Headed by Miriam Ramos, Platinum Solutions commits to securing the most comprehensive rates for all businesses, with the focus on changing perceptions in a misunderstood industry. Now, with Paysley technology, creative solutions to the adult industry abound.
(NOTE: This story appears in the January 2024 issue of ED Magazine.)
I
t’s Christmas Eve 2022, and Miriam Ramos’ phone is ringing incessantly. Who’s calling her on Christmas Eve, of all times? It’s club owners in crises, because the banks they worked with decided to run end-of-year audits and spontaneously dropped all of their adult-oriented businesses.
“It didn’t matter if it was a retail store or a nightclub, if ‘adult’ was attached to the business, they were shut down within minutes,” says Ramos.
Ramos attributes this sort of emergency, which she claims happens far too often, to both a stigma towards the industry and a lack of transparency in the application submitted to the banks.
“Often the application submitted does not list the clubs as being a gentlemen’s club,” she explains. “Not all processors have the support of their partners to accept adult business, and that was the reason for the Christmas Eve fiasco. Applications did not identify the nature of the business. But I am confident we have more processing banks than any other privately-owned processor in the industry. Banks adjust their policies regularly; it is critical to have multiple relationships to avoid an upset like last Christmas.”
Her disappointment is evident; this was avoidable. In this instance, she shares that she worked with her clients until 4am Christmas morning, helping as many people as she could get back up to run through the holidays.
“I gave up my own holiday for that,” she admits. “But this industry took my heart. Unlike other industries, adult club owners are forever having to adjust their businesses to comply with the ever-changing rules that regulate the industry. The clubs play a vital role in the communities they are established in. For the staff, these businesses afford people the opportunity to make the income they choose based upon the work and the effort that they put forth. It allows the staff to work with a flexibility they cannot get elsewhere. Adult entertainment is an important part of our world and our economy. Each and every one of us must do all we can as individuals, as well as business owners, to protect our rights of choice. To support ACE National and gentlemen’s clubs is to support the right to choices.”
“It’s been over, over 10 years now, Miriam and I have been doing business. She’s our Merchant Account provider, but the reason everybody loves her, not just us, is she is more like a business partner. That’s the real key to her success. There’s nothing she won’t do to help her customers, and once you’re a customer, you’re her friend.
“She’s just a wonderful person. That is her a nutshell. She goes — everybody says — above and beyond, but she really, really does. To give you an example, we were working on an issue last night till 2:30 in the morning, trying to find a lost batch of money, which was about $50,000, so it was pretty important to me, and she made it important to herself.”
– Scott Hendrix, Owner of several adult clubs: The Cheetahs (three locations), The Southern Belle, Generation X, The Trophy Club, Ponytails, Red Carpet and Secrets
A business with ethics
Having serviced the industry for decades, Ramos continues to search for ways to help her clients, not just in protecting their rates and standing with card brands and banks, but with all needs — whether its finding a new bank for their operating accounts, finding a source for a service or product needed or updating their technology.
Committed to servicing all her clients, Ramos will sacrifice any holiday or weekend, but admits that there are inevitably going to be times in which she’s not available to everybody. For those instances, she has a trustworthy team available 24/7. But the very real limitations of being an individual person with such a large breadth of business is part of why community is so important to Ramos. She shares her supreme commitment to ACE, the lobbying association coalescing the industry, which has helped her to help her clients.
“In order for us to thrive, there has to be unified focus,” she explains. “ACE National provides that unity and focus. The resources, the research, the contacts, the knowledge — no other association covers all these bases like ACE. The newsletter alone is a wealth of knowledge and a tremendous resource.”
“Miriam Ramos and Platinum Solutions exemplify the pinnacle of professional service, infusing each interaction with a personal touch and dedicated one-on-one assistance. Their unwavering support for ACE National and its members has rightfully earned them recognition as a Premier Industry Provider. Their commitment and excellence are not just a service but a testament to their unparalleled partnership and contribution to our community.”
– Angelina Spencer-Crisp, Executive Director of ACE National
The industry of choices: Say hello to Paysley
The last few years have seen a shift in the processing industry as more POS systems disallow owners choices in their processing partners. Normally, this is not an issue of compatibility between the processing platform and the POS provider but a restriction imposed by the POS provider, according to Ramos, who reports from her conversations with clubs that this has become an ongoing source of frustration for the owners, as yet another choice is limited.
Now, Ramos enthuses that she can offer the technology which will return control to the owners. It’s a new processing service partnering with Platinum called Paysley. With Paysley, clubs can continue to use whatever POS system they want. Paysley can be engaged with at any level, with benefits like no other product on the market, according to Ramos.
“I’ve given the control back to the owners,” announces Ramos. “It’s totally up to them, as it should be, to run the business the way that they choose to and work with their preferred provider.”
She continues: “In searching for a solution, I wanted to find a cost-effective option that would allow a club to continue with their current POS system, if they choose to, yet process their payments independently, all while maintaining the reporting that is critical to their day-to-day operations. When Chris Roets (the developer of Paysley) and I were introduced, it was very quickly into the conversation that I knew this was the solution I had been searching for. Paysley provides the clubs with options never before seen in this industry in one place on one platform. The adult industry has always been a loud voice for the right of choice. I see no reason for choices to be removed. Instead, let’s contribute to the choices available!”
