Top Financing Options for Equipment Dealers to Offer Their Customers

As a dealer, you know that your customers often need financing to make a purchase, but it can be difficult to know where to turn or which options to offer.

That's why Dustin and Aundrea are joining us today to shed some light on the top financing options available for equipment dealers.

During this episode, we'll delve into some of the common challenges that equipment dealers face when it comes to financing and offer up some tips for overcoming those obstacles.

So whether you're a seasoned dealer looking to expand your financing options, or a new dealer just starting out, you won't want to miss this episode. Let's get started!

Transcript

Dustin 00;00;06;24 - 00;00;12;12

Welcome to Smarter Business Finance Podcast Episode 11. My name is Dustin Tappan I'm one of the account managers here.

Aundrea 00;00;13;03 - 00;00;15;26

And I'm Aundrea Brooks. I'm one of the account managers as well.

Dustin 00;00;16;29 - 00;00;27;04

You know what I wanted to talk today about? I wanted to talk about you only had one annoying friend. Like when you have a job and they're blowing you up like, Hey, introduce me. Your boss. Me in there. Give me in there.

Aundrea 00;00;27;05 - 00;00;28;00

Oh, yeah, of course.

Dustin 00;00;28;09 - 00;00;45;03

But low key. You're telling yourself. I don't know if I want to get that person in there, because one I know you two well, and I think maybe you might get me fired. Or you just think maybe, you know, the company you work for, you know, their standards, and you know that your friend isn't going to do that.

Dustin 00;00;45;04 - 00;00;55;11

So, you know, you're the one of two people you want to tell your friend like the answer. You're not going to work out there or you're going to get them that job and let you risk your own reputation. Getting that person hired at your job.

Aundrea 00;00;55;22 - 00;00;57;08

Oh, that's a rock and a hard place.

Dustin 00;00;57;18 - 00;01;19;26

Exactly. So what do you do? And I think that, you know, depending on how much you value your reputation to your establishment that you work for is how you react to that situation. And I've been in this spot before, and I've actually referred people and it's blood on my face. So now I'm kind of like, uh, I don't know.

Dustin 00;01;20;07 - 00;01;34;06

But then I did have a friend that was really, really on top of his game, and he asked me for a referral one time. And so I did end up referring him, and he ended up doing very, very well at the company. And it made me look good. So then I was torn and I'm like, You know what?

Dustin 00;01;34;07 - 00;01;43;03

I guess it really you just kind of got to feel out the situation because first I was completely anti. Yeah. And then I'm like, you know, maybe it could work out. I don't know if you've ever had that happen before, but that's my experience.

Aundrea 00;01;43;05 - 00;02;13;09

I think we've all had that. I mean, it it's funny that you bring that up because that's the topic of today, right? Is our lenders and being able to build relationships with our vendors and being able to build relationships with lenders and not jeopardize their reputation because reputation is very important not only to the customer, but also to dealerships and vendors and businesses, because everyone at the end of the day, everyone's trying to feed their family.

Dustin 00;02;13;20 - 00;02;30;24

I think it is for sure full circle, right? Because the last thing you want to do is, you know, you're reaching out to these vendors and you're trying to build over the relationship and cultivate a relationship with them. And, you know, in the back of their mind, they're thinking like, you know, well, why, why, why do I want to?

Dustin 00;02;31;12 - 00;02;48;23

What does this guy got? Or what is this girl got that makes me feel comfortable enough to send my client to them? Are they in good hands? Are they going to make me look good or are they going to make my company look good? Are they going to blow this up and make us look horrible? Know, because even you know, when you're.

Dustin 00;02;48;25 - 00;03;03;17

Let's put ourselves in our vendor shoe. Mm hmm. I have a client. My client. I love me as the vendor, and I have a great relationship. But as soon as I pull my neck out of the line and say, Hey, you know what? I got this guy that can help you with finance. You know his name is Steve.

