Terms and Conditions: All applications are subject to credit approval. LEAF finances equipment for business purposes only and not for personal, family, or household use.
LEAF Commercial Capital, Inc., a subsidiary of M&T Bank.
Is your sales process aligned with the needs of today’s quickly evolving marketplace?
For about 90% of equipment and technology dealers, the answer is no. Here’s why that is, what you can do about it, and how a subscription and payment based approach to sales can speed your sales process, strengthen your cash flow, and accelerate your business's growth.
Should You Update Your Sales Approach
for a Changing Marketplace?
How Subscriptions and Payments Can Power Faster Growth
Cloud-based software helped break the ice by turning annual licensing transactions into always-on, relationship-powered solutions.
Here’s where it gets a lot more interesting: only 11% of commercial equipment and technology sellers lead with a payment or offer subscription-based solutions.
Surely there are good reasons for that?
You’ll have to make up your own mind, but here’s what our research says:
Trust is Lacking
It's More Work
Big Training Gaps
Old Attitudes Prevail
“I’ve been burned so many times by our finance partner, I’m concerned that financing will actually cost me new business opportunity.” This 20-year veteran of equipment sales isn’t wrong to feel this way. But companies still want and need payment options. The problem here isn’t the financing – it’s the company chosen to provide the financing.
If you don’t understand it, you’re not likely to sell it. Most sales teams are trained to be experts on equipment or technology. They’re not trained on how to sell using payments. As a result, they mention payments last or not at all.
“I was successful building this company by cold calling and never had to lead with a payment.” This is a real quote from a senior sales executive. There’s no doubt he’s correct. But the world he built his success on doesn’t look the same today. If equipment sales leaders don’t eagerly adopt new ways to go to market that align with how today’s customers make decisions, opportunities will be lost.
So those are a few of the biggest reasons almost 9 out of 10 technology sellers don’t lead with a payment. But what if you did?
Businesspeople suffer from decision fatigue just as much as anyone else, and more subscriptions mean fewer decisions to make.
Payments are popular – nearly three quarters of companies pay for equipment over time, and they’re coming to see the value of treating these investments and others as perpetual, rather than intermittent.
“I’ve been burned so many times by our finance partner, I’m concerned that financing will actually cost me new business opportunity.” This 20-year veteran of equipment sales isn’t wrong to feel this way. But companies still want and need payment options. The problem here isn’t the financing – it’s the company chosen to provide the financing.
“It’s easier not to sell financing. There are so many paperwork items to go through and ask for, it just complicates everything.” This 10-year IT salesperson is right that it’s always easier to sell a less complex solution. But if you’re not meeting the customer need, you won’t have to worry about process at all. Someone else will win the business.
If you don’t understand it, you’re not likely to sell it. Most sales teams are trained to be experts on equipment or technology. They’re not trained on how to sell using payments. As a result, they mention payments last or not at all.
“I was successful building this company by cold calling and never had to lead with a payment.” This is a real quote from a senior sales executive. There’s no doubt he’s correct. But the world he built his success on doesn’t look the same today. If equipment sales leaders don’t eagerly adopt new ways to go to market that align with how today’s customers make decisions, opportunities will be lost.
Is It Time to Change the Way You Think About Payments?
If you could boost your sales an average of 37% and increase the speed at which you close sales by an average of 42%, why wouldn’t you?
It may be time to ask some hard questions about your equipment and technology sales approach, as well as evaluate your partnerships, training, and the attitudes that surround how you go to market.
Let's Talk
To talk over your needs and how we can develop a custom finance program that powers bigger sales that close faster, contact your Account Champion today.
The opportunity is waiting. LEAF can help you leverage it with:
Resources for packaging comprehensive hardware/software/service solutions with payments
Training to shorten the sales cycle and increase deal size with financing
Marketing support to boost engagement and drive action
As-a-service/subscription financing to build predictable revenues and stronger relationships
In a recent survey of over 5,000 equipment and technology buyers,
69% involved more than five people in the purchase decision.
It’s Not Just About Selling More — It’s Also About Selling Faster
Sales cycles are often lengthy, and they’re getting longer. Companies are deploying more matrixed decision making with buying groups filling a dozen or more presentation room chairs where they once designated a single person or two to pull the trigger. While more people may yield better decisions, it certainly doesn’t make the purchasing process shorter.
But one thing does: leading with a payment. In our survey of more than 800 equipment
and technology sales teams, those that consistently led with a finance option not only
sold more, they also sold faster.
42%
37%
Close sales 42% faster
Boost your sales 37%
Sales Cycle With Payments (Days)
Technology
Increase in Sales Velocity (Days)
% Increase in Sales Velocity
Sales Cycle Without Payments (Days)
Show All
Construction
Hospitality
Energy
Machine Tools
Transportation
Healthcare
Industry
“It’s easier not to sell financing. There are so many paperwork items to go through and ask for, it just complicates everything.” This 10-year IT salesperson is right that it’s always easier to sell a less complex solution. But if you’re not meeting the customer need, you won’t have to worry about process at all. Someone else will win the business.
Sales Cycle Without Payments (Days)
Sales Cycle With Payments (Days)
Increase in Sales Velocity (Days)
% Increase in Sales Velocity
Old Attitudes Prevail
There’s a Big Training Gap
It’s More Work
Trust is Lacking
They Aren't Just for Consumers Anymore
Subscriptions are everywhere in the consumer world, and they’re quickly becoming a preferred way for businesses to get what they need to do business. But how did we get from streaming TV to everything as a subscription? Here are a few reasons why this payment model is so popular with business customers:
Subscriptions
Why All This Matters to You
Thanks in part to subscriptions, attitudes toward payments have shifted sharply positive among those who once believed they were an option to turn to only when absolutely necessary. These days, payments have become a preferred way for businesses to get what they need to win opportunities and drive growth.
Dealers that lead with a payment on every proposal sell 37% more
than direct competitors that don't.
Days