Posts in category: Business Advice

Credentials are critical in the professional world as a means to verify competency. After all, you wouldn’t go to an attorney, doctor or accountant who didn’t meet professional standards. Same goes for your equipment financing lender.

One of the easiest ways to determine whether you’re dealing with a professional lender is by checking if he or she is a Certified Lease and Finance Professional (CLFP). CLFPs must pass various tests and meet strict professional and ethical requirements to become officially certified, making them more reliable partners than non-certified lenders.

If you want to work with a finance professional who has gone the extra mile to earn a designation, then you should seek out a CLFP. High standards required to use that title ensure that the person or organization that you work with will use their expertise to act in your best interest.

What is a CLFP?

A CLFP is a lease and/or finance professional that has attained this qualification by demonstrating their knowledge, professionalism and ethical practices. As a whole, the CLFP organization aims to improve the equipment financing industry by improving companies’ and individuals’ conduct and expertise.

This certification intends to promote professionalism, transparency, and ethical practices in an industry. CLFPs aim to enhance the finance industry’s standing by promoting high ethical standards, continuing education and fair practices.

Who Qualifies as a CLFP?

To become a CLFP, you must undergo an extensive application process that includes various tests and background checks. To even be eligible to become a CLFP, you must have a clean background that is free of criminal charges, official sanctions or license revocations. Then, if you meet those prerequisites, you must then pass an exam that tests your knowledge of relevant subjects, including leasing law, accounting, collections and asset management.

LEARN MORE: Your Approach to Financing an Equipment Lease Matters

If you pass the test to become a CLFP, you must then pledge to abide by the organization’s Standards of Professional Conduct, which promotes honesty and integrity in doing business. Members must also renew their status annually, and in order to do so, they must continue to meet all of the CLFP’s standards and participate in continuing education.

The Benefits of Working with a CLFP

Simply put, CLFPs are the best of the best in the world of equipment financing. They must be able to demonstrate extensive knowledge of the field, and also, they must prove that they have never been involved in any questionable transactions.

The largest benefit of working with a CLFP, however, is simple peace of mind. When you work with a CLFP like those here at Global Financial & Leasing Services, you know that your lender is competent and has your best interest in mind. Just as you would look for any other certified professional, you should also seek a Certified Lease and Finance Professional to finance your business equipment.

Ready to learn more, let’s talk about the possibilities. Or, get started today by filling out an online application.

The Difference Between the Essentials and Nice-to-Haves

Every type of business has its essential equipment that allows it to operate and meet client demand. A hospital, for instance, wouldn’t be able to diagnose patients without machines like X-rays, CT scanners, and MRIs. However, is new waiting room furniture essential? Probably not.

When buying new equipment, how do you justify what is essential and what’s a “vanity” purchase?

What is Essential Business Equipment?

“Essential business equipment” refers to the tools of your trade that your business cannot operate without. Restaurants need ovens and walk-in refrigerators. Loggers need chainsaws and excavators. Warehouses need forklifts and pallet jacks. These are the bare-bones essentials that ensure that your employees can do their jobs.

LEARN MORE: HOW TO ATTRACT QUALIFIED OPERATORS TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR FINANCED EQUIPMENT

What you consider necessary will depend on the size and scope of your business. Major companies will often need more equipment than small businesses, and various types of businesses rely on different machines to get work done. An easy way to consider whether your company needs a certain piece of equipment is by asking, “Would we be able to manage without it if it broke?” If your answer is no, then the piece of equipment in question is essential.

Essentials vs. Nice-to-Haves

Once you understand what kinds of equipment are necessary for company operations, you can distinguish between what’s essential and what isn’t. For example, suppose your company owns a small warehouse, and the items that you produce are easy to pick by hand. In this case, a forklift might be nice to have, but chances are, you can get by with a couple of pallet jacks.

Another nice-to-have pitfall that many business owners experience is unnecessarily buying top-of-the-line equipment. All of the bells and whistles on a brand-new machine may seem tempting, but oftentimes, your business can get by with a high-quality, used version with fewer special features. So, when buying equipment, you should consult with your employees to determine what features they actually use, what they would like to have, and what they never touch.

You should also keep in mind that what’s essential to your business will change over time. In the warehouse example, suppose that your company has grown enough to justify a larger warehouse. The forklift that was initially non-essential may become critical in this expanded space.