Dustin 00;03;04;10 - 00;03;22;13

Go see Steve if I send him over. And Steve as a complete just doesn't know what he's doing. He's unprofessional. He's not educated. He lives. You know, he doesn't have a good, good values. Then what happens? No matter if my customer is loves me or not, he's going to be mad at me. It's going to taint that relationship.

Aundrea 00;03;22;29 - 00;03;50;01

You know? Absolutely. So, yeah, one of the key factors in building relationships is integrity. You know, you have honesty in there. Your moral compass, whether you have high moral values. So with our dealerships and our vendors that we work with, our integrity is really important. Now, if you have a vendor that is a fly by night, really doesn't care about their customer, maybe integrity is not something that they're looking for.

Aundrea 00;03;50;02 - 00;04;10;09

But if you have a dealership that is looking to build their business, looking to grow their business, looking to establish relationships with their customer base, so they have that return business. I mean, it's so expensive to get a customer initially that you want that customer to return on their own, right? That helps you to just grow and expand.

Aundrea 00;04;10;10 - 00;04;18;23

So for those kind of businesses, which are the type of businesses that we like to work with, integrity is definitely going to be key for sure.

Dustin 00;04;18;25 - 00;04;40;21

I know you mentioned like, you know, how some vendors might not really care about that. Mm hmm. And they're more of a fly by night. They're all about the bottom line, the bottom dollar, which I completely understand. You know, businesses listen, numbers are numbers. Businesses function off numbers. Right. With that being said, though, you have to look at yourself and look at the company that you work for and think to yourself, like, is that somebody I want to do business with?

Dustin 00;04;40;28 - 00;05;15;05

You know, you hear about vendors firing their partners, their financial partners all the time. Mm hmm. Well, we need to also take a second. We need to think about is, you know, us is financial on the financial. And we can fire our vendors, too, because I don't want to. I don't know about you. I don't want to work for somebody that has low morale, low morality, and their values don't align with mine because it's just constantly going to be butting heads because they're not going to understand when you call them and say, Hey, listen, you know, I talked to, you know, Jane Doe and I was explaining her the situation and it's going to take

Dustin 00;05;15;05 - 00;05;21;11

a little longer because we need to build this the correct way, correct way and put this file together, the right way to get it approved properly.

Aundrea 00;05;21;16 - 00;05;22;07

Right. Yeah.

Dustin 00;05;22;08 - 00;05;43;17

You know, they're not going to understand that because they're going to say, what do you mean? Just, you know, say it for the business and say, is this. And so that can cause conflict and butting heads. And all that's going to do is it's going to slow down the streamline process and it's no good. So sometimes it's okay to fire a vendor, you know, And I think another thing that comes into play really big is communication.

Aundrea 00;05;43;29 - 00;05;44;09

Mm hmm.

Dustin 00;05;44;26 - 00;06;05;26

So many things just in like life is communication is key in every aspect of life, whether it's relationships, you know, parenting, you know, business relationships, whatever it is, there has to be communication because I can't read your mind. Mm hmm. You can't read my mind. Although you might be able to. You might be able to. You seem like somebody that you have a little, little brain reader that.

Dustin 00;06;07;12 - 00;06;32;04

But, you know, communication is key, because without that, how are you guys going to establish that baseline of morality and values that you are both going to work with each other on, you know? So I think that communication is really key. And I think in this particular field, per say, when you're dealing with brokers and getting commercial financing, I think communication is something that's lacking on that and with a lot of other lenders and brokers.

Dustin 00;06;32;09 - 00;06;51;19

And I know that as smarter business finance, we really, really try to hone in on communication. We want to communicate with our vendors. We want to communicate with our clients. Yeah, I know you're great at I, you know, I hear you on the phone and they, you know, you let them know what's happening and when it's happening, you know, you're not letting an approval get you're not getting an approval.

Dustin 00;06;51;19 - 00;07;00;02

And they're not calling the vendor and letting them know. I see you on the phone. I see how you work. You want to tell me a little bit about that and how how how you go about that?

