The partnership
Elavon was introduced to Aspen by Opayo in mid-2019. Aspen has worked with Opayo for a number of years in the fuel and convenience sector, and were keen to find an acquiring partner who could both enhance the customer offering whilst ultimately supporting their ambitious growth strategy. This is where Elavon came in.
Elavon was able to address a number of key issues Aspen was having with its existing acquiring partners, including speed of response; visibility of lead ownership; end customer engagement and support; progress updates; two-way communication and action-planning on blockers and delays; pipeline visibility and velocity; as well as rebate visibility and payment.
Over the last 12 months, the relationship has developed into a strategic partnership, with long-term plans in place including a clear joint value proposition, marketing to reach new customers, and a simplistic and innovative approach to boarding new customers.
“Aspen Payments has been supplying payment systems for over 10 years. During that time we have partnered with various acquirers with little success, due mainly to limited knowledge of merchant services from our side, and a lack of understanding of our business and markets we support from the acquirer,” says Pete Collett, owner of Aspen.
“With a large base of customers who we supply specialist card payment terminals and hosting, we were missing a huge opportunity not offering merchant services.
“Elavon appointed a Partner Manager who with his team took time to understand what we do, who our customers are and how best to work together to produce the best results.
“With a flexible working model, weekly team video calls and support from marketing, we have successfully signed complex groups, single merchants and have our first ecommerce account open, which is a new market for us.
“We are particularly impressed by the successful conversion of the leads we send across. Merchant services can be complex due to the ever-changing legislation and laws which can be a minefield to a customer - this is where Elavon show their true value!
Their sales team comprehensively share their acquiring knowledge during customer conversations, giving them the confidence in signing up to our joint solution."
“The pandemic has hit multiple industries hard, and Aspen, like many others, have felt the impact of losing customers and revenues. Adapting to these unprecedented times means searching out new commercial opportunities and we have found that our partnership with Elavon has given us a route to revenue that continues to grow and flourish each month. I would highly recommend partnering with Elavon due to their clear and concise partnership commercials which have made a positive impact during these trying times.”
The solution
Aspen works in partnership with a multitude of value-added businesses, such as fuel card brands, outdoor payment terminals, and POS providers to create a best-in-class solution for its customers.
This, coupled with Opayo’s gateway products and Elavon’s award-winning acquiring, enhances the overall customer offering making the switch to Aspen a compelling choice for merchants.
Key to the success of the partnership has been due to a joint focus on the customer journey. This has been achieved by tailoring the approach to different customer demographics; with a focus on speed and simplicity for SME customers, and building out a strategic account plan for large and more complex organisations.
“The fuel market is made up of partnerships. In order to deliver a consistent and dependable service to customers you have to bring together experts across multiple industries,” Pete says.
“We knew early on that integrated payments would shape customer buying journeys in the UK market, and so a payments technology company backed by an award-winning acquirer was essential to delivering a best–in-class solution.
We understand fuel which gives us the edge in a competitive landscape, however, an alliance between Aspen, Opayo and Elavon gives a cutting-edge end-to-end solution providing fuel card acceptance, detailed reporting capabilities, and an omni-channel view of customer interaction.”
Why Elavon?
“There were three clear reasons why we partnered with Elavon,” Pete says.
“Firstly, the customer journey; we were able to transform the customer onboarding process making it paperless and a full digital experience.”
“Secondly, the fantastic teamwork. Collaboratively, we pull on each other’s expertise to deliver a best- in- class solution.”
“And lastly, the personal touch. Despite being such a large company there is certainly individualism there! The Elavon account team are excellent and personable and together we have built such a strong and intimate relationship that it really doesn’t feel like you are being looked after by a large corporate business - which is fantastic and a credit to Elavon.”
