Creating Merchant Pricing Comparisons in the Proposal Generator – Merchant Central

Overview

The Proposal Generator empowers your agents to quickly create clear, data-driven proposals that show potential clients how much they could save by switching to your processing services.

Proposals can be created either directly from a lead or by opening the Proposal Generator from the Navigation Bar.

The Proposal Generator takes information from a client’s current processing statement, compares it with your proposed pricing, and then calculates estimated savings. The output is a professional, customizable RTF (Rich Text Format) document that can include your branding, images, and additional information.

How the Proposal Generator Works

At a high level, the Proposal Generator follows this process:

Purpose: Help agents create proposals for potential clients that clearly illustrate potential savings based on current versus proposed processing costs.
Process Overview: Agents input data from the client’s current processing statement (e.g., volume, card mix, rates, and fees). The tool calculates and displays estimated savings in real time based on your proposed rates.
Key Steps:
- Select a proposal comparison type (e.g., Tiered to Tiered, Tiered to Interchange, Interchange to Interchange).
- Enter client and merchant details.
- Input current and proposed rates for each card type: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, and Stripe (if applicable), along with standard and additional fees.
Proposal Output: The system generates an RTF document that includes current versus proposed rates and the total estimated savings for the client.

💡NDA Best Practice: Before sending a proposal, strongly consider having the prospect sign an NDA to protect your pricing strategy and prevent them from using your proposal to negotiate with their current provider.

Creating a Proposal From a Lead

To create a proposal from a lead, click the Create New Proposal button on the Proposals tab:

The Proposal Generator page will open and guide you through the proposal creation process, which consists of several steps as described below.

Step 1. Select Pricing Plan

Select the appropriate pricing plan comparison in the Type dropdown:

Here is an explanation of comparison choices:

Tiered to Tiered – Tiered Pricing is a merchant services pricing plan usually comprised of a Qualified / Mid-Qualified / Non-Qualified framework, with the potential to have additional tiers at the processor’s discretion.
Tiered to Interchange: Exact – Used when a merchant is currently on ERR (Enhanced Reduced Recovery: qualified rate and non-qualified surcharges assessed over Interchange categories) with interchange downgrades outlined, and you are switching them to Interchange Plus pricing.
Tiered to Interchange: Estimated – Used when moving a merchant from Tiered to Interchange Plus and the generator will estimate approximate interchange cost equivalents for each tier to assist in creating a 1:1 comparison.
Interchange to Interchange – Interchange pricing refers to the fees that the card-issuing bank charges the acquiring bank when a card transaction is processed. These fees are set by the card networks (e.g., Visa, Mastercard) and are a core component of the total cost of card acceptance for merchants.

The table below shows which dropdown option you should select for the various comparison scenarios:

For this scenario	Select this dropdown option
Tiered to Interchange	Tiered to Interchange
Tiered to Tiered	Tiered to Tiered (check Show Tiers box)
Tiered to ERR	Tiered to Tiered (uncheck Show Tiers)
Tiered to Flat Rate	Tiered to Tiered (put the flat rate for all of the tiers under Proposed)
ERR to Interchange	Tiered to Interchange (Exact)
ERR to Tiered	Tiered to Tiered (check Show Tiers)
ERR to ERR	Tiered to Tiered (uncheck Show Tiers)
ERR to Flat Rate	Tiered to Tiered (uncheck Show Tiers)
Interchange to Tiered	Tiered to Tiered (check Show Tiers, put the flat rate for all tiers under Current)
Interchange to ERR	Tiered to Tiered (uncheck Show Tiers)
Interchange to Flat Rate	Tiered to Tiered (uncheck Show Tiers)
Flat Rate to Interchange	Tiered to Tiered (uncheck Show Tiers)
Flat Rate to Tiered	Tiered to Tiered (put the flat rate for all of the tiers under Current)
Flat Rate to ERR	Tiered to Tiered (uncheck Show Tiers)
Flat Rate to Flat Rate	Tiered to Tiered (uncheck Show Tiers)

Step 2. Update Merchant Information

Fill in or update the merchant information:

Steps 3–6. Enter Pricing Information

In steps 3 through 6, enter the volume, current rate, and proposed rates for each supported card type, such as:

Visa
Mastercard
American Express
Discover
Stripe (if applicable)

Step 7. Enter Standard Fees

Fill in any standard fees if applicable:

Step 8. Enter Additional Fees

Fill in any additional fees if needed:

Step 9. Preview Proposal & Select Proposal Template

As the proposal is being completed, the Proposal Preview section on the right updates the savings calculation with each line item, including the current and proposed effective rates.

The Proposal Preview section also allows you to select the document template that your proposal will be generated with.

ℹ️ For more information on managing proposal templates jump to the Proposal Templates and Customization section below.

In the preview, the far-right column shows the estimated profit based on the amounts entered. Its calculations are:

Debit & Credit: Volume * ((Proposed Rate - 0.01) / 100)
Transactions: # * (Proposed Rate - 0.045)
Statement Fee: Proposed Fee - 7.50
Batch Fee: # * (Proposed Fee - 0.05)
Amex Transaction Fee: # * (Proposed Fee - 0.05)
Pin Debit Transaction Fee: # * (Proposed Fee - 0.06) (only shows in Total Profit)
Customer Service Fee (Step 7): no calculation
PCI Fee (Step 7): no calculation
TIN Fee (Step 7): no calculation
Misc Fees (Step 8): no calculation

ℹ️ The Profit column is for internal use only and will never appear in the generated proposal file. If needed, you can also have the Profit column disabled by contacting Merchant Central Support.

