While walking through the exhibit area at the recent National Association of Equipment Leasing Brokers (NAELB) conference in Las Vegas, I overheard this question; “Why is it that every time I turn around another funding source changes its credit policy?” Brokers pride themselves in knowing the best funding source for a specific type of lessee. With lending institutions tightening their credit parameters, it’s hard to determine who will approve an application at a reasonable rate. Once a deal is submitted and declined, it gets harder and harder to find someone else to approve it.

The frustration results from the fact that nothing fundamentally has changed in the credit quality of the lessee. These same deals, two years ago, would have been approved in minutes. Submit an application with a 720 FICO and the funding source replies “We only approve 740s and above now.” Funding sources are skittish and stingy. The “app-only” up to 150K seems to be gone. This makes daily broker operations frustrating.

Frustration is a normal emotional response to being unable to fill a need. It’s a feeling of dissatisfaction, often accompanied by anxiety or depression, resulting from unresolved problems. Many salespeople experience frustration during the leasing sales process. They may make the wrong decision on a funding source, make an error with the lessee or lose a deal after it’s been approved. In our business, you can experience frustration at every turn, and you learn to never count on a deal until it’s booked.

Frustration comes from a sense of failure when our expectations of a transaction are not met. Here are eight ways to change your expectations and alleviate frustration:

1 Be Current. Keep an up-to-date file of policy changes from all of your funding sources. Know their rules. Communicate constantly with your funding sources and keep getting applications. Good salespeople never obsess over a bad deal.

2 Educate & Explain. Donna Cole of Business Capital Leasing states: “Let your vendor and lessee know how hard you are working to find funding for them. It is definitely up to the broker to educate their customers — and both vendors and end-users as to the current state of credit approvals. ‘I have never been late, I have a good credit score,’ and various other statements made by customers, are a clear signal that your customer does not understand where the credit markets are today.”

3 Think About the Good. Even if feels like nothing is working, look closely and you will probably find at least something that is going right, like the fact that you are getting applications! That’s good. You’ve found something that’s working. Now, how do you improve it? By asking this question, you’ve taken yourself out of the negative mindset of “it’s hopeless” and are back to focusing on the positive.

4 Keep an Accomplishments Journal. One leasing broker wanted to know “how to stay focused and calm” when not getting the results he wanted. The key is to let go of expectations and not dwell on mistakes. When reps dwell on mistakes they may over analyze or think too much about the error. Leasing reps that dwell on mistakes are stuck in the past, which doesn’t help them in the present moment. Dwelling on the past can affect your performance on the next deal and can cause more mistakes.

One way to break this pattern is to write down everything you accomplish in a journal. At the end of each day, write down the things you accomplished, even if they seem like very small action items. Something like, “Had a good conversation with one of my top ten prospects.” Then take a look at your journal entries at the end of the month. You may be surprised by how much you have done. If there’s not much on the list, it may open your eyes to the fact that you may be procrastinating more than working or that you are using too much of your energy going in too many directions and that you need to focus more. Hopefully, you will have lots of items on your list then you can see that even though it may not feel like it, you are moving forward.

5 Focus on What You Want to Happen. Go back to the big picture. What is the desired outcome? Sometimes, we get so wrapped up in one deal and trying to solve it that we forget what we were originally trying to accomplish. Try not to ask, “Why did this happen?” Asking questions like that will keep you rooted in the past. It doesn’t offer a solution to the problem. The important thing is knowing the answer to the following two questions: 1.) What do you want to happen differently this time?, and 2.) What do you need to do in order to get there?

6 Take Action. Catherine Pratt, in her book, The Power of Frustration; writes, “When you get into serious frustration with a problem, you tend not to want to work on it anymore. It’s hard, it’s frustrating, and you’re not getting anywhere. Procrastination may start to set in. If you can keep taking steps forward, you will probably make it past this temporary setback.” As Thomas Edison said, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

The other thing that can happen is that you start to spend a lot of time worrying. Worrying is not productive, it is a waste of energy and does not move you in a forward direction. Only taking action will. Once you start moving forward again, you will most likely find that you worried for no reason.

7 Visualize a Positive Outcome to the Situation. A lot of times you can get stuck on focusing on what you don’t want to happen or fearing the absolute worst thing that could happen. The top athletes of the world will imagine themselves competing flawlessly over and over again. There is no room for failure in their minds. This is what you need to focus on as well. See yourself achieving your desired volume goals. What will it look like? What will it feel like? What will you say? How will you feel? Take the time to visualize it and really feel it. It will inspire you to keep moving forward.

8 Change Your Approach. “I decided to go after the financial products that are still very available in the market place and offer them as solutions to my customers since lease approvals are so hard to come by,” states Rosanne Wilson, CLP. “Seems like these days we see lots of declines and it makes you want to give up. Well giving up is not in my vocabulary. I have turned to two other solutions to help me stay alive during this economic crisis.”

She continues, “I am having success with SBA loans because those are getting done these days and the SBA offers small loans as well as large-ticket loans. The banks that underwrite these loans are taking very little risk because the U.S. government is guaranteeing 90% of the loan to the bank. So if you don’t know anything about SBA, get involved with those programs and connect with the bankers in your area who do these. They won’t pay you points, but you can have a separate fee agreement on the side with your customer. They can even pay you at closing out of the proceeds of the loan.

According to Wilson, “The second financial product that is very lucrative is factoring. Look at every decline you have and determine if they are candidates for factoring. Most of your clients will have accounts receivable and would probably enjoy getting their hands on the money now, rather than wait the 30 to 45 days to be paid by their clients. Cash flow is so important right now and you can offer them just that. The NAELB has several factoring company members that will help you understand this product and do all the work with your client to get them set up on factoring while you sit back and collect the monthly income off their factored invoices. Give yourself and your customers more options and you will survive this.”

As with any problem, the solution is to figure out what your options are, decide on a plan, focus and then take action. By using the above eight steps, you should find that you’re running into fewer problems and feeling less frustration. You may also find that you’re running into opportunities and know exactly how to take advantage of them.

Several people have started using the Web as a medium to just let out all the frustrations online. Check out these sites such as Dammit.ws and SoFrustrating.com because they make our leasing frustrations seem very small. If all the above tips don’t work for you, use the age old approach to problem solving, drink heavily.

---

Linda P. Kester is a bestselling author and professional speaker with 20 years of experience in leasing sales and marketing management. As founder of the Institute for Personal Development, Kester has helped hundreds of salespeople increase their volume. Her book, 366 Marketing Tips for Equipment Leasing, has produced results for leasing companies in the U.S., United Kingdom and Australia. For more information, visit www.lindakester.com.