December 2022 – A company-branded financing program can help you close deals faster and drive sales. But, before you can offer a financing program, you’ll need to get your staff on board. Sure, delivering new products to your customers is exciting, but nothing slows the adoption of new products more than a reluctant or unmotivated internal team. Here are five steps for preparing your company to roll out your new financing product for your customers.
Build
The first step is to create a financing program that will meet the needs of both your business and your customers. For example, the program should include a competitive interest rate, term length, requirements and other details relevant to your input financing offering. You should also consider how in-season special fertilizer, fungicide and other chemistry promotions can drive new financing sales beyond the start of the growing season.
Your second step is to set a goal for your new financing program. Goals, however, are crucial to your success — especially in sales. When planned and executed correctly, goals help align the company, provide clarity and purpose, and increase performance, accountability and collaboration. Most importantly, when your entire team feels part of the process, they’ll have a deeper emotional commitment and drive to actually hit your goals.
Educate
Once you’ve established the terms and goals for your new financing program, everyone must understand why the program was built and how it benefits them, the company and your customers. The reasoning behind creating a company-branded program is your decision, but here are a few examples for your consideration.
- Your new all-digital platform is easy for your customers to apply, manage and pay off and for your finance team to manage your loan portfolio.
- Improved customer service opportunity
- Grow wallet share from customers
- Better understanding of your customer’s operations
- Improved financial flexibility for your company
- Help growers access capital, liquidity and flexibility
Train
Nobody wants to offend customers! You may believe the financing program is only the responsibility of your finance team. Think again! Alignment from the CEO to sales reps, receptionists, agronomists, customer service reps, custodians AND the finance team is critical to your success. It’s everyone’s “job!”
The idea of asking customers personal questions about their finances can make some people nervous or uncomfortable. An effective strategy for preparing your team for the product roll-out is to create a detailed script and a program FAQ so your team can confidently converse about financing during their planned and impromptu connections with customers.
Promote
Here’s a helpful checklist of ways to promote your new financing program:
- Highlight the fact that you offer financing on all of your marketing materials – including your website, emails, retail locations, product pages, monthly statements and even the on-hold music.
- Tell every customer, every time, financing is available from your company. If your customers don’t know about your program, they could assume your company doesn’t offer financing and purchase less from your company, or worse, take their business elsewhere.
Monitor & Reward
After training your team on how to offer your financing product, it’s important to monitor their performance toward meeting your strategic goals, following proper procedures and providing quality customer service. Take time to communicate progress toward your financing strategy’s company-wide goal and recognize team members who successfully meet those objectives. Everyone loves a good celebration when goals are met (however big or small)!
Whether you’re using Growers Edge’s input financing software or a fully-funded program, offering a custom financing program can benefit both you and your customers by making it easier to purchase products or services from your business and manage your loan portfolio. It’s important to properly prepare your entire team beforehand by training them on how the program works, setting goals, monitoring performance, and widely promoting the program. Growers Edge will be right by your side with training, tools and product features to make the roll-out of your new financing product easy and effective, so you’re set up for success today and as the program grows over time.
Schedule a demo today to learn more about the Growers Edge Input Financing Platform.
Source: Growers Edge