Using Equipment Financing Wisely

Financing your large equipment purchases can be one of the best ways to get your business what it needs without running your savings account dry. However, having the option to finance can make non-essential purchases seem more appealing. A $12,000 price tag may make you think twice, whereas twelve payments of $1,000 may seem easier to justify. 

When you choose to finance your purchases, you should think about whether that piece of equipment will be worth the monthly bill. Essential equipment will pay for itself, but with vanity purchases, each invoice will make you think twice. If you’re considering buying new equipment for your company, contact the experts at Global Financing & Leasing Services to get the best financing for your essentials.

Communication is Key

2020 has been a tough year. The pandemic and ensuing recession have taken their toll on small businesses, leaving many business owners either dealing with the worst or preparing to do so. Even after making cost-saving moves, you might be wondering, “What happens if I can’t pay my bills or make my payment on my equipment?”

When you can’t make a payment on an equipment lease, your credit and business are at risk. However, in many cases, you can find a way to make ends meet without bottoming out your bank account. If you find yourself in this situation, here are a few tips to minimize damage to your credit and possibly avoid losing equipment essential to your business.

Don’t: Make Rash Decisions

If you’re struggling to make payments, you might feel tempted to throw in the towel, have a “going out of business” sale, and declare bankruptcy. However, before you give up hope, simply step back and take a deep breath. Many businesses recover from hard times, and giving up too quickly can hurt you in the long run.

Do: Seek Alternative Sources of Income

One of the best actions that you can take if your business is in trouble is to find new ways to generate income. This might involve tried-and-true methods like selling assets or it may involve a bit of creativity on your part.

The alternative sources of income that you seek should depend on the type of business that you run. Crowdfunding, for instance, can be effective for businesses with strong local followings, or companies with strong credit can apply for short-term financing. If your business is struggling due to changing regulations or consumer preferences, you could also take your current business model in a new direction to create new revenue streams.

Don’t: Dodge Bill Collectors

Another major mistake that struggling business owners make in a cash crunch is dodging calls from bill collectors. When you have to make tough decisions about your company, you may be tempted to avoid bill collectors until you have money to pay them. However, that’s actually one of the worst mistakes that you can make.

Lenders generally react poorly when a client goes silent, and they often assume the worst. You may be hit with late fees, or your creditor may end up selling your debt to a collection agency. However, if you communicate with them, you can usually find a solution to help you pay off your debt while you get back on your feet.

Do: Plan Your Next Move

When your company is underperforming, you need to take a step back, look at the big picture, and come up with a plan. This may entail restructuring your business, selling off bad assets, or reevaluating your marketing strategy.

You can also bring in professional consultants to help you reorganize your business or come up with new revenue streams. These advisors can offer a fresh perspective on the state of your company, and hiring them will show your creditors that you are serious about getting your financial house in order.

LEARN MORE: 3 NON-NEGOTIABLES WHEN SELECTING YOUR EQUIPMENT LEASE FINANCING PARTNER

Don’t: Blindly Cut Costs

Cutting costs is an important part of getting your finances under control, but you must carefully do so. Many business owners who are in a pinch become so focused on their bottom lines that they forget about the big picture.

When reducing your expenses, you always need to examine how your actions will impact your business as a whole. Layoffs, for instance, might seem like an effective way to cut costs in the short term, but if done improperly, they can hurt employee and customer satisfaction. So, as you make these tough decisions, you need to think about their impact on your company in the long term.

Do: Work with Your Creditors

If you can’t make your monthly payment, then one of the best actions you can take is simply calling your creditors. More often than not, they will work with you to come up with a plan to pay off your debt. This could entail deferring payments or renegotiating your payment plan. 

Your lenders are human, too, and many of them understand what it’s like to go through hard times. At GLFS, we frequently work with businesses to help them get back on their feet without hurting their credit. If you’re one of our clients and are struggling to make payments, contact us.

Equipment Financing is Key to Preserve Cash

2020 has been a tumultuous year for business. Between a global pandemic and the recession that followed, business owners have needed to adapt to constantly changing circumstances, often digging deep into their pockets to stay afloat.

One of the prevailing lessons that many owners have learned is the importance of cash reserves. At its most basic, a cash reserve consists of liquid funds that are easy to access for covering expenses when times get tough. A healthy cash reserve should typically be able to cover three to six months of business expenses. Think of it like a personal rainy day fund; you want to be sure that you can keep up with your bills for a few months if you lose your income.

