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Leaders In Payments
Leaders In Payments
Brent Rose, CEO of EPSG | Episode 328
Navigating the ever-evolving landscape of the payments industry can be a daunting endeavor, but with the right insights and guidance, it can also be an area ripe with opportunities for growth and innovation. In a recent episode of the Leaders in Payments podcast, Brent Rose, CEO of EPSG, offers a wealth of knowledge gleaned from his 30-year journey in the payments sector. Brent's background is deeply rooted in the Midwestern values of integrity and hard work, which have played a significant role in his ascent to the helm of EPSG.
The podcast episode delves into the transformative journey of EPSG from a sales-centric organization to a full-service acquiring payments provider. This shift underscores the company's strategic investments in technology and infrastructure, which are crucial for staying competitive in the rapidly changing FinTech arena. Brent emphasizes the importance of supporting small merchants, particularly in the densely populated New York-New Jersey metro area, highlighting the unique challenges and rewards that come with catering to this segment.
Brent's personal stories, including his experiences in youth sports coaching underscore the parallels between his coaching philosophy and his professional ethos. As EPSG continues to make strategic strides in the payments industry, Brent's insights offer valuable lessons on resilience, strategic thinking, and the power of enduring relationships in business.
Welcome to the Leaders in Payments podcast, where we talk to C-level leaders from across the payments landscape. We'll be discussing the products and services that impact the payment space today, as well as trends and predictions for the future of payments. We will also hear stories from our guests about their journeys to the top.
Speaker 2:Now, as we kind of take the next approach of growth, a lot of the foundation that was starting to be built here we took a really hard look at where we want to get to in the coming years and build the infrastructure first. You know, there's kind of the old saying there's an old baseball movie right, if you build it they will come, type thing. We really focused on the last year and focused on bringing in the right leadership, the right people in the right roles, from technology to operations, to compliance and risk and so forth, controlling our own destiny and having the right leadership in place to build the infrastructure and then start to kind of rebuild the sales infrastructure, so to speak.
Speaker 3:sales infrastructure, so to speak. That was Brent Rose, the CEO of EPSG, and he is my special guest on this episode, episode 328 of the Leaders in Payments podcast, and I'm your host, Greg Myers. With a combined 60-year history in payment processing and related merchant services, EPSG is built on three basic principles integrity, transparency and commitment. Brent and I talk about what makes EPSG unique in the marketplace and where the company is heading in the future, as well as Brent's career in payments. We've got a great episode ahead, so let's get started. Hi Brent, Thank you for being here and welcome to the Leaders in Payments podcast.
Speaker 2:Thanks, Greg. It's a pleasure to join you today and looking forward to speaking about payments and where we're at today and where we're going. So looking forward to an enjoyable call.
Speaker 3:Great, great, me too. So let's go ahead and dive right in, if you don't mind. Tell our audience a little bit about yourself, maybe where you grew up, where you went to school, where you currently live, a few things like that.
Speaker 2:Sure, no, absolutely.
Speaker 2:So really born raised, primarily stayed in the Midwest I'm a Wisconsin guy, kind of through and through, from sports teams to schools and everything else and had an opportunity to travel a little bit further away the neighboring state, if you will down to Iowa and attended school down there, had an opportunity to play a little football back in the day and met a lot of good friends that I call friends today and colleagues and some people that are actually even in the industry today.
Speaker 2:So I came back after that and met my wife and started really kind of getting into payments, maybe even a little bit before that. You know, kind of the joke was, you know, trading while I was in school, trading a paintbrush for a Zahn Jr terminal, if you will, and got introduced to payments way back in the day and it kind of stuck with you and having had some relationships and family relationships and banking and so forth, my wife at the time was a finance manager and we're looking to kind of build and grow a company and we did all the difficult things before we even really got married and had kids and so forth. So time tested and now my kids have grown up. One of them is actually a risk analyst and underwriting in the payment space today and my youngest is ready to graduate and go on to InfoSec IT and get his MBA. So time goes fast.
Speaker 3:Yes, it certainly does, and you were actually on the show a couple of years ago, so you and I have connected in the past. But today we're going to be talking about EPSG and your role there, so maybe tell the audience what the company does.
