What a Sub-Broker Network Is
A sub-broker network is not the same growth lever as hiring closers directly. When an ISO recruits sub-ISOs specifically, the parent broker earns a revenue share of the sub-broker’s own closed deals, rather than paying a W-2 or 1099 wage for hours worked or deals sourced from company-supplied leads. The sub-broker typically brings their own book, their own prospecting, or their own smaller shop under the parent’s funder relationships and back-office support, in exchange for that split.
That is a fundamentally different recruiting conversation than “come work here for a base and commission.” A sub-broker is being asked to fold their own business into someone else’s panel access, not take a job.
How the Split Works
Forum discussion among ISO brokers on DailyFunder converges around 25% to 35% as the typical range for a closer or sub-agent working company-supplied leads with base-level support behind them. Splits in the 40% to 50% range come up in the same discussion, but generally attached to a specific reason: a signing incentive to pull someone away from another shop, an effort to retain someone who is already producing well, or simply a parent broker paying more than the market rate.
None of that is a hard rule. It is a real, sourced range worth knowing before a recruiting conversation starts, so neither side is negotiating blind.
What “Good” Looks Like: The Volume Benchmarks
The same forum discussion frames monthly funded-volume numbers alongside the split ranges above. Roughly $75,000 to $125,000 a month in funded volume marks an average producer. $250,000 or more is considered very good. $400,000 or more is a top performer.
Those numbers matter for more than bragging rights. They give a parent broker a real benchmark to set expectations against during recruiting, and a way to tell early whether a new sub-broker relationship is tracking toward average, strong, or genuinely exceptional.
Recruiting a Sub-Broker: What You’re Offering
A sub-broker joining a parent ISO’s network is trading independence for access. What they are buying with that trade is funder relationships they have not built themselves, back-office and submission support, and often a faster path to funded deals than building a panel from scratch would take. The pitch that works is specific about exactly what access is included, not a vague promise of “better resources.”
A sub-broker who already has strong funder relationships of their own has less reason to make that trade, which is worth knowing before spending recruiting time on the wrong candidate.
Structuring the Agreement So Both Sides Know What They’re Getting
A workable sub-broker agreement spells out what counts as a “company-supplied” lead versus a deal the sub-broker sourced on their own, since that distinction usually drives which split rate applies. It should also cover what happens if a sub-broker brings an existing book into the relationship, whether the revenue share applies to renewals on those accounts, and what a clean exit looks like if either side wants out.
Vague terms here do not stay vague for long. They surface the first time a renewal comes in on a deal nobody wrote down clearly enough at the start.
Where This Sits Next to Hiring a Closer Directly
A sub-broker network and a direct-hire sales floor solve different problems. Hiring closers directly builds an internal team you manage day to day. A sub-broker network extends your funder relationships and brand through other people’s existing books and effort, in exchange for a share instead of a wage. Many growing ISOs eventually run both at once, but conflating the two during a single recruiting conversation is a common, avoidable mistake.
Knowing which one you are building before you start recruiting keeps the compensation conversation honest on both sides.
| Monthly Funded Volume | What It Signals |
|---|---|
| $75,000 to $125,000 | Average producer, per DailyFunder forum benchmarks. |
| $250,000 or more | Very good. |
| $400,000 or more | Top performer. |
Forum-sourced benchmarks from DailyFunder discussion among ISO brokers, not a published industry standard.
Sources
The external data in this guide draws on the sources below. Figures described in the text as estimates or industry triangulations are directional and are not attributed to a single dataset.
- DailyFunder, What’s an “Average”/“Fair” Commission Split? Discussion Thread
- MCA Leads Pro, ISO in Merchant Cash Advance: The Complete Guide