Results are in from the 2017 International Factoring Association (IFA) Independent Business Profile and Performance Survey of the Factoring industry. The survey reveals trends and industry benchmarking data on Factors’ operations, client types, business development practices, human resource policies, as well as other key business statistics.

“Mapping out future strategies requires knowing where you currently stand, as well as where the industry is heading. This report gives members all those performance benchmarks,” said Bert Goldberg, Executive Director of the IFA. “What’s more, we now have ten years worth of data, revealing trends that interestingly mirror our economic times.”

Nearly 200 Factors participated in the survey, from a wide range of company sizes. Among the respondents:

• There are many well-established firms, with 37% having been in business 16 or more years. But there is a large and growing influx of new factors: 25% had been in business 5 years or less.

• Transportation was the largest business segment for Factors, comprising 36.4% of gross invoices funded, followed by the Service Industry (10.9%) and Construction (7.3%).

• Technology use continues to increase steadily, with 85.9% of respondents now using online capabilities to give customers access to account information.

• Word of mouth continues to be the most effective means of reaching new customers, yet many Factors are finding success with new marketing tactics including eblasts (60.6%) and LinkedIn (50.9%).

• Half of respondents, 50.3%, reported relatively small average monthly deal size of $100,000 or less.

“The beauty of this in-depth report is that you can drill down into statistics like deal size. We’ve broken it down by firm size, region, market specialty and more,” Goldberg pointed out. With the report’s release, Factors will have all the data they need to pinpoint best practices, analyze situations and identify opportunities. Receivables finance providers, service providers to the factoring industry, debt buyers and universities rely on it as the most complete resource on factoring.

Surveys were conducted January 1st to March 3rd, 2017 by Industry Insights, Inc., an independent research and consulting firm headquartered in Ohio and data was analyzed over March and April. All participants will receive a complimentary full report (over 200 pages) as well as a personalized report comparing their company to other respondents. Non-respondents can purchase and download a copy from the IFA website.