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Today’s Vendor Market for Brokers

by Linda P. Kester September/October 2009

Many leasing sales professionals are focusing on the negative events of this difficult time. The sales reps who use this time to build and deepen vendor relationships will be the ones who have the biggest book of business when the economy turns around.

With all the changes at GE Capital Corp., CIT and Marlin Leasing, many equipment vendors are currently under-served. There are some big holes in the vendor market that you can fill. Now is a great time for leasing companies to call on vendors. If you have always focused on lessees rather than vendors you might want to consider changing your strategy because:

Vendors are continually in front of lessees and bring a steady stream of applications in the door.
They can bring a 5A1 credit to you very easily. When you have a working relationship with the vendor, and they understand the value of leasing, all of a sudden higher-quality lessees are being thrown into the mix.
The vendor has a vested interest in the deal. He wants to get the deal done as much as you do and will help you close the transaction in a prompt manner.

Deciding to focus your marketing efforts on vendors may seem like an overwhelming task, but all large accomplishments come down to taking little steps on a daily basis. Here are three steps that you can take today to increase vendor relationships.

1 Develop your list for e-mail marketing. Your salespeople can’t be in front of all your prospects all the time. It’s important to develop a “constant swarming offense” so that your company will be top of mind when the vendor needs a leasing company. E-mail marketing is a quick, low-cost way to stay in front of your prospects on a regular basis. The key is to offer something of value to the prospect. Since vendors are always looking for new ways to sell equipment, you could offer a special report called: “The 5 Biggest Mistakes Sales People Make & How To Avoid Them.”

Value-added reports like this will dramatically grow your database. Quality is key, so only send people valuable information or a genuine special offer. I also recommend you only send one message every seven to 14 days. That’s what I do with my newsletter because people hate being inundated with information, even if it’s great information. As a direct result, very few people ask to be removed from my subscriber list. Finally, you must ask your prospects to forward your e-mails on to their coworkers. If the content is good enough, they will — but never assume anything, always ask them.

2 Prospect. Many leasing companies talk about prospecting and think about prospecting but are not actually calling on customers. They want to be motivated before they make sales calls. Guess what? You will prospect just as well when you force yourself to prospect as you will when you feel inspired to prospect.

Try this; prospect for 30 minutes. No interruptions, no exceptions. Set a timer for 30 minutes and don’t stop prospecting until the time is up. You may find yourself getting into a groove and continue prospecting for an hour. Most people reading this will not do this exercise, so stand out from the crowd and do it! You’ll be pleasantly surprised with the results.

3 Leverage LinkedIn to help you prospect. LinkedIn is not going to work for you until you engage in a conversation with a vendor. Get as many contacts as you can by including an invitation to connect to you as a “footer” to your e-mail. Then start real dialogue with your contacts to strengthen your relationships. LinkedIn is a great way to expand your digital footprint and get “digital hand-raises” from interested vendors.

Remember to look at the connections of the people connected to you. One of your connections may be able to electronically introduce you to a “dream” vendor. Also, stop wasting your time swapping business cards at those chamber of commerce-style networking events, they really are not that productive, and start deliberately targeting the 30 most influential vendors in your marketplace, many of these people are most likely on LinkedIn. That’s the kind of network you and your leasing company needs.

Many leasing sales professional are focusing on the negative events of this difficult time. The sales reps who use this time to build and deepen vendor relationships will be the ones who have the biggest book of business when the economy turns around.

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 of 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., UK and Australia. For more information, visit www.lindakester.com.