“For A Vendor Equipment Leasing Program, Vendor Expectations Can Make A Big Difference”

Vendor equipment leasing programs are almost essential if you are in the business of selling new or used equipment to your customers.

Unless all your potential sales are going to be for cash, the customer is going to need equipment leasing options, which is where you vendor equipment leasing program comes in.

The first challenge for any equipment leasing program is making sure that there is a good match in terms of what the lease company programs have to offer and what the needs of your customer are.

But a second consideration, running closing behind the first is the sellers expectations of exactly what any one vendor leasing program can deliver.

When we speak of delivery, we are talking about the amount of customer information to get a deal approved, the turnaround time of the application process, and the percentage of customers that are financed from all of those that apply for financing through the program.

If the expectations are too high or unrealistic, then the customer is likely going be disappointed with the outcome at times, which can cost the vendor sales.

When you’re working in a competitive market place, like equipment resale, there is going to be a lot of competitive pressures to close the business as quickly as possible, so its easy to get into a habit of establishing expectations with the customer in regards to what your vendor equipment leasing program can deliver that are too aggressive or unrealistic.

The best way to avoid this from happening and to increase the effectiveness of a vendor equipment financing program is to invest the time with the financing company or companies you are working with to intimately learn what will be required to get financing in place as quickly as possible.

This information must be then passed on and trained in your sales reps so that the customer expectations can be kept in check which will help build and maintain the business reputation over time.

Vendor Equipment Leasing Programs Will Improve Over Time

If you have a new vendor financing program in place, the odds are that it will deliver more value the longer you work with your financing partners, provided that the program is a good fit for your business.

Any relationship takes time to develop, and a business relationship with your equipment leasing source for your customer is not going to be any different.

The more both sides learn about each others business, the better the communication and information flow will become, and when there are problems, they will get resolved faster when knowledgeable people are involved.

Unfortunately, expectations get set too high from the beginning of a relationship, causing a vendor to bounce from one vendor program to another, and not getting the true benefit from providing this service to their customers.

Business financing of any type can be challenging to get into place at times, but far easier when everyone is working together with the same information and expectations towards a common goal.

“What Exactly Is A Vendor Leasing Program Anyway?”

A vendor leasing program is a prequalified financing referral that an equipment dealer or reseller can provide to their customers.

What I mean by a prequalified financing referral is that the equipment leasing company involved in a vendor program has assessed the assets being sold by the dealer or reseller and the amounts the assets are being sold for, and is open to providing financing to interested parties for the reviewed assets.

The leasing company (or companies as the case may be) has also qualified the dealer or reseller as an entity that is financially viable and capable of providing after sales service and product support to the end customer.

This last point is very important to any leasing company as they own the asset through a lease financing agreement, so if there are any issues with the equipment, they want to be able to contact the dealer or equipment reseller and get help to solve the problem.

A leasing company is also going to want to understand the basic credit profile of the average customer of the dealer as well as the number of transactions that occur each month where financing is involved, the average transaction size, and so on.

Once the dealer has been prequalified for a vendor leasing program, then the leasing company is prepared to accept applications for financing by the dealer or reseller’s customers.

The actual financing process is still based on approved credit of the customer and does not involve the equipment dealer or reseller unless the dealer is providing some form of recourse to the equipment leasing company to reduce their financial risk on any given deal.

Vendor Leasing Programs Are Designed To Speed Up The Equipment Lease Financing Process

So while a vendor financing program doesn’t actually provide financing directly by the vendor or dealer, it does streamline the process for applying for equipment lease financing through an equipment leasing company that is prepared to finance the assets in question, from the vendor selling the equipment.

A properly set up vendor program can get funding approved in a matter of hours, provided that the customer meets the lease funding criteria of the leasing company.

Without a ready source of financing to apply to, the customer is left to try and locate something themselves, which is going to take some time and could put the deal at risk.

And when a customer contacts an equipment leasing company, they likely won’t know right away if the assets they want to finance and/or the dealer they want to work with,  will be acceptable to the leasing company.

And while a well designed vendor leasing program can help close sales and increase profits, a poorly designed one can have the opposite effect on the business.

To find out more about the vendor leasing programs we can put together for you, please give us a call and we’ll get all your questions answered right away.

We Provide Vendor Equipment Leasing Solutions For Your Customers

Vendor equipment leasing solutions or vendor lease financing programs as they are also referred to are designed to be provide readily available equipment leasing options to your customers when they are ready to complete a transaction with you that requires them to acquire some amount of financing.

The customer still needs to qualify for credit based on their own business and personal credit and financial profiles, but the odds will be considerably improved with a properly qualified vendor financing program that involves leasing companies that are interested in financing the equipment you are selling as well as the financial and credit profile of your average customer that is seeking credit to complete a transaction.

The key is spending the time to match up your customer credit requirements with leasing companies that are going to be able to help them, and help them quickly so the sale is not put at risk by an application and approval process that is too long.

When you get this right, it should lead to more sales, more profits, and more happy customers due to the high level of service you have been able to provide them above and beyond the basic product purchase.

