Finding A Good Merchant Account Provider

My wife is getting ready to open her own hair salon and I am helping however I can.  This has been a dream of hers for years and she is very happy that it is finally a reality.  We have been approached by numerous salesmen for credit card processing services.  We know we will need to choose a merchant account provider and get everything set up prior to the grand opening, but don’t know how to choose one.  There are so many of them available and they all promise the best rates, but I am more interested in reliability and service.  I am going to start doing some research about the different providers before making a decision.