The Ugly!

ATMs have come a long way in both prices and appearance.  In 1967, John Shepherd-Barron invented and installed an ATM in a Barclays Bank in London. Don Wetzel invented an American made ATM in 1968. However, it wasn’t until the mid to late 1980s that ATMs became part of mainstream banking.   Back in the late 1980s it was not uncommon for an ATM to sell anywhere between $12,000 and $14,000 dollars.  Compared to today’s prices ranging from $2500 to a little over $5,000 dollars depending on the model and options.  The actual ATM was not only expensive in today’s standards but very cumbersome and ugly.  Am I to suggest that an ATM can be attractive and appealing to the eye?  The answer is absolutely YES.  Go to our website at www.qualitymerchantsolutions.com and click on the tab that says, ATM Services.  Then click on the various PDFs of ATM models and you’ll see for yourself that ATM manufacturers have come a long way in a relative short amount of time when it comes to aesthetics. 

Another way that an ATM can be “ugly” is by not keeping clean and enticing for customers to use.  Take pride in your business and do not neglect the best employee you have in your business.  More about that in the segment titled, “The Good”.

The Bad!

I will warn you up front.  Do not think about purchasing an ATM unless you are prepared to maintain the ATM in working order and with enough cash for your customers to access.  A customer doesn’t care if your ATM is not working or out of cash.  The bottom line is you want to condition your customers to know that they can access their cash from your ATM.  Humans are predictable individuals.  The usage of an ATM can be a compulsive act but in most cases is actually part of our daily routine.  I am not suggesting that when you buy an ATM for your business that the machine is going to be broken or down all the time.  That statement is far from the truth.  It has been my personal experience that ATMs are one of the most reliable, durable and easiest equipments that you will operate in your business.  Most of the time when you go to a location and the ATM is not working it’s not due to mechanical problems but just simply out of cash.  An ATM can be a cash cow if placed in the right business which leads me to another important point.  Do not allow someone to convince you that you should purchase an ATM unless you can justify your investment.  The rule of thumb in our industry is this.  For every 100 customers that will come into your business, 3 to 5 percent will need to access cash.  Unless you have a “cash” only business, do not invest and purchase an ATM unless you have at least 200 daily customers.  Anything under 200 customers per day will never allow you to see the true profit potential of your best employee, the ATM.

The Good!

Finally, the best part of this report.  It is my bias opinion that your ATM will be your best employee and one that will make you lots of money instead of creating headaches and draining your profits.  The bottom line of any business owner is to make a profit.  My analogy of an ATM being your best employee is to illustrate how making an investment of $3000 dollars in comparison to the cost of hiring an employee over the long run. 

If you follow the advice that I have given you in this report, you will clearly see why you should not be wasting another minute to purchase an ATM for your business.  First, your ATM should be placed in a visible area towards the entrance of your store.  It should not be hidden somewhere in the back of the store.  Second, you should have a sign that alerts your customers that there is an ATM inside your business.  Proper signage can and will improve your overall transactions with the ATM.  Third, maintain sufficient amounts of cash inside the ATM.  If you do not remember anything else that you have read in this report, remember this.  Try to do your best not to let the ATM be out of money.  As long as this does not become a pattern, your customers will maintain their loyalty and access their cash from your machine.  Depending on the amount of monthly transactions an ATM can make you anywhere between a couple of hundred dollars to a couple of thousand dollars per month.  You can recoup your initial investment in a very short amount of time.  That income does not even include the additional money that those customers will end up spending at your business.  Statistically anywhere between 20 to 30 percent of cash withdrawn from an ATM will be spent at that location thus bringing additional revenues for your business. 

It is our goal that you only get to experience “The Good” from your ATM purchase.  For more information to see if you qualify and should either purchase or lease an ATM, please feel free to contact our company, Quality Merchant Solutions.