Stop Selling. Start Helping. The Psychology of Why This Works

What if the reason your sales conversations aren’t converting…

has nothing to do with your pitch?

In this episode of From Overlooked to Consistently Booked, Meaghan Chitwood sits down with Alan “Dutch” Kerr of Swipe for a Cause to talk about a different approach—one that’s built on curiosity, connection, and genuinely helping people.

Because the truth is, people don’t respond to pressure.

They respond to care.

In This Episode, We Cover:

•  Why service-driven conversations build more trust than traditional sales 
•  The role curiosity plays in creating stronger business relationships 
•  Why asking better questions matters more than having the perfect pitch 
•  How Dutch’s journey into Swipe for a Cause started with a real, human conversation 
•  The impact of having a mission-driven business (and why it matters to customers) 
•  How consistent check-ins and genuine interest lead to long-term retention 
•  Why BNI works when you focus on relationships instead of transactions 

Key Takeaway

When you stop trying to sell…

and start trying to understand and help…

everything shifts.

Conversations go deeper.
 Trust builds faster.
 And referrals happen more naturally.

About Our Guest

Alan “Dutch” Kerr is with Swipe for a Cause, a credit card processing company built on customer service, community impact, and long-term relationships. A portion of the company’s profits supports local hospice organizations, creating a business model that blends purpose with performance.

Dutch has been part of BNI for over a decade and brings a relationship-first approach to both sales and networking.

Want to Learn More About BNI?

If you’re looking to grow your business through referrals and real relationships, visit:

https://bit.ly/4n3WFPD

Connect With Us

If you enjoyed this episode:

•  Subscribe to the podcast 
•  Share it with a fellow business owner 
•  Leave a review or comment 

Coming Up Next

Next week, we continue the conversation with Dutch and dig into something a lot of business owners struggle with:

How to collaborate with competitors—and why it works.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Hi, I'm Megan Chitwood, and welcome to From Overlooked to Consistently Booked. This month, I am joined by Dutch Kerr of Swipe for a Cause. And I thought there was no one better to talk about this particular topic of service selling than my friend Dutch. Welcome to the show, Dutch. And we're just gonna have a great conversation about what your business is and how it ultimately works. So first, I want you to tell us your BI story.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

My BI story. Well, I've got many BI stories. Yeah. Um interestingly enough, the reason why I'm with Swipe for a cause is because of BI. Um, so I had I was a member of a uh BI in Rhode Island called City Biz. And at the time I was vice president of a distribution company. And um when I kept hearing this uh fellow B and I, Andy, who was there, and he would talk every week, of course, about swipe for a cause and what they did. And so I was I said, well, let's get to one-to-one. You know, I want to learn more about what he was doing. So we were having a one-to-one. And it one-to-one turned into about over an hour, maybe two hours, because he he was talking about his wife, uh, his first wife, and how she had passed away. And my dad had passed away. And the thing that Swipe for a Cause does, the reason why it was formatted was to donate to hospice in honor. Uh he had formed the company with uh uh some other people in order to fund hospice uh in memory of his wife and the people they had lost. And so we just we were commiserating about, you know, and just really supporting each other about our losses, my dad's passing. And before it was over, I said, Um, I'm gonna come work for you. And Andy said, Well, unfortunately, we're not hiring. And I said, Well, look, you know, I can I've got to give him at least three weeks' notice. And he said, Well, we're not hiring. And I said, Well, yeah, you are, and it's just we got to figure that out. And I was persistent, you know, know your outcome, find a different way to get it. I was convinced this is what I wanted to do. I wanted to work for a company, doing what I do best, which is sales, but do it in a way that I was supporting something that was dear to me and something that would help out the community. And now I've been with swipe for a cause for 12 years. I've been with B and I for probably 14. Yes. And um, it's just been uh hand uh hand in hand, B and I and Swipe for a cause all the way through. In fact, uh one of the things that uh swipe for a cause encourages or kind of demands from from their people is is an involvement in B and I. So it's really, really an important aspect of the business as well.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

So and then what brought you to Huntsville? Okay, well, that's um because it's clear you're not from around here.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