Speaker 2:Sure, you know, obviously the call today is leaders in payments. You know the payment industry has obviously changed a lot over the last three decades. You know kind of referencing the old technology that transitioned from electronic draft capture, if you will, and the little boxes that we used to swipe cards on and so forth, and it's how it's changed to where we're at today, with really a technology-based company EPSG actually entering our 18th year of business this year and started out as a sales organization in the payment space helping merchants facilitate transactions and settle the transactions in their business from credit card transactions. So you know we're a payments provider a little bit different. You know I think we've grown up quite a bit over the last 17 plus years to get to this point.
Speaker 2:You know there's been some major investments really, starting about five, six, seven years ago in the company to rebuild the infrastructure and really become kind of a full service acquiring payments provider, if you will. So probably not too many of us left in the industry, so to speak, like us today anymore. There's been a lot of consolidation and mergers and acquisitions and so forth. And payments you know payments is really kind of driving where everything goes. You know it's a staple in the life of everyone every day, whether you're making a transaction with your Uber driver or at a restaurant or a retail store, and you know we've continued to focus on really just building the infrastructure, be really what I consider a full acquiring processor with our own bank relationships, our own bins, so to speak, and really a full service 24-7 shop. That I really focused on kind of completing the second phase of that over the last year that I've been here.
Speaker 3:Okay, and you focus primarily on small merchants, or what size merchants?
Speaker 2:So you know we've been rooted in the New York, new Jersey metro area.
Speaker 2:We're based out of Melville, long Island, new York. So as the company really kind of started again from kind of a sales organization, you know, we kind of grew geographically in that area which had, you know, a nice mixture of a lot of low-risk retail restaurant call it cash-to-carry type merchants Over the course of the years. And it kind of goes back to really our foundation of what we've done and how we've attracted our sales distribution channels, whether it be direct sellers, independent sellers, kind of alliance partners and different things, independent sellers, kind of alliance partners and different things. We've kind of expanded our geographical footprint and that's kind of lent ourselves to different types of business. For the most part I would call it small to medium sized business. We're starting to work upstream into some middle enterprise type merchants and so forth. We do have some nationally recognized large kind of enterprise merchants. So it's a good mixture, primarily, again you know, being retail restaurant focus for many years and that's kind of been the space that we've done well with.
Speaker 3:Okay, and are there any sort of specific verticals or sort of that retail restaurant or kind of the sweet spot?
Speaker 2:It has been really up until again a couple of years ago, specific verticals or sort of that retail restaurant or kind of the sweet spot.
Speaker 2:It has been really up until again a couple years ago and it's probably helpful to just kind of give a little background. Like I said, I've been around the industry for a long time and had the opportunity to work with in different roles at different companies and so forth and look at how we built things in the past and maybe made some mistakes and learned some things along the way, and I think the focus since they asked me to come in and join and scale the company a little over a year ago has been to really focus on where do we kind of go next? Right, and it's the verticals. The geographical footprints are changing a little bit. We tend to grow in different areas that we hadn't typically looked at before. It's really kind of the regional type model and I assume Greg will kind of get into what our secret sauce is and I think everyone in our space has a little bit of a story to tell that makes them unique.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, let's go ahead and go there. Tell us what differentiates you guys from your competitors out there with EPSG from the start of the company.
Speaker 2:You know we have 10, 15 sales partners that were here when we opened the doors. For some of them it was their first stop in payments. A lot of them, you know they've stayed with us for a long time because we've tried to do business the right way. You know we've always held up to. You know we going way back. You know the co-founders wrote a sales partner agreement that was focused on, you know, protecting a portfolio and the portfolio is probably the most important thing. I mean, we see a lot these days where portfolios are bought and sold and it's revenue to bottom lines and top lines and different things. And sometimes the sales partner or the sales agent gets caught in the crosshairs a little bit and they realize, hey, everything I've worked for for the last two to five years or longer maybe I had a buyout or something like that from the portfolio, had some security in it. But you know it's really kind of starting over again and we've upheld to our values for again going into our 18th year, we've paid our residuals on time every month from the start. I think our secret sauce from that standpoint is just longevity and being consistent.
