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Retaining existing agents with quality compensation packages, training and incentives is less costly for service providers than hiring and training new workers, says Mike McCormack, executive vice president of Noblett & Associates LLC, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based consultancy. "It's a lot easier to grow existing relationships with agents than it is to find new productive agents," he says. "With existing agents, you have a track record and you understand what they are capable of. With new ones, it's an unknown." It also is easier for service providers to improve the productivity of existing agents through training instead of bringing on new sales agents, McCormack says. "It's definitely a higher cost for sales acquisition to hire and train and bring somebody to a point where they are successful versus rewarding existing people for results," says Joyce Cook, CEO of International CyberTrans, a Brentwood, Tenn.-based processor and ISO.
