Would a Customer Financing Program for your clients increase your sales at virtually no cost to your own firm? You might me surprised that many of your competitors are beating you at the sales game only because they have mastered utilizing the tool of vendor finance via leasing programs.

Let’s examine how your firm can generate additional sales, and accelerate cash flow by using a time worn tool used by thousands of Canadian firms already.

The concept of a vendor finance program for many firms conjures up images of your firm all of a sudden losing its core competency and becoming something of a finance firm or specialist. That’s the farthest thing from the truth, if, and it’s a big if, you do it right.

The reality is that there are different; let us call them ‘ models ‘ in a customer finance program. Yes of course you could turn your firm into a mini bank and finance clients – only problem there is that you need huge amounts of capital which only large corporations have access to.

And additionally, when you finance a customer directly you create large revenue recognition challenges that you don’t need. Bottom line of course is that you are looking to generate revenue, not defer it!

If you create our recommended customer financing program at no cost your sales force becomes armed with an additional tool to their tool kit. One of those tools is price – in that for a small reduction in the cost of your product and service that amount can then be used to subsidize the financing cost to your client.

Clients are as much concerned about acquisition cost as they are about the quality and service of your firm. In effect cost and financing often becomes what we have termed over the years as an ‘ obstacle to innovation ‘.

If we haven’t made it clear by now our recommended strategy for a vendor financing customer financing program is simply to align yourselves with a partner that can facilitate your program, at, as we said, virtually no cost to you.

Under your direction a program can be implemented, under your firm’s name, and financed totally by the partner. Oh and by the way, that takes away all the credit and bad risk also, which is a huge gain.

Using a vendor program to the maximum allows you to get creative in a number of ways, you can offer deferred payment programs. Remarketing profits suddenly have the potential to appear, and you can even take ownership of the asset at the end of the customer’s lease or rental term, allowing you to generate an additional sale as well as control the aftermarket in your product.

Intrigued? You should be, as we said, as your competitor is probably doing this already in some form. Speak to a trusted, credible and experienced Canadian business financing advisor on setting up a customer financing program that meets your needs.