Aundrea 00;07;00;15 - 00;07;20;05

Well, just at the end of the day, everybody has a deadline. Everybody's trying to reach a goal. So whether it's the customer trying to service their client base or it's the dealership or the vendor trying to sell that next piece of equipment or it's the finance company trying to finance because that's how they stay in business. Everybody has a deadline.

Aundrea 00;07;20;05 - 00;07;43;16

So communication is definitely important when you're trying to meet a deadline, when you are trying to obtain a piece of equipment or attain finance. And the reason that that's so important is that if you don't know what's going on, that puts you in a place where of uncertainty for the customer. You don't know if you're going to get the deal done for the dealership.

Aundrea 00;07;43;16 - 00;08;07;03

You don't know if you're going to get the piece of equipment sold for a dealership that is trying to sell a piece of equipment like a customer. Time is money. There are so many customers that are walking on the lot or calling in for finance from an online platform that for a dealership not to know what's going on with their deal can really be detrimental not only to the customer but the dealership.

Aundrea 00;08;07;03 - 00;08;32;17

And also, like we mentioned before, their reputation because we have online reviews now and a customer, multiple customers can totally take your your business or your reputation by an experience that they've had that you know, that you know you don't as the dealer or the vendor, you don't necessarily have control over, you know, So communication 100% is is key and we are lacking there.

Dustin 00;08;32;26 - 00;08;46;18

Do you feel like you go out of here with that? And that's one of the main components that you focus on is communication. Do you feel like that's actually saved some relationships with vendors that you've developed over over time where maybe you can get the deal done as fast?

Aundrea 00;08;46;25 - 00;08;47;07

Mm hmm.

Dustin 00;08;47;19 - 00;08;59;10

Because you are trying to be efficient and make sure that they're in the right program as opposed to cookie cutter and just saying, hey, listen, this is what we got for you. Take it or leave it. That communication has that helps you succeed.

Aundrea 00;08;59;20 - 00;09;09;13

I definitely know that that is a key factor. I have multiple relationships where they really appreciate the transparency.

Dustin 00;09;10;01 - 00;09;25;27

And the transparency. So, Keith, you know, especially when it comes to money and, you know, dealing with these people, because I feel like just so many people have a bad taste in their mouth when it comes to, you know, feel like they've been getting taken advantage of or whatever the case may be. I hear stories all the time.

Dustin 00;09;25;27 - 00;09;51;15

Well, yeah, well, I got this one loan and it ended up being completely something different than somebody told me. They told me I could pay it off. And, you know, one month and, you know, it's just crazy, crazy what you hear. So I know that that's one of the things that I've valued working for smarter business finances. You know, the transparency and how important it is to tell the truth to the client, because at the end of the day, you're really not hurting anybody but yourself.

Dustin 00;09;51;24 - 00;10;16;13

Ultimately, the company and it's, you know, it's just not worth it when you're talking about when you're talking about communication. Another thing that you want to piggyback off of that is communicating Windows of credit, right? In the wildness of the windows of credit that say, smarter business finance has, as opposed to your local brokerage or lender. That's what you're so good at is when you're talking to your clients, you're you're learning about them and what they are trying to accomplish.

Dustin 00;10;16;22 - 00;10;39;14

And then having access to that wide window of credit opportunities and programs is what let you plug and play your client into a program that fits them in what they need, what they're going to need to grow their business, become more successful, more profitable. And at the end of the day, they're going to love you for it. They're going to refer not only your services to their friends and family, but they're going to refer the business as well.

Dustin 00;10;39;21 - 00;11;02;05

So everybody wins in the end, right? And I think that's really important. What do you see? I know you've been doing this a lot longer than me. Do you feel like having that wide that wide window as opposed to, like, maybe just a couple of programs? How do you feel like that benefits you? Do you feel like it's overwhelming to an extent, or do you feel like it's a necessity to survive in a market that's growing constantly like this?

Aundrea 00;11;02;05 - 00;11;28;17

Yeah, that's really, really a good question. So the wide window, it not only serves as our customer right, but it helps our vendors. So when vendors come to us, they have a lot of different customers, business owners that are coming from all walks of life. So as far as a wide range of available options, I'm smarter has really set itself apart from our competition in that we do offer that to so many vendors and customers.

