Keeping Your Agents Engaged
As you start to build up your network of referral agents, one of your most important tasks is to keep your agents engaged. Building a network of 300-500 agents is only part of the job. Now you need to make that network productive.
With the associated costs of being an agent so low (business cards, web hosting, etc.) so low, few agents will drop out as long as they fully understand their job and the potential for exceptional income. IACFB provides a great deal of “motivational content” through IACFB Magazine. Additional motivational content is very easily provided through the occasional email from your MailChimp account.
Keeping Your Agents Engaged
Over time, all freelance consultants will build lists of “referrers” that contact your company seeking a broker’s agreement or other information referrals. Often these email lists are substantial totaling well into the hundreds. But for the most part, they are “just names”. Factoring 303 provides a way to turn those “just names” into trained referrers that can explode your income as you build that network. You provide FREE training for this army. But. even though trained, you will need to find ways to make your “agent” group productive. Below are a few ways and methods to do just that.
Making Your Agents Productive
- Email Automations: Use an email service such as MailChimp or Constant Contact to “touch base” with your network every 7-14 days. In your email include success stories that reference other agents
- Hold a once-a-month podcast on factoring where you agents can help you fill the seats with prospects.
- Create an SQL (Sales Qualified Leads) contest where your agents can win small prizes just for generating qualified leads for you to follow up on.
- Try to post a sales-related article once a month on Commercial Finance Consultant magazine and post periodic comments on the IACFB LinkedIn Group
- Create an annual sales contest that runs 6-9 months with meaningful prizes and awards for productivity. Promote your contest at least every two weeks with articles on LinkedIn and other social media.
Post Success Stories
There is a specific column dedicated to broker success stories at IACFB Magazine. When an agent submits a deal that is funded, post some “basic” details of how the deal was found / generated in a “This Month’sDeals” post on IACFB Magazine and also directly to the email address of your Agents Network. Show your less productive agents how your successful agents are getting the job done.
Create an SQL Contest
You can create SQL (Sales Qualified Leads) contest very easy using the lead forms generated from the WordPress Landing Pages of your network. These types of contests (SQL) also serve show your network of agents EXACTLY what you expect from them. The more leads an agent’s website generates, the more valuable he/she is to you. Let your BDOs judge/gauge the actual quality and validity of the leads and let your agents that submit the most leads on a monthly basis earn small prizes such as $25, $50, or $100 Amazon Gift Cards, etc.
Create a Long Term Sales Contest
Incorporating an annual sales contest that includes your new agents is a not only a sure method of keeping everyone engaged but also a a great way to keep your pipeline of new agents full at all times. Additionally, factoring is simply one of those industries where such attention-getting prizes (car leases, cruises, etc.) can easily be included in your list of prizes for productivity. It’s important, however, that all long term sales contests are structured in such a way that even your newest agents can participate on some level.
