The Middle Market segment is experiencing fast, steady growth due largely to a knack for adaptability and resilience. There are 3 key needs that middle market companies are asking us to collectively solve and we’re seeing success with Middle Market digital solutions that are meeting these needs.
This is a continuation of our conversation with Leigh Radtke, Vice President of North America Product and Visa Commercial Solutions to dive into these needs. In part 1 of our interview (link), Leigh described the unique characteristics of Middle Market companies, including their adaptability and resilience through hard times.
We ended Part 1 on the cliffhanger of how Financial Institutions can retain their MM customers by providing digital solutions that meet key business needs. Let’s rejoin our conversation with Leigh where she starts to talk through those needs.
Not long ago, I spent a day with Diane, a Controller at a $100MM irrigation supply company in Denver. The company sells sprinklers and such to landscapers and contractors in the construction industry.
Diane was really fired up that day… why? Well… we talked while she signed a stack of 200 checks.
There were three things that she desperately needed:
1. An automated way to pay her suppliers so she wouldn’t have to do it by hand
2. An easier way for customers to pay her that didn’t involve checks
3. A card solution that allows her to reclaim the 8 hours a week her team spends collecting and tabulating receipts from her sales team, who are using their personal cards for travel and client entertainment expenses
Beyond all of this what she really needed was help
Diane and her team did not have time to assess, build, or be trained on a new system.
She needed a solution that would be simple, obvious, and cost-effective.
So how can we help companies like Diane’s?
Visa, Visa Issuers, and Visa Fintech partners have created solutions that meet the unique needs of the middle market– here are three examples:
1. Think about Diane signing a stack of 200 checks with no time to even think about changing anything in her current process.
Visa partners would enable her to send her file to them (instead of the printer in her office) and they would call her suppliers to say that they have a payment that can be sent right away on a virtual card. If the supplier agrees, then the payment is sent to the supplier.
If the answer is no, our partner will pay the supplier in the way that they want to be paid (ACH or check). This solution removes the friction of check writing without requiring any technical
work.
2. What about Diane’s need to make it easier for her customers to pay her? What if she were able to send an email with a ‘pay here’ link to her customers?
Middle Market businesses are looking for ways to make sending and receiving payments easier. This includes solutions that sit alongside a company’s existing accounting software. It includes solutions that manage Purchase Orders, Invoices, and virtual card payments that flow between companies in a supply chain.
3. For the expenses of Diane’s sales team – she’d have her pick of solutions designed for MM companies –
Middle Market companies are adaptable. Resilient. Loyal. You can win and keep their business by providing digital solutions that will meet their needs.
Pulling it all together:
The Middle Market segment is often overlooked or misunderstood– this is a segment that contributes significantly to our economy.
They manage their businesses through the tough times and come out stronger.
They’re loyal to their primary bank and are looking for digital solutions.