In my recent “passive vs. proactive equipment financing” post, I wrote the following:
In fact, offering a monthly payment in option can be a HUGE edge in regards to marketing and sales. Especially here in 2010, where every dollar counts.
So let’s use this post to expand on that a little.
Although I am an equipment financing nerd (my wife’s term, not mine), I do like to discuss marketing. And it just so happens that equipment financing can play a pretty big part in the marketing efforts of many manufacturers / distributors.
If you are a manufacturer / distributor, offering your customers an equipment financing or equipment leasing option can be the difference between selling a piece of equipment and not selling one. Now I realize there’s still a few equipment manufacturers that really don’t want to get involved with this, because they think it’s complicated – they don’t want to be the ones “holding the note”, so to say. But when you partner with an equipment financing company, you aren’t – you get paid for the equipment, and we “hold the note”. Nice and simple.
Another objection is “well, let the clients get their own financing – they can go to the bank”. And yes, this is true – if you manufacture, say, printing presses, your printing clients can indeed go get a bank loan. But you know, if you offer them an attractive financing option with a solid equipment financing partner, you just may score a few more sales. This is because despite the lollipops, people really dislike working with the bank. Offering an easy “one form / low rate” approval with an equipment financing specialist may be the “extra” that brings clients to you instead of your competition.
Think of it this way: a restaurant doesn’t have to accept credit cards. It could insist that customers get the money some other way, and pay cash. But offering to take credit cards is SO much more convenient to the customers – in fact, if diners knew the credit card option was off the table, they’d be less likely to frequent the restaurant. Thus, accepting credit cards is part of marketing. In fact, in the restaurant business, it’s become somewhat “expected”.
For equipment manufacturers, distributors, software developers, etc, that are in industries where offering financing is not yet “expected” – this, it’s a FANTASTIC opportunity for marketing. It’s like being the first restaurant on the block to accept credit cards. Or the first car dealership to offer in-house financing. Saying “easy equipment financing by xxxx” on your website is akin to a restaurant having the MC/VISA logo on their front door.
The opportunity is right there. If you aren’t offering equipment financing, you really, really need to look at this.