(Note: This story appears in the March 2022 issue of ED Magazine)
ChargeSavvy has long been in gentlemen’s clubs corners and with the company’s acquisition by GreenBox, it now stands to lend a host of resources to the industry’s cause.
*Story by Eugenio Torrens; creative images courtesy of Tina Molnar
This publication has long praised ChargeSavvy’s ability to help the industry — originally as a potent POS system that particularly helped combat chargebacks — including being a staple at previous EXPOs (ChargeSavvy is set to be a sponsor at EXPO 2022).
Now, ChargeSavvy stands to bolster its support of the industry to unprecedented levels with its acquisition by GreenBox POS, a Nasdaq publicly traded company that
is a financial technology company leveraging proprietary blockchain security to build customized payment solutions.
“GreenBox is a game-changer for ChargeSavvy on several key levels,” says ChargeSavvy Managing Director Phil Nguyen.
From a resources front, GreenBox brings strategic workforce planning and a battle-hardened stable of engineering resources to the table.
“That’s going to help ChargeSavvy reach the next level more quickly and efficiently,” says Nguyen. “The acquisition by GreenBox also opens the door for ChargeSavvy to direct banking and merchant-service capabilities.”
This relationship also allows ChargeSavvy to streamline its onboarding process while strengthening the ability to manage risk.
Chief Marketing Office Jacqueline Reynolds will be drawing upon her 20-plus years of experience growing brands to make certain clubs recognize the value ChargeSavvy can bring to their existing operations.
“ChargeSavvy has been actively working on exclusive strategic integrations with GreenBox that will bring proprietary technology to bear on issues that our customers have been wrestling with for many years,” says Nguyen.
NEW ERA OF CHARGESAVVY
Indeed, with GreenBox’s expertise dealing with financial tech (aka fintech), ChargeSavvy anticipates the acquisition will enable it to facilitate payments between customers, club employees and/or independent contractors.
“Regarding future technologies, GreenBox has a multitude of innovative blockchain-based payment solutions within their ecosystem,” says Nguyen.
He explains blockchain technologies offer clubs two advantages: immediacy and data reporting.
“These advantages are in the context of existing pain or issues that clubs or merchants in many industries have to deal with,” he says.
In terms of immediacy, blockchain tech can drastically shorten the time to settle transactions — who couldn’t stand to avoid or lessen that headache?
As far as reporting, basically blockchain tech will enable club owners/operators to have instantaneous data.
“It’s just easier to understand what’s happening at a club in something closer to real time than in today’s world,” says Nguyen. “In today’s world, these payments enter these workflows that take days to settle. As a result, you don’t really have visibility into what’s happening immediately — be it the club, staff or entertainers. There are obviously a lot of advantages to being able to report on, analyze and then find opportunity in that data that you don’t really have today.”
In a nutshell, knowledge is power and ChargeSavvy is providing more insight at your fingertips than previously imaginable.
With real-time data, clubs can smartly analyze ways to increase revenue.
For example, by spotting spending or customer trends, clubs can pounce on promotional efforts or membership programs.
“You can’t really do that without the data. As a club, you can’t even try to make an argument for certain initiatives without some data backing it up stating this is actually happening,” explains Nguyen. “Why don’t we leverage this? Why don’t we talk about how we could service certain customers better? In the old world, you’re doing that all from your gut, essentially. Better reporting would allow you to do that based on empirical information.”
And it’s not just your customers that will be smiling — reporting could also be maximized to create an incentive program for entertainers. You could have house fees be a function of how many times an entertainer performs at your club.
“In today’s world, these payments enter these workflows that take days to settle. As a result, you don’t really have visibility into what’s happening immediately — be it the club, staff or entertainers. There are obviously a lot of advantages to being able to report on, analyze and then find opportunity in that data that you don’t really have today.” — Phil Nguyen, Managing Director, ChargeSavvy
“That’s just an example of the initiative of being able to collect richer, more immediate data around activities and transactions that should open the door to many things,” says Nguyen, who quickly points out ChargeSavvy isn’t dictating how clubs should operate — “that’s not what we’re here for” — as much as it is offering resources to help inform their customers’ initiatives to improve their existing operations.
DATA-DRIVEN DECISIONS
In sports, there has been a pointed discussion around the increasing dependency on analytics in lieu of instinct. But that sentiment isn’t solely reserved for the baseball diamond or football field.
“In the past, when you saw people beginning to leverage data to positively impact business, some people had this misconception their intuition was diminished, replaced by data,” says Nguyen. “Business owners should understand we’re talking about supplementing information into their decision-making process. It’s not a replacement of any sort. It’s really a way to augment and supplement the intuition that you have. Without that intuition, the data by itself really is not usable.”
“Even though you might have a gut feeling, you may not have all of the information needed to actually implement it,” Nguyen continues.
For as spot-on as your gut may be, without data, it can be near impossible to process certain bits of information into translatable execution.
As Nguyen points out, it took a bit of time before decision makers and managers realized it was a matter of striking a harmonious balance between intuition and data intel.
“The balance is actually what produces the best results,” he says. “And it’s not just about the first decision making either — you have to maintain that program as well. You have to tweak it, make sure it’s working well, what’s not working well? What other opportunities might there be that you didn’t think of first? That requires a rich stream of data. You need the checks and balances and data coming through to make sure that what you originally set out to do is actually doing that. No matter what it is that you’re doing, rich data should improve your decisions and allow you to be more strategic with your investments.”
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, ChargeSavvy has long championed the gentlemen’s club industry — both in spirit and action.
“The success of our software platform can be attributed to the continuous feedback we receive from our customers about the evolving regulatory and operational challenges of doing business in their industry,” says Nguyen. “Without that feedback, this software platform would be in a completely different place. It would be people in these walls kind of building in a vacuum and hoping needs are met based on our belief of how the club operates.”
ChargeSavvy will be sponsoring this year’s EXPO lanyards as well as one of the breakfast socials.
“Our sponsorship at this year’s EXPO reflects our genuine commitment to collaborating with everybody in that space — entertainers, owners, operators, industry thought leaders — about the opportunities to overcome these challenges together. It has to be done in partnership with this community.”
“At its core, ChargeSavvy is about empowering owners and operators with integrated tools to mitigate risk while simultaneously helping them deliver a better experience to their customers,” continues Nguyen. “We are stronger than we’ve ever been in our nine-year history. Now with this unique access to the GreenBox portfolio of technologies and capabilities, this team is poised to change the landscape of the adult entertainment industry.”
For more information, visit chargesavvy.com, call 708-272-8170, or stop by in-person at EXPO at booth 101.
