Here are some of the basics.

What are the group description and group home page?

The group description appears at the top of your group home page -- the page where you'll send your potential customers.

This is the first impression your potential customers will have of your group, so it's important to write a good description that answers a few key questions:

• What's your theme or topic?

• Why would someone want to visit your group?

• Why would an advisor want to join your group?

You can use both text and HTML in your description. Do your best to create a visually appealing home page!

Once you've created your group, it will appear on the My Groups page, to which you link by clicking the My Groups link on the My Account page. From there you can manage your group by inviting listings, checking call activity, and creating marketing links to partner sites.

What is the administration fee?

The administration fee is the percentage of the advisor's earnings from each call that you, the group manager, receive for marketing and driving business to the listings in your group. You do not earn a percentage of all the advisor's earnings; only earnings on calls that you drive to them by promoting your group.

• You will earn the administration fee for all calls initiated from your group home page, or initiated through a direct link to a listing in your group that you created with the Link Management tool in My Groups.

• If you introduce a new customer to an advisor in your group, you will collect the administration fee for all calls between the advisor and the customer for a period equal to the "Term", beginning with the first call between the two parties. In most cases, the Term will be six (6) months.

You can't raise the administration fee once you've set it, though you may choose to lower it in the future.

How does the math work?

Here's an example of how the call revenue is divided in a typical group call:

Listing price: $1.00 per minute
Call length: 4 minutes
Total call Revenue: 4 x $1.00 = $4.00
Connection charges: 4 x $0.20 = $0.80
Call Revenue minus Connection Charges: $4.00 - $0.80 = $3.20
Total Commission: $3.20 x 70% = $2.24
Administration Fee: 25%
Group Manager's share of Total Commission: $2.24 x 25% = $0.56
advisor's share of Total Commission: $2.24 x 75% = $1.68

What is the Join Message?

The Join Message is the paragraph that appears at the top of your group's Join Page. You use this message to entice advisors to join your group. You might include information such as:

• Your group's goals.

• How you plan to market and promote your group.

• What you look for in prospective advisors.

• Any other information that might convince advisors to join your group.

You can use both text and HTML in your message here as well.

Ready to give it a try? Click here to create your own group!

More about My Groups:
Intro to Groups - Creating Groups - Joining Groups - Managing Groups - Group Manager Agreement - Call Details