2025 IFA Roundtable Summit Preview: A Sales Executives Roundtable Conversation

The International Factoring Association is looking forward to offering the factoring industry’s newest and anticipated in-person gathering, the IFA Roundtable Summit. As a part of the IFA Roundtable Summit, the Sales Executives Roundtable will feature two moderators that will foster networking with industry peers and dive deep into specific topics impacting Factors of all sizes such as the recruiting market and motivational techniques for business development officers. Join us for this insightful Q&A with our moderators Greg Salomon, of Oxygen Funding and Skylar Lane, of Goodman Capital Finance to share their experience and insights for fellow Sales Executives.

Can you tell us a bit about your background and your journey in the factoring industry?

Greg: My background in the finance lending industry has been my entire post college career. It started as a finance trainee, led to being a division manager, and mainly has been in sales leadership for the most part. It also started from publicly traded companies, and now to being a part of private ownership in the last few factoring companies that I am a leader of.  Factoring specifically, has been since 2010, and I have been a part of varying performance groups focused on oil, transportation, but mostly general factoring. Currently, I now operate in more of a community referral model, with the goal of helping high growth clients eventually get bankable.

Skylar: I started in an inside sales roll 15 years ago with a small factoring group out of San Diego called Capital Partners. We focused on non-trucking clients and being that we were fairly new, we attempted a ton and had a lot of growing pains with both processes, and industries to target. In the few years that I was at Capital Partners I was able to cross train and learn underwriting and documentation. Having an underwriting background really enhanced my sales ability as I could better explain the why behind what we would ask for from prospects and what the process would look and feel like from soup to nuts. I ended up managing a few sales teams as well as still being an active producer over the following 12 years or so.

With your experience in sales leadership, how have you seen origination strategies evolve in the factoring space over the past few years?

Skylar: The first company I worked in sales leadership, it was all inbound marketing. We focused so much of our efforts on generating internal leads, we didn’t work with any outside brokers or lead generators. We had lots of online marketing, fax and email marketing. We had a large team of cold callers to generate new prospects. Now we focus on building out referral sources and networks to bring us qualified/semi-qualified prospects.

What do you think distinguishes a good sales leader from a great one in today’s commercial finance environment?

Greg: A good sales leader is one that certainly manages to meet and achieve sales goals through the team, and individual contributions. A great sales leader is one that possesses and inspires a broader, strategic vision, and incorporates the team’s model, combined with individual strengths and weaknesses into an effective strategy. A great sales leader is usually a very effective coach that brings out the best in their individual salespeople and motivates the team to perform at their very best.

How does the sales function connect with and impact other areas of the factoring process?

Greg: The sales function is at the heart of success to generate revenue for the company, and generally speaking, is the lifeblood of the organization.  At its best, it is connected to operations to ensure the client understands how to trust the group and achieve greater success through the benefits of their AR line.

What are the most pressing challenges factoring companies are facing when it comes to maintaining growth targets in this market?

Skylar: This is very interesting as there are so many challenges at this point. When I first started in this industry, you could just call a company and ask to speak with the owner or company leader, and more times than not, you would be transferred to them. Now, that is all but impossible. The industry has been so affected by the boiler room type call centers that MCAs had that nobody is taking a cold call anymore. So, the ability to reach prospects is much harder than it once was. There are also challenges around having to fight through more UCCs than previously. The final challenge I am seeing more than ever is the strong debtor pool is shrinking. So many of the better debtors out there have their own early pay platforms, thus removing the need for a factor to help these prospects.

Can leaders strike the balance between hitting performance metrics and fostering a people-first environment?

Skylar: Absolutely. There can still be expectations of a job while being compassionate and respectful to those employees even when they may not be tracking to an expected goal. If the expectations are clearly laid out and you manage to those expectations, there shouldn’t be any reduction in being a people first organization if the time comes to move off an employee who hasn’t hit the target.

What strategies have you seen work well for developing top talent internally, not just hiring it?

Greg: Developing top talent internally, starts with solid company culture.  You need to recognize values, goals and being a part of people's overall lives, not just their business talents. When you have a company culture that truly brings out the best in people, you can elevate your team consistently and bring in new talent more effectively.

The 2025 IFA Roundtable Summit will take place October 13-15 in Denver, CO. This event will consist of three distinct, concurrent meetings: the Sales Executives Roundtable, the NEXGEN Leadership Roundtable, and the Small Factors Roundtable. Each roundtable operates independently with specialized discussions, while all networking functions will be combined to enhance collaboration and foster broader connections among all attendees.

Come join Greg, Skylar and other Sales Executives where there will be an invaluable opportunity for leaders in the factoring industry to exchange ideas, explore innovative sales strategies, and strengthen their professional networks while addressing the challenges shaping today’s commercial finance environment.

Click here to register for the Sales Executive Roundtable Today!