All right. Thank you guys so much for watching.
Today is an exciting day because I am here in San Diego at the National Funding
Headquarters with a person that is a legend in this industry.
I'm gonna go ahead and let you introduce yourself to the people that don't know
who you are, and go ahead and tell them who you are,
who the company that you're with. Obviously we're here,
your title and what you do here. Perfect.
Thank you so much for the introduction. Justin Thompson,
national Funding here in San Diego, California. I'm the Chief Revenue Officer,
and not only do I manage national funding,
but also manage quick Bridge up in Irvine, which is our sister company,
manage all sales divisions, whether it be wholesale, retail,
strategic partnerships, and business development. Awesome.
And we're actually gonna play a game of pool while we, uh, talk,
talk about the, the industry, your career, just a little bit of everything,
so it's gonna be a fun time. Absolutely. Do you want a break? Yeah,
that was good. Nice, nice.
Last time we were here was 2019, which is crazy to believe.
And since 2019, what has changed in the industry out west? Wow.
There's a lot that's changed really. The, the digital evolution, the,
the movement with people coming out here and the way that we
communicate and acquire SMBs, uh,
not only from the traditional direct mail marketing,
but also now digitally is so important to the space. Yeah. Well,
you know what's interesting is that since Covid has happened and since you've
been in this industry for 20 plus years, give or take,
you've seen everything. Yeah. So my question to you is,
how has sales changed in this business? Yeah, it's gotten way faster,
more products available, different types of products are available.
Back when I started, you had a split type program, merchant cash advance,
very short term went off credit cards and how they batched. Now today,
you have longer terms of anywhere from 24 to 36 months daily, weekly,
and even biweekly. Monthly products have entered into our space and really,
you know, depending on,
on what kind of lender you are and where you like to buy,
there's lenders now for a, all the way down to the D type paper. Nice.
So you've talked to merchants, you talk to business owners,
you talk to everyone. Uh, for those merchants that are shy,
what do you say to them? Yeah, ask a lot of questions.
Understand what you're getting into as you're getting into it,
and make sure that you are working with somebody that you like
and trust. Make sure you work with somebody you have a relationship with,
not only for the first deal, but also for future deals.
As you're building a relationship with that lender,
how do you think that business owners like to communicate? What's their,
what's their preference? Yeah. I show my age a little bit here.
When I got started, it was really all about faxing and phone.
Then it evolved to phone and email.
Now it's all texting and some phone because small business owners work off their
cell phone all day long as they're working. Texting is great.
I would highly suggest typically number one form of communications, texting.
Then second in is phone, then third is email. Third is email.
So you just said you dated yourself a little bit.
So let's talk about since you first started in this industry,
what has fundamentally stayed the same in regards to sales?
In regards to this industry? Fundamentally stayed the same.
Is all SMBs need working capital for their business. They need it to survive,
and it's an opportunity for them to build a relationship with a lender.
And then from the sales side,
the important part is whether no matter how you communicate with the smb,
the important part is building that relationship. Do like ultimately,
can anyone be good in sales or does it have to have,
do you have to have a specific type of trait for this business?
Cause I know a big part of that is building relationships and just being someone
that people like.
So let's talk a little bit about what trait do you have to have to be good?
Does it come naturally? Yeah.
So there's will and skill and half of it is wanting to do it.
This is a business where it's technically financing,
but you gotta come in and you gotta work hard.
You almost have to have a blue collar type work ethic where you're calling
early. We're on the west coast,
so I have sales reps that get in here at 6:00 AM they're calling 9:00 AM on the,
on the East coast.
And you gotta have that will to come in and want to continue to reach out to
those business owners, build those relationships. Business owners are busy.
They're, they're all day long working in their business. So,
and then there's skill and the skill piece to it is, is not only having, um,
an amazing ability to listen, but an amazing ability to relate.
And that's the key. If you have the will and the skill, you wanna work hard,
be consistent at what you do, listen to your SMBs,
build a relationship and relate to them,
you're gonna be extremely successful in this business by helping SMBs long term.
So let's talk about the human element. You know,
nowadays there's so many different things going on. You have just so many like,
uh,
things that are out of this world that are kind of imp getting implemented into
sales. How important is the human element, the human component to this business?
