A floor works when each rep has enough volume to stay busy but not so much that dial times slip. Start by measuring what one rep can genuinely work in a day, size lead flow to that, and scale reps before scaling spend. Compensation should reward funded deals rather than submissions, and the metric that predicts revenue earliest is median time to first dial.
The most common scaling mistake in this business is buying more leads for the same reps. The lead line goes up, the dial times slip, the funded rate falls, and the conclusion drawn is that the leads got worse.
Not how many they can dial — how many they can work properly, meaning called within minutes, texted, emailed and followed up more than once. That number is smaller than most shops assume and it is the constraint everything else sizes against.
Pay on funded deals rather than submissions. Paying on submissions produces submissions, including the ones that were never going to fund, and it degrades your standing with funders as a side effect.
| Structure | What it produces |
|---|---|
| Commission on funded only | Focus on files that fund; the default for a reason |
| Base plus commission | Stability, and tolerance for longer cycles |
| Anything paid on submissions | Volume of submissions, including bad ones |
| Renewal commission | Attention on the book, which is usually under-worked |
Contact rate and submission-to-funded together tell you where a problem lives. Low contact with high funded means your leads or your speed. High contact with low funded means qualification or placement. Both low usually means the floor is buried.
Fewer than most shops assume, and the only reliable way to find out is to measure. Give one rep a known daily volume for two weeks and watch median time to first dial — when it starts slipping you have found the ceiling. Size lead flow to that number rather than hoping.
Reps. More volume into the same headcount slows dial times, which lowers the funded rate on every lead including the ones you were already buying. A new rep with too few leads is an inefficiency; a floor with too many is a systematic loss.
On funded deals rather than submissions — paying on submissions produces submissions, including files that were never going to fund, and degrades your standing with funders. Adding a renewal commission is usually the highest-return change available, because renewals are the cheapest deals a shop writes and nobody chases what they are not paid for.
Median time to first dial weekly per rep, contact rate, submission-to-funded rate, cost per funded deal by source, and renewal rate. Dial time predicts revenue earliest; contact rate and submission-to-funded together tell you whether a problem is acquisition, speed, qualification or placement.
Compare contact rate against submission-to-funded. Low contact with a healthy funded rate points at lead quality or dial speed. Healthy contact with a low funded rate points at qualification or placement. Both low usually means the floor is carrying more volume than it can work.
We will tell you straight up if we cannot help you. No commission deals, no free trials, no chasing you for three weeks.