Insights

For many ISOs, recruiting agents feels like the fastest path to growth. More agents should mean more merchants and more volume.

Recruiting the wrong agent can create more problems than opportunities.

At KORT, we’ve worked with agents ranging from individual sales professionals to large organizations with hundreds of merchants. One of the lessons we’ve learned is that not all agent relationships create the same value. The most successful partnerships are not necessarily built around volume. They’re built around alignment.

Not All Growth Is Good Growth

One of the biggest mistakes ISOs make is focusing exclusively on production. An agent may promise dozens of merchant applications per month, but volume alone tells you very little about the quality of those submissions.

Questions worth asking:

1. What industries do they specialize in?
2. What processors are they currently working with?
3. How do they source their leads?
4. What does their historical approval rate look like?

The answers often reveal more than the production forecast itself. A smaller agent submitting well-qualified merchants can create significantly more long-term value than a larger agent sending inconsistent opportunities.

Understand How They Source Merchants

Lead quality has become increasingly important. Over the past year, we’ve seen a noticeable increase in merchant inquiries originating from purchased lead lists, AI-generated websites, and businesses with limited operating history.

The source of the lead matters. Agents who rely heavily on inbound web traffic without conducting meaningful qualification can unintentionally introduce significant risk into the portfolio. The strongest agents understand that their role is not simply generating leads. It’s validating them before they ever reach underwriting.

Support Expectations Matter

This is one of the most overlooked areas when recruiting agents. Some agents operate independently and require very little support. Others expect assistance with underwriting, merchant onboarding, pricing discussions, technical questions, and ongoing account management.

Neither approach is right or wrong.

The important thing is understanding the expectation before entering the relationship.

An agent generating modest volume but requiring extensive operational support can quickly become difficult to scale.

Ask About Their Existing Portfolio

Future opportunities are important. Existing relationships are often more revealing.

Questions worth exploring include:

1. How many active merchants do they currently support?
2. What verticals make up the portfolio?
3. What is their average merchant size?
4. What is their merchant retention experience?

Experienced agents should be able to discuss these metrics comfortably. If they cannot, it may indicate they are focused on acquisition rather than long-term portfolio development.

Compliance Is Becoming More Important

Sponsor banks and networks are placing greater emphasis on agent oversight than they did a few years ago.

As a result, ISOs increasingly need to understand how agents source merchants, what representations are being made during the sales process, whether merchants are being properly qualified before submission and how issues are escalated when concerns arise.

The reality is that a processor’s reputation is often influenced by the behavior of its agents.

That makes partner selection more important than ever.

The Best Agents Think Like Portfolio Managers

The most successful agents are not necessarily the best salespeople. They are the ones who understand merchant quality and risk.

They recognize that a merchant who remains active for years is often more valuable than several merchants that churn after a few months.

That mindset benefits everyone involved: the merchant, the agent, the ISO, and the processing partner.

The Practical Reality

Recruiting agents is not simply about adding distribution. It is about selecting partners who represent your brand and ultimately shape your relationship with sponsor banks and underwriting teams.

At KORT, we’ve found that the strongest partnerships are built on transparency and a shared focus on merchant quality. Those relationships tend to create better portfolios and stronger bank relationships.

Because in the payments industry, the value of an agent is rarely measured by how many deals they submit. It’s measured by the quality of the merchants they bring with them.