Each week, we’ll interview one of our experienced Finance Officers for a brief question and answer session about something interesting from the week, along with tips and tricks to make your finance process easier, and their unique perspective on the industries and customers we work with.
This week, we caught up with George Vandel in our Sioux Falls office who delivered on a customer’s expectations on the first deal we did with him, which led him to come back as a repeat customer multiple times!
Q: Hi, George! Thanks for speaking with me today. Can you tell me about a recent customer that you found to be a little more unique?
A: Well, I had one that I had done back in October, that since that deal was originated, he’s come back to us four different times to do additional units, or additional trucks. When we were first approached, he was buying an existing FedEx route delivery location, and that existing business had and owned or leased 16 trucks. When he approached us, he was upgrading 6 of those 16 that were soon coming off lease, and he wanted to exercise the lease option that the company had, and then acquire them and own them himself.
Q: What were the steps taken to do that?
A: So, we put together a financial package, and was able to obtain him $400,000 to lease buyout those trucks so that they would now be under his name, and under his ownership, because we did it on like a loan scenario. He enjoyed the process and the service that we provided to him on those, and since then, we have done another 8 trucks for him since then.
Q: That’s awesome! Since we haven’t really talked about repeat business in Q&As in the past, what differences, if any, are there when somebody’s coming back so recently from a funded deal? Are there any processes that change in that instance? Is it easier for them to do so?
A: Well, two things. Number one is, in terms of our ability to properly communicate and set expectations, I think we either met or exceeded everything that we told him we could do and the timeframes we could do it. So, in a situation like this, that was very comforting for him, because time was of the essence. Through his cooperation, obviously, we were able to deliver on all of those. Because of that, just the trust we gained with him, in doing that properly up front, I think it helped him feel very comfortable that as he needed that same type of thing in the future, that he knew that we were going to deliver on that because we already had.
Secondly, and probably more importantly, is the fact that because we needed such a comprehensive file on him, he didn’t need to re-invent the wheel somewhere else to acquire these assets. Submitting his financials and business plans, and all of these other things, he already had those done with us, so I think those two major legs to the stool, if you will, were reasons why he said, “I’m going to continue to use you for everything I need moving forward.” I think it’s important for these guys, once they get us information, that we already have them on file, so there’s not a lot that we need to do, other than just a quick re-investigation of credit. A lot of times, we don’t need any additional information, so they don’t need to re-invent to wheel from square one with another source, and so they find it easier, and because we delivered on all of the expectations, or exceeded them, it just makes them feel comfortable that we’re the right people to work with.
Q: Absolutely. So, are there any times where it would be more difficult for us to do repeat business that soon after a deal like that? Is there anything that was particular to his case that allowed us to do that, that maybe wouldn’t for other people?
A: I don’t see any barriers in us being able to, you know, because of our vast funding capabilities, you know, we’re not going to have ultimate exposure concerns, more times that not. If you went to your local bank, and you said, hey I need $400,000, and now I need another $300,000, who knows how excited they might be, because that’s their only available funds, they only have so much they can lend to one person, versus our abilities to utilize local bank partners, etc. that will allow us to then buy more paper than just one single source at times. In this case, it helped us find the funds necessary for a deal like this, and the customer has come back multiple times.
Next week we will check in with another one of our finance officers. Stay up to date and learn more from our valuable resources at www.AmericanEFS.com/The-Bottom-Line