Aundrea 00;11;28;26 - 00;11;33;21

So when a video calls us, it's essentially they're calling 33 people in one at one time.

Dustin 00;11;33;28 - 00;11;35;04

We're a one stop shop, one.

Aundrea 00;11;35;04 - 00;11;36;13

One stop shop. Absolutely.

Dustin 00;11;36;13 - 00;11;56;26

And I think people want that to be honest. I mean, it's like, you know, my background originally before I came to finance was in hospitality. Mm. And the reason I was successful in that field of hospitality has a shelf life. If you, if you're in the nightclub scene. So that's why I kind of left that, you know, so but very successful nonetheless.

Dustin 00;11;57;03 - 00;12;12;18

And the people, the reason why people are successful in hospitality when it comes to that is because you are a one stop shop concierge. If you're good at it, people are going to know because they're going to come to me and they're going to say, Listen, he's going to know the restaurants, he's going to know the hotels, he's going to know the lounges, he's going to know where live music and everything.

Dustin 00;12;13;01 - 00;12;33;23

And that's what you are providing these people when it comes to commercial financing and growing and scaling their business. So it all is hand in hand, right? It's a one stop shop. And I really think that's what's important. And in order to be a one stop shop, you have to be you have to have the ability to network and have reach at all these different, you know, lenders that we can bring our clients to and ultimately get approved.

Dustin 00;12;33;26 - 00;12;55;15

Right. So I think that's really cool. You touch base on how if somebody was going to come to the dealership and they could get it approved at their local bank, they would just show up and say, Hey, listen, I want that truck. I already have my financing, I'm ready to rock. Right? And the reality the situation is people aren't doing that and people aren't doing that because the approval rate at the local bank is 18%.

Dustin 00;12;56;06 - 00;12;57;06

Yeah, Yeah.

Aundrea 00;12;57;06 - 00;13;26;28

That maybe was on a good day, right? Today. So right now, as far as banks are concerned, when customers go to finance at their bank, they're coming up against restrictions that we might not have to, you know, have to deal with. So some of our lenders have no mileage restrictions. Some of our lenders have no age restrictions. So when you go to a bank, a lot of the times they have preferences, they want newer equipment, they want low miles.

Aundrea 00;13;27;05 - 00;13;45;10

That's if they do commercial finance. And then a lot of the times the banks, they need at least three years. A lot of our customers that come to us have been in business for less than three years. Doesn't mean that they lack the industry experience, that they wouldn't be coming to us, coming to us if they didn't if, you know, if they didn't have the experience.

Aundrea 00;13;45;10 - 00;14;09;16

But they don't have that time in business that's required. So to get done at your personal bank is far few and in between. But we do always ask the customer, have you tried your local bank? Have you tried your credit union? And nine times out of ten they've tried them and they said no. Despite the fact that they have the relationship established, they have their money there.

Aundrea 00;14;09;23 - 00;14;39;19

They've been long time customers. It is a business. And so local banks are not willing to take the risk on businesses that have been established less than five years. As you know, that's high risk. Under five years, it's high risk. They're not willing to take the risk on businesses that don't come to the table with enough working capital, you know, so we're really a key player in this and that we're able to help those businesses that are new, that are getting started.

Aundrea 00;14;39;19 - 00;15;00;19

As long as you have some industry experience, I mean, you have to pay some of your bills. You know, we're not you know, we know if you don't pay everybody else, you're not going to pay us. Right. But we definitely have options where we can give customers to make their dream a reality. And vendors are every day, you know, sending us customers that are looking to finance their dreams.

Aundrea 00;15;00;19 - 00;15;01;27

And we help them do that, that.

Dustin 00;15;01;28 - 00;15;23;13

That folds back into communication. You commuting, you communicating to the person that's coming to you for that loan that, hey, maybe we're not your best fit right now. Have you tried your local bank? Have you tried your credit union? And then they hang up the phone and they say, you know what, I'm going to go try that. And then they try and when they come back to you, how much more appreciative are they of you for at least?

