The subagent program is well known in the fields of technology, telecommunications, energy, and insurance, and it’s a great way for someone to build an online career. Sales professionals who are ready to work independently as contractors or build their own businesses will find the subagent program beneficial, mostly because the profit margins are fantastic. If you’re great at sales and looking to make money online or build your own remote business, read below to create your plan to become a successful subagent.
A subagent is a person or company (potentially you) who contracts with a larger company (master agent) to sell a service provider’s products and services (for example, AT&T, Amazon, or any of the other hundreds of tech and telecommunications companies). For example, if you want to sell insurance, energy, or internet, you would need to sign a contract directly with the parent companies of Nationwide, PG&E, or AT&T to be able to sell their products. Most businesses that want to sell their products and services won’t meet the necessary qualifications to sell them via their own contract, so they will need to partner up with larger companies that already have established contracts. These companies are known as master agents, and they have contracts with all the companies that provide products or services the subagent can sell.
Typically, a subagent doesn’t have to adhere to large quotas and will need administrative support from the master agent to maintain the relationship with the service provider. If you have experience in an industry – for instance, energy – you can establish a contract with a company that has an agreement with the energy companies whose services you want to sell. Once you have the agreement in place, you, as the subagent, can start soliciting business-to-business sales, or reach out directly to consumers to change their electricity provider. This is available where there are competitors in the market.
My subagent sales experience since 2006 has been in telecommunications. It’s my industry of choice partially because I know it inside and out, and also because the profit margins are a lot higher than other industries. The competition is tough, so service providers have to fight hard to get customers. Energy and insurance are also highly competitive and lucrative industries. If you’re a hardworking sales professional who wants to call your own shots and pick your own contracts, this might be a great avenue for you. Let’s take a look at the steps you can take to become a subagent.
1. Choose the industry you’re familiar with and enjoy that you already know people in.
You will need the support system of people who already know the business, whom you can discuss ideas with and hopefully call on for support while you start your journey. If you don’t have a job yet, find one where you can learn what you need to know about a certain industry. Then, once you master the skills, transition into a subagent role. Some employers have rules that a certain amount of time has to lapse after your employment ends before you can transition into a role as a subagent, so be sure to read your contract carefully. Watch out for non-compete clauses in your contract because that language can cause you to have to wait up to a year before starting in a subagent role.
2. If you have a job now, find out if the company you work for has a partner channel.
If the company you work for has a partner channel, meet them, listen, and learn how their channel works. Find out who the agents are. You won’t want to get trapped working where you are at, so wait until you have all your ducks in a row before mentioning your intentions, and just be casual and friendly. While researching this, make sure your employer doesn’t have a clause in your contract that prevents you from competing with them for a year, or that you can’t become an agent. Many companies give you three months before you can join their agent program. Look into this and make sure to be legal about everything.
3. Join events and activities.
They are all virtual now, so it’s easy to join events all over the world. I use Eventbrite for this. Meetup is good as well, although I find the former to be more valuable. I don’t find it valuable to spend professional time with people at my level in business, so I’m looking for people at least two steps ahead of me. Also, there are plenty of great industry-specific events and conferences, also virtual now, so you can attend seminars and networking groups all over the world right from your computer. It takes a lot of time, but it’s a great way to learn and meet people. You will want to make sure you know exactly what you want to do before you leave your stable job.
This is where you get to have fun figuring out what works for you. When networking, don’t approach it the traditional way by looking for customers or doing favors hoping to have someone return the favor. You don’t want to waste your time. Find people whose company you enjoy, people who are in the industry, are agents of, or work for a company with contracts to sell the products you want to pitch. Focus on meeting a lot of people, then narrow them down to who can actually be there for you, and create relationships with these people. When someone asks how they can help you, or what you’re looking for, let them know you want to connect with people in the industry you will enjoy having coffee with. Take the pressure off, as it makes networking so much easier. You may meet someone you really enjoy who actually has a more important business referral for you as well.
4. Take advantage of every training program in your company.
Learn everything from these programs, and figure out what’s most important to get you where you need to be. If you can learn to architect an internet network, or understand more about the manufacturing of a key component of your company’s product that differentiates it from the competition, then do it. Don’t spend time earning certifications, or focus too much on product knowledge; you’re in sales, and you just need to know enough to explain why your product is the one to buy instead of the competition.
5. Know what you want to sell and who you want to sell for.
Now that you have identified your goal (to sell for either your company or a competitor), make sure you know some channel people at your company and in the industry well enough to call them and have them know who you are. Plan to leave your job. You’ll need six months of savings to support you through the transition. It takes three months to get paid by many of these companies (net 90 contracts), and you will need to give yourself a buffer to learn to sell the new product or service before you can get paid, so save your money. Once you have at least three to six months of rent, food, entertainment, car, and incidental expenses in the bank to cover your budget, then you are ready to make the leap.
If your job requires you to wait three months before you can start as a subagent, you might want to resign and find a different job with the flexibility to leave, or freelance in another area so you can leave in three months. A job that’s relevant would be ideal, or something you can continue to do while you build your base. Personally, when I started, I had a side hustle I continued to do for a year, at which point I was finally too busy with my subagent company to continue. It helped me get my residual monthly commissions high enough to pay for my lifestyle without so much stress about my personal finances.
If you are interested in insurance, read Step by Step Become an Insurance Agent, or Become an Insurance Agent. There are some tips for figuring out what you want to do in 5 Steps to Work Your Job While Traveling the World and 5 Steps to 3 Year Product Development Plan. You will use these same methods to figure out what you want to do.
If you’re interested in technology or telecommunications, I suggest looking into working for a big company long enough to learn what they teach. This may mean staying for a couple years before you branch off to work on your own. The telecommunications industry has amazingly consistent growth, fantastic profits, and best of all, opportunity, as most of the people currently working in telecommunications are going to be retiring within the next five years.
For millennials and Gen Zers who can work hard and be productive for 3-5 years, learning and transitioning to becoming a subagent can top pretty much any other industry outside of investment banking, and with much less risk. You really just need to know how to sell, care for your clients, and know their business. Subscribe for more business, sales, and investing posts. Have a lovely day!
