It’s no secret that the document imaging industry is evolving rapidly. Once driven solely by hardware sales, service and supplies, the recurring revenue model is becoming increasingly solutions-based.
For decades, finance companies have been integral partners with dealerships. But as the offerings of the dealers evolve into software, managed solutions and even non-traditional hardware, what are the finance companies doing to ensure their offerings are keeping pace with the dealers’ requirements?
We spoke to some of the leading finance companies in the industry to learn how they are adapting their strategies to address these changes and how their new offerings will help dealerships be more successful and ensure a lasting relationship.
CIT Equipment Finance
For CIT, the challenge begins with understanding the goals of their channel clients and aligning their services to help them achieve success. Nick Small, CIT’s Managing Director of Equipment
Nick Small
Finance, points out that they average more than 15 years with their marquee manufacturer relationships and he credits this longevity to goal alignment, mutual trust, service and flexibility.
“Leasing, like any industry, has to adapt to the market situation presented by changing client needs and the competitive situation,” he states. “The leasing companies who are best at delivering the highest value to dealers through product fit and service should continue to win.”
The uptick in mergers and acquisitions presents unique challenge for both dealers and finance companies. Small says that CIT’s FlexAbility, which aims to provide clients with unlimited flexibility to structure what they sell, how they bill, and who they partner with, to be uniquely tailored for this challenge.
“Often in such cases of expansion, we see the channel acquiring other companies to expand their offering, but are challenged to merge the sales function into a single, cohesive offering systematically,” explains Small. “FlexAbility addresses that challenge.”
Small believes that it’s critical for CIT to be innovative in the channel’s core areas as well as the adjacent spaces to positively impact the dealers’ potential needs. To address this, they have invested extensively in invoicing capabilities that allow dealers to provide accurate billing for the more complex solutions-oriented sales.
“Our FlexAbility offering gives dealers the ability to create nearly any kind of sales structure – fixed and variable charges, rate escalations, one-time charges – to differentiate themselves in the market and customize the sale to precisely how their clients want to purchase. Then, client invoices are highly customizable on both content and appearance to align with customer requirements.”
DLL Financial Services
For Bob Hunter, Senior Vice President of Sales, Office Technology at DLL, keeping up with the demands of the market is a critical element to retaining a relationship.
Bob Hunter
“It is extremely important for finance partners to continue to meet the evolving needs of both dealers and their customers,” he states. “As customers continue to demand more sophisticated products and services, it is our responsibility to provide the right financial solutions because it adds to the positive end user experience and enhances our partners’ brand.”
Hunter states that DLL is committed to providing a complete digital product suite to help dealers create better efficiencies and foster competitive differentiation. He cites Express Finance, a mobile app that serves as a comprehensive sales tool, as an example of helping dealers be more efficient.
“Express Finance is our secure, end-to-end mobile finance solution that enables dealers to quote, model scenarios, create contracts, obtain signatures and close sales anywhere, anytime,” he explains.
Another DLL digital solution is their CRM portfolio integration which ensures dealers have real-time access to all of the important information associated with a customer’s lease. DLL sends the dealer the age of the lease, delinquency reports (if applicable), the number of remaining payments, the total amount of each payment, as well as buyout figures for both the dealer and the customer.
Other DLL offerings include DLL Express Connect, which provides DLL partners with direct system-to-system connectivity. It also automates pass-through maintenance and meter billing as well as cash application. Additionally, they’ve partnered with ECi to develop a next generation cloud solution that eliminates the need for flat file transfers.
Hunter says that their electronic signature solution powered by DocuSign helps the sales force close deals more quickly and eliminates a lot of the back and forth, reducing the order to cash conversion cycle and giving dealers more time to focus on servicing their customers and growing their business.
Additionally, DLL supports several of the leading technology providers and has significant experience in BTA adjacent products, such as 3D printing, digital display, storage, networking and software.
“Although this may be a new asset class for BTA dealers, we view it as part of our core offering,” says Hunter.
EverBank Commercial Finance
EverBank’s VP of Originations, Fred Carollo, believes that staying relevant in today’s market requires a shift in focus from traditional hard assets to the newer technology solutions, products and services. He points out, however, that at EverBank they are careful to evaluate the product demand and review opportunities based on risk and opportunity.
Fred Carollo
“We take an old school approach to build deep relationships and understand our customer needs and develop relevant products to enhance their business,” he maintains. “Having a collaborative and mutually beneficial mindset, there are many elements or moments that we interact and we need to be willing to see the big picture and the day to day.”
EverBank is focused on delivering as complete an offering as dealers require, but Carollo warns that it can be risky to offer services outside of one’s core knowledge.
“If an offering goes past financing or servicing of a solution, it runs the risk of increased contract and liability concerns for a lessor,” he says. “This is an area to tread lightly and intelligently, as all industries considering adjacencies in their business plan.”
