As a small business owner, you’re well aware of the fact that every dollar counts. Even though the economy has improved from where it was a few years ago, the majority of small businesses still end up failing. While that sounds grim, the fact that you’re still in business shows you’re doing a lot of things right.

Since smart business owners like yourself are always evaluating where they’re at and where they want to go, one issue you may be debating is whether or not you should start accepting credit cards. Whether you’re concerned about high fees harming your bottom line or constantly being stressed about compliance issues, there are plenty of legitimate reasons to be hesitant about processing credit card transactions. But despite those concerns, the reality of the situation is that the benefits of accepting customers’ credit cards are much greater than any potential downsides:

Eliminate Competitors’ Advantage: If you currently have competitors who accept credit cards, they can use that fact to give themselves an edge against your business. However, all you have to do to eliminate their competitive advantage is to begin accepting credit cards as well. Once you do, they’ll be back to trying to keep up with the advantages you have in areas like customer service.

Simpler Sales: What’s great about having a merchant account and payment processing system is everything goes into a central location. As a result, not only is it easier to complete sales, but it’s also easier to keep track of everything. In terms of completing sales, customers have become accustomed to simply swiping their card when they’re in a retail location or entering their card’s digits when they’re shopping online. By taking advantage of the simplicity of these transactions, you can prevent hassles from getting in the way of closing sales. And as far as tracking, the centralized nature of this type of system means you’ll have more control over your financial data.

Flexibility: Want to process payments in your retail location? How about online? Or even when you’re on the go? Thanks to all the advances that have been made in the credit card processing industry, all of those options are now available. Best of all, they don’t require multiple systems. Instead, you’ll be able to use one or all of them with the same merchant account provider and processing company.

Improve Cash Flow: One of the most common concerns small businesses have about accepting credit cards is it’s going to negatively impact their cash flow. If this worry has been preventing you from processing this form of payment, you’ll be happy to know that because credit card transactions don’t have an extended processing period like checks or money orders, this payment option can actually help your business by improving its cash flow.

Jeff Adcock is the president of www.veritransllc.com Which is an online credit card processing company in Houston TX.