Dustin 00;15;23;21 - 00;15;42;25

Hey, listen, she even told me that, hey, go try this because honestly, that's going to be your best option, right? And then come see me if they say no. And nine times out of ten, they're coming back to you because the both of them know, Right? It's very hard. That's something that really sets and resonates with me when it comes to this company, how they you know, it's not just like take, take, take, take.

Dustin 00;15;42;25 - 00;15;59;04

It's it's giving information. You're not just here to close the deal. You're here to educate and coach, Right? It's part of coaching life. You have to coach people on certain things. I can't tell you how many people I've talked to that they have all this experience and they're breaking out and they want to start their own thing. You know, they just don't know how to go about it.

Dustin 00;15;59;04 - 00;16;17;05

Like, Oh yeah, I want to do a business. Okay, well, have you got an LLC or corp or are you going to do it as a sole property? You know, people people just don't know these things. I'm driving home on communication because I think that's probably one of the most important things that we're mentioning in here besides integrity and communicating these things is so, so important.

Dustin 00;16;17;05 - 00;16;31;22

Because if you're telling somebody, you know, well, this is the steps that you have to take and you're kind of coaching them, you are essentially like a business partner with them, right? Yeah. So like, they're going to come back to you.

Aundrea 00;16;31;22 - 00;16;32;04

Oh, yeah.

Dustin 00;16;32;09 - 00;16;49;21

You know, and people don't take that stuff for granted because in a day to day where it's like there's so much information and so many things are out there and so many people are trying to charge people for everything, it's like, Hey, buy my course, hey, click this link. I'm going to show you how to do this. You know, for $599, I'll teach you.

Dustin 00;16;50;15 - 00;17;14;15

Listen, pick up the phone call. Smarter business. We're going to help you. We're going to show you what to do. All right. But I mean, yeah, communicating is so much so key. And, you know, the banks getting out of this game is it's right in our face right now. Banks are pulling out of equipment financing. And I think that is just in my opinion, I feel like they don't think that the risk is worth the reward.

Dustin 00;17;14;15 - 00;17;22;04

And, you know, I'd be interested to see what your take is on why why you think more banks are declining to buy these deals?

Aundrea 00;17;22;13 - 00;17;51;00

Well, I mean, you've you've hit on it the risk. So we've seen this previously that the risk that their the banks are taking they're just they're just not willing to take. And so that's why brokers are brokers like smart equipment finance are so important because you still have those customers that are coming on your lot, that are calling your phone, that have found equipment that they want to purchase, but they don't have anyone to finance it for them.

Aundrea 00;17;51;04 - 00;18;22;26

Right? The local banks, they don't qualify for, they're closing up shop because of the risk. So we're really, like I said, with the options that we have, the 33 program options that we have available where a vendor and dealerships best friend, one one person, you don't have to speak to different departments to get your deal done. One person that speaks to your customer, a business that operates in integrity, going to let you know what's going on from point A to point B.

Aundrea 00;18;22;26 - 00;18;47;23

A lot of the times we can let a dealership know within the first hour or two if this is a deal. You know, now there are sometimes or there are hidden factors that may come up that sometimes, you know, it's not a deal, but on the surface that looks good. But at the end of the day, it's about building client relationships, vendors being able to build their business as well as helping out customers.

Aundrea 00;18;48;15 - 00;19;10;08

And we're willing to take the risk because I don't know if you know, but our business owners are our presidents. They actually had a plus credit, more than enough to finance their own equipment. And they were told no by their own lender, by their own bank. And so they had to go out and find finance from a lender.

Aundrea 00;19;10;08 - 00;19;43;16

And so they really have a heart towards helping business owners to get finance, you know, so they have a personal experience and I remember day one of my orientation, the number one rule is if you lie, you're fired. So it's all about the relationship, you know, out there. So today, a lot of brokers as far as communication, the customers like I speak with a lot of customers, they were just ghosted literally by the lender.

