Why Some Things Shouldn't Change in the Leasing Business

by Gerry Egan November/December 2008
While reading an issue celebrating Monitor’s 35 years of publication, it’s a good time for us to reflect on what gives a business staying power. Successful modern companies embrace the technologies and sales fashions of the day but only to the extent they allow them to build on timeless values. Gerry Egan applies this “timeless” philosophy to the business of leasing.

Congratulations to the Monitor on 35 years of publication! I was especially pleased to be invited to write for this issue, since that’s also how long I’ve been involved with equipment leasing. What a lot of changes we’ve all seen in that period of time — and yet, some things seem to be timeless. Some ideas, some practices and some principles seem to retain their vitality in spite of the passage of time and are as valuable to rookies today as they were to me as a rookie all those years ago. Part of success, of course, lies in recognizing those things that are enduring and, without changing the essential character of them, continually refreshing, refining and redressing them so that the solidness of our foundation stays as appealing as the current fashions of the day.

This came to my mind recently as I was working with a client introducing some new sales reps to a particularly effective sales tool that I first used 35 years ago. My first leases, back then, were as a vendor sales rep. Let me say very clearly, right now, that I didn’t care a thing about leasing, then. I did, though, care very much about closing more sales, closing them easier and closing them at higher margins for me. If the leasing company benefited from my doing that, it was fine with me but it was certainly not part of my goal.

I chose my leasing “partners” by how they helped me do that. Only one offered me a payment book instead of rate-factor tables. That one became my favorite and, I assumed in turn, benefited by my ability to use that payment book. I learned right away there were solid sales reasons for using that payment book that dramatically increased my chances of making an easy sale at the price I wanted to sell at — and they had nothing whatsoever to do with leasing, by the way. Once I got directly into the leasing business and I started teaching that to my vendors, I got both the business and the loyalty that I wanted from them.

As I was teaching those new reps about that, they expressed some doubt that a sales tool from that long ago could be effective today. They were reluctant to use something so … well … dated. I got them to commit to a trial period, and they soon became believers. Initially, however, they were confusing principles with presentation. Our presentations need to be constantly updated to reflect current trends and styles, but the sales principles that underlie them better be solidly grounded on things we know work. Though they may dress differently and may use computers, e-mail, video conferencing and any other of a range of modern technology tools in their jobs, do you suppose today’s vendor sales reps feel any differently than I did 35 years ago about wanting to sell more, sell easier and sell at higher margins? I don’t think so. Those new payment books were produced to the latest production standards but they worked because they were keyed to specific sales steps that are still part of any decision-making process and they help today’s vendor reps navigate through those steps just like they helped me, oh so long ago.

Here’s another example. I’ve recently been teleconferencing with a few salespeople about using direct mail marketing. They feel strongly that technology has passed by what they call snail-mail and that it has no place in the marketplace of today. One of them recently put some money into a postcard campaign that was a dismal failure. People don’t want any more junk mail today, he said emphatically; they’re so inundated with e-mail and voicemail that they don’t want to have to sort through a bunch of paper mail, too.

Now, I happen to know a salesperson that is avidly involved with his hobby of flying radio-controlled model aircraft so here’s what I asked him: “Do you subscribe to any printed newsletters or magazines devoted to keeping up with that hobby?” He said he does. “Do you resent or appreciate receiving special offers or information related to it?” I asked. “I appreciate it,” he answered. “For things you receive electronically that you have a high level of interest in but are of a serious or complex nature and to which you want to give more and careful study, what do you do?” He said, he prints them out and puts them in his briefcase so they’ll be accessible to him when he has time. (That’s what I do, too, by the way. What do you do?) Isn’t that exactly the “pile” you want your information to be added to; the pile that goes home in the prospect’s briefcase? So then I asked him this: “Why do you think your postcards or other mailings didn’t work?” After thinking a moment, he supposed they weren’t of sufficient interest to the recipient to make it into the briefcase. I suppose he’s right. Was that the mail system’s fault?

The truth is, he was confusing the medium with the message and blaming the medium for a message that wasn’t meaningful. He blamed the medium out of a knee-jerk reaction that it was “old school” and, therefore, by definition, must no longer be effective. Yet, upon thinking about it, he readily acknowledged that he still responds very favorably to that same “old school” marketing technique when it’s focused on something he’s interested in.

A detailed discussion about the use of those two specific ideas is beyond the scope and space limitations of this column but they’re good examples of proven, durable marketing or sales ideas that have passed the test of time. They may certainly be great opportunities for modernization, but to eliminate them simply because they’re “old” would be akin to what my grandmother used to call, “throwing the baby out with the bathwater.” Or, to paraphrase Mark Twain, rumors of their death have been greatly exaggerated.

There have certainly been a lot of changes in 35 years, and technological breakthroughs have provided a plethora of interesting, powerful and effective tools to add to our arsenals. It’s still a credit-based, relationship business, though, isn’t it? Have the fundamentals of that changed significantly? Not really. The way we analyze and process things may have, (and not always for the better, many people are finding out right now), but what I’m getting at is this: As to sales and marketing, from the customer’s perspective, don’t they still look for credit for modernizing and competing, and don’t they want to do business with somebody who treats them professionally and makes a sincere effort to learn about their business and an honest effort to be beneficial to it? Those are timeless, and sales and marketing ideas that focus on those things are timeless, too.

It’s very easy to get caught up in “newness” thinking, and to be strongly attracted to new products, new systems and new methods of communication. In and of itself, that’s not bad, but it is risky. It’s risky because frequently what attracts us is our own sense of boredom or fatigue from doing the same thing in the same way for a long time. It’s important to remember, though, that even though something seems old hat to us because we do it every day, it doesn’t mean it’s old hat to our customers — and it’s our job to make sure we don’t present it that way.

British mountain climber, George Mallory is quoted as saying he wanted to climb Mt. Everest “because it’s there.” That was more his reason than the mountains, though. Constantly adding new products “because we can” is not necessarily the same thing as solving new problems for the customer. Jumping on every new marketing technology because we can or because it’s cheaper for us or because we’ve been doing things the same way for a long time is not automatically the same thing as selling more effectively, either.

While reading an issue celebrating Monitor’s 35 years of publication, it’s a good time for us to reflect on what gives a business staying power. Successful modern companies embrace the technologies and sales fashions of the day but only to the extent they allow them to build on timeless values. They don’t automatically trade the old for the new just because the old is old and the new is new.

Younger salespeople and people relatively new in the business would be wise to watch what successful veterans are doing. Many of us long-timers have favorite sales ideas we’d never give up. We’d modernize and dress them up, perhaps, but never give them up. What are some of yours? Drop me a line at: [email protected], and I may highlight some of the best of them in future columns. If you have other topics you’d like addressed here, or a specific question, please let me know that, too.


Gerry Egan Headshot
Gerry Egan has been arranging equipment leases for more than 30 years, starting as a vendor, then working for a direct funder, and for more than 17 years as owner of TecSource, Inc. TecSource® brokers leases, holds its own leases and manages the leasing portfolio of a private, business-only bank. Egan is a past-president of NAELB and a frequent presenter at industry conferences. Egan appreciates feedback and can be reached at [email protected], or through his training site, www.realworldsalestraining.com.

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