Whether revenue takes a hit, customers are slow or no payers, an emergency arises, or any other situation businesses face, having a strong cash reserve can help yours survive. Here are a few good reasons why you should strengthen your cash reserves.

Staying Prepared for the Unexpected

If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s to be prepared for the unexpected. Whether it’s a natural disaster, economic downturn or regulatory changes, unforeseen events can send your business into a tailspin if you don’t have a financial safety net.

A strong cash reserve can ensure that your company is well-insulated from the fallout of these kinds of abrupt changes. For instance, suppose that a natural disaster damaged some of your essential equipment. If you have a healthy cash reserve, then you can use that to replace or rent it while you wait on insurance payouts, allowing you to continue doing business as usual. Your cash reserve can therefore serve as an insurance policy against adverse events.

Reducing Your Reliance on Credit

Having a healthy cash reserve can also reduce your reliance on credit. When something disrupts your business and you end up strapped for cash, using credit cards, taking out loans or dipping into your personal funds may seem like your only options. However, with a strong cash reserve, you can use your business savings to cover unexpected expenses or supplement lost revenue.

While using credit is always a part of doing business, you should take care to do so wisely. Credit cards can be useful for discretionary purchases, but you should not rely on them to cover major expenses. Likewise, loans or financing can help fund large purchases while keeping cash on-hand, but you should do your best to plan for these in advance. A solid cash reserve can help you use credit carefully.

Enhancing Your Business’s Finances

Many actions that you can take to enhance your cash reserves are common-sense practices that can improve your company’s overall financial health. Saving profits, paying down debts and investing internally are all excellent ways to boost cash reserves and your business’s financial status.

LEARN MORE: Your Approach to Financing an Equipment Lease Matters

Another excellent way to maintain enough liquidity for a healthy cash reserve is to finance major purchases. Large expenses like new equipment will quickly drain your company’s bank account, so financing them can benefit your long-term financial health. Ideally, the revenue generated by leasing essential business equipment will be greater than the monthly payment. If you’re ready to finance equipment and your preserve cash reserves, contact us or begin your application.

You’ve made the decision to lease equipment to meet market demand, increase your sales or move in to an additional line of business. How good of a decision that was depends on the return on investment (ROI) you earn after adding the leased equipment to your fleet or service offerings. Oftentimes, your ROI is a direct result of the marketing strategy driving sales, unless the equipment is solely leased to improve your employees’ productivity and then the ROI is measured in other ways.

We posted a blog about marketing the capabilities of your new equipment  that included information on PPC ads. One of our recommendations was to create a landing page designated to it. Social media posts, sales emails and PPC ads can click through to that page.

What is a Landing Page?

A landing page is a webpage that speaks to web visitors and compels them to take a certain action in a certain way. Meaning, this landing page would target those interested in services you can perform with that specific equipment and compel them to request a quote, schedule an appointment, etc., ideally via benefit-focused content and a prominent contact form. 

What a Landing Page is Not

A landing page is not just a regular page on your website about your company, other services, other products or such.

What Makes a Landing Page Effective in Increasing ROI?

When a prospect or existing customer clicks on a PPC ad to learn more about what you can offer thanks to your new equipment, they have a specific problem that needs solving. For example, you lease a bobcat and a customer needs land cleared and leveled. An effective landing page makes it clear that your company is the solution and has the equipment for the job. That doesn’t necessarily mean calling out that the equipment is new unless it is brand new to the market. Instead focus every element of your landing page on WIIFM (what’s in it for me?).

The key elements of an effective landing page are:

• A strong headline that grabs readers’ interest by focusing on solving their problem.
• A supporting headline that touches on the most important details or benefits.
• Eye-catching imagery that reflects what you’re selling. This isn’t always an image of your leased equipment. Frankly, sometimes an image of the equipment isn’t interesting or compelling. But what it does cheaper, faster, better certainly is.
• A short summary of the benefits that is customer focused.
• A call to action that makes it easy for visitors to do what you want them to do. This can include a special offer, too.
• Proof that what you’re saying is the truth, which can be in the form of testimonials, a case study or details of the equipment.
• A final call to action to reinforce and summarize everything in your landing page and offer one last way to contact you.