Aundrea 00;19;43;22 - 00;20;00;09

They don't know what happened. They don't know why they didn't qualify. They don't know what they can do to make it better to be in a better position the next time that they try. So their spirits are broken. You know, they don't really want to try the next time they're skeptical of the next caller. The next person that they speak with.

Aundrea 00;20;00;18 - 00;20;20;14

And so it's really important to us here at Smarter how we handle our customers, because at the end of the day, that can be a family friend, right? At the end of the day, if we were the owners, if we were to be in that position, we want to be treated with respect. We want to you know, if you can help me, let me know if you can't help me, let me know.

Aundrea 00;20;20;14 - 00;20;22;26

Don't go to me. That's totally unprofessional. So.

Dustin 00;20;23;03 - 00;20;45;11

All right. You know, I had a question for you When you're breaking into vendors, because we're talking about vendor relationships and why it's important for these vendors to have relationships with people like us in a company like this. How do you what kind of objectives do you get when you're talking to these vendors? And, you know, listen, everybody's busy in a world, today's world everybody's got a million places to be at a million different times.

Dustin 00;20;45;11 - 00;21;06;09

Nobody has time for anything unless it's benefiting them right up front, you know? So when you get somebody on the phone and you're talking to this person, Oh, yeah, we're good. We got we got plenty. But are you really good, though? Like you're every so you're telling me every single deal that you have is getting approved. So you might be good on the service level, but let's scratch a little deeper.

Dustin 00;21;06;09 - 00;21;27;22

Tell me, are you really good? What are you doing with the two sales that might of fell through the cracks? Are you making enough money where you just don't care? We don't want to deal with those people? Or are you going to give that person a second chance and send them to somebody that has a wide range of credit options, 33 programs that they can fit into, you know, hundreds of programs, actually 33 lenders within that 33 lenders, hundreds of programs.

Dustin 00;21;28;28 - 00;21;40;22

Send them to us. Let them let us take an eye on them. You know, do you find that you breaking that down to vendors helps build in that relationship or what do you what do you feel like when you're talking to these people, what kind of reaction you're getting?

Aundrea 00;21;41;03 - 00;22;02;12

I mean, we have to keep in mind that vendors are receiving these calls all day every day, right? So what's going to set you apart? I find that when I call vendors, what they really like is the fact that we do communicate and they like the fact that we do soft paws. So initially, when we are trying to get their customer finance, we're not here to hurt their customer huge.

Aundrea 00;22;02;19 - 00;22;32;04

We want to help them, right? And if we can't help them, then we're going to let the dealership know. We'll let the customer know that we're not able to help you at this time. But here are a couple of things that you can work on that will put you in a better position next time. There are lenders and, you know, institutions out there that will finance someone that isn't necessarily what we consider ready, but they're going to put the customer in a loan where they pay for that equipment.

Aundrea 00;22;32;04 - 00;22;53;00

For example, two or three times. That's not the kind of business that we're looking to do. So when I talk to vendors, I let them know, number one, that we do a softball. I'll let you know whether I can help your customer or not. And then number two, we build commercial credit. So as we mentioned before, most customers can't go to their bank.

Aundrea 00;22;53;05 - 00;23;01;13

But then I've also talked to tons of customers that are looking for commercial credit because they want to build their commercial portfolio.

Dustin 00;23;01;17 - 00;23;14;23

I mean, that's the goal, right? I mean, building commercial credit, so important and pivotal when you're trying to grow and scale a business because you know, you don't always want to have to wonder if you do it correctly and you do it the right way and you're responsible with it.

Aundrea 00;23;14;25 - 00;23;15;08

Mm hmm.

Dustin 00;23;15;28 - 00;23;44;11

You can go get equipment for your business and you have the PPG, right? Right. Your business is taking responsibility for that. Right? So you're never going to get to that next level and punch through if you cannot establish those first couple lines and build from there. So commercial credit is so important, and that's one of the aspects of this job that I love, is helping people get on that right path and break through and coach them on how to do that and, you know, ultimately become successful and profitable.

