Payments perspectives: Michael Lefevre
At Global Payments Integrated, our business development (BD) managers approach and consult with independent software vendors (ISVs) to find integrated payment solutions that benefit their merchants and their bottom line.
Michael Lefevre is one of our BD managers with years of experience working with technology companies. We learned what brought him to payments and explored the benefits ISVs experience when they commit to integrating payments.
Q: Tell us about your career in payments.
Michael: My career in payments started three years ago. I was drawn to payments because it’s all about solving problems and improving the customer experience for software companies.
Creating a seamless payment integration for a software company isn’t always easy. Still, it’s rewarding, and I enjoy working and building trust with the many different team members of an organization to get it done.
Q: What does your day-to-day look like as a business development manager?
Michael: My day starts by the pool sipping a fruity cocktail-oops, that’s what I do on vacation!
In all seriousness, I split my day-to-day activities between searching for new software partnerships and helping existing partnerships launch successfully.
Like any worthwhile new business development effort, the first portion of my day usually starts with research. Whether it’s keeping up with my LinkedIn Navigator feed, Google alerts on top companies, or vertical-specific software trends, my focus is to discover key developments or news related to software companies that are a good fit for integrated payments.
When I find an ISV who could benefit from Global Payments Integrated, it’s up to me to network within those organizations to start conversations around our partnership opportunities. I aim to develop introductory emails and phone calls that demonstrate how we can help ISVs meet key strategic goals and add value to their offerings. I also enjoy traveling to different vendor conferences, meeting contacts, and learning about the challenges and needs of their customers.
When I am not hunting for new partnerships, I spend the rest of my day working with our existing ISV clients. Beyond creating a partnership, it’s my job to work alongside our awesome Global Payments Integrated team to assist with our partner integrations and launch strategies to ensure our partners’ success.
Q: Tell us about the ISV verticals you focus on. What challenges are these verticals facing that integrated payments can solve?
Michael: I have a long list of clients in healthcare, but I also work with many other verticals in field services, association management, hospitality, and more.
Whether it’s an association management, field service, or practice management software company, I find each ISV is looking for a partner who can deliver the best payments experience and competitive rates for their customers. In the modern era of payments, consumers want the experience to be frictionless and the technology to meet them exactly where they are. Speed to revenue is also important, and some of the biggest challenges my clients face are capturing the payment either before or very soon after completing services.
Q: What payment functionalities will be important for these verticals in 2022?
Michael: Text-to-pay has been an excellent tool for our partners, as it helps with capturing payments in the timeframes mentioned above. Many software companies rely heavily on recurring payments and card updater solutions to avoid hunting down expired, lost, or stolen card numbers.
Q: Tell us about your most successful ISV relationship. What results did the ISV achieve post-integration?
Michael: The best partnerships I’ve been a part of usually start when a software company can appreciate the resources and staffing we offer to each partner’s success. We want to allow software companies to focus on why they created the software in the first place and leave the payments part of it to us. I like to refer to this Partnership Model as a “team within your team” because our team works so closely with theirs that it’s sometimes hard to distinguish the two.
For example, our Integration Specialists walk step-by-step with our partners’ development teams to ensure the tech and solution are successful. After finishing the development, we have long-term resources available to our partners, one example being, we have a team of payment professionals who market each partners’ specific payment offerings and even travel occasionally to exhibit alongside our partners to educate customers on the value of an integrated payment solution.
In summary, my most successful partnerships have handed over ‘the wheel’ to us, leveraging our team members’ experience to enhance their solution, drive adoption, and grow their payments revenue. They text me when something goes right or wrong, and we have developed friendships that go beyond work. When things go right, the payment integration is truly a win-win experience!
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.
Originally published at https://www.globalpaymentsintegrated.com.
