8 Tips to Reach Your Prospects With Email Marketing For Factoring Brokers... It’s not easy to market to new factoring prospects. Many marketing tactics exist to effectively generate new leads including social media, blogging, paid advertising, direct mail and email marketing. While all of these strategies are effective and necessary forms of marketing, email marketing allows factoring brokers to reach prospects in seconds at a very low cost, with more personalization options. It’s an inexpensive and easy to use tool in your advertising arsenal. One of the greatest benefits to email marketing is personalization. It’s important to customize email messages to each prospect to increase open rates and responses. Factors can send … [Read more...]
Four Terrific Productivity Tricks for Factoring Broker
We all know how amazing it feels to be productive. How come sometimes it feels like we’re the most productive on Saturday mornings when we don’t necessarily have to be? Being productive at the office can be a challenge, but it’s not impossible. Setting yourself up for success is crucial to getting the most out of your time. The following tips include small changes that factoring business owners can make in their day-to-day activities to maximize their productivity. Turn on an alarm clock Most of us only use our alarm clock once a day (or more if you’re a repeat snooze-offender): when we wake up. However, most of us have different periods of ‘peak productivity’ throughout the day. Ask yourself: when do you feel like you’re consistently … [Read more...]
Prospect Yellow Flags: Factoring Deals to Approach with Caution
Last month, we covered a number of red flags for factoring brokers to avoid when working with a prospect. Besides those “back away now” situations, there are other things that can complicate your efforts to find a factoring company to work with the lead. While these are circumstances that may be resolved favorably, it is still worth your time to gather all of the information you can before investing your efforts in placing the deal. If you encounter the following situations, proceed with caution: Bad personal credit (with or without liens) To place a deal where the prospect has poor personal credit, you have to know which of your funders is willing to work with those deals. Tax liens fall into this category as well: because the … [Read more...]
Factoring Leads: Shifting from Marketing to Sales
Marketing is the key to generate leads, identify future prospects and convince others of the value of working with you. It follows that most articles on marketing focus firmly on getting the most benefit from your marketing methods – should you purchase pay-per-click ads? How should you incorporate social media? Do email blasts really work? However, once your marketing is successful – as measured by a prospect reaching out by phone or contact form – how do you transition from marketing to sales? Sales strategies vary greatly between different companies, between prospects working with the same company, and even at times in working with a single prospect. With that in mind, below are several questions (and a few suggestions) to consider … [Read more...]
“Show Me the Money”: How Do Your Factoring Partners Pay Commissions?
You’ve begun working with a factoring company that handles your leads well. They keep you updated, follow up on a regular basis, and they have successfully closed a deal. Now, you say, it’s time to show me the money…but just how much money will you get? We are not lawyers, and we don’t play them on TV, but we can’t stress enough the importance of thoroughly reading your broker agreement. The agreement should clearly define every question you might have about if, when, and how you are to be paid for your referred leads. Below are just some of the commission questions that you should have answered before you send any leads. Do you get paid for your leads? What are the circumstances under which you get paid? More importantly, are there … [Read more...]
Factoring Business on the Go: 10 Essential Apps for Factoring Professionals
Savvy factoring professionals understand the shifting landscape of business. Customers use mobile technology to engage with your company at all hours of the day and night, from all over the world. Since these tools are readily available, it’s important to use them to your advantage. Below are ten essential mobile applications for staying connected to the most important parts of your business. Add them to your arsenal to take your factoring company to the next level. Stay in touch with clients and contacts. Communication is the key to building a factoring business and serving your clients, so use these apps to follow up even when your desk is 1,000 miles away. • Salesforce1: Salesforce’s comprehensive app puts your lead and customer … [Read more...]
Should Factoring Intermediaries Double-Broker Deals?
The subject of double-brokering opportunities has been a hotly debated topic since I joined the industry, over a decade ago. The gist of the argument is as follows: factoring companies believe that brokers should not “shop” opportunities and place them with multiple factoring companies. On the other hand, many (but not all) brokers want to be able to place deals with two or more factors. Let’s look at both side of the argument. Summary: The factoring company point of view For several reasons, most factoring companies don’t like brokers placing the same lead with multiple factors. First and foremost, it increases their competition. It’s natural and understandable that companies don’t like the fact that they have to compete against other … [Read more...]
Funding Invoices With Fundbox
Invoice funding is not always factoring. We were reminded of this in February when we highlighted a case study on social media marketing in the article Is Invoice Factoring Becoming Mainstream? We were intrigued by the company with an innovative marketing approach and decided to dig deeper in this interview with Tomer Michaeli, VP of Business Development at Fundbox. A NY-based technology company, Fundbox is helping small businesses, freelancers and home offices grow by overcoming short term cash flow gaps. They also accept referrals from factoring brokers and are a new addition to the 2014 Directory. Is Fundbox a factoring company? Tomer Michaeli: No, Fundbox is a technology company that offers business owners and freelancers a … [Read more...]
Should Brokers Start Their Own Factoring Companies?
Most brokers who join the factoring industry expect to eventually own a factoring company. They plan to start as brokers due to the lower cost. This approach allows them to get some revenues and experience, with the hope of eventually becoming a full-fledged factoring company. This strategy is fine, as long as you realize that running a factoring company is completely different from running a brokerage. The costs, needed skill set, risks, rewards, and challenges are very different. Do you have the capital? The first question to ask yourself is if you have sufficient capital to start factoring accounts. This attainment is not as easy as it sounds. Obviously, you need enough capital to service your clients. This simple table gives you … [Read more...]
How to Set Yourself Apart from Other Factors and Brokers
As far as I can tell, every factoring broker and every factoring company claims to have exceptional customer service, that they can fund clients quickly, and that their prices are the most competitive in the market. Everybody says and focuses on that almost exclusively. Because of this, factoring companies look the same from the outside. It’s easy for prospects to see how brokers market themselves and conclude that all factoring companies are the same – basically a dime a dozen. Is factoring a commodity? Let’s look at the other side of things. Most brokers and factors complain that prospects often don’t treat them well: prospects negotiate harshly, shop incessantly for better terms, and threaten to leave for a competitor at the … [Read more...]