Making Every Payment Count:
A Day in the Life of a Merchant Solutions Specialist
Jess Van Kan, Merchant Solutions Specialist at Smartpay, is all about balancing Smartpay customer interactions with empathy and behind-the-scenes collaboration for problem-solving. Jess spends about half her day on the phone with our customers, ensuring they feel heard and valued.
"I love investigating things. I love it when someone comes to me with a problem, and I'm like, okay, well, how do we resolve this? [...] Especially when it comes to people’s business and money, it’s personal and requires a personal approach."
She and her teammates are the go-to people for the contact centre team, acting as a tier-three level of support.
“The contact centre is going to try and do as much as they can in to resolve a query in that first five minutes. The moment the call goes over 5 minutes, [...] it goes to tier-two tech support or If it has anything to do with an account, it goes to us.”
Team collaboration is a ‘payoff’ in the role of a Merchant Solutions Specialist.
When Jess is not on the phone with Smartpay customers, she spends the rest of her day looking into customers’ experiences for ways to improve our Smartpay solutions and products.
“We are constantly listening for trends and working to improve products, ensuring Smartpay stays ahead of the game. Looking at why are people calling [...] and how do we stop this from happening? We want people to stay with us and be happy with us.”
This work involves collaboration across the business, whether that is working with the technical product team, improving our sales process or looking for ways we can educate our customers on the EFTPOS settlement process. Jess doesn’t just address the immediate issue—she’s always looking ahead to prevent future hiccups.
“Getting the teams aware of how processes work with a third party or even within our own system has been really enlightening for how we do things at Smartpay. For example, we work [with Sales] to stay aligned on communication with our merchants [...] so that expectations are clear and upfront for our customers. We don’t want to have people saying, well, I presumed this, or I assumed this is going to happen and then you find out, actually it's not as simple as that.
Making sure we're all aligned and not over-promising because there are so many companies out there that overpromise and under deliver, and we don't want to be one of them.”
Making sure we're all aligned and not over-promising because there are so many companies out there that overpromise and under deliver, and we don't want to be one of them.”
How are you hands-on with your Smartpay customers?
Being hands-on with Smartpay customers means not just reacting to issues but actively listening and solving problems before they escalate. Jess shared a specific instance where her team’s proactive approach really ‘paid off’ and made a significant impact:
"As half my day involves looking at all trends, we definitely found that we really need to up our game when it comes to our communications, especially with how rural Australia can be. So, that's what our whole new terminal is about.
It's got two different connections, it's got a SIM built in and then it's also got capabilities for Wi-Fi or 5G, which means that no matter what, you're going to be able to still transact. That's our big thing: we want you to still be able to transact no matter what.”
It's got two different connections, it's got a SIM built in and then it's also got capabilities for Wi-Fi or 5G, which means that no matter what, you're going to be able to still transact. That's our big thing: we want you to still be able to transact no matter what.”
Jess’s hands-on approach meant that when she noticed a trend of tech issues in rural areas, she didn’t just wait for complaints to stack up. Instead, she and her team took immediate action to ensure that Smartpay customers understood the options available to them and had clear communication from Smartpay, no matter where they are!
Jess is also referred to as the “MOTO Queen” internally and won an internal award for showing Smartpay values:
“I was part of a project that delved deep into smoothing out the over-the-phone payment process. For a while, we noticed there was a bottleneck for both merchants and the internal team and it was not an easy fix.
It took a long while to find a solution and I had to go above and beyond to figure out all of the impacts. It was a very difficult process but it eventually led to a much more streamlined process for everyone.”
It took a long while to find a solution and I had to go above and beyond to figure out all of the impacts. It was a very difficult process but it eventually led to a much more streamlined process for everyone.”
Being hands-on with payments means not just 'swiping' at problems but 'charging' ahead with solutions.
What skills have you brought to your role?
Empathy is crucial in Jess's service approach. With her hairdressing background, she knows that making customers feel heard is the best investment for retention. Jess stated:
"Making people happy or making people feel like they’ve been listened to is a major thing that I took from when I was in hairdressing because it means people want to stay.
I find [empathising with merchants] even easier at Smartpay now because it's about money and that's actually super important. If someone can’t pay their staff or if their money's gone missing or they can't figure out why their money isn't what they expected it to be, I can empathise and it fuels my love of problem-solving.