Can Any Business Get A Vendor Equipment Leasing Program In Place?

The short answer is yes, although it can be more challenging for a new dealer or reseller that is selling a new or specialized item.

One of the main reasons for setting up a vendor financing program is so that targeted leasing companies can become comfortable with both your company and your products prior to receiving any potential lease financing requests from your customers.

Leasing companies typically will do a back ground check on an equipment dealer that would like to set up a vendor equipment leasing program so that they are comfortable that you will be able to provide the level of service and support required to deal with customer issues or problems as they occur related to their equipment purchase.

This is harder to establish with new companies, especially before they have some type of sales volume under their belt and industry credit relationships established.

This part of the setting up a proper vendor program is very important as getting customer financing is not just about the customer.  The leasing company also wants to know that all after sales issues will be dealt with properly so that all potential headaches related to the equipment can be minimized or eliminated all together.

Leasing companies will not be interested in providing financing to your customers if they can’t get comfortable with the way you do business and your level of financial stability.

This also why its important to work with an equipment leasing specialist who can help facilitate the review process with targeted leasing companies so that a vendor program can be set up and put into practice as soon as possible.

“Lease Financing Programs For Your Dental Equipment
Purchasing Customers”

If you’re selling dental equipment to dentists and dental labs, there is a good chance that most of the time your customer is going to want to consider lease financing the dental equipment instead of draining their available cash flow.In order to be set up for success in this regard, it makes a great deal of sense to have a vendor financing program in place with one or more leasing companies that finance the types of assets that you’re selling.

The good news here is that dental equipment is typically a highly sought after lease among leasing companies, so there tends to be a lot of different options available to the customer and rates are also very competitive.

The challenge in vendor leasing programs for dental equipment purchasing customers is that competitor will also have vendor programs and there can be real differences between what you have set up and what your competitor down the road has set up.

If you are uncompetitive with respect to either rates and terms, or delivery of the equipment leasing service, it can equate to lost sales, margins, and profits at the end of the day.

With Vendor Leasing Programs, Speed Can Be Very Important

So as we have mentioned, from a rate point of view, most dental equipment leasing offers are going to be very competitive, one to the other.

But rate alone may not be the most important aspect of what a vendor program needs to deliver.

In many cases, dentists are going to be too busy to shop around for rates anyway, and unless you are selling a big ticket item, the difference in rate from one offer to another is not going to amount to a lot of additional cost.

For dental equipment leasing programs, the most important aspect for many suppliers and their customers is speed.

Basically, how fast can an application for financing be put together, submitted, processed, and funded?

For some sales processes, due to the high level of active competition going through the customer’s door on a regular basis, the whole vendor leasing program may need to be completed from beginning to end in 2 or 3 business days.

If you’re not set up with a leasing agent who can provide dedicated and responsive service to your customers, or working with a leasing company that is committed to meeting your requirements as well,  a lack of speed in getting deals approved can cost you sales today and repeat sales from the same customers tomorrow.

So if you current have an equipment leasing program set up for your customers, is it fast enough and getting a high enough percentage of approvals, or is it costing you sales.

The best way to know for sure is to give us a call and spend some time with us going through your customer requirements and what you’re going today to try and help them get lease financing in place to complete the sale.

Does Your Business Offer Business Equipment Leasing
To Your Customers?

If you sell equipment and don’t offer business equipment leasingto your business to business customers, then you’re likely leaving money on the table.Or if you have an existing business equipment leasing program, well suited to your equipment offering and your customer credit profile?

Both of these two questions should be asked and answered by anyone in the equipment resale market, either selling new equipment, used equipment, or a new and used mix.

Why?

Because the world of equipment leasing is mostly designed around business to business transactions.

Larger asset values are acquired by companies and there is a more well established resale market for larger assets in which security can be liquidated if required.

So for anyone in the business of selling equipment to other businesses, there can be plenty of potential lending and leasing companies out there that are more the capable and willing to finance your customer requirements.

The big challenge, however, is having a good fit in terms of financing abilities and service between your sales process and customer needs, and the abilities and requirements of an equipment leasing company.

Many times these relationships can be mismatched, resulting in very low close rates on applications which isn’t doing much to support sales.

In other situations, business owners do their own internal financing instead of trying to figure out how to leverage the programs that already exist.  While the approach can prove effective, it also takes capital away from investing in inventory which can further impact the bottom line from another direction.

Business Equipment Leasing Should Improve The Sales Process

If a business leasing program is not offered or readily available to the customer at the time of sale, two things can happen that you want to avoid.

First, the customer, left to their own devices, cannot locate a suitable equipment leasing option to finance the sale which results in a lost transaction and related margin.

Second, in their hunt for financing, the customer comes across a competitor who directs them towards an equipment financing program that fits their needs and steals the sale from you.

Both of these situations should be avoided if at all possible and can be with the help of an equipment leasing specialist who can help you design and implement business equipment leasing program that meets both your requirements and the requirements of the majority of your customers.

To find out more about a business leasing program and how it can best be arranged for your customers, give us a call and we’ll go over everything with you and get all your questions answered.