Speaker 2:Some of the growth that we've had in the early days of EPSG have been very natural, organic.
Speaker 2:I have a friend who's a sales partner who's looking to join us building a referral-type partnerships and so forth.
Speaker 2:What started out was with a couple individuals that helped co-found EPSG, materializing into next thing.
Speaker 2:You know we have 5, 10, 25, at this point over 3,000 registered sales partners in the EPSG world.
Speaker 2:So it's kind of growing over time and now, as we kind of take the next approach of growth, a lot of the foundation that was starting to be built here we took a really hard look at where we want to get to in the coming years and build the infrastructure first.
Speaker 2:You know there's kind of the old saying there's an old baseball movie right, if you build it they will come, type thing. We really focused on the last year and focused on bringing in the right leadership, the right people in the right roles, from technology to operations, to compliance and risk and so forth, controlling our own destiny and having the right leadership in place to build the infrastructure and then start to kind of rebuild the sales infrastructure, so to speak. As crazy as it sounds, I wasn't as focused on the sales natural growth the first year that I've been here. Now we're kind of hitting our stride because we've built the foundation to support not only 500, 600 accounts that we do today, but 1 thousand or 1200 that we plan to do, and we'll hit those forecasts in the coming, you know, six to 12 months.
Speaker 3:Okay. Well, what are some of the things that you accomplished that that help with that kind of sales enablement? Was it you know, technology build you know, or was it, like you said, people skills or a little bit of both?
Speaker 2:So a little bit of both. You know I look at our industry. You know everyone. We have a portfolio. Our sales partners have portfolios. Every day that they go out and install a new merchant, a new business, it's adding to their portfolio, having them focus on. You know you don't want to have everything put into the restaurant or hospitality world, as we talked about a few years ago, when different things can happen in the economy or pandemics and things that happen.
Speaker 2:So balancing out your portfolio, diversification, expanding into some different verticals and industries and so forth, and educating not only our new people what I'll call our, our green fielding activities with bringing new people into the business but also our existing sales partners, our legacy ambassador sales partners that have been with us for a long time, kind of re-educating them, you know, with it, you know building the infrastructure that. You know we did a lot of things on a manual basis A year ago when I first came in. We've automated almost all of our processes. So time to approval, time to install, time to revenue, which is obviously the most important. You know we've cut substantially and part of that is automation, it's people skills, it's a lot of different components.
Speaker 3:Okay, okay, great. Well, I mean obviously as someone who's been in the industry a long time. It's people, skills, it's it's a lot of different components. Okay, okay, great. Well, I mean, obviously, as someone who's been in the industry a long time, you've seen a lot of changes in the past. Curious your thoughts on where you see the industry heading in, say, the next three to five years I think it's going to continue to evolve.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of new technology that's being developed and it doesn't all relate specifically to payments but I think, understanding where the next generation of consumer spending is going, how they go about their daily lives, you know a lot of things have been input into wallets and embedded payments and so forth, you know, and a lot of the technology, you know.
Speaker 2:If I look at point of sale systems and ERPs and different things that are kind of the facilitator to payments a lot of those you know they've kind of built the vehicle to get to payments I think I'm starting to see some of the technology now that is almost starting to unembed payments a little bit, give the business owner some options as to how they run their business versus being locked into.
Speaker 2:Okay, if I buy this one thing, it's going to do everything for me, but now I've kind of limited myself on how I want to change and grow my business, whether it be a retail restaurant location. You know, I think that's going to continue to evolve. You know tech is going to drive a lot of that. Obviously, the hot topics, those things we're doing a lot with AI internally with our service center, with our risk monitoring, with our underwriting just staying ahead of, you know, continue to get better and better. So you know, if the companies that don't invest in the technology today to protect not only their existing portfolio but to help to grow their new portfolio and verticals, they're going to be caught several steps behind going forward and I think us being nimble enough to do that and agile enough to do that is a big point for us.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, completely agree with you there. So let's switch gears a little bit and talk about you. So maybe walk us through your career journey, how you got to where you are today.