Pennies to Percentage Converter
This tool helps determine the cost or gain in basis points when adjusting rates so that the offer remains profitable.

To use it, click Open above the proposal preview, enter an Average Ticket amount, and click Calculate. Then adjust either the $ or % sliders to see the values below them update.

Step 10. Generate Proposal

Once all the information has been entered, click Save and Generate Proposal. The generated proposal document will download to your computer as an RTF file.

The proposal document will display a table of the fees that were entered, as well as the new proposed fees and associated savings:

If needed, you may edit this document further in your word processor, and when finished, email it to your prospect. The generated proposal will also be saved on the lead as an attachment:

Should this proposal need to be edited afterward, you may open the proposal and continue working on it by clicking the View link from the Proposal section on the lead:

Creating a Proposal From the Navigation Bar

To create a proposal from the navigation bar, open the Proposal Generator page via the My Leads → Proposal Generator menu.

The steps to generate the proposal via the Navigation Bar are the same as when initiating the proposal creation process from a lead. However, since the initial proposal will not be linked to any lead, you will need to create such a link manually.

You can link your proposal to an existing lead (using the Link to Existing Lead box) or create a new lead and link the proposal to it:

After you have linked the proposal to a lead, the generated proposal will be attached to that lead after it is saved.

Proposal Templates and Customization

Proposal documents are generated using customizable RTF templates. These templates control the layout, branding, and placeholder data that appear in the final proposal.

Within the Proposal Generator, you can:

Upload new customized templates (RTF format only).
Download the default proposal template.
Set a default template to be used for newly generated proposals.
Modify templates with your company branding, logos, and additional content.

To pull dynamic data from the lead and proposal into the generated document, use the approved placeholders.

These placeholders are replaced during generation with live data from the lead and the proposal details, ensuring every document is accurate and personalized.

Uploading Your Custom Proposal Generator Template

To create and save a new proposal template in the CRM, follow these steps:

Create your template in RTF format. While creating your template, you can place multiple placeholders in your document which will be replaced with real data once the proposal is generated. For more information on available placeholders and their meanings, see the Template Placeholders reference table below.
Open the Manage Proposal Templates page (Manage → Leads → Proposal Generator Templates) and click the Add New Template button. A popup will appear where you can enter the title of your proposal, upload the RTF you created in step 1, and optionally set up group, user class, and user access permissions. When finished, click Add, and your template will be saved:
Your template will now be shown on the list of your Proposal Generator templates. You can always make changes and updates to your templates by using the provided template actions:
To make a specific template the default template, click the Make This Template Default button. A gold star will then appear before the title denoting its default status:

Template Placeholders

Template placeholders are special keywords provided for optional use in your CRM. These placeholders are preceded and followed by two percentage characters (%%).

When a proposal is being generated, the CRM will automatically replace the placeholders with the applicable calculations based on the data entered in the Proposal Generator form.

The table below provides a list of the available placeholders and the values that they represent:

Placeholder	Value
`%%company%%`	Company Name
`%%date%%`	Date
`%%current_total_volume%%`	Current Total Volume
`%%avgtckt%%`	Average Ticket
`%%current_total_fees%%`	Current Total Fees
`%%current_total_newfees%%`	New Current Total Fees
`%%current_total_savings%%`	Current Total Savings
`%%current_processor%%`	Current Processor
`%%volumey%%`	Approx. Total Yearly Volume Processed
`%%savings%%`	Total Monthly Savings
`%%asavings%%`	Total Annual Savings
`%%tsavings%%`	Total Savings Over 3 Years
`%%current_effective_rate%%`	Current Effective Rate
`%%proposed_effective_rate%%`	Proposed Effective Rate
`%%current_user_first_name%%`	User's First Name
`%%current_user_last_name%%`	User's Last Name
`%%current_user_full_name%%`	User's First & Last Name With Space In Between
`%%current_user_phone%%`	User's Phone Number
`%%current_user_email%%`	User's Email Address
`%%current_user_mobile%%`	User's Mobile Number
`%%current_user_fax%%`	User's Fax Number
`%%current_user_role%%`	User's Role In Company

Template Usage Example

As an example, here is a Summary of Audit table which is typically shown on the last page of your proposal:

When the proposal is created, the placeholders are replaced with real values, and the Summary table from our example may then appear as shown in the next screenshot:

Support & Testing

NMI Support is available to assist with:

Proposal Generator setup and configuration.
Template customization and placeholder usage.
Troubleshooting any issues with generated proposals.

Before sending proposals to clients, it is recommended to perform a few test runs with the generator to confirm that:

All placeholders populate correctly.
Branding and layout appear as expected.
Savings and rate calculations are accurate.

Once confirmed, you can confidently use the Proposal Generator to deliver professional, NDA-protected proposals that clearly demonstrate the value of your services.