Appco Group Ireland | Business Opportunities

Introduction

Welcome to the Business Opportunities section of the Appco Group Ireland website.

If you are interested in business opportunities within the Appco Group network of Marketing Companies and Field Representatives, or you are already a Field Representative, this section is designed to answer any questions you may have about operating your own business as a self-employed Field Representative (“FR”).

The Appco Group has a variety of clients spanning many industries, many of which are household names. As an FR you will promote and sell services for and on behalf of Appco Group’s clients and will be contracted to one of the Marketing Companies within our network.

To assist you in promoting and selling our clients’ services you will be provided with client product training, and all the materials and support you need based on the clients’ marketing requirements.

As a successful FR, unique opportunities exist to enter the Appco Group Business Development Programme.

The Business Development Programme provides an opportunity to mentor, guide and train other FRs with a view to moving through the Programme and running your own Marketing Company within the Appco Group network.

Your FR Business and Status

As an FR you are an independent contractor engaged on a self-employed basis and contracted to a Marketing Company. You may act for Appco Group’s clients through the Marketing Company and, in collaboration with the Marketing Company, are able to choose how you approach your sales business within client assigned territories. This means you can determine the level of your business and the income you can generate, and determine your own progression and advancement within the network.

Your payments and earnings are based on commission for each confirmed and active sale generated or a fee per fundraising donor acquired.

This payment arrangement enables the Appco Group to provide genuine return on investment for its clients, as clients only pay for active customers or donors acquired.

Appco Group’s clients have the ability to have a very measurable and cost-effective alternative route to market – more measurable than many other forms of marketing and advertising and is one of the reasons why Appco Group’s client list is so extensive and includes some of the world’s leading brands.

As an FR, you are required to register as self-employed, if you are not already registered it is required that you register within three months of commencing trading by visiting your local Revenue office or on line at www.revenue.ie.

Engagement Process for FRs

To commence trading as an FR, you can contact any of our network Marketing Companies directly through recruitment advertisements or you may be personally recruited.

In the initial meeting, the FR role is explained and your CV and personal qualities will be discussed. You may then be invited back to spend more time with the MC, which could involve observing the sales process and seeing exactly what happens on a day-to-day basis.

After this you may be invited to a final review where any further questions on progression and business advancement can also be discussed.

Following successful meetings and assessments, you will be offered the opportunity to contract as an FR with the Marketing Company.

Product and Service Training

Comprehensive product and service training on each specific client campaign is provided to ensure that the client’s requirements and expectations are fully explained.

The training comprises both classroom and field-based training and this is conducted by our network Marketing Companies as well as the client and Appco Group team on a regular and often daily basis.

After over 20 years in this industry we firmly believe that the most effective training is provided on an ongoing basis, and the environment of each Marketing Company is collaborative and interactive to ensure that you are fully informed as clients’ services, requirements and expectations change.

The structure enables you to develop your skills and tap into sales best-practice and techniques as well as to benefit from coaching and collaboration from others on the Business Development Programme.

Codes and Conduct of Practice

Pursuant to an agreement with Appco, each Marketing Company will require all FRs to comply with the highest standards of personal conduct and best sales practice, with a prime focus on the fair and reasonable treatment of prospective customers and on obtaining high quality customers for Appco Group’s clients. There is, for this purpose, a generic Appco Group Code of Conduct and Practice to compliment specific regulatory requirements and codes applicable to each sector and client.

Relevant codes of conduct and practice include:

Fundraising: Irish Forum For Direct Recruitment (IFFDR) Code of Practice
Energy: Commission of Energy Regulations (CER) Code of Conduct and Energysure Code of Practice
Pay TV: Ofgem Code of Practice
Home Security: PSA Code of Conduct

As an FR you will be provided with the relevant information and training in order to comply with the above codes of practice and guidelines, and relevant regulatory requirements.

How your commission or fee earnings work

As a business Appco Group relies on high quality customer acquisition as we are only paid on results by our clients. As such we have a process in place with each Marketing Company to ensure that we safeguard our clients, our business and at the same time that we constantly reward and recognise good quality.

As an FR, you will be contracted by the Marketing Company to seek and obtain committed customers, and your customer or donor cancellation rate will be an indication of whether you have approached and signed up the right customers. The lower your customer cancellation rate, the better for you, your commission earnings and for Appco Group’s clients. A high customer cancellation rate, will indicate that you have not signed up the right customers for Appco Group’s clients.

To protect your commission earnings and our clients against customer cancellations which can happen after you have conducted a sale, we operate a Security Bond payment system as a practical safeguard.

A Security Bond payment system is used where it can take a significant time for a customer’s sale and commitment to be confirmed (for example in relation to a periodic donation to a charity, or accepting a new home phone system). Often clients will want to ensure that the customer is active for several months before releasing all commission or fee payments to the Appco Group.

If the client cancels during this period, which is referred to as the “Clawback Period” then Appco Group has to repay the total value of the commission or fee (from you, the Marketing Company and Appco) to the client.

