All righty… let’s continue on with my “what you should look for in a finance partner” series. If you don’t know what I am talking about, see the first post in this series here.
Again, this is generally for manufacturers, distributors, and/or dealers of equipment looking to offer their customers credit.
Your Finance Partner should be technologically savvy – This is a big one. But you want your finance partner to be up on the latest tech. One of the better things they can offer is a way for a customer to get instant financing quotes right on your website. This is seen very favorably by customers – the ability to get instant quotes is a big motivator in at least exploring the possibility of buying your product.
Does your finance partner know marketing, and will they help you close sales? – Here’s another biggie – how will your future finance partner help you close sales? You should ask them that very question, and get a satisfactory answer.
For example, if you asked me that, I would reply with something like “well, you know those instant website quotes we just talked about? My company will e-mail the quote directly to your prospect, but the e-mail will be branded with your artwork/logo, and your contact information. This way, if they were shopping, they have a definitive “takeaway” from your website that goes right to their inbox. Our studies show that mangers often print these e-mails, and we’ve seen them close deals months later”.
I should be in sales, shouldn’t I?
Make sure your finance partner is proactive – What do I mean by proactive? I mean willing to go the extra mile, or engage in things beyond simple “we finance” deals. I’ll get into these in more detail next time (see, I told you this would be 2-3 posts).