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Marketing Tip | Sample Deal | Weekly Survey
Program Advantage | Same-day Approvals
Dear Broker, here are your updates for this week...
M a r k e t i n g t i p
Is it time to declare an official third channel for earning leasing business?
At each lease broker tradeshow for the past few years, the topic has come up more and more. So, it isn’t fair to say “here is a new idea.” But it may be time to say, “get serious about this marketing method.”
Traditionally there have been two channels for earning business – end-users and vendors. To be sure, these were not the only ways of focusing your marketing, but they were the only two that brokers would use to define themselves. Brokers have historically used a matrix with end-user or vendor on one axis, and specialist or generalist on the other axis. Broker business models fit neatly into one of the four quadrants in the resulting matrix.
But now it is too prevalent to relegate into an “other” category. Brokers are winning substantial business by accessing other focal points of the commercial equipment finance market through professional networking. Many brokers have selected this as their sole means of generating application flow, and it is working. These brokers skip past the Google AdWords and dialing vendor prospects all day long and look for other points where possible deals congregate. After all, that is one of the most basic maxims of marketing: find masses of your potential customers and be there. Whether your potential customers go to a certain tradeshow, read a certain magazine or search with certain keywords, wherever they congregate, that is where you want to be.
What else do your potential customers do? They have accountants and bookkeepers; they have attorneys; they meet and talk with their bankers; they belong to associations; they take safety classes; they attend schools; heck, they join bowling leagues. And while your target customers are doing these things, your competition isn’t – at least not yet or not with full force.
Start locally. Find the associations, professional service providers and training opportunities that target the same market you do. Find out how you can join, get involved, mingle, or be a part of their newsletter or Web site. Consider referral programs or affinity programs.
Positioning your business model outside of the traditional matrix may leave you in a very desirable situation – all by yourself.
Want more marketing tips? See more.
S a m p l e d e a l o f t h e w e e k
Financing three assets generates a $16k commission for broker
Larger deals usually have multiple assets. SunBridge Capital issues credit decisions and pricing for leases containing multiple assets, and up to a total of $250,000 with just an online application. The sample transaction below funded last month:
Average Trans Union FICO: 692
Verified time-in-business: 2.4 years
Dun & Bradstreet business data: Strong
Assets: Two 2005 van body trucks; one 2002 day cab tractor
Amount financed: $159,866
Documents needed for credit decision: online application
Monthly payment: $3,995
Requested broker commission: 10 points = $15,987
Funding status: Booked
More information on SunBridge Capital's credit programs.
Want more sample structures? See more.
S t a t e o f t h e i n d u s t r y
What percentage of your applications come from professional networking?
Vote now to see how you compare to your peers.
(If you are one of the first respondents, check back later to see more developed results. All responses are anonymous.)
P r o g r a m a d v a n t a g e
Consistent methodology in credit decisions
Because SunBridge Capital employs a credit model, we offer consistent credit decisions. The same transaction would receive the same decision and pricing no matter when it was reviewed or who sent it. Unlike story credit funding sources whose decisions are subject to the moment-in-time opinion of a credit manager, our credit requirements and pricing are static.
A i m i n g f o r t h e s a m e - d a y a p p r o v a l
Coming soon: sales tax on capital cost reductions included in amounts due before funding on the first invoice
Historically, SunBridge Capital has contacted new customers after funding to make arrangements for paying sales tax on capital cost reductions. In the next few weeks, SunBridge Capital will begin to include sales tax due on capital cost reductions as an item on the first invoice of amounts due before funding. This will not affect existing transactions for which documents have already been generated. The estimated sales tax due on capital cost reductions will be shown on both the pricing recap and proposal screens in TermBuilder. Capital cost reductions are never a necessity, as you can use TermBuilder to structure up-front amounts as security deposits of last payments in advance instead of capital cost reductions. | 