EverBank is not ignoring the current market trends though. Carollo adds that they will soon be introducing new product niches to include total solutions while continuing to improve their internal efficiencies to be faster, more consistent and to provide the best customer experience possible.
“We’ve enhanced our mobile transactions and portfolio management solutions to help dealers close more transactions while in front of customers,” he says. “We are expanding our profit enhancing product mix to further create revenue streams for our customers.”
Ultimately, states Carollo, EverBank values the long term relationship over the individual transaction and operates with that mindset at all levels of their organization.
“We truly view our vendors as our customers,” he says.
GreatAmerica Financial Services Corporation
As the dealer channel has evolved into being a more complete technology solutions provider, GreatAmercia Financial has adapted right alongside it. Senior VP/General Manager of the Office Equipment Group, Jennie Fisher, says that their go-to-market strategy is to be more than just a financing company to their dealers. They currently provide a host of programs and other innovative offerings that support dealers beyond traditional equipment sales.
“Our philosophy is that if there are things we can invest in to help our dealers evolve, and it makes sense to do it, we do it,” states Fisher.
Jennie Fisher
Some of the non-traditional offerings from GreatAmerica include S-L GAMIT Peer Groups and access to industry consultants and trainers such as Paul Dippell of Service Leadership, and Alex Rogers from Chartec, who help dealers make a more successful transition to managed IT. Fisher explains that they are uniquely positioned to provide these types of programs.
“Our independence allows us a level of flexibility and creativity that may not be possible in other leasing company environments,” she says.
Additionally, GreatAmerica has developed more traditional programs to meet current dealer needs for newer products and solutions. These include financing programs to help dealers sell IT equipment, software and services as well as add and upgrade over the life of the contract. They have also made changes to their MPS offerings to account for renewed activity in the market.
“Many tried doing MPS years ago, but didn’t find the success and margins they were after, and are now taking another run at it,” says Fisher. “We’ve even added contemporary enhancements to our managed print services programs as MPS has evolved.”
U.S. Bank Office Equipment Vendor Services
For decades, U.S. Bank has looked to increase their dealers’ profitability and help them achieve a competitive advantage. Senior Vice President and General Manager, Phil Buysse, says that to continue to accomplish this, it is critical that they remain in sync with the changes in the channel.
Phil Buysee
“This is the key to a finance partnership that goes beyond traditional financing and fosters mutual growth and success,” he says.
Many of the challenges that finance companies face in this evolving market relate to systems integration. Buysse says that they are currently investing to support both the front end origination as well as the back-end support, including account management and maintenance.
“This also includes interfacing with the dealer’s systems and allowing the dealer to access their leasing data through other partner systems, whether that is a CRM, ERP or another system,” he explains.
Buysse states that U.S. Bank works with dealers to support a variety of needs demanded by their customers. These include invoicing features, on-line accessibility, detailed reporting and many other capabilities to improve the efficiencies of their customers. This is done by an extensive network of experienced regional sales managers who frequently engage with clients on the emerging trends and changes in the industry.
“This may include discussion on third-party research, industry articles or manufacturer messaging,” he says. “Our ability to provide services that meet the changing needs of the dealer starts with our ability to listen.”
Wells Fargo Equipment Finance
Wells Fargo’s Equipment Finance Sales Leader, Glen Clark, thinks that the current level of disruption taking place within the office equipment industry demands partnership focused on forward thinking. The alternative, he cautions, could be disastrous.
Glen Clark
“Profitability can be wiped out quickly if there is unexpected change,” he says. “Working together to identify opportunities and solve problems with an eye on long term profitable growth is critical.
We all need to be mindful of our customers and continue finding ways to add value to our relationships.”
For Wells Fargo, this means being more than just a source of financing to the dealer community. In addition to offering a number of services like cash flow and sales training modules, they are exploring ways to introduce outside alliances that have the ability to provide products or services that address the challenges dealers face.
“The key word here is relationship,” says Clark. “A very important element to fostering a mutually profitable relationship lies in the overall strength and stability of the leasing company.”
Rob Parker
Rob Parker, Equipment Finance Sales Leader, Wells Fargo, states that dealers are in business to provide equipment and support to their customers to facilitate document management, but the offerings are growing in sophistication.
“At one time that simply meant a copier and a filing cabinet,” he says. “Today it means multiple layers of electronic storage, and work flows to move documents through organizations to facilitate access and protect data.”
Wells Fargo has developed a services model to meet these new challenges. Parker describes it as focused on three parts: programs, technology and knowledge.
“Our programs and products are crucial to supporting dealer relationships,” he states. “We must continue to find ways to help with the changing landscape of the industry. Advances in technology, data and the speed in which we are expected to work with dealers will continue to evolve. We want to integrate with customers from a technology standpoint and increase system capabilities to drive speed and ease of use.”
Parker also cites Wells Fargo’s recent acquisition of GE Capital’s vendor business as an example of their investment in the industry and the desire to bring technology to their dealers.
