The value of a consultant is usually based on the above average knowledge regarding some type of product or process. As professional financing consultants, factoring brokers and commercial finance consultants are no different. From a business owner’s standpoint, the factoring brokers client, there are two critical questions a professional broker must be able to answer…
- What is the best type of financing available to my business to remedy a specific working and/or growth capital problem I’m having?
- Where can I get this type of financing at favorable rates with quality service?
Professional factoring consultants must be able to provide answers to both questions and to do so, they must develop a certain level of product knowledge. And, in the factoring industry as with most others, knowledge is power. The more knowledge you accumulate about all the various niche areas of factoring as well as the many other sources of alternative small business finance that exist, the greater your worth as an industry professional. And the great news is this. If you are what can be considered a self-starter or mobile creative, you do not need to spend tens of thousands of dollars attending specialized training schools to develop your knowledge base. Everything you need to initially enter the industry is readily available for a small fraction of that cost along with some quality research time spent on the internet. So if you’re ready, here’s where to begin building your base of industry product knowledge.
International Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (IACFB)
Though there are some excellent “hands on” training schools available to teach new entrants about the industry, the costs to attend such schools can often become an issue with some high-quality schools charging more than $50,000 to attend. Some industry entrants can afford such fees, others cannot. But when it comes to truly affordable, yet comprehensive training for factoring brokers, nothing really compares to the training offered by the premier business finance broker’s association at IACFB where for just a few hundred dollars, you can literally get trained and ready for business within a few short weeks.
The Factoring 101 Program
The Factoring 101 Independent Broker’s program at Campus IACFB sets the industry standard for comprehensive training and support at a cost that virtually anyone can afford. The program is now an e-learning program with many informative videos and downloads and allows new industry consultant to view the program and their own pace and speed. For those that additional benefit from reading in hands-on print format, the program also offers a very informative and comprehensive start up guide (Factoring 101) which can be added to the comprehensive online e-learning classes and lessons.
Certification Exam
One of the greatest fears that new factoring consultants experience is that of being identified as an inexperienced “newbie” by other professionals in their community. In reality, that is unlikely since most lending officers and accounting professionals know little or nothing about factoring and it’s power to address problems of cash flow in small businesses. Still…the worry is there and to combat the feeling of inadequacy, IACFB offers all of it’s professional members with the opportunity to become factoring “Certified” by taking and passing the Class Marker Exam.
The Factoring 101 Certification Exam is designed to gauge your learning experience, level of knowledge and general understanding of factoring and the asset-based finance industry. The exam also prepares you for business and lets prospective clients they are dealing with a professional.
The exam is made up of 125 questions randomly pulled from a 450 question database and is administered through Class Marker. No two exams are identical. All questions are based on content in the Online Academy Campus, the Factoring 101: A Brokers Guide and articles found in the Commercial Finance Consultant Magazine. You will have 90 minutes to complete the exam.
You may take the exam as many times as required, although there is a one day wait required between sittings. The acceptable pass / fail percentage on the exam is 75% for passing. If you do not score well on your first attempt, don’t be discouraged. Your weak areas will show and you can easily go back and review the guide to fill in the gaps where you are weak. You will also earn a coupon (promo code) for any score 75% or higher that entitles you to a significant discount on any IACFB broker website available through DataMax Marketing.
Explore the Industry. View the Lenders Directories
For those brand new to the industry, one of the best ways to begin to gain some knowledge is to visit the websites of several factors. IACFB publishes the Directory of American Factors and Lenders for our Freelance Brokers and Consultants. This directory houses roughly 500 lenders in the database and is an important source of financing where brokers can always find the right source for the right deal…every time. Below, however, we have included links to ten (10) popular factor’s websites. Visiting such sites is an important learning tool as you will eventually need to build your own lender database. As you explore the following sites, you will notice that each with include a menu item or tab that references that factors freelance broker program or partners program.
Find Out More
Launching a business as an independent factoring consultant is, without question, one of the most exciting and attractive home business ventures available to entrepreneurs today. And most importantly, it is a home business virtually anyone can enter and succeed at one some level, depending on their determination and perseverance.
You can find out much and explore the IACFB’s comprehensive training programs by visiting www.iacfb.academy.