Dustin 00;23;45;00 - 00;24;02;19

Another thing that vendors like for us is the ability to have ease of access to applications that can be filled out online, whether it's at smarter equipment finance or we build you a custom link. If you build a relationship with a vendor, if you call your vendor and you say, Hey, listen, I really you know, I really enjoy doing business.

Dustin 00;24;02;22 - 00;24;22;22

I love to cultivate relationship. How can I streamline this for you and make this easier so that really, you know, it can be kind of hands off and you can focus on what you're good at, and that's selling equipment. Sell the equipment. Let me handle the finance aspect. We can build you a custom link, put it on your website, they click it, it's filled out, it gets sent to me.

Dustin 00;24;22;22 - 00;24;30;13

I start working right away. And if we need anything, I give you a call. But nine times out of ten, you know we can do it just based off of that, something along those lines.

Aundrea 00;24;31;02 - 00;24;48;23

So another thing that, you know, I really like about smarter is that we kind of streamline the process for our vendors and dealerships. I mean, for those vendors that are really large, they may have their own applications, which are great, but for those that need it, we have a service with applications, right?

Dustin 00;24;49;11 - 00;25;05;20

I mean, yeah, I think that's huge, honestly. And you were fortunate enough to one of the founders of this company, he's like Megamind when it comes to computers, right. So if you need an application link, you send it over to him. He's like, Yeah, no problem. Rob just gets on there and just blows it up before, you know, like there's a link.

Dustin 00;25;05;29 - 00;25;25;21

You can send that to your vendor. And I know that I have vendors that really appreciate that where it's like you come across somebody maybe it's a smaller mom and pop shop, but, you know, they're moving, they're moving equipment and they're helping people and they're they're getting these these deals done. They have customers. You're opening up a whole new access to them and you're ultimately growing their business.

Dustin 00;25;26;05 - 00;25;46;02

They they might look at it that way. They might not. But what you're doing is you are giving them the fuel that they need to grow and scale their own business as they're helping individuals scale their business. So, you know, I have a couple of vendors that you go on their site and you click get financing. It will bring them to a smarter business financing page where they can fill out the application.

Dustin 00;25;46;08 - 00;26;12;27

It streamlines the process and that leads the salesperson to do what they do in that cell. So I think that that's really a good way to innovate and ultimately make the process easier. People are always going to choose the least path of resistance, right? So the easier it is, the more you can give them, the more likely it is that this will work out and you guys can grow and cultivate together, cultivate those relationships.

Dustin 00;26;13;07 - 00;26;17;08

So I think that that's huge. Personally.

Aundrea 00;26;17;17 - 00;26;39;02

What also makes it really cool is I mean, we have multiple ways that they can do the application process for those vendors that are super busy and they just want to give a number. We do the application over the phone. They can have the customers to call us. We have a two where like you mentioned, we can do it on their website where they, the customer can go on to their website and fill out the application.

Aundrea 00;26;39;10 - 00;27;03;26

What I really like about that though, and most of the vendors that I work with, is the transparency of it. You have some lenders and institutions out there that will have your app will have an application, right, that your customers can fill out. But that application only goes to the lender or it only goes to the financial institution.

Aundrea 00;27;03;26 - 00;27;25;19

So you don't really know as a vendor who filled out the application what I really appreciate about smarter is that when we get an application, you get an application because at the end of the day we're human and something might fall through the crack. And then also we want that transparency. You know, we want to let you know that if Teresa applied, this is where we're at with Teresa.

Aundrea 00;27;25;25 - 00;27;48;18

But you know that we didn't sneak that finance, right. When you mentioned earlier about, you know, building that vendor relationship or getting vendors to try smarter or to see if we're a good fit, a lot of vendors like that, we don't sneak their deals. If we get a customer that's approved with them, that customer is purchasing with them.

Aundrea 00;27;48;25 - 00;28;00;26

Unless the vendor says otherwise, you know, if the customer decides not to, that's one thing. But we're not going to sneak that deal. We're not going to take it to another dealership, you know, So that's something that I really like as well.

