We’ve talked to a lot of businesses in the past 7 weeks. From restaurants, to grocery stores, to floral shops, bike shops, clothing boutiques, marketing firms, doctors, musical venues, co-working spaces, and plenty more. Sometimes the communication barrier is just too high, as when the shop owner and I don’t speak the same language, much less could we discuss crypto-currency. Sometimes the owner knows exactly what I’m talking about, is ready and willing to start taking bitcoin, and I wonder what took me so long to approach them.
There are common qualities among the businesses more likely to say yes.
1. Smart Point of Sale – If the store already has a tablet or Internet-connected-computer at the point of sale, they’re already halfway there. If they don’t have those things, as with El Aztecca, then setup becomes too much hassle for the owner to prioritize.
2. Independently Owned – If the business is a chain, the manager or franchisee likely won’t have authority to accept a new form of payment. A lot of merchants like what we’re doing, but have no autonomy in their business, and can’t say yes to bitcoin. You need to talk to the owner, and that’s much easier when they’re face to face with customers (like us), rather than in a corporate office outside town. As well as being independently owned, it helps if they’re independently minded as well.
3. Young Business and/or Business Owner – This may sound like prejudice, and maybe it is. Older people are less likely to want change. If a business has run unchanged for decades, why should they change now? New business are already changing, because everything they do is new. If a store is new, they’re establishing operations right now. At least aim for businesses and owners who act young.
4. E-Commerce – According to Joe Hall, owner of XO Skins, setting up bitcoin commerce on their site was “crazy easy”. With payment plugins from processors like Bitpay, Coinbase, BIPS, and others, online merchants have it pretty simple. Take your pick of merchant services, plug it into your shopping cart, and if you like, connect it to your bank account.
5. Marketing Minded – Bitcoin is a lot of things to a lot of people. Regarless of your view, adoption is growing and everybody from NBC News to Al Jazeera is talking. If a business owner has a marketing mind, they’ll respond to the buzz. Especially for an e-commerce businesses, “Bitcoin Accepted Here” can be is as much a sales tagline as anything else.
6. Personal Associates – In a previous blog post, we discussed the matter of trust with bitcoin. While it’s encrypted, secure, and not subject to the same potentially corrupt powers as a national currency, it still requires trust to get started. A mechant has to trust you. If you know a business owner and have personal clout, use it. Persuade them, help them, set it up yourself if they’ll let you. This is the low hanging fruit. If they trust you, they’ll trust your recommendation to accept bitcoin.