Instead of you and the Marketing Companies waiting until the Clawback Period has passed before receiving commissions or fees (which could be several months in some client campaigns), Appco Group pays a percentage of the money ‘upfront’ to the Marketing Company and the Marketing Company can then pay to you once the customer has been signed for a service. The remaining percentage of your commission or fee is held back in your Security Bond in case the customer cancels the service. However if the Clawback Period passes and the client is still happy with the service and active in the client’s systems, then the money held is returned to you.

The percentage of commission or fee held in a Security Bond can differ on each client campaign, depending on the applicable customer cancellation profile.

The Clawback Period is also variable and is usually determined by the client. It will differ according to how the client will process the customer’s order and how long it takes for the client to report back on the customer’s order.

Weekly Process

There is a separate Security Bond account for each FR, and the fund is held in trust by the Marketing Company subject to clawback. At any time you can review the position of your Security Bond.

Each week, you will earn the upfront percentage of the commissions or fees for all customers signed up to the client’s services. The remaining percentage of commissions or fees is held in your Security Bond account.

Customer cancellations or rejected orders are reported on a weekly basis to the Appco Group and, in turn, to the Marketing Company and to you, together with customers’ cancellation reasons. Any refunds for cancelled or rejected orders will be clawed back and deducted from your Security Bond at the same value as the original commission or fee payment made to you for the rejected order.

A report will be provided to you each week showing all transactions on your Security Bond account, any commissions or fees held in the account and any refunds being clawed back.

Monthly Security Bond returns
Whilst you are trading with the Marketing Company as an FR, you may receive monthly bond returns after the agreed Clawback Period has passed.

This happens where few customers cancel their services and the value of any commissions or fees to be clawed back from your earnings is less than the value of commissions or fees held in your Security Bond for a particular month. The positive security bond balance is then returned to you.

However, if the value of commissions or fees to be deducted from your Security Bond is high, due to high customer order cancellations/rejections and this exceeds the amount of money held in your Security Bond, you will need to cover the shortfall.

If the rate of customer order cancellations/rejections for any consecutive month is higher than the amount held in your Security Bond, your Security Bond may be held to cover refunds for future months.

Termination of Trading Agreement & Returning Security Bonds
You and the Marketing Company can stop trading with each other at any time with no obligation. Should you stop trading with the Marketing Company, then the Security Bond fund is held in trust for the required Clawback Period to cover any further customer order rejections or cancellations for your sales and orders.

Within 15 working days after the end of the agreed Clawback Period any positive balance of money is returned to you directly into your bank account, and reports detailing any transactions made on the Security Bond will be sent directly to you as long as you have provided an email address to the Marketing Company.

If any part of this section is unclear, please contact your MC so that all your questions can be answered.

What to Expect in your First Week

We take your development and quality very seriously at Appco Group and within your first week the following will take place:

Vetting Process - Specific to each client campaign, you will be vetted to ensure that you have the suitable skills, experience, ability and rights to work in the Ireland and the right personal attributes to represent Appco Group’s clients.

Trading Agreement - You will have your trading agreement with the marketing company explained. This will include all information regarding your commission or fee earnings and Security Bond.

Client Product Training - The Marketing Company, Appco Group and the client can offer access to generic sales and specific client product training and assessments which you may be required to undertake in order to be authorised to represent the client and be issued with an ID badge.

Frequently asked questions

Q: As an FR, who do I work for to earn commissions or fees?
A: You work for yourself on a self-employed basis, and you are contracted to a Marketing Company under a Trading Agreement to promote the services of the Appco Group clients and to sign up and secure committed, high quality customers for those clients.

Q: How does my commission work?
A: Commissions or fees on your sales are paid to you on a weekly basis. The calculation of this is dependent on the particular client’s service, the number of new active customers you have secured and the degree to which such customers remain committed.

Q: What happens with registering as self employed?
A: If you are not already registered as self-employed then you must register within three months of commencing trading as a sole trader either by visiting your local Revenue office or online at www.revenue.ie.

Q: What happens when I leave?
A: You are entitled to terminate your Trading Agreement with the relevant Marketing Company at any time without any notice either verbally or in writing. If you decide to cease trading with a Marketing Company you must also return any client materials to the Marketing Company, including your identity badge. You will need to review your Security Bond arrangements with the Marketing Company on a monthly basis until the last Clawback Period has passed. Any customer cancellations or rejections will continue to be deducted from your Security Bond until the last Clawback Period is complete.

Q: How and when do I receive my bond return?
A: You will receive the final balance of your Security Bond in relation to a client campaign after the relevant Clawback Period has passed, this can vary on each client campaign but will be detailed under your Trading Agreement. Your Security Bond will be automatically paid into your notified bank account within 15 working days of the Clawback Period passing. Alternatively you can contact the Marketing Company for your Security Bond return or contact a member of the Appco Group team at frqueries@appcogroup.com.

Q: Who do I contact if I have a query or feedback?
A: Please feel free to contact the Marketing Company or Appco Group directly on frqueries@appcogroup.com.