You learn something new every day. Or so they say.
Until recently I wasn’t familiar with Ervin Equipment Finance, formerly Ervin Leasing, an organization that has been in the equipment finance business for 35 years, approximately 15 of those focused on office technology. After the economic downturn in 2009, Ervin Leasing took a break from the office technology space because they were unable to provide their partners with competitive pricing. That changed last January 2013 when Ervin Leasing joined with Bank of Ann Arbor, an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based bank with total assets and assets under administration of over $1.7 billion. With that solid financial backing, the time was right for Ervin Leasing, now Ervin Equipment Finance, to once again start providing leasing and financing options to office technology dealers.
A recent conversation with RJ Grimshaw, EVP, chief sales officer, Ervin Equipment Finance, offers a further introduction to this leasing company along with the background behind the rebranding.
“That was one of my first initiatives,” says Grimshaw who was formerly with Everbank. “We needed to change with the times and get ‘Equipment Finance’ in our name because we offer more than just leasing; a portion of our business is leasing and the rest financing. We’re focused on office technology as a whole and work with technology resellers on software only transactions [too]. A lot of those transactions are done as IPAs or as an installment agreement. There’s no residual in it.”
RJ Grimshaw
The experience working with the office technology dealer community over the years remains an asset and Grimshaw has been busy building a team to better serve the dealer community. He’s on a mission to turn Ervin Equipment Finance into a major player in the national equipment finance space. His new team members understand the office imaging space and where the market is headed.
“We have the pedigree and heritage of understanding that space and know cost of parts and we’re going after the underserved marketplace,” says Grimshaw. “We’re taking the philosophy of helping resellers grow their revenues.”
He has a specific demographic in mind. The team does not plan on chasing the big dealers who have 12 funding sources. They are over banked.. We want that mid-tier to low-tier reseller who can be a big fish in a small pond, and we want to provide incredible customer service to that dealer base and help them in terms of their portfolio long term.” “An example of this vendor centric service is a live person picks up the phone every time it rings.”
Ervin Equipment Finance has a national footprint and its new salespeople will focus on specific regions. “The strategy for now is a hybrid model,” explains Grimshaw.
Until he fills out his team from a geographic perspective, one of his latest hires will serve New York and Boston while the other will be responsible for a larger territory because of his contacts in the market.
Meanwhile, Grimshaw is in discussions with a couple of other individuals who will be more geo centric.
“Over the last quarter I’ve been looking for the best talent that can serve the marketplace and not so much I need a rep in Denver and find a rep in Denver,” he adds. “We’ll work on the logistics and geographies afterwards.”
Grimshaw is happy with Ervin’s growth since reentering the office imaging space. He’s been spending a fair amount of time on the road calling on dealers and understands there is a lot of competition out there and that despite its legacy in the office imaging space, Ervin still has to prove itself as a worthy partner.
“They have to try us,” says Grimshaw. “Until they have deals and transactions go through our shop and experience the level of service we can provide that is where we’ll be able to multiply the business several times over. That’s what’s been taking place over the last 60 days.”
Why would a reseller choose Ervin?
“They have a lot of options and I tell the sales team and the team internally, the money is all colored green so we have to differentiate ourselves from the competition in that every time we engage with a reseller we provide an experience when they hang up the phone they say, ‘I’m doing my next transaction with Ervin.’ We want to keep this relationship and the opportunity to provide them with service. We have good rates, we’re able to do bundled solutions, we’re able to do private label, and we’re able to offer everything all our larger competitors offer.”
And indeed they do. Ervin can offer CPC, pass through, managed print, etc. “We are able to offer all the tools that the larger lessors can,” states Grimshaw. “ However, we don’t want to be #10 in their list of funding sources. I’d rather walk into a small dealer of an authorized manufacturer and be #3 and work my way to #2 and then work my way to #1 and have a long term relationship with that company.”
The challenge is getting the word out to resellers that Ervin is a player in this space. “That’s my biggest challenge every single day,” states Grimshaw. “From a long-term perspective I want to partner with resellers who understand the value, which is a good portfolio performance for us as well as them. This is a long-term play. We’ve been in the business for the past 35 years and plan on staying in the business for the next 35.”
To learn more about Ervin Leasing, visit them at www.ervinleasing.com or follow them on Twitter @ervinfinance.
