“We started National Factoring Group to help build back the economy one business at a time.”
– Brandon Bauer, National Factoring Group Founder
Written by Michelle (businessinterviews.com) July 11,2013
Brandon Bauer and his wife Brandi started their company to be an advocate that would look out for the best interest of companies looking for factoring and also for the factoring companies. National Factoring Group allows customers looking for factoring to compare the differences between the funders, not just their marketing material, and select the best options for their needs.
MO: What exactly is Factoring? Who is your target market?
Brandon: Factoring is one of the world’s oldest forms of commercial finance dating back to Hammurabi and is meant to be a form of interim finance to help companies with their cash flow and get to where they need to be. Modern day factoring is a form of finance for companies in the business to business sector offering their clients terms of payment.
Factoring frees up the cash tied up in there invoices, putting them in a better cash position to be able to continue working and growing their business without having to worry about the constraints of waiting for their clients to pay or acquiring more debt. Factoring also has a lot more flexibility than traditional lending and weights most of the decision to move forward on who the company is selling to and the capacity of that company to pay their bills in a timely manner (based on industry standards).
Because of this Factoring works for companies that are new, growing rapidly, or have concentrations within their ageing. Factoring can even help companies that are struggling or losing money and because of the structure it is ideal for companies that don’t want to work within arenas that would have restraints that could make growth difficult.
Our target market is any company that is looking to increase their cash flow, that is selling a product or service to another business, and billing with their industry standard terms once their product is delivered or that stage of the service is complete and billable. While Factoring has been historically for either large manufacturers in the Garment, Tufting, and Furniture industries or smaller companies that don’t qualify for traditional lending in today’s economy, we are seeing a lot more mid-sized companies looking at factoring as the rates have come down considerably over the last several years making it a much more attractive proposition than it has been in a while.
MO: Can you talk about the early stages of developing the company, any challenges that you faced and how you overcame them?
Brandon: In starting National Factoring Group we found that there were two main challenges that we had to overcome. They came in the form of the two different types of vendors we work with. The first form of these vendors are the business application services we use. When we were getting started we relied on the word and advice of those around us.
We had one experience where we were oversold on a service that was under delivered. When we first started out in the relationship we trusted that this company was knowledgeable in their field and that they would deliver on the expectations that had been set forth. We came to the realization that these promised expectations were not there. We have since had to end the relationship with this vendor and have taken this aspect of National Factoring Group into our own hands.
The second type of vendors we have are the Factoring Companies that provide the service to our clients. Since we had been in this industry for, combined, roughly 20 years, we felt we had a pretty good grasp on how each one of them worked. Two challenges presented themselves as we progressed through the past couple of years.
The first challenge came when a Factoring Company wanted to be represented on our site. We agreed but a few months later and many quality follow ups we determined that the service they were providing business we had sent to them was not to the standards we expect our Factoring Companies to have. We promptly dropped their customer service ranking within our site and ultimately had to end our relationship with them because of this.
The second challenge within the realm of our funders would be when a funder pretty much stopped communicating with us. After speaking with them we discovered that we were actually providing them so much business that they were not able to adequately keep up with and track the incoming leads we were sending them. They asked that we remove them from the site temporarily so that they could internally figure out the best course of action to satisfy the needs of all parties without running the risk of providing inferior service.
As we worked through each of these challenges our focus remained in finding the best factoring company and providing a superior service for each one of the businesses coming to us. At the end of the day we feel like the biggest thing to take away from our challenges would be while you can pass along savings and great deals to you customers, you cannot pass on your burdens or let your customer service lack no matter the obstacle or challenge you are facing.
MO: What’s one marketing strategy that’s worked well for you so far?
Brandon: We changed our message when we started we got advice from so many different people and we were trying to cover all of them. Rather than doing what we always wanted to do which was help one business at a time. When we changed our approach from trying to talk to everyone at once to speaking to each visitor like an individual we saw that the resource we created worked better for the customer which in turn made us more successful and brought in the capital to be able to get our voice out there.
MO: Although you got off to a very slow start as a business things really began to pick up in the 4th quarter of last year – why do you think that you suddenly started to gain momentum at this point?
Brandon: Prior the 4 do it’s thing. We looked at the numbers coming in and decided to scrap what all the SEO experts were saying and went with our gut. We started to directly target and find new ways to get in front of those who would be utilizing our service, both the consumer and those who would be referring our service to their customers.
By letting business owners selling their products and services to other businesses know that there was someone out there who would guide them in making one of the biggest decisions for their business in a non-bias way, we can help them find the right Factoring Company for their business without them having to compromise the way they were doing business or jeopardizing the growth of their business.
For the referral sources we have made our site mobile and easy to use on their computer, smart phones and tablets. This allows bankers and accountants to help their clients wherever they are and maintain the existing relationship.
MO: Where does your passion for helping businesses succeed come from?
Brandon: It might sound hokey but I really just like helping people and being a part of something greater than myself. I enjoy looking back at something and thinking “I helped make that happen and I made a difference.” I was at a point in my career where I could make the leap that would allow me to help more business. I wanted to do something that was going to look out for the customer’s best interest not just my employer and my pay check
MO: What’s the most exciting thing on the horizon for you personally or professionally?
Brandon: We are really excited about now having our site working so well in the mobile arena. We see one of the big growth areas for National Factoring Group to be a valued resource to Bankers, Accountants etc. to be able to help their customers find the best factoring companies for their needs and staying involved so that when the company is ready to move on from factoring they will continue that valued relationship. We have also partnered with a new marketing firm and know that the only direction from here is up. On the personal front I am looking forward to being able to bring on a larger staff freeing up some of my time so that I may be a better father to my daughter.
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