You don't have the you know the accent down yet. Yeah, well, you should hear some of the accents the people who work in the company wrote out. Yeah, forget about it. Um, no, uh so my wife, uh Libby, is from Huntsville, and she was a therapist in Boston when we were uh dating. And the funny thing about uh Libby is when we we had our three-year-old, well, now he's three-year-old, but when he was first born and we would come down to um uh Huntsville for Christmas, she has this thing when she's really happy. She hums a lot. And every time we were on our way to Huntsville, she was humming, but she wasn't humming on the way back to Rhode Island. So I went to the company. I love to tell people, oh, I had this great idea because Huntsville is such an amazing town and it's booming, that I had this great thought of, you know, this great place to open a business. And boy, would I be a really smart entrepreneur if that was true. But really, what it was was my wife was from here. So I went to the owners of the company and I told them, even though we were had a huge great operation, I was doing really, you know, many, many clients. And um, I said, I want to I want to m open an office in Huntsville. And they were like, they knew why. And and it's been amazing. Um, and it is actually, you know, that's a lot of the when you do something for someone else, they just naturally well, of course. But but it just naturally comes that um I mean success just follows. It's very strange, but I found that my whole life that the when you're when you're doing something for someone uh and you're putting them first, your happiness expands. Like I've never been happier down here. Um and uh your your life just gets better. It's it's a weird thing. You when you're not it well, I mean, you when you're not thinking um like when you're when you're thinking outside yourself, I guess is what I'm saying. Uh things just change. Everything changes.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

That is awesome. So tell us a little bit more about Swipe for a Cause and what it does.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

Okay, so Swipe for a Cause is like anybody, uh it's a credit card processing company. Um, it pretty much runs on well, many principles, but three that I think are are crucial. One is the customer service. Um, there's no one, I mean, you're not calling a 1-800 number. You have your cell, the cell phone number of the person who represents you and you call them if you have any issue. Now, sometimes they may have to call a 1-800 number, but the idea is not to interfere with your business. So if you have a uh something that's going wrong, we keep your business running and we take care of the problem. And we usually you uh we have a standard of you will hear back from us within 15 minutes, uh, and then we solve the problem. And uh quite often, a lot of times, the problem we've been doing this so long that we know exactly what the problem is and we can help it, and because they're usually common errors. Uh so that's one principle. The other principle, obviously, community, um, a portion of all profits that swipe for our cause makes obviously goes locally to hospice. Uh down here, it's a different every every area has a different hospice that they represent. Um, and then uh retention, you know, constant, not to the point where you're annoying, right? But we check in because unfortunately, with credit card processing, a lot of um businesses um they don't have the time to keep an eye on it. And so it I feel that it's a very important thing for us to keep an eye on it for them. So we're we watch everything and make sure that you know if there's anything we can do, and we re-evaluate them a lot to make sure that that and that's why we have such a high retention rate. People really I mean, we have um when the when the company opened um way back, I guess then 2010 or so, they opened a little this little tiny auto body shop and it's still with us today. That's awesome. And they they always say, never leaving you guys. Um so it's really it's it's very cool.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Well, I think it's interesting too that you you have separated yourself, one, with the customer service, it sounds like that you provide as well, but also the fact that you have a cause. So if a customer has a direct experience with hospice specifically, right? Like, oh, of course I would want a portion of my credit card processing, you know, to go to that. It's a really interesting, unique selling proposition you have there.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

And the the good thing about it is so what people do, it's not really a um, it's it doesn't affect them uh because it's from the profit that the company makes. So they're actually saving money because we always beat people's pricing. And then at the same time, they know that they're helping out. Yeah, you know, it's kind of, I don't know, you know, when you have something behind it, when you have a cause, it makes it just a little bit more than just business, you know?