Yeah, and it's, it's growing because more lenders are in the space.
Products have evolved and the one thing that separates most companies
are the ability to relate to the business owners.
So with the growth of AI and growth of different products,
still comes back to two things.
Do you like the person and do you trust the person?
And if you like and trust the person,
you're gonna do business with them every time.
So despite how our evolution of ai, despite the other products in the space,
you gotta be able to like and trust the person to do business with them.
And that's, that's where we strive. So I'm gonna let you hit this.
I wanna see how you do here. Oh boy. Oh, let's go there. Go. Let's go, go again.
Let's,
so let's talk a little bit more about the importance and the differences of
using a broker or going directly to a merchant when doing business.
Yeah, so they're,
they're both needed and important and there's just diff subtle differences
between the two. When is working with an ISO or a broker,
depending on how they found you,
then they can come in and build that relationship and then have access to
multiple lenders. Um, as a lender who has a direct side,
really understanding that you're working with more of a captive audience,
you're working with them,
the the fund on your lender's paper and trying to get 'em in your ecosystem that
that's the fundamental difference. Got you. Um, here in California,
I know the state was the first to implement like a disclosure law. Yep.
Put it into effect. Yep. How has that impacted business here, if at all?
Yeah,
funny enough you say that because it really hasn't impacted business at all.
We here at national funding,
we've really gone to the letter of the law and understanding how California
wanted it to be done, how communicate with the SMBs.
And we've seen zero impact and,
and our process is mainly digital when it comes to the contract and
understanding the different funding options. So with that being said,
it's been a very smooth transition. Very little impact of business. All right.
So since this is an east coast versus west coast type of competition,
do you think that there's a certain style in doing business in the East Coast
versus the west Coast? And if so, how does that affect doing business? Yeah,
so what I've noticed traveling the country is both east and west coast have a
desire to be number one in our space.
East Coast typically tends to be a little bit more intense,
a little bit more focused on pushing the transaction. Um, a lot of referrals,
relationships and the West Coast tends to be a little bit more relaxed,
a little relationship based and really more marketing focused.
A lot of digital marketing,
a lot of direct mail marketing out here on the west coast.
So I know you rep Cali right now. Yep. Deep down inside,
you're an East Coast boy, grew up in the, the southeast.
We have the Florida thing in common. We do. I lived in Florida.
You lived in Florida, that's right.
But what do you like about doing business here in California that you can't get
out in Florida or on the East coast?
It is probably the biggest melting pot on the planet for talent,
culture, um, understanding that people are from all over the world,
are trying to move to California to get jobs, do business.
So it's been a great cool opportunity to find talent out here and I think that's
the, the biggest difference between the West and the east. Nice. Let's see.
If you do this one Nice. I love you wanna go again? Yeah,
whatever. Let's do Sure. Sure.
So since you're a veteran in this industry and you're a veteran at Plain Pool,
what advice would you have to the rookies that are in this industry?
That's a great question cuz I get that asked a lot. And the biggest thing I can,
uh,
the biggest suggestion or advice or direction I can give is never be in it for
the one deal. It's never worth it. No matter how big the commission is,
you're gonna set your business up, whether you're a lender, an iso,
a hybrid lender, iso, whatever it is, set it up for the long term. Build your,
your renewal pipeline, understand your SMBs,
communicate clearly and accurately to them and really understand that the one
deal is never worth it.
You should be in this for the long term to help SMBs fund their business.
Awesome. I love that. All right, so before we leave,
I'm gonna see if we do this one. No, no, no. Nope. Long shot. Long shot.
A lot of blue out there. A lot of blue. But Justin,
thank you so much for joining us.
Thank you so much for playing pool with me cuz I know what we shared in this
pool table. The advice is gonna help out the people watching this,
especially the new guys or the people that wanna do business here in California.
Excellent. Thank, appreciate that. Thank you so much. Great meeting.
Thank you so much. Likewise.
Thank you for Deb Bank for coming out and visiting us and, uh,
let's finish the pool. Yeah, let's do it. All right, I'll go, I'll go next.
Let's do this.