~8 min read
What you'll learn
  • The three signals that identify a high-risk, high-fit business client
  • The industries most exposed to payment fraud
  • How to build a prioritized outreach list
  • Why payment volume is your best targeting filter

Identifying and prioritizing high-risk client segments

Don't sell to everyone at once. Sequence it.

Your commercial book isn't uniform. Some business clients are far more exposed to payment fraud and far more likely to say yes. Target those first. The early wins build your internal case studies and your team's confidence.

The three signals of a high-risk, high-fit client.

Signal 1: Payment volume. Businesses processing high volumes of checks or ACH payments have more surface area for fraud and feel the risk more acutely. A business issuing more than ~50 checks a month, or running significant recurring ACH, is a strong candidate.

Signal 2: Fraud history. Any business client that has already experienced check or ACH fraud is your highest-intent prospect. They've felt the cost. They're listening. (This connects directly to the fraud-as-trigger lever in Lesson 2.2.)

Signal 3: Industry risk. Some industries are structurally more exposed. Businesses with high invoice volume are vulnerable to invoice fraud. Businesses running frequent payment runs — like real estate firms issuing multiple payments daily — are exposed simply through frequency. Target these industries proactively.

Build the prioritized list.

Pull your commercial book and tag each client against the three signals. The clients hitting two or three signals are your tier-one outreach list. Clients hitting one signal are tier two. Clients hitting none can wait.

This turns "market Positive Pay to our business clients" from an overwhelming, undifferentiated task into a sequenced, manageable list.

Payment volume is your best filter.

If you only have time to filter on one signal, use payment volume. It's objective, it's pullable from your core, and it correlates with both fraud exposure and willingness to pay. High-volume business clients feel the risk and have the budget. Start there.

Do this

Pull your commercial book this week and build the tier-one list: every business client hitting two or more of the three signals. That list is your outreach roadmap for the next quarter.

What's next.

You've completed Track 3. You can run a joint call, open a conversation without pitching, handle the five core objections, run an email sequence, and prioritize your book. Track 4 covers the business side: pricing, non-interest income, retention, and what a mature Positive Pay program looks like over time.

Self-check

3 quick questions

Why should you sequence your outreach instead of selling to everyone at once?
A It's required by regulation
B Some clients are far more exposed and likely to say yes — early wins build your case studies and confidence
C Your vendor limits how many you can enroll
D It saves on postage
Correct. Sequencing builds momentum. Early wins at high-signal clients create the internal case studies that make the rest of the book easier.
Not quite. Sequencing works because some clients are far more exposed and likely to say yes. Early wins create the case studies that make the rest of the book easier.
Which business client is your highest-intent prospect?
A The newest account
B One that has already experienced check or ACH fraud
C The largest by total deposits
D One that has never asked about fraud
Correct. A client that has experienced fraud has felt the cost. They're listening. This is the fraud-as-trigger mechanic from Track 2 applied to your outreach list.
Not quite. A client that has already experienced check or ACH fraud is your highest-intent prospect — they've felt the cost and they're listening.
If you can only filter on one signal, which should it be?
A Industry
B Payment volume
C Account age
D Geographic location
Correct. Payment volume is objective, pullable from your core, and correlates with both exposure and willingness to pay. Start there.
Not quite. Payment volume is the best single filter — objective, pullable from your core, and correlated with both fraud exposure and willingness to pay.