Speaker 2:Sure, so again, 30 plus years in the industry, kind of off and on, primarily in the industry. I have some business interests that I developed and built over the years but I've really been just kind of attracted to payments for a long time. Coming into the workforce today to take a look at a business that every day you continue to build and monetize and build your portfolio value and recurring revenue and so forth and I think that was a big attractor for me for a long time, continues to help us think about the way I strategize for the company, growth and so forth. And I've sat in a lot of different seats. I've been on the sales side, sales leadership side, door-to-door sales for many years. I've been on the board side and strategic growth side and I love the challenge and I think every day learning a little bit something different and having the opportunity to kind of coach and mentor and build career paths for people that want to put in the work and, you know, watch them succeed and get to the next level, is just really, really exciting for me. And it kind of goes back to, you know, from a personal standpoint had the pleasure and opportunity to coach.
Speaker 2:You know a lot of sports over the years starting out with my kids and then transitioning to other teams that I coach in different sports, from the youth level all the way up to the, you know, very high level travel balls and so forth and watching the just the growth of you know kids from you know much like starting the workforce. They were starting their career in sports and been fortunate to touch a lot of kids that went on to play in the MLB and NBA and NFL and so forth. So it's something that drives me every day to think about. How can we all kind of get better? How do we get better together and make sure that the people that are going to put in the work you really give them a career path, make sure that the people that are going to put in the work you really give them a career path, give them the tools to improve their lives and their business lives and their personal lives.
Speaker 3:Okay, what was attractive about EPSG? Why did you make the decision to come on board there?
Speaker 2:It took some time after I had stepped away from payments for a bit and was actually focused on some other opportunities somewhat inside payments and so forth, and it really went down to the two co-founders of EPSG.
Speaker 2:We go back probably 28 years or something like that. We've been kind of friends, colleagues, for many years and there were some discussions with them even going back call it eight, nine, 10 years ago, and sometimes it's just about timing, I think, the values that they've upheld with their sales partners, the way that we treat our merchants historically internally, we joke about opting out, we opt out of pricing increases every year and probably just doing business the right way. And it kind of goes back to my core values and beliefs. And you know, being that kid from the Midwest right, you know it's your word and is only as good as you know how you live it every day. And the alignment was just right and I think the engine was already there to really build something special here. And we have a long way to go, but a lot of great things are happening at EPSG Awesome.
Speaker 3:Well, what are some things you're passionate about? I know you kind of mentioned a little bit already, but maybe one personal passion and one professional or business passion.
Speaker 2:I think the one thing I've probably said two or three times is you know the mentoring, the coaching aspect of it. You know, I think that that's part of you know personal life, business life, and you know they kind of cross over and as long as your personal and your business life are kind of in alignment, it makes it very easy to do things every day and be excited about waking up in the morning and challenging the day. You know, and understanding, you know how can we be, how can we all kind of get better together. You know it's kind of a motto that we have internally with the leadership teams. You know it's. You know what can we do better today? You know, and it's some of those words are often said and repeated and so forth, but we really kind of live it.
Speaker 2:You know there's opportunities that we have. You know, to move people. You know, if they want to commit, to move to into a leadership or a director level within the company today, there's a career path and opportunity in front of them to do that. We have amazing mentors and coaches in all of our leadership, whether it be from our sales leadership to, you know, risk compliance, underwriting, finance and so forth, and that kind of drives me, you know, and I kind of look at. You know the personal side and the business side again much the same. Personally, big sports fan, you know love to get out and play golf whenever I can and so forth, and you know, make some new connections and relationships there.
Speaker 3:Okay, One final question, and this kind of is in alignment with what we've been talking about around the whole mentorship thing. So I'll be curious your answer. But let's play this scenario Someone graduates from college, they look at FinTech or payments and they see this industry that they want to build their career in and obviously, as someone who you know, you've been in the industry a long time they come to you, or maybe they even want a job there, and they say hey, Brent, what do I need to do to be successful in this industry? What would you tell them?
