With the development of technology, financing has become easier than ever for small businesses to offer. For this reason, many are incorporating in-house financing programs into their daily operations to help customers complete a purchase. If you think your business might benefit from a similar financing service, you might wonder where to start. Let’s explore everything you need to know about how to offer financing to your customers.
What is In-House Financing?
In-house financing provides loans at the point-of-sale to assist customers with their purchase of goods and services. The loan may be provided by a third-party lender (like a bank or financial institution) or the business itself (i.e. the merchant). The idea is to convert potential customers into buyers by offering an additional payment option to suit their needs. If someone is on the fence about buying your products or services, offering affordable financing may sway their decision to purchase today as interest rates and monthly payment amounts on in-house financing may be lower than other types of credit, such as credit cards.
Is In-House Financing a Good Idea?
Customer financing can be beneficial for the buyer, but there are also many benefits for the business. Below are several benefits to implementing a customer financing program.
Increase Sales
Offering credit to customers is a way to motivate potential buyers to complete a purchase. By introducing financing options you can reduce pricing objections. Financing might not appeal to everyone, but these programs can interest some customers. These interested customers can convert and ultimately boost your sales numbers.
Larger Order Size
Customers who are already purchasing a product or service from you might be motivated to purchase more or upgrade their order if financing is available. You can demonstrate to your customers how a slightly higher monthly loan payment amount can get them the upgrade they want. This adds to the amount of sales the average customer purchases, which improves your bottom line.
Customer Loyalty
Customers like choices and options. When you give them the option to buy outright or finance, your customers will notice. By offering more goods and services to customers, you can improve customer relations and loyalty. Strong customer loyalty means that customers are more likely to return for repeat business, and recommend your business to friends and family. The more positive a customer’s experience is, the stronger your customer loyalty will be to your business.
Convenience
For businesses that do not offer credit, customers might consider obtaining financing elsewhere. For example, customers can use a credit card, line of credit, or personal loan to finance their purchase. If they do not have credit elsewhere to access, the lengthy process for the customer to apply for it might end up losing your sale.
By offering credit to customers, they can conveniently purchase more and afford upgrades that may otherwise be too expensive for them. Not only is this an excellent way to close a sale, you are building your brand by supporting your customers when they need it.
Common Industries and Businesses Offering Financing
Customer credit is more common in some industries than others. To give you an idea of how the customer credit process works, check out the industries and businesses that commonly offer financing below.
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- Car Dealerships: Cars are big ticket purchases. For this reason, many car dealerships offer customer credit. This is a huge factor because most individuals looking to purchase a car would need some financing anyway.
- Technology: Technology companies have a wide array of products, some with low prices, some with high prices. If customers want to buy something more expensive, such as a cell phone or TV, customer credit is often available. Technology companies might offer financing for repairs too.
- Retail: Similarly to technology, the retail industry has a variety of goods and services to offer. Customer credit is usually available for individuals who are interested in buying a high ticket item.
- Home Renovations and Improvements: One of the larger expenditures people incur is home renovation and improvement costs. Many vendors that offer these services extend financing too. This helps the customer because they would likely have to go elsewhere to secure financing.
How to Offer In-House Financing
There are several steps to take when making an in-house financing offer. Once you’ve gone through the process a few times, it will begin to feel like second nature. Below are the steps for making an in-house financing offer to a prospective customer.
Customer Explores Financing Options
Businesses can inform their customers of in-house financing options through marketing and advertising. Usually this comes in the form of digital and physical displays. Your visual displays and information should include information on what loan options are available and how customers can get started. The advertisements should be visible at in-store cash out stations and online checkout portals. The readily available information will give the customer incentive to complete the purchase.
Customer Applies for Financing
Once the customer is sold on in-house financing, it’s time for them to complete an application. Customers can use their smartphone, tablet, or computer to apply for financing. Depending on your preferences, you might use your own online or paper forms as applications instead. Either way, the important part is for the customer to complete a credit application.
Customer is Approved
After the customer completes an application, they’ll find out if they’re approved. This process should be fairly quick, usually around 24 hours. Faster turnaround times are correlated with higher sales.
Is In-House Financing Right for My Business?
Deciding on whether in-house financing is right for you and your business can be difficult. It involves a combination of strategy, analysis of internal resources and capability, and allocating resources to make it work. Here are several considerations to take into account when deciding whether in-house financing is the best choice for your business:
- High-end, expensive products and services: Expensive products and services are easier to sell when they are broken down with financing options. This can make the purchasing decision for customers significantly easier to follow through with. In addition, you could sway a customer to purchase a more expensive model of a product or service they’re already planning on buying through financing.
- Customers may already be financing externally: If financing is readily available in other ways, the financing options offered may need to be different and better to attract and persuade customers to choose you. Customers might use credit cards, lines of credit, or external personal loans to pay for purchases, and these may have higher interest rates than an in-house financing option.
- The freedom to buy more: If a customer is already making a purchase, offering affordable financing may provide the customer with greater flexibility to increase their order size. In addition, customers might be motivated to purchase a more expensive model or upgrade.
- Business’ financial position and goals: Committing to in-house financing as a small business may be a stretch. New technology, training, and advertising might not align with the financial situation of your business or financial goals. Be sure to assess your objectives and current position as a business before determining if in-house financing is right for you.
Not sure if in-house financing is right for you? Maybe we can help.
Get Started Today
At Financeit, we understand the challenges of laying the groundworks for in-house financing. Our end to end solution has given many of Canada’s largest businesses the competitive edge they need. We have processed more than $5 billion in loan applications.
Implementing the Financeit program is simple. Merely pop open Financeit and complete a loan application with the customer in minutes. If your customers would rather fill out the application themselves, no problem. Just send an invitation and they can fill out the application on their own time.
Once a customer is approved, and all documents have been uploaded, disclosed and signed, Financeit will transfer the full purchase amount directly to your account. From there, Financeit takes care of collecting payments from customers.
Working with Financeit has several benefits. First, you don’t have to worry about doing credit checks, creating contracts, determining interest rates, collecting payments and so on. Financeit will do all the legwork for you, freeing you and your staff to focus on making the sale.
To learn more, call us today or request a demo to see how our solutions can boost your bottom line.
Boost your sales by offering your customers financing.
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