Dustin 00;28;01;05 - 00;28;19;06

No, Yeah, I think that's super key. That's super important. I've had vendors complain where, you know, there's been finance companies that they're dealing with, like you said, where the application is filled out. It gets sent in and then it's like, where do I go? What I don't even know, you know? So that is a really cool feature that, that that is.

Dustin 00;28;19;06 - 00;28;38;09

And you know what, Honestly, you can't even fill out an application and fax that if you need. So that's what we got. We've got some old school guys that maybe they want to fill out an application and in we can do it that way too, right? The possibilities are really endless. At the end of the day, we're here to solve problems and that's how we're going to do it.

Dustin 00;28;38;09 - 00;28;56;13

Whether it's email, a link, call in, fax, whatever the case may be, we're going to get it done. And I think that's one of the things that sets us apart from, you know, a lot of people I always when we were talking about this and I just can't help but keep thinking about the office. It's like one of my favorite shows.

Dustin 00;28;56;13 - 00;29;14;14

But there's a there's an episode where Dwight's on a sales call with Jim, and they're they're pitching their paper sales to this guy, and he's like, he's buying from big box stores. And he's like, Oh, no, we're good. You know, I like our setup and all this. And then and Jim goes, Oh, tell me something that you don't like.

Dustin 00;29;14;14 - 00;29;30;08

And the guy's trying to think of something. So Dwight's on the phone like, like he's kind of being rude in the background and the guy keeps looking at him. He's like, What are you doing on the phone? Like, the whole meeting. The guys on the he's on the phone, and then finally he puts on speaker and he's on hold.

Dustin 00;29;30;08 - 00;29;47;24

I remember the whole time waiting to get a hold of somebody to get some help from where this guy buys his paper. So then Dwight says, I've been on hold for 27 minutes. He's out. The phone goes over to the guy's desk like a boss, dials Dunder Mifflin, and then they answer like, Hi, welcome to Dunder Mifflin. How can we help you?

Dustin 00;29;48;02 - 00;30;10;08

You know? And that was like, boom, the guy was sold, right? And I always that resonates for me. It just feels so appropriate in this setting to to talk about that episode, because it's the truth. It's like try to call one of these these, you know, big companies like that are just mass producing like dials and doing this and just like cookie cutter programs.

Dustin 00;30;10;29 - 00;30;29;03

Good luck. Okay. Now you can call smarter business finance and you're going to pick up the phone. They're going to get a chance to talk to you, whether it's good or bad. If they have a question, you're going to find out you're going to get the answer for them. So, I mean, that's one of the things that I really like about this company.

Dustin 00;30;29;03 - 00;30;57;09

And I think that that helps us drive home to a lot of vendors, like why we're different, what sets us apart. Because in a world where they're getting, you know, telemarketing by 50,000 finance companies a day, there has to be the why? What is it? Why, why, why, why, why are you. Well this is why. Mhm. And I think that that is a big part of the success of this company and will be a continued part of success in this company and it's people like you that make it happen.

Dustin 00;30;57;09 - 00;30;58;17

So thank you.

Aundrea 00;30;58;17 - 00;31;03;23

Thank you, thank you. And so that concludes episode 11. Hopefully it has been.

Dustin 00;31;05;10 - 00;31;20;26

Yeah. I had a great time talking to you guys. I loved it. And guys, make sure that you go ahead and click the links below. They're going to be attached. You can go ahead and see Trustpilot reviews and everything that you need. Go ahead and visit the website. Give us a call. If you want to talk to us.

Dustin 00;31;20;26 - 00;31;32;05

Just say you saw the video. We love to chat with you. All right, guys, have a good one.

Rob 00;31;32;05 - 00;32;02;06

Thanks for watching or listening. If you're listening through a podcast app, we would love it if you would be so kind as to leave a review. If you are watching this on YouTube, it would mean the world to us if you left a comment or gave us a big thumbs up. And lastly, if you're looking at us on the website, if you would let us know an episode that's of interest to you, that would be fantastic.