Appliances financing has long been an option for customers making large purchases (and it’s increasingly popular for small purchases too!) – and for good reason. When you have a wider net, you can catch more fish.
Enabling your customers to pay via externally financed loans ultimately gives you the ability to sell to more people. Some prospects will need your services, but simply can’t afford to pay for significant work all at once. Make sure you don’t turn these willing customers away.
There are many reasons that a customer may choose to pay via financing; we all know that big purchases can be daunting. Appliance financing downsizes an enormous financial commitment into manageable segments and limits the risk of you not getting paid. And as an added bonus, when payments are split into smaller portions, you may notice that customers are willing to spend more overall too.
Of course, many trades businesses are already offering financing to customers. Many also offer flexible payment options – and perhaps your business does too. But answer this question: is financing appliances currently a burden in your sales process?
Financing should help you close more deals and sell to more people, but instead many businesses find that the paperwork and admin required to get appliances financing approved can sometimes kill the sale itself. Especially if your workforce is stretched thin. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
The challenges of offering financing to customers:
Customers need to raise their hand and specifically ask you for financing options
An application needs to be created and completed, taking time for both you and the prospect (no one likes to do paperwork in the evening or on the weekend!)
You hit delays and need to chase the paperwork back-and-forth with either the prospect or financing provider
It adds hurdles and time to the sale, giving more chances for the prospect to drop off
Reducing the Friction of Financing
Done correctly, offering financing to customers should be a boon to your sales strategy. The question is, how can you implement frictionless appliance financing?
By making the application process simple, completable by the prospect without your team’s input, and able to receive a decision within a couple minutes, you can turn financing appliances into a streamlined option that drives sales. Easy, right?
These may all seem like things that are out of your control, but the good news is there is sales software that will do this for you. By offering finance options through a self-service portal, prospects can fill in an application form instantly and receive a decision within minutes. No paperwork needs to pass through your hands, the customer is happy as they’ve split their bill, and you made a sale you otherwise could have lost. It’s a win-win situation.
With offering financing to customers covered, let’s move onto Chapter 5, where we’ll cover how to measure success through sales reporting.
Question
Do you wish you could offer financing to customers more regularly?
Of course – it’s a win-win! Your biggest challenge to offering more financing is the admin burden and the back-and-forth of completing an application. Eliminate those and there’s no reason that your customers can’t finance jobs more regularly – and with less friction! If you’d like to hear about a new way that trades businesses can offer appliance financing seamlessly, register your interest here.
Okay! While financing is a great way to attract and win customers, it doesn’t make sense for all types of trades business. If you’re curious to learn more about the impact of appliances financing in the trades industry check out our video with Vendigo.