SPEAKER_01 7:39

Absolutely. So credit card processing is getting a better name. Yes, I think I under my perspective is it's getting a better name. But it used to have a really, really bad name. So how have you taken to the helping and the service and all of those kinds of things to kind of turn around? It's for sp specifically, obviously, for your company.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Well, I think the first thing is you have to recognize um the problems with it. So when uh when you have a client and they're they're upset about something, it's you you you can empathize with that because you understand what it is. You know, you've heard about it. It's not, it's not uh uh usually you run into the same kind of problems. And sometimes it's just saying to them, look, I understand this is this is just how this is. We're gonna fix it, or we're gonna, or I understand. Let me try see how I can make it better for you. And sometimes it's just asking questions. Like I know this is upsetting, but also we try we somehow get uh a lot of people tell us a lot of things about what's going on with them otherwise in the business, too. And um so sometimes we get into that as well, you know.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

How do you how do you broach that? How do you how do you I guess open that gate for them to talk about it?

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Well, because you're talking because you're checking in with them all the time. How are things going? And uh, you know, uh in any business, it's not just credit card processing, it's not unique to swipe for if you just ask somebody how they're doing, they'll tell you. You know, if you ask them generally, I mean we all say, Hey, how are you doing? Well, I'm good, how you doing? You know, but the truth of the matter is you actually it's curiosity. So um be curious. You know, you the people that work for swipe for a cause are very curious about their clients. They want to know how they're doing their care. Um, and um, and that's kind of a prerequisite to to work for us.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

Um how do you measure the curiosity? Or how do you know that somebody's a curious person?

SPEAKER_00 9:31

Well, because if they're if they're curious about what we're doing, then that's a that's a starting point, you know. Um I'm more interested in the I'm more interested in the question. If we were gonna interview someone or someone's gonna come to swipe for a cuz, I'm more interested in the questions they're asking than I am in their resume. Yeah if that makes sense. Yeah because if they're asking the right questions and and you just know you you have a feeling, okay, this person generally cares. This person is a yeah, sure. Uh great salesman, that's great. But do they care? Are they curious? Are they asking the right questions? And one of the things I think about like, well, the whole B and I givers game, yeah. Um and I was thinking about this earlier today. I was like, why is that how why has that been such a successful, why is it the most successful aspect of BI? And I think that the reason that is is the curiosity. When you're having a one-to-one with someone and you're curious about their business, and you're not selling to them your business, and you start learning about what they do, and you start getting to know that person, and maybe it might take a couple one-to-ones, but you're seeing them every week. You start instead of just it's not about business, you know, you're you're having breakfast or whatever, your B and I, wherever ours is really, really early. We're the earliest one in Alabama, I think. Um while you're having breakfast, you're like, hey, you by the way, how is your son doing? You were telling me blah, blah, blah. He's uh, you know, we just tried out for football or whatever. And then you're just having these conversations because you remember and you have a relationship, so you're actually curious. And you're curious about why they do their business. And the people in BNI, the people who join BI, they generally are not just doing a job. They're actually they're actually people who care about their business, their business ties in with their life, they have a good balance of life. And the thing is that um, and and I've noticed this about uh Alabama B and I, is uh which is unique, is is it teaches a balance too. It teaches a balance between your personal life, your work life, um, and um just your uh it kind of just balancing your life, you know, your spirituality, your balance, your I mean, I don't want to get too weird, but but there is something there that that I've noticed here. Um not just a genuine caring about each other, but it also somehow um you learn to balance your and you check in with each other, and there's like a balance. It's you're balancing your life, you're kind of measuring, you know, what's important and how is it important, and learning how to to adapt your business to the things that are important in life, if that makes sense. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

You know, so I I'm gonna take that as a humongous compliment because I didn't realize that that is trickling down. But everything you just said is well wholeheartedly my belief of, you know, one BI is supposed to be a positive and fun and supportive thing, but also your business should be as well. And so I yeah, I just appreciate that so much. So we're gonna keep digging into this conversation um over the course of the month. We're gonna be talking in the next segment about co op cooperating and collaborating with competitors because we had a great conversation about that. And so I wanted everybody else to really understand kind of how you can do that and what that perspective ultimately looks like as well. So thank you so much for tuning in this week to Overlooked to Consistently Booked and join us next week as we continue our conversation with Dutch and talk about collaborating with competitors. If you like real conversations like this, please like and subscribe to the channel and drop us a comment below on something you'd like us to dig into next. And if you are interested in learning more about BI and how it could be a resource for your business, visit northern.bni Alabama or BNI.com if you are outside of Northern Alabama. Thank you so much, and we will see you next week.