The ability to offer retail financing and flexible payment options brings important benefits for merchants:
- It expands your customer base. You are no longer limited to those with the cash on hand to pay the whole price up front.
- More flexible credit standards. Consumer financing allows you to help more people than traditional lenders will underwrite. Most banks prefer people with strong credit. Retail finance companies are extremely competitive with people with less-than-perfect credit, or who don’t qualify for traditional financing at all. They rely on merchants like yourself to find ways to provide loans to facilitate the sales process and help them afford your products and services.
- It boosts ticket size. When you partner with a retail financing company, you increase your customers’ buying power - and your average order value.
- It’s more flexible. A good retail finance company can help you offer a flexible finance plan for your customers. These plans allow for a wider range of loan terms. In some cases, customers can flex their payments along with their own cash flows. They can choose their own payments, and if necessary, change them as they go along: If times are tight, they can lower payments for a time, preserving their cash flow. If times are good, they can make larger payments and reduce interest expenses over the life of the loan. The customer gets to choose.
- It helps you generate referral business. A great time to ask for referrals is right after a customer is approved for financing and has just made the purchase. People who can’t afford your service, or who get rejected by a bank with unreasonable credit standards, aren’t likely to refer to anybody. But happy customers who just got approved are very likely to be willing to connect you with three or four friends like them who need your product or service. That's a great method for boosting sales in the long run.
- You get your funds right away. Trying to handle your own financing in-store ties up cash flow, and requires an in-house accounts receivable and collections effort. That requires staff and office space. For a small company, that can be prohibitively expensive. Partnering with a third-party consumer finance company not only frees up staff and office space - you also get your funds right away. You don't take on any customer credit risk, once you have approval.
The end result: New customers, more sales, greater customer loyalty, and a better customer experience.
Offering Flexible Finance Plans with the Time Investment Company
With over 40 years in business, the Time Investment Company has helped over 250K businesses finance over $775M in purchases. These include retailers, construction companies, and medical firms, among others.
Our customer-centered approach to finance is the key to our enduring success.
We’re small enough to speak with you and learn about your business. We’re creative enough to tailor loan programs that suit you and your customers. And we’re big enough to fund your largest ticket sizes.
Don't make the mistake of settling for less with a traditional bank or lender that will subject you to non-negotiable repayment terms.
We will provide dealers with the winning finance solutions to take their business to the next level.
If you're interested in collaborating with a true expert in retail consumer finance and starting to reap the endless benefits it promises, leave your information on our inquiry form and one of our finance experts will reach out to you to give you personalized advice on how you can start implementing it in your operations.
