Building Networks with Sponsored Agents
Building Sponsored Agent Networks (Factors)
According to industry polls, referrals from networking are a primary source of new business (new clients) each and every year and virtually all factors and their BDOs spend countless hours working to develop relationships with local lending officers, accounting professionals, and others that can send business their way.
There is an additional networking opportunity, however, that most factors and their BDOs tend to ignore and that is the opportunity to develop an expansive network of referrers or “bird dogs”. At IACFB, we refer to this group as sponsored agents or when enlisted by a particular factor, “Factor’s Agents” and it is one of the most important networks factors can develop.
Building Agent Networks (Factors)
For Commercial Factors, the IACFB Factors Agent Program is a very simple training program at IACFB that is used to build large networks of referrers or “bird dogs” for your company. It is not an in-depth freelance broker training program. It is simply a program used to build very large networks of part-time, occasional referrers.
Program Goals
The Factors Agents Program provides basic, yet relatively comprehensive factoring training to those that can occasionally refer business to your BDOs. Using this program, factors can offer FREE training to:
- bookkeepers, tax preparers, CPAs and other accounting professionals
- business consultants
- lease brokers
- insurance professionals
- business law professionals including bankruptcy attorneys
- startup freelance brokers
With IACFB’s Factors Agent Program, you can build very large referral networks by offering training to members of the above groups.
How Training Works
As an IACFB preferred factor / member, you now can offer free fundamental training for your “new” agents network. All individuals you refer to the program are provided unlimited access to our Learning Lab and Factoring 101 :Lite” Training classes and lessons. There is no limit. Factors utilizing the program can send an unlimited number of brokers and referrers for training.
Free Landing Page Website
After training, your agents are provided with a Free WordPress Landing Page ($29.95 Domain / Setup) which contains a request form for a free small business guide (booklet) on factoring and it’s benefits for small business. Your agent’s job is to do nothing more than drive traffic to their landing page and dispense the booklet. When the booklet is requested by a visitor, both you and your agent receives a copy of the request form. Your BDO assigned to that agent follows up on the lead and works the deal.
What’s Included for Your Factors Agent?
The Factors Agents are considered “Special Registered Guests” of the Campus with access to…
- selected classes and lessons on factoring from IACFB’s e-learning Campus for Factoring Brokers
- access to all articles found in the Learning Lab and Commercial Finance Consultant Magazine
- Free WordPress Landing Page ($29.95 Domain / Setup) (see samples)
- Discount web hosting at $9.95 per month
What Are the Associated Program Costs to You?
The standard costs for the Sponsored Agents Program is $99.95 per agent training and WordPress Landing Page. As a Sponsoring Factor, you are provided with a specific “PROMO” code or “coupon” for your company that credits back your agents their $99.95 program cost. They will only pay their $29.95 domain and setup fee.
- Agent: $0 zero dollar cost. Your agents gain free access to Factoring 101 training at Campus IACFB.
- Factors: $349.95 plus $14.95 monthly. Factors are required to set up a “portal page” where prospective agents can sign up.
- Setup: The Setup and Program Cost is $349.95 (one time setup)
- Domain: The domain for that page in $14.99 per year.
- Hosting: The monthly hosting is $14.95 which includes special business email for signup form submissions.
It’s important to understand what the Factor’s Agent Program is and what it is not.
Simply put, Factor’s Agent is program designed to create a low cost / budget network of referrers or “Bird Dogs” for your company. This is done by providing comprehensive training in the factoring product along with a special WordPress Landing Page that dispenses a lead-generation booklet entitled “When Banks Say NO!…The Small Business Guide to Factoring”.
Agents under this program are expected to do only three things…
- Position themselves for networking opportunities
- Talk up their business of factoring and small business finance to those they meet
- Direct interested business owner to their Landing Page so they can download the FREE booklet.
Individuals you send for agent / broker training at the Campus are provided access to the classes and lessons found in Factoring 101 without cost.