Speaker 2:The financial opportunity in our industry from reoccurring revenue and building and maintaining your portfolio, and it only continues to grow and grow and grow is what makes us unique. You know every, every merchant that you know you might have in your portfolio. Every time they swipe a card, you make a, a penny or two or five cents or whatever the case may be. And you know if you're a relationship person, you know it's and you'd love to. You know I think too much focus is put on it's a sales job. You know it's really a relationship job and if you love talking with people and you can build, you know partnerships and referral partnerships within your community, or you know specific business types that you enjoy and so forth, you know you've got to be passionate about it. You know when I've, when I've worked with new people coming into the industry, you know you kind of go through a little bit of a process with them, right? I mean number one, everyone kind of knows how payments work. Today Everyone has basically a credit card and they realize, okay, I, I buy this or whatever, and you start explaining, kind of the ecosystem of hey, by the way, you know these are the parties that are involved in a transaction and by you helping facilitate a new relationship. You're going to earn a little bit of that forever as long as the merchant is processing. And then you set up, you know, really a plan for them. You know what does their sphere of influence look like, making sure that they're bought in. You give them the tool sets and skill sets and really reinforce doing the daily activity and doing it consistently. It's a tremendous opportunity in this space.
Speaker 2:I think right now, more so than ever, it's probably a great time to join this industry because there is so much changing.
Speaker 2:The kids coming out of school and today they're more in depth of understanding how these things kind of work, because it drives their life more and more today than it probably did our lives right. So, understanding what that is, understanding what the real opportunity is, you know doing business the right way but then also giving them the support mechanism to help them be successful. And you know we talked a little bit about our, our growth model in the coming years We've developed additional sales distribution channels. You know typically, historically I should say you know we were really kind of an independent sales partner shop and we would give them the tools and support to maintain and grow their portfolio. Now we've moved a little bit to the regional type sales model, so we've got that distribution channel and those people are now working as coaches and mentors with not only legacy people but helping them, helping new people, just you know, kind of get into the industry. They need that support mechanism and if they do the work every day, it's a tremendous opportunity in a tremendous industry.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and you said something there that I just wanted to kind of double down on is it's a great time to be, you know, to come in this industry or be in this industry. I think it's a fascinating place to be. I haven't been in it quite as long as you have, but I'm pushing the 20-year mark in innovation in this space. I remember in my early days it was when I was working with Chase Payment Tech and I've told this story many times. You know we took Ingenico and other Hypercom and other kind of terminals and we said, hey, why can't they be blue, why can't they be Chase Blue? And we thought getting them to turn a terminal blue was some big innovation. So just think about where we've come from, those days of that being innovative versus you know where we are today. So it's a great space that's ever moving and a lot of money invested in it, and you know it's just a great space to be in, I think.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think you know, especially with the younger generation probably, you know, looking at this industry, they understand how everything is kind of frictionless for them, right, and they don't have, call it, traditional type credit cards. Sometimes they all start out with a call it a debit card or something tied to their wallet or digital banking. You know there's a lot of things that are just going to continue to evolve and you're going to have more opportunity to kind of cross sell into those merchants and provide some additional solutions. You know there's a lot of focus now on, you know, banking as a service and different things that are only going to continue to evolve and we're just barely touching the tip of the iceberg on a lot of these things.
Speaker 3:Yeah, totally, totally agree with you. Well, we've covered a lot of ground, obviously, about the company and what makes it unique and different, and about your professional journey. Is there anything else you'd like to add before we wrap up the show?
Speaker 2:I appreciate the time. Greg, it's a pleasure joining you today. If you want to find out more information about EPSG, we're at goepsgcom. We have a regional model in place today as well, so if you're on the East Coast, west Coast or Central, they'll work with you to help design a plan. If you're new to the industry, or if you're a legacy sales partner looking for your final stop in payments, take a look at us and I think we're a good fit for a lot of people, and we're always open to have those conversations with new sales partners and team members.
Speaker 3:Okay, well, great Brent. Thank you so much for being on the show today. I know your time is very valuable, so I really appreciate you being here. Thanks, great Brent. Thank you so much for being on the show today. I know your time is very valuable, so I really appreciate you being here.
Speaker 2:Thanks, greg, have a great day.
Speaker 3:You too, and to all your listeners out there. I thank you for your time as well, and until the next story.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us this week on the Leaders in Payments podcast. Make sure you visit our website at leadersinpaymentscom, where you can subscribe to the show and where you'll find our show notes. If you enjoyed listening, please share on your social channels as well.