December 2022 — Agriculture is a world of deep-seated, sometimes startling contrasts. Old ways of life can be the fountain of knowledge for how to grow in a regenerative way. This can ensure farmers’ long-term ability to continue to provide the food that nourishes our economy and all of our families. You are mindful of the importance of tradition, and of not changing the good.
At the same time, the world is rapidly evolving, and you have to be on the lookout for how modern technologies can help farmers improve their yields, manage considerable uncertainties outside of their control, and have more robust businesses. And then implement those technologies in a way that is both easy for farmers to both understand and trust.
It’s a tall order to say the very least, but one that ag retailers like you take on with pride. After all, doing so is what makes your business competitive and profitable against your competition.
There are some serious challenges to face!
Increasingly savvy customers. While some farmers have only just started to explore digital growth opportunities, others are very comfortable with digital tools and expect vendors to provide a comprehensive digital experience. You need to provide a digital input financing experience that can work with both these types of farmers. The experience must be both simple to use and fully functional.
Clumsy and inefficient financing processes. Customers don’t want to wait forever for financing decisions. They want to be financed the moment they’re ready to make a purchase. Inefficient, third-party financing leads to frustrated customers and loss of potential revenues.
A team already stretched to its limits. Not only is finding the right team difficult and expensive, the demands on their time are ever-increasing in complexity. Any new solutions have to make their lives easier, not harder.
Managing Change with these Challenges is Hard. So, What’s the Solution?
The solution is ready-to-use digital input finance products that do the hard lifting for your team, so that you can reap the benefits without losing sleep over the complications.
Technology will never replace the very important human factor in your business. Rather, it’ll simply help your team provide a better experience to your customers. Growers Edge’s customizable digital input finance solution will help you serve your customers and their many needs, and build greater trust and loyalty along the way.
Change is Easy with the Right Technology Implemented for You, and with You!
A savvy farmer knows better than to reinvent the wheel. In the same way, savvy ag retailers know better than to recreate digital input financing solutions. Growers Edge has already done the hard work of creating a fully customizable program for you.
Digital input financing gives you the opportunity to seamlessly address problems related to finances, farmers, sales, and technology processes. By keeping financial information in-house instead of letting it leave to outside loan services, it adds to the richness of opportunities that you have to better understand and serve your customers, and increase profitability as a result.
There are five key parts to the Growers Edge’s technology, which can be customized to your company and customer’s needs, and then rapidly deployed.
Growers Edge’s Digital Application and Loan Management Platform make it uncomplicated for farmers to apply for, manage and pay off their loans, helping them more easily access credit to innovate or expand their operations.
Growers Edge’s Underwriting Scorecard provides a fast, accurate assessment of a grower’s financial strength. A proprietary blend of traditional lending analytics, such as credit and relevant risk factors, combined with specialized short-term financing, enables you to be confident in a customer’s ability for repayment.
Growers Edge Digital Payments simplify the loan management process. Farmers can quickly and securely make payments or check their loan maturation date from a phone, tablet or computer 24/7.
Growers Edge Portfolio Management System helps you efficiently manage your loan portfolio in real-time while keeping customer loan information safe and accessible.
Growers Edge’s Flexible Funded Program (SaaS+) enables you to choose how you’d like to fund your lending program. You can choose to activate your own capital or a blend of both our capital and your own. Otherwise we can fully fund it for your lending program through the Grower’s Edge resources.
Growers Edge is proud to be the only input financing technology that lets you make this critical choice of how to fund your input financing programs. This is one of the many ways we empower you to succeed on your own unique terms.
We go above and beyond to ensure these solutions are rapidly deployed and successful with your customer base. We provide onboarding support as well as ongoing support for any issues that may arise. It is our goal to make sure your customers have the financial opportunities that they need to take full advantage of your retail offerings as well as to be successful overall.
Harvesting Profits from Challenges
You are a trusted conduit of resources, goods, and information to the farmers that you serve. Embedded finance is about putting more tools in your hands to concretely give to farmers. Instead of outsourcing the financing process to third parties, you are able to take care of this critical part of the ag retail experience in house. Farmers and ag retailers alike have much to gain from this farmer-first digital input financing strategy.
By helping farmers with yet another critical part of the agriculture puzzle – input financing – you have a greater opportunity to serve and make a positive impact on the farming community. Of course, you stand to profit more as well. This is how profits are sustainably harvested from addressing the challenges of the agricultural community.
A better-informed team. You will have more insights into the customers by retaining their financing and related management in-house, instead of selling this opportunity to outside banks. These insights lead to better team decision-making on what offers you can make to farmers that both accelerate farmer success AND boost your profits.
A customer forward experience. Digital input financing means serving customers better at the point of sale – by enabling those sales with point-of-sale financing opportunities. Better customer financial data means being better able to advise customers on their complicated buying needs, whether we’re talking fertilizer or machinery. This means greater loyalty and profits. Not a bad deal. Digital enablement solutions strengthen your customer relationships.
Rapid deployment and full support. We work with you to ensure that the digital input financing program technology is rapidly deployed and adopted by your team and customers. We are your trusted partner every step of the way.
Ag Retailer Innovation Means Financial Resilience for Farmers
Resilience is a key aspect of farming. With changes in weather patterns, consumption patterns, and environmental conditions, the resilient farmer is a strong farmer. The strong farmer is the bedrock of our nation. We owe it to the farmer to provide as many opportunities to increase resilience as possible.
This means giving them modern finance tools that make the economics of farming robust enough to withstand difficult conditions. Leading ag retailers know that digital input financing solutions improve their business, their farmers’ lives, and our country’s future. It’s not just about any digital input financing tool, but one that can be consistently relied upon for the long term. We would be proud to partner with you to provide that opportunity.
Interested in turning this challenge into an opportunity? Let’s talk!
Source: Growers Edge