Welcome back to another episode of the Paycast Network! Today, we are sitting down with a true titan of the merchant services industry: Rod Katzfey.
With over three decades of experience spanning every imaginable phase of the payments ecosystem, Rod has established a career defined by a simple, powerful mantra: Fix, scale, and sell. Currently serving as the Chief Strategy Officer of Paycompass and the President of the Midwest Acquirers Association (MWAA), Rod joined the show to share his incredible journey, his unique sales philosophy, and a few good laughs along the way.
If you missed the audio version or simply prefer a quick read, we’ve got you covered with the full breakdown below.
Part 1: The Missouri Trivia Interlude
Before diving deep into payment infrastructure, we had to put Rod through the gauntlet of our traditional show trivia. Since Rod hailed from Missouri (living there until he was 25), we kept the questions strictly local.
How well does a payments legend know his home state? Let’s look at the scoreboard:
- Question 1: What massive 1904 event in St. Louis is credited with popularizing the ice cream cone, iced tea, and the hot dog?
- Rod’s Answer: The St. Louis World’s Fair. (Nailed it!)
- Question 2: Missouri borders more states than almost any other in the U.S. How many states does it touch?
- Rod’s Answer: Eight states. After a bit of live mapping in his head, Rod correctly named Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Nebraska.
Rod’s secret to getting an exact eight out of eight? Early in his merchant career, he managed an independent grocery store group called Affiliated Foods, forcing him to drive through practically every neighboring state on the map.
Part 2: The Ultimate Payments Resume (Fix, Scale, Sell)
Rod didn’t originally plan on a career in payments. Like many veterans in the space, he fell into it by accident. While pursuing an accounting degree, a firm advised him to get a banking job until he completed his intermediate courses. That pivot eventually landed him in a 100% commission direct-sales role at First Data—and the rest is history.
Here is a quick snapshot of Rod’s relentless “Fix, Scale, and Sell” track record:
- Unified Merchant Services (Atlanta): Took over a sales team operating at just 38% of their quota. Within 90 days of old-fashioned door-knocking and branch visits, he skyrocketed the team to 189% of their quota.
- U.S. Bank (Minneapolis): Built out an entirely new inside sales team, survived the massive merger with Firstar, and helped navigate the acquisition of Nova (now known as Elavon).
- Comdata & Payleap: Stepped into Comdata’s acquired entity, TranVia, flipping it from a significant loss to highly profitable before selling the business. He replicated this exact success shortly after with the e-commerce gateway Payleap.
- Credorax & Nuvei: Went international with Credorax—becoming the first to secure a MALPB license in Georgia while traveling quarterly to Israel, Malta, and Montreal. He later joined Nuvei (formerly Pivotal Payments) and helped take the organization public.
With over 24 major M&A deals under his belt, Rod has carved out a niche as an expert who builds up organizations, optimizes them for maximum value, and hands off the keys.
“I’m a person that doesn’t maintain things. I don’t like to just maintain. My passion is fixing things and growing things. Once it reaches a certain point, I want a new challenge.”
Part 3: Rod’s Sales Philosophy: Education Over “Rate”
In an industry where sales reps frequently lead with price cuts, Rod took an entirely different route to success.
Selling the Lesson, Not the Discount
“I don’t like the word sales,” Rod admitted. “I like the word education.” Early in his career, while competitors scrambled to shave off three or five basis points to win a merchant, Rod focused entirely on finding the business owner’s operational pain points. By teaching merchants how processing actually worked, he built immediate trust. His first year was built entirely on cold calling; his second year was sustained 100% by word-of-mouth referrals.
Spinning on a Dime
Rod shared his favorite qualifying question for cold prospects: “If you could change anything about your current program other than price, what would it be?” By steering clear of price right out of the gate, he could instantly isolate real operational issues—like slow funding times or faulty hardware. Simultaneously, Rod would look at the merchant’s physical credit card terminal to spot the provider’s logo on the overlay. Knowing his competitors’ hidden fees inside and out, he could immediately pivot his educational pitch to address their specific vulnerabilities.
The Lost Art of Chargeback Protection
To highlight how crucial education is, Rod recalled a time when he noticed a high-ticket electronic store manually keying in card transactions because their terminal scanner failed.
He immediately flagged this as a massive chargeback risk, introducing them to the necessity of manual credit card imprinters (or even the old-school trick of placing a receipt over a card and rubbing it with a crayon to prove the card was physically present). He implemented this exact strategy for a local Domino’s Pizza franchise that was getting hit with fraudulent chargebacks from local college students, saving the business thousands of dollars.
Part 4: The Power of Flexibility & Giving Back
Beyond the thrill of the deal, Rod credits his long tenure in the payments sector to the sheer lifestyle flexibility it provides. Long before remote work and Zoom calls became a global corporate standard, Rod was managing international teams out of Israel and Malta via Skype from his home office—all while successfully finding the time to coach his daughters’ varsity basketball teams.
That appreciation for the industry is exactly what keeps him heavily invested in the Midwest Acquirers Association (MWAA).
Staying Put at the MWAA
While Rod jokes that he has never stayed at a traditional corporation long enough to earn a 5-year pin, his relationship with the MWAA is the lone exception. Joining the advisory board all the way back in 2002, Rod has spent more than two decades volunteering his time to grow the association.
The MWAA remains a completely volunteer, “roll-up-your-sleeves” working group dedicated entirely to educating independent sales organizations (ISOs) and agents. For Rod, it is a vital way to give back to the ecosystem that shaped his life and ensure future generations have the tools they need to succeed.
Catch Rod at the Next MWAA Show!
The MWAA is gearing up for its annual show this upcoming July, and it is on track to completely smash previous attendance records. Stay tuned for an upcoming episode of the Paycast Network where we will sit down with Rod yet again for an exclusive sneak peek at what the association has in store for this year’s event!
To keep up with Rod and find resources for the upcoming conference, visit midwestacquirers.org.