I was also an executive assistant right before I did this. And that was great because you’re constantly having to keep someone on topic and make sure that everything’s efficient. Learning how to juggle multiple things was another huge thing that I learned in being an executive assistant. So that was really great. "
I find [empathising with merchants] even easier at Smartpay now because it's about money and that's actually super important. If someone can’t pay their staff or if their money's gone missing or they can't figure out why their money isn't what they expected it to be, I can empathise and it fuels my love of problem-solving.
I was also an executive assistant right before I did this. And that was great because you’re constantly having to keep someone on topic and make sure that everything’s efficient. Learning how to juggle multiple things was another huge thing that I learned in being an executive assistant. So that was really great. "
Can you share a memorable customer interaction?
A big part of Jess’s role is helping Smartpay customers work through what might not be working for them in their payment solution. She prides herself in helping to alleviate any pain points. One particular customer case started out challenging, but resulted in a turnaround to a positive outcome. She shared:
“I had a merchant that originally left us a one-star review. So, I called him to understand what had happened and it was a complex issue we hadn’t encountered before. I worked with him over the course of two to three days to find a solution and how we could improve in future.
After everything, he changed that review to a 4.5 and gave me this glowing review about how I completely changed his view on the company by listening and understanding. [...] He said that us changing his experience from completely negative to positive was huge.
So, yeah, that was one of my days I took a win. I was like, yes, this is why I do this. Not for the fact that he had a bad experience in the beginning, but being able to make someone feel heard and impact changes in the business.
To take someone who's unhappy, I'm cancelling. To then try to understand where we went wrong and why. I was like, oh, that's wonderful.”
After everything, he changed that review to a 4.5 and gave me this glowing review about how I completely changed his view on the company by listening and understanding. [...] He said that us changing his experience from completely negative to positive was huge.
So, yeah, that was one of my days I took a win. I was like, yes, this is why I do this. Not for the fact that he had a bad experience in the beginning, but being able to make someone feel heard and impact changes in the business.
To take someone who's unhappy, I'm cancelling. To then try to understand where we went wrong and why. I was like, oh, that's wonderful.”
What makes Smartpay different from the banks?
One of Smartpay’s key points of difference is the care for our customers and offering them a hands-on, personalised experience. It’s part of what Jess loves about her job.
“We don’t just want to do the stock standard. We actually care and we’re passionate about keeping our current customers and continually improving.
Merchants are losing business every minute they spend on hold in or talking with AI machines. At most with Smartpay, it’s a 10-minute wait time. Our aim is 120 seconds.
When we answer, we don’t follow a script with an a, b or c answer. We listen and [...] then we ask, how can we take this further? How can we take a single complaint about one thing and either learn from it and grow as a company?
Smartpay is not just another job, we’re always innovating and learning to be better and do better. You get some companies that all they ever do is try and get new people in the door.
[...] We want to take care of people who have been with us versus seeing them as part of our revolving machine. I think banks can often make you feel like no one actually cares because you're already with them. “
Merchants are losing business every minute they spend on hold in or talking with AI machines. At most with Smartpay, it’s a 10-minute wait time. Our aim is 120 seconds.
When we answer, we don’t follow a script with an a, b or c answer. We listen and [...] then we ask, how can we take this further? How can we take a single complaint about one thing and either learn from it and grow as a company?
Smartpay is not just another job, we’re always innovating and learning to be better and do better. You get some companies that all they ever do is try and get new people in the door.
[...] We want to take care of people who have been with us versus seeing them as part of our revolving machine. I think banks can often make you feel like no one actually cares because you're already with them. “
Why do you love to come to work every day?
“I love being here. I love turning up to work and I love the new challenges that come with it. No day is the same, and I love places like that. I love places where I can meet different people all the time and have different conversations and not be like, oh, I've done the same thing 40 times today.
Every day I can live by my motto and take the little wins. They could be little, they could be big. But I take a win every day at Smartpay. Whether it’s making a merchant happy or learning something new from a coworker, I find something to love every day.”
Every day I can live by my motto and take the little wins. They could be little, they could be big. But I take a win every day at Smartpay. Whether it’s making a merchant happy or learning something new from a coworker, I find something to love every day.”
