WSAA 2026 / JW Marriott Desert Springs · Palm Springs / You found one of sixty
$0.00

The most expensive number at this conference — and it isn't yours.

Est. reading time: 4 min Written for agents, ISOs and resellers
Seven cards are in circulation. Each one decodes a different line.
01 The answer

You lose deals on rate.
You lose accounts on software.

Nobody switches processors over three basis points. They switch because someone walked in with the scheduling system, the online booking, the invoicing, the donor database, the time clock — and didn't charge for any of it.

Once that software is running the front desk, the processing underneath it stops being a line item and starts being plumbing. The merchant isn't shopping you anymore. They can't. Ripping out the payment stack now means retraining staff and rebuilding a schedule.

That's the whole trick. And it is being run on your portfolio right now by people who are not better salespeople than you.

Free isn't a discount. It's a switching cost — installed at your competitor's expense.

Here is the part that matters to an agent: giving the software away costs the ISO almost nothing, because the residual pays for it. The software is not the product. It is the reason the merchant never takes another call.

Host Merchant Services built thirteen of them.

02 The line items

The CloudManager suite, as a statement

Vertical software, built by HMS, given to HMS merchants. No monthly fee, no per-seat charge, no setup. You monetize the processing — the way the merchant's current software vendor already does, except they're also charging for the software.

Merchant-facing software · HMS portfolio
Product Who it's for What they pay today With HMS
CloudStudioManager Yoga, pilates, dance, fitness studios Mindbody · $139–$700+/mo $0
CloudHealthcareManager Medical, dental, veterinary practices Practice mgmt · quote only $0
CloudBookingManager Anyone who books appointments Calendly · $12–$20/seat/mo $0
CloudEventManager Venues, catering, private events Tripleseat · quote only $0
CloudRentalManager Property managers and landlords varies $0
CloudDonorManager Nonprofits and faith organizations varies $0
CloudJobManager Contractors and field service varies $0
CloudTimeManager Any merchant with hourly staff Time & attendance · varies $0
CloudSocialManager Local brands running their own social varies $0
CloudMailManager Email marketing and campaigns varies $0
CloudVoice Business phone and VoIP varies $0
CloudRelationshipManager General-purpose CRM varies $0
SALT CRM Sales pipeline — including yours varies $0

Named vendor prices are those vendors' publicly listed rates as of September 2026 and are shown for category context only — confirm current pricing before you quote it to a merchant. “Varies” means the category has no single published benchmark; ask us for the current comparison sheet for that vertical.

03 The opening line

What you're handing them
before you mention rate

Put in what your prospect pays for software today. This is the number you lead with — not a basis point.

Software spend eliminated $30,132

Over 3 years, at $279/mo across 3 locations. That is money off their P&L on day one — before a single conversation about interchange.

04 The program

What you actually get

Pricing
Interchange plus, cash discount, compliant surcharging, or tiered — you choose the model per merchant.
Residuals
Transparent reporting with visibility into what's earned, pending and paid. No guessing at month end.
Portal
Merchant dashboard, real-time batch and settlement monitoring, volume and residual reporting, equipment ordering, invoices and payment links, ticketing.
Support
24/7/365 U.S.-based service with no hold queue — the support team is roughly four times the size of sales.
Your rep
A dedicated relationship manager, co-branded collateral, pitch decks, product training and onboarding help.
Merchant terms
Lifetime rates that don't creep, no setup fees, no cancellation fees — so the account you write is the account you keep.
Backing
Registered ISO, Newark, Delaware. Sponsored processing relationships with TSYS and CardConnect/CardPointe.
Software
All thirteen CloudManager products, free to every HMS merchant you write. That's the wedge.
05 While you're here

Thirty seconds, then go back to the bar

We're at WSAA this week and we're not on the exhibit floor. Fill this in and it opens a pre-written message in your own mail app — you hit send, we come find you. Codes entered here also go in the drawing — a pair of AirPods Pro, drawn Thursday at noon on the final day.

What do you want from us

Nothing is submitted from this page — it composes the message and hands it to your own mail app, so you can see exactly what you're sending before you send it.