Most people dream of owning their own business someday, but don’t understand the practical steps to make that dream a reality. If you want to know how to start a credit repair company, save yourself time and energy with these 10 credit repair hacks:
1. Use a Subscription Model (Not Pay-Per-Delete)
The feeling of crossing a task off of a to-do list is euphoric. It is very tempting when starting your own credit repair company to tack a little cha-ching onto that feeling of accomplishment you get when an item is removed from the credit report. Resist that urge!
Pay-per-delete is not the right business model for credit repair business income.
- There is NO guarantee an item will be removed, so you may not get paid for your hard work!
- Some credit repair business owners are tempted to use less-than-ethical means to get an item deleted (such as encouraging clients to falsely claim identity theft).
- Most importantly, it is not scalable: You will be stuck only growing your revenue as quickly as the bureaus respond favorably to your requests.
Here’s why a subscription model is the best for credit repair business income:
Scalability: As your business grows and you serve more clients, you’ll have the financial capacity to invest in expanding your business to even more people.
Affordability: If your credit repair clients know how much they need to set aside for credit repair every month, regardless of if you get 10 or 2 items removed that month, they can budget for it.
When people don’t know how much they will owe you month to month, they cannot plan that cost into their budget. Unexpected expenses are counter-productive to their goal in working with you: financial stability. Financial stability starts with better financial habits like sticking to a budget.
The subscription model is a win-win for you and your client: more business income and growth potential for you, plus an affordable monthly fee that gets clients closer to their financial goals benefits everyone. A scalable business with an affordable monthly fee means you will be making money while you sleep! To see how much money you can make with a scalable business model, check out our credit repair ROI calculator.
Learn more in this article: Is Pay Per Delete a Good Model?
2. Memorize a Sales Script
When you start a credit repair company, you’ll increase your conversion rate (leads who become prospects who then become customers) by knowing what to say when you talk with prospects.
People come to you expecting that you understand credit repair. You can help prospects feel more at ease about working with you if you stay cool under pressure and ask just the right questions to let them know you genuinely want to help them. Personalization is key - there is no need to robotically mimic the script. As long as you follow the general structure when starting out, you will have more success in recruiting clients.
3. Ask for testimonials
Happy clients will be overjoyed to give you a testimonial to put on your website. This kind of social proof is critical for showing people who may not know your client personally that you help people improve their credit.
Once you’ve had some success with a client, ask right way if they will provide a video testimonial for your website, or a written testimonial if they are more comfortable with that. Video testimonials from reluctant clients are not a great selling point so keep in mind that, while video is best, written testimonials are still a great source of social proof that can translate into business income for you.
4. Pay for Referrals
Clients will give you referrals when you do a great job for their credit. Financial affiliates are yet another resource for new clients, and you can kickback a little cash to incentivize local mortgage brokers, auto dealers, and real estate agents to send less-than-stellar credit score prospects your way. These business people see the value in improving these folks’ credit scores so they can in turn close their sale.
Credit Repair Cloud’s software makes it simple to automate the affiliate referral fee.
5. Track Your KPIs
How can you make your credit repair business profitable? By knowing your Key Performance Indicators inside and out. There’s no need to track these daily, but on a regular basis (monthly or quarterly) see what your KPIs are doing.
KPIs to track in Credit Repair Cloud’s Business Dashboard:
- Conversion rate: Understand when clients enter your sales cycle, and how many of them move from leads to prospects and become clients
- Churn rate: How many clients that start with you quit, and how quickly. This is an important number to keep an eye on because happy clients are your best source of new clients via personal referrals and testimonials.
- Average revenue per client: This KPI is a great way to see if your business model is living up to your revenue plans. You might be surprised at how much revenue you make for each client!
Your business growth will come from leads that become clients that become profit for you. Monitor the KPIs on a regular basis to ensure your business is hitting the goals you set.
6. Know the Software
Our team is here to guide you through the process whenever you need, but remember that does take time from building your business. Get familiar with your credit repair business software so you can train your team and use it the way that works best for your organization.
Here are some key areas to focus on:
- The client portal: Clients will call you to ask for help navigating this, so you should have at least a basic knowledge to guide clients through their portal
- Business dashboard: Track your KPIs, coordinate affiliate referral fees, and get an at-a-glance understanding of how your business is performing at any given moment
- Dispute Wizard: The dispute wizard automatically integrates client information into dispute letters, based on the items you indicated should be targeted from the client’s credit report. Get to know the dispute wizard well if you want happy credit repair clients.
- APIs: Application Program Interface (API) is how your other business tools, like lead generation software, communicate with your credit repair software. There are so many integrations available, including bookkeeping, lead generation, and a built-in CRM. Make life easier on you and your team by connecting and managing all of your business tools in one place.
7. Learn the business
It will come as no surprise that need to know the credit repair industry to run a successful credit repair business. It can feel overwhelming to start a business. Luckily, we understand credit repair and have many training resources for you.
If you’re thinking about starting a credit repair company, watch this webinar to learn what it takes to be successful.
For credit repair business owners or entrepreneurs ready to start right away, take the Credit Repair Business Fundamentals training.
We are coming up with new information all the time, so you can also stay tuned to this blog for the most relevant credit repair information.
8. Take care of your clients
Everyone wants to feel special, especially people who are paying for a service. Check in with each of your clients on a monthly basis so they know what you have done in the past month and where you are focusing for the next 30 days, and you can ensure any communication from the bureaus gets forwarded to you. In this digital age, people do not shop at high-end retail stores for the goods--they come for the service.
Provide stellar service to your clients and they will be happy to stay with you for the long-haul and get their credit scores where they should be. Start a credit repair business focused on your clients and the rest will fall into place.
9. Free education for all
One of the best ways to advertise for your credit repair business is free education. Partner with a local affiliate or find a radio show that could use a credit repair expert’s advice for consumers. People in your community are hungry for ways to get their credit scores up. Those with low scores need to qualify for loans and people with medium to high credit scores understand the value of paying less over the lifetime for their mortgages and other large purchases. Credit education is almost always welcome and will give your new credit repair business exposure to new leads.
10. Be a great person
After all, credit repair is a people business. Treat your clients like people you are serving. Be kind and be generous with your time. Help your team to feel empowered and excited to go to work for you and your clients. When you create an environment of greatness, everyone can feel it, and people want to be a part of what you are creating. Start a credit repair company you are proud of by treating people well and making smart business choices that empower other people.
If you want to learn more tips on how to start a credit repair company, read the guide How to Start a Profitable Credit Repair Business today!
