Recently, NCT founder and CEO Marty Halpern sat down to discuss his experience, his company, and the future of the check guarantee industry, with Jerod Morris, who is in charge of NCT’s online brand management. The transcript of their discussion is below:
Jerod Morris: Thank you for taking the time to talk with me today, Mr. Halpern.
Marty Halpern: Call me Marty, please.
JM: Thank you, Marty. As we begin, why don’t you provide our readers with a quick background on yourself and NCT.
MH: Well, I was born in New York City and have lived here in South Florida since 1985. I am married with two teenage kids who keep my wife and I very busy.
JM: Why did you choose Ft. Lauderdale, FL as the place you wanted to live?
MH: In 1993, when my wife and I decided to have children we chose Ft. Lauderdale as the place. It is family oriented and I knew that eventually, I wanted to move my company here. We actually made the move in Sept. of 2001 to Miramar just west of Ft. Lauderdale.
JM: What led you to start your own business?
MH: I began my professional life in the check guarantee business as a salesman for a competitor. I opened up a virgin territory in California in 1983 and later became a sales manager and was relocated to Miami from LA. I was then promoted to National Sales Manager in 1985. After working for the firm for 5 years or so, issues with the owner started to arise. Mostly a difference of opinion on how to treat our customers. I decided after sometime and serious consideration that if he could succeed in this business, so can I. Fortunately, it has been a good ride, and we have a very nice company.
JM: When did you actually start NCT?
MH: I founded NCT in 1991. Today we are a strong company of 130 people that focus on check guarantee and payment processing. After being in this business for over 28 years I can now say my idea of treating customers with first hand service and fair rates has been a success. Our clients are loyal and will continue to do business with a company that appreciates them.
JM: You mentioned payment solutions; let’s talk about that and the check guarantee industry. How has the use of checks changed over the last few years and what is your outlook for the next half decade or so?
MH: For well over ten years now, I have been hearing about the demise of checks, with the introduction of debit card and check cards. Although there certainly has been a reduction in checks as the primary form of payment I am confident the five-year forecast still has millions of people who prefer paying by check and especially in markets where there are large purchases. NCT does most of its business in industries like automotive, building and heavy equipment for instance and in those environments we will continue to have a large and growing piece of the payment market.
Even as the younger generation has gone in the direction of credit and debit cards, via online shopping and other alternatives. I believe that the issues of credit, interest rates and credit lines shrinking, will bring back the use of checks in many other markets.
The payment processing industry is exciting and again has changed the landscape of the market. The movement of money will continue to grow with ACH payments, online billing alternatives, and the desire of many companies to go paperless. NCT has been researching and developing new products in this area, and I am very excited about the future.
JM: What effect has the economic downturn – and the U.S. government’s response to the downturn – had on you as a business owner, and on small- to medium-sized businesses in general?
MH: The global and domestic economy is obviously a concern for any business person trying to bring some sort of control to their operation. There are policies and regulations that the U.S government is getting more involved in that will cause concerns for anyone trying to run a small to mid-size business.
Costs are continuing to increase throughout the marketplace. Issues such as health care, increases in taxes, and many other unknowns are causing companies to make changes to their day-to-day operations. Thus, driving revenue and making a profit, for many, is becoming more of a struggle.
Strategies to grow business has become even more challenging for many business owners because this is a time when controlling financials are affected by forces outside of their operations.
For the next five years, I believe many small to mid-size companies will have to be leaner and focus on efficiencies
JM: With so much uncertainty both in your industry and in the economy as a whole, what is your strategy for staying relevant and continuing to be successful?
MH: NCT’s strategy is to continue to focus on exciting payment process products that enhance our check guarantee business by introducing more innovation in how we service our merchant base.
Additionally, we have been focusing outside our niche target market and expanding the spectrum of industries and types of companies that we service. So far, I believe that we have done an excellent job understanding their needs and how we can continue to grow our clients’ profits. I am excited about this expansion into new industries and our ability to introduce NCT products and culture to an ever-expanding list of companies.
JM: Obviously one of the reasons NCT has been so successful has been your company’s ability to increase efficiencies and profits for your clients. What about NCT’s internal operations have led to your company being such a driver of efficiency and profit for others?
MH: NCT is an organization that has always been concerned with productivity and maximizing the efficiency with which we run our business. We spend time and money to develop managers throughout our company who will run their departments effectively. We have a lean, productive staff that has the desire to work hard in servicing customers and looking out for NCT’s bottom line.
Creating automation around the company – doing more with less — while focusing on service, is critical for NCT and will continue to be critical in the years to come. Our goals continue to be offering superior service over our competitors and keeping our clients happy and our staff challenged.
JM: You mentioned earlier some of the new products that you are planning to introduce. Can you be more specific?
MH: Some of our new products will focus on merchants using internet based programs. Through the web and their own websites they will be able to process all sorts of payments, including facilitating the movement of money, checks, credit cards and ACH transactions. The goal, as with all of our products and services, is to help make our client’s business more efficient by ensuring that they are getting their collections and Accounts receivables faster and easier.
Additionally, looking for alliances and diversification will be a top priority going forward for NCT.
JM: Now that we’ve spent some time looking forward, let’s take a quick step back and analyze the success NCT has had to this point. If you had to pinpoint one or two factors that have been the most influential in NCT’s success, what would they be?
MH: Our success has come from our people, as well as, focusing on companies that fall into one of the target markets I mentioned before. Becoming specialists in these high-ticket segments of the market has allowed us to maintain a strong focus.
JM: And now, moving back to forward thinking, what key ingredients will it take for NCT to carry its success forward in the future?
MH: In today’s business environment, you are only as good as your customers. Working with integrity and good business ethics is critical.
The other ingredient is being ready to diversify since you never know what industries are going to have their struggles at any given time.
I believe that NCT has always kept both of these tenets of sound business in mind, and we certainly plan on continuing to do so moving forward.
JM: Marty, thank you for being with us today and being so candid with your responses. Good Luck in the coming years.
MH: Thank you.
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