Quote from: lyth0s on October 11, 2014, 11:35:22 PM

How did you get your local grocery store to accept bitcoins? Did you hook them up with bitpay or coinbase? How did you approach the subject in the first place with them?

If you have gotten multiple stores in your area to accept bitcoin, you could really help the community by posting a small guide on your approach. I know I would donate a few btc to you for doing so and it could help others with getting local merchant adoption.

take each merchant on its own bases. do not have 1 'sales pitch', always tailor how you talk to merchants based on what they know.

for instance a fruit stall on a sunday market that only accepts cash... dont talk to him about credit cards.. talk in relation to the headaches of putting the bank notes into a bank account. i have even had a QR code printed out on a business card. and handed it to the stall owner and asked him to check out blockchain.info on his device for that address (took 10 seconds) . and said "ok imagine i want 10 oranges, show me that QR code" - i scanned it from my phone and send the QR code funds. he seen it appear instantly. i told him if he wanted any more info that my email address was on the back of the business card to describe to him how to then link a QR code to his bank account for instant converting he can contact me about it or go to coinbase/bitpay to work it out himself. i of course paid him fiat for the oranges before leaving him to serve other customers, but for demo reasons i showed him how easy it was to accept bitcoin and check for payments received with just a 2 minute conversation.

for instance a local cow farm shop that deals in cash, use terms that relate to meat and when you talk about wallets and cold storage.. joking relate it to 'a hot wallet is the cash register which is an arms length from customers, which needs to be monitored and secured all the time, but the cold store is locked away, no where near customer access in a safe in their meat freezer. where no one can get to or guess where it is, but staff.

be funny, relaxed, joking around and making sure its in a language THEY understand.
under no terms should the words
"its a decentralized peer-to peer financial ledger network and cryptographically protected protocol" .. a sentance like that is like speaking japanese to an englishman

there is no single magic speech that works for all merchants. so research what that merchant does an do not use technical jargon. translate every word to be an analogy which they would understand.

in some cases merchants dont want to sign up to coinbase/bitpay because they are the old breed that still do not like giving online strangers bank details. even if they are corporations. with those you can set up a form of 'bar tab' (cash in hand) which just gets topped up as it gets used.

the most easiest thing is on first contact
work out how many people locally will use that business and an average weekly spend (speak to friends and others at bitcoin local meetups to get estimates)

for instance if everyone at a local meetup agree that a certain grocery store would benefit them all, and they all spend $80 a week normally then you can use that number to say to the merchant that: by accepting bitcoin they will get atleast $80x Y people per week. that YOU will contact local media about that local grocer being the first in that town/city to accept bitcoin which will be free press for the business and also a 'go-to' destination for bitcoin tourists.

then explain the benefits in terms they will understand.

lastly. do not be pushy or sales pitchy. do not expect instant approval from just one conversation. do not expect instant understanding on first conversation.

keep it simple and sweet and leave them idea's to think about and research, then return at a short time later ( couple days) and either give him the answers to the idea's you spoon fed to them or answer any new questions they come up with.

and always have a spare phone on you so you can atleast be demonstrated how it works and/or easily set them up with a way to receive bitcoin themselves on their own device.

even if it means that your using your own accounts where YOU end up receiving your own bitcoin and only pretending they received it.. and still handing them fiat at the end of the demo., atleast letting them see the process helps alot more than the words you say.

i have seen a few others in the community waffle on to merchants for an hour using all the computer jargon(trying to sound smart), acting professional. and at the end of it the merchant is still none the wiser and thinks the person is pushing some scam on them..

i have even sent simple emails to online merchants such as
"hi merchantX
i really love your store, but its a pitty that you do not accept bitcoin as i was wishing to buy product Y, Z, A and B from you this week. i also have friends that told me thy had to go elsewhere due to lack of bitcoin acceptance. is their any chance you would accept bitcoin soon as i would love to be a regular customer of yours."

there are many approaches to take. but the main point is not to push them into accepting it that day, and mentioning benefits to them financially for doing it.

there is no single sales pitch to use. but if you know of a certain merchant that has the power of CEO (able to make decisions about payment methods) then tell me and mention what approach you would take, and i can reply with a direction to take and if your on the right path or not