“Paysley is a true omni-channel payment solution,” explains Chris Roets, the founder of Paysley, with an emphasis on the truth, as he, like, Miriam, has found a lot of dishonesty in the use of this language. “With Paysley, you are on-boarded on a single platform that’s cloud-based that you can access from any Internet-connected device through a phone (or the club’s tablet or iPad) where you can take payments literally in any form that you may need to, via virtual terminals, payment requests, text, email or direct access to the payment page through a QR code.”
While Paysley can essentially do anything and everything in processing, the aspect of choice remains critical to Platinum. Users of Paysley can keep their current POS systems. They can add this on, use it separately, or in conjunction with that POS. Paysley, like Platinum, promotes partnership and collaboration.
Customized QR codes create the convenience of a single click
One of the most exciting features to play with in Paysley is its robust QR code potential. Instead of handing over a driver’s license and credit card, patrons can now scan a code, which directs them to the bill, which they can pay from their own phones with their digital wallets.
Ramos calls it, “One click in the club,” and excites that the possibilities are endless.
“We can have so much fun with this,” she shares. “So many of the clubs have customized clothing that the QR codes could be affixed to. As creative as your mind can be, this can accommodate your creativity.”
For instance, Paysley’s Roets shares a story of the QR codes being utilized in a club in a unique way.
“I’m almost embarrassed to say that I suggested it, but I could not imagine why nobody else had thought of it,” he laughs. “They took the QR codes off the pages and created temporary tattoos, which they pasted to the breasts of the girls. By scanning the breasts, patrons were directed to a page on their phones to order a beer from the club’s beer special. It made for a very successful launch of a new beer brand.”
In addition to convenience, the opportunities for unique revenue streams are endless. For example, maybe a VIP is in a private session and wishes to extend the time. If the guest has consented to having their information stored, all that’s needed is a click for the party to continue. Or, using a QR code, the guest could arrange for dances ahead of time. Food and bottle service can be ordered and delivered to the guest with ease. QR codes allow the guest to place their order, meaning that they can do so with or without staff assistance. The ease of use, fun in placement of the QR codes and discretion in the purchasing process all add to a fun, positive experience for the guests and are key factors in promoting an increase in the value of an average ticket.
“It may be your first time there, but it’s going to look as if you’re a regular,” says Ramos, adding that this would be a very impressive way to take a client out for a business meeting.
“In this industry, you want to make the payment process as simple, as easy and as secure as possible for all parties,” says Roets. “And Paysley is the only solution out there that turns the customer’s own phone into the point of sale.”
“(Miriam) makes it seamless and easy. From start to finish, she helps you get everything set up for your processing. If there’s any issues while you’re processing, she helps you with those and gets you the best rates possible. She always does right by everybody. And she fights for us, as the merchants, which is nice; a lot of the merchant services out there are more concerned with how much they’re going to make off the individual businesses, and you don’t get that feeling from Miriam. She’s a part of your team. She’s there to support, help and even drive more business your way. When you’re in a business relationship with her, she has friends in your community, she sends them to your business. If there’s anything she can do to help, she’s going to be the first one to get involved and try to help and that’s rare in the world of merchant services.”
– Jason Mohney, club owner (Deja Vu/Larry Flynt’s Hustler Clubs) and President of GoBEST!
Roets calls it “CPOS,” a term he says is not being used in the industry yet.
“Everybody is familiar with ‘MPOS,’ for ‘mobile point of sale,’” he explains. “We like to call the Paysley feature ‘CPOS,’ for ‘customer point of sale.’
He continues: “Our ‘Scan and Pay’ is not a QR code that takes you to a place where you have to register, log in or use another app to make that payment. It’s all internal. Every single transaction that happens inside Paysley is information exclusively for the eyes of that merchant, meaning that we don’t access that information. The databases are unique and not shared. It’s a server-less environment. And then on the customers side, the ability to make a payment from your own phone through Google or Apple Pay is the highest level of security, because nobody will even know what that card information is.”
“It’s the security of a face-to-face purchase with the discretion of an online purchase,” adds Ramos. “But you don’t have to use that discretion, and I have a feeling that a lot of people will want their friends to see them scanning the QR code to order bottle service. I believe it’s going to raise their average ticket, making clubs more profitable.”
According to Ramos, Paysley is also going to drastically reduce chargebacks, and doesn’t require a potentially inconvenient “service switch.”
“How are you going to charge back a purchase that you made from your phone, and approved with your face?” she asks. “And they don’t have to ‘switch to Paysley.’ What they should do is incorporate it today into what they’re doing now. This is a game-changing way of accepting payments. We work at the comfort level of the business.
“Perhaps the club would like the service only for VIP or door entry to start, that’s perfectly fine,” she affirms. “It will be the club’s choice.”
“You can start playing around, using Paysley without a financial layer whatsoever,” adds Roets.
“And then, the moment you start getting into it, you will fall in love. Slowly, it can assume other functions until you might say, ‘I’m going to get rid of what I have and just do everything with Paysley, because it just makes sense.’
“Use the solution and come to your conclusion.”
For more information on Platinum Solutions, please call Miriam Ramos at (216) 543-4983, email emsplatinum@gmail.com or visit platinumsolutionsmiriam.com