Agents are provided with a WordPress Landing Page, that requires a IACFB / DataMax Website Template Package which is normally $99.95. With your provided PROMO CODE, that $99.95 is reimbursed immediately upon check out. Your agents will only pay at $29.95 set up fee which includes domain and WordPress Installation. Hosting is just $9.95 per month.
When discussing the Agent’s Program, you can never lose site of the goal which is to simply supply your BDOs with Sales Qualified Leads (SQL) That’s it! Members of your Agents Program do this by networking and driving visitors to their Landing Page where they request the FREE booklet on factoring. The booklet is in PDF format and self-dispenses when anyone completes the request form. When that form is submitted, a copy is sent to your agent and a duplicate is sent to the agent’s assigned BDO or the factor. It is then up to the BDO to follow up on that lead.
Once your new brokers / referrers sign up as “agents” by submitting the form from your Profile / Portal page, they are set up with a Username and Password for Factoring 101 “Lite” Campus access. They have unlimited access and go through the training and take the quizzes and exam.
When IACFB receives the form from your Profile / Portal Page that a new agent has signed up, we…
- Send their login credentials for Campus Access to Factoring 101 within 24 hours
- Set up and test their credentials for access.
- Direct them to “Orientation” which provides them a direct link to the Campus for training access
- Start an email automation (about 15 emails) that gives them helpful tips on startup.
Attracting new agents for your network is exceptionally easy and we find one of the best places to do so is LinkedIn. Posting small announcements once every week or so in various groups you belong to always attracts significant numbers of new candidates. Among its many benefits, LinkedIn is the social media of choice for many either looking for a job or interested in starting a business. Your Agents Program offers…
- Free Training
- Exceptionally Low Cost of Operation
- Extremely Attractive Residual Commission Payments
- The Ability to Work Directly with Professional
Post articles with a direct link to your Training Portal. New agents will sign up and IACFB processes and trains each and every one at no cost to you.
Truly productive factoring brokers and consultants are rare and difficult to find. The Agents Program revisits the job of building networks of true industry factoring brokers and reduces it to building networks of simple “referrers”. Much easier.
For factors, the benefits of building “bird dog” referral networks are easy to understand since it is a no cost / maximum benefit program. Building no-cost networks of 200, 300, 500, 1,000 referrers or more simply means your BDOs will have an exponential amount of SQL to review and follow up on. It is really that simple.
For agents, the cost is also minimal. Business cards and networking expense is about it and for the most part, the networking involves clubs and organizations they belong to or frequent anyway. The only true cost of the program for agents is a small monthly hosting fee ($9.95) for their lead-generating landing page and even that can be reduced to zero by simply providing a $100 promotion BONUS to any agent that submits a deal that is closed and funded.
Your Company Profile Page (Portal Page) is a WordPress landing page which details your company and its services. Your Profile Page is viewed and accessed by prospective brokers / partners entering the Sponsored Agents Program when selecting their “sponsor”.
Your Company Profiles Page contains an overview of your company and such information as contact phone / email for your BDOs (who does the referrer take a deal to), your factoring firms industry preferences for new clients, industry niches you DO NOT finance, commission rates / plans, and a PDF download of your “Broker’s Agreement”. Your Profile Page will also contains a special form so new brokers and agents can sign up with your company directly from that page.
Your Company Profile Page is housed in its own domain. You will purchase your domain when you become an IACFB Member and will typically use something like “yourcompanyname-training.com” or yourcompanyname-iacfb.com for your Profile Page.
IACFB staff will initially set up your page for you with information you provide. You will have complete access and control over your page and can modify it and update it at any time easily using our installed Elementor drag and drop editor or you can simply log in and send us a support ticket and we will do it for you.
Authoring on IACFB’s Commercial Finance Consultant Magazine or the IACFB.com blog is one of the surest ways of getting the word out about your company and it’s financing preferences. Not only are both the magazine and blog public, meaning they are “spidered” by Google and other search engines, but IACFB also references your posts in it’s weekly email bulletin.
Nothing excites the community of brokers and referrers like a sales contest. Whether your promotion involves prizes, awards, or bonus commissions, let IACFB Magazine help to get the word out. Learn more about Agent Engagement using Contests and Promotions here.