Getting the Most Traction from Your Landing Page 

Google Ads campaigns are the obvious entry point to click through to your landing page. Plus, there are traditional marketing avenues that can lead users to your landing page. Any marketing channel that leads to your landing page designed to promote your new or improved capabilities can increase the number of clicks-to-sales conversions. 

When using a landing page URL in marketing, keep the URL as short as possible. For example, yourcompany.com/level-land compared to yourcompany.com/bobcatmodel43o8H. The reason is that the URL has to be memorable should it be heard and short if it is to fit on printed material.

Consider driving traffic to your landing page from:

• Direct mail
• Radio/streaming ads
• Social media posts
• Billboards/banners
• Print ads

It may seem odd that an equipment financing company is giving marketing advice, but it makes perfect sense given that we’re invested in our customers’ success. Bottom line: when you succeed, leased equipment payments are made on time, which keeps us in business and able to fund even more business owners’ leased equipment needs. If you’d rather work with a partner instead of a vendor, reach out to the Global Financing & Leasing Services team.

Once your equipment financing is in place, it’s time to market the capabilities the equipment brings to your company to generate buzz to grow sales and revenue. You can’t afford to take a “If we build it, they will come” approach. Customers can only come to you for bids, new business and expanded services when you get the word out through multiple marketing channels.

Expert tip: When deciding on leasing equipment, ensuring you have sufficient budget to market what it brings to the table should be part of your financial decision. Your inbound marketing plan should be ready to go prior to taking possession of the equipment.

Knowing you have to market your improved or additional capabilities is one thing. Doing it is another, but it’s essential to your success whether your leased equipment brings expanded capacity or a new service/product line.

Start with Search Engine Optimization

We could write a book on search engine optimization (SEO), and many SEO experts have. In a nutshell, SEO starts with narrowing down your keywords, which are the word(s) people type into a search engine to find your business, product or service.

For example, Global Financial & Leasing Services is a leading provider of equipment financing. Therefore, we want business owners who need equipment financing to find our website when they search online for equipment financing providers. One of our keywords is “equipment financing.” A more specific keyword (long tail) for us is “construction equipment financing.”

One of the best keyword research tools is Google’s keyword planner. Once you have a strong list of keywords to market what you can do thanks to your new equipment, you have the foundation for your marketing content: a new page or copy on your website, blogs, digital ads and such. The more a search engine sees your keyword used in RELEVANT content across the internet, the higher it will rank your website for that keyword. In other words, the more likely your business is to be found.

Remember Retaining Customers is Cheaper (and Easier) Than Acquiring New Ones

You financed equipment to provide a new or improved offering, expand your capabilities to meet customer demand, fill a gap in the marketplace or offer a better user experience. Reaching new customers is key to growing business, however, your current customers represent low-hanging fruit. They already know your company, so there are fewer hurdles to reach and engage them.

Immediately, get the word out via email and social media. Those on your email list and those following your company on social media have already shown an interest and have opted in to receive your messages. Sell the benefits of what is new or different and include a call to action to get more information, a quote, etc.

Consider a Strategic Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Campaign

Google Ads puts your company and services and/or products front and center of those searching for what you offer. The gist of it is that you only pay when the user clicks on your PPC ad. Since you’re allowed to set a maximum budget for the month, you can control your PPC advertising costs. PPC campaigns can be turned on and off, allowing you to manage your workload, too. Google Ad specialists can help you set up your campaign if you’re uncomfortable running with it on your own.

Where users go after they click on your ad is key to turning a cold lead into a hot one. Before engaging in a PPC ad campaign, invest time in beefing up the page on your website that features your new equipment. Better yet, create a landing page designated to it if you anticipate demand and sales warranting one.

LEARN MORE: USING LANDING PAGES TO INCREASE ROI ON YOUR LEASED EQUIPMENT

Remember: Marketing Doesn’t Happen in a Bubble

Brilliantly marketing your capabilities available with new leased equipment takes a multi-channel strategy, combining proven tactics that work for your industry. It’s rare, if ever, that a single email will move the sales needle. Or for that matter a single social media post or a PPC ad that clicks to nowhere.

Marketing doesn’t happen in a bubble. To be the most effective, take advantage of the many marketing tools available today. That way, you’ll reach a maximum number of customers and prospects multiple times, which keeps your company top of mind, builds recognition and generates sales.