In my previous post, I discussed how easy offering financing was for equipment sellers, and how it was literally plug and play. Then I talked about being proactive about it.
In this post, I’ll go one step further and discuss a few ideas on how you can be proactive about offering financing to B2B customers. None of these take a lot of work, but they can all have an extremely positive effect on your sales. Note: I am certain I discussed these in this blog before in some form, but it was at least a few years ago.
Offer Financing Right at the Point of Sale
On your website’s product page, mention there is financing available. Better still, put our widget there, and your customer can quickly and easily get a payment quote. Also, right on any product collateral, make sure you put “financing available” pretty much near each product.
The above is pretty basic, and requires very little work or upkeep.
Give a Payment Amount
This is similar to the above, but it puts a number on it. We often work with vendors to come up with a payment based on the cost of the equipment and term. So “financing available” can become “as low as $XYZ a month”.
That’s really powerful marketing. Think about it: people are looking at your products because they are interested. Showing them how affordable it can really be always has a substantial impact on buying decisions. Especially if your competition isn’t doing this.
Now, this does take a little more effort, because when you raise your prices, it needs to be adjusted, but we have found it’s well worth the tiny amount of effort it takes.
Get Your Salespeople on Board
I just did an entire post on this called “it’s a question of closing”. But let’s repeat the thought, because it’s low hanging fruit. Trust me, your salespeople are already hoping for something like this. If they’ve been around the block, they know how powerful monthly payments are at closing time.
Get More Creative
Do you want to get really proactive? We work with B2B equipment sellers to offer things like “no payments until next year”, “skip first payment”, or similar. These are a little more advanced, but again, they can really boost sales, and that’s what it’s all about, right?
Listen, offering financing to your B2B customers is great. And it’s even better if you are proactive about it.