it to Visa and say, our merchant did this, this, this, and this, and they’re entitled to the money. And, I’m going to tell you, we win nine out of 10 chargebacks.
Kris Lance (00:53:56):
Can I ask a quick question?
Jim Luff (00:53:58):
Sure.
Kris Lance (00:53:59):
That’s a lot of work. Who would primarily be responsible for that? Does that just kind of fall to who? Who handles that if they don’t have Chosen Payments for assistance?
Jim Luff (00:54:11):
So, most credit card processors do have a chargeback department where they have people that are, you know, I’m not going to say they’re lawyers but I’m going to say they’re pretty apt at gathering evidence and presenting evidence in a logical way. And, while I personally don’t work in the chargeback department of Chosen Payments, I guarantee every time a limo company gets a chargeback, Jim Luff is roped into it. And, they say, “You know, take a look at this. Tell us what your thoughts are.” And, you know, in some cases I have to just say, well, you know, that’s not one we can win. But in most of them, I mean, most chargebacks are fraud. Most chargebacks, the number one cause of a chargeback is somebody saying, “Hey, I have a charge on my bill. I didn’t get the goods. I never purchased [inaudible].”
Scott Luton (00:54:57):
Yeah. Buyers are more so I’m sure. Well, I hate to end the conversation here. There’s so much more we want to get into, but we’ll have to have you both back. In the meantime though, Kelly, I want to make sure folks in our community in the sky boxes and beyond knows how to get in touch both with Jim and Kris. Jim, let’s start with you. How can folks connect with you and Chosen Payments?
Jim Luff (00:55:16):
So, if you want to connect with me, my email address is jim.luff, that’s L-U-F as in Frank, F as in Frank, @chosenpayments.com, or I’ve got a super cool phone number to give you, which is 855-4, 855 then number 4, chosen. 855-4 chosen.
Scott Luton (00:55:37):
Man, I thought we were getting – I was bracing for quite a creative flow number there, but we’ll go with 4 chosen. Thanks so much, Jim. I love the creative, colorful, the stories, you know. We got to all the heavy lifting, but I really admired what else you brought to the table here toda. Kris Lance, our dear friends at Una, we’ve enjoyed this last three month stretch here of highlighting y’all [inaudible] leadership and some of the folks in your ecosystem. How can folks connect with you and Una?
Kris Lance (00:56:07):
So, if it’s me, you can find me on LinkedIn, Kris with a K, Kris Lance. Or, you know, my email, my direct email is kris, so K-R-I-S, @una.com. I’m being inundated right now with a lot of businesses needing some help. So, you know, hit me up on LinkedIn if it’s just more conversational. And then, you know, for just general strategy assistance, or, “Hey, tell me more about Jim and Chosen payments,” you can just go to una.com, sign up for free, and we can schedule a time to connect there.
Jim Luff (00:56:35):
I got to throw in real quick that Kris’s partner, Crystal, who’s on the call right now. Crystal also hails from Bakersfield, California.
Kelly Barner (00:56:42):
That’s right.
Scott Luton (00:56:44):
That’s right. And, by extension Louie, one of the executives at Una. So, big thanks to you both, Jim Luff with Chosen Payments and Kris Lance with Una. Thank you so much for your time.
Kelly Barner (00:56:55):
Thank you, guys.
Scott Luton (00:56:55):
We look forward to reconnecting soon.
Kris Lance (00:56:57):
Thank you, pleasure.
Jim Luff (00:56:58):
Thank you for having us on.
Scott Luton (00:57:00):
Wow. That was a rock and roll to steal a term from –
Kelly Barner (00:57:02):
That was a fast hour.
Scott Luton (00:57:04):
Yeah, it was a fast hour. And, I think, you know, we had a lot to cover in an hour, but I think there was something there for everybody, right? I mean, even charge – I mean, from chargebacks, which of course retail is a big player there too, just how payments processing, some of the opportunities for no matter how big or how small or, you know, all points. Some of the opportunities there from the expertise that Jim and Kris was sharing and, of course, way back at the front, the stories were wonderful.
Scott Luton (00:57:31):
And that’s just, I can assure you, Kelly and I can both assure all of y’all, that’s just scraping the tip of the iceberg.
Kelly Barner (00:57:37):
Not even. Yeah.
Scott Luton (00:57:39):
So, all right. Well, so Kelly, we’re going to be signing off here in just a second. Thanks to all the wonderful comments so we couldn’t get everybody today. I think I wanted to just call something out really quick, see here if I can go back to way back up here. Peter was giving Rhonda a high five because Rhonda Bompensa-Zimmerman, who’s a regular here with us in our conversations, was giving away mental healthcare sessions for truckers last week as part of National –
Kelly Barner (00:58:07):
That’s wonderful.
Scott Luton (00:58:07):
Truck Driver Appreciation Week. And, if that’s not giving for, doing good and being the change, then I’m not sure what is. So big thanks for that, Rhonda. And thanks for calling out, Peter. Okay. Kelly, your favorite part, your favorite part from this conversation with Jim and Kris today.
Kelly Barner (00:58:25):
Okay. So, this is for you as Azaleah. I think as corporate procurement gets into working with a more diverse group of suppliers, that’s location, its ownership structure, it’s the size. If there is any aspect of business that someone says, well, how does that work? And, you think imagination. You’re not doing a good job managing the potential. You’re not doing a good job managing relationships, right. You may work for a large company and think we don’t need payment processing. But if you don’t understand how it’s affecting your suppliers, if you don’t understand how it impacts them to not pay invoices on time, please pay your invoices on time, it’s a mistake and it’s going to end up doing brand damage. It could disrupt your supply chain. So, I would say we have an opportunity and a responsibility to educate ourselves. Nothing can be left up to imagination. We need to know how it works.
Scott Luton (00:59:19):
I love that. I’m just going to ask you, Kelly. That imagination was that Towelie from South Park?
Kelly Barner (00:59:24):
Spongebob. No.
Scott Luton (00:59:25):
Was that – Spongebob.
Kelly Barner (00:59:27):
That’s when you’re paying for bills with your bubble money, Azaleah. Imagination.
Scott Luton (00:59:31):
Oh, gosh. We could have so much fun. That sounds like your impersonations may be as effective as mine, Kelly. I don’t know. But, hey, folks, enjoyed a great conversation, love the leadership that Una has got going. We’ve had some wonderful guests.
Kelly Barner (00:59:44):
Absolutely.
Scott Luton (00:59:45):
Jim is a – man, he’s a dynamo. We’ll have to have him back on with us soon. Kelly, of course, how can folks connect with you and the Buyers Meeting Point Dial P team?
Kelly Barner (00:59:56):
Easy to find on LinkedIn. Kelly Barner. If there’s a lot of red, you’ll know you’re in the right place. Buyers Meeting Point is mine as well. Of course, checkout Art of Procurement on website, LinkedIn, Twitter, all of those places. If you’re looking for interesting thoughts about any aspect of procurement, we are where you’ll find them.
Scott Luton (00:60:12):
That is right. And, hey, you’re going to find us here right here every month. The third Tuesday of the month is Dial P for Procurement day on Supply Chain Now. So, Dial peers come join, bring your POV and really appreciate all the comments that were dropped in here today. On that note, big thanks, Kelly Barner. Thanks to Clay and Allie and Amanda and Jade, everyone behind the scenes to help make production happen. Folks, hopefully you enjoyed the conversation as much as I have. If you do one thing though, hey, be like Rhonda, do good, give for, be the change that’s needed. On that note, we’ll see next time right back here on Dial P via Supply Chain Now. Thanks. Goodbye.
Intro/Outro (01:00:50):
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