Closing large sales is critical for your business’s growth, but it can be a challenge when customers are concerned about how a big purchase will affect their budget. Your company can increase sales by promoting its financing program to show customers how financing can help make an expensive purchase work with their budget constraints. To build a successful financing program, it’s important that you promote it widely, so customers are aware of their financing options.
Here are some of the most effective ways that your business can market its financing program to customers and grow your revenue:
- Include financing on price tags
Prominently advertise financing costs on your price tags in store and online, to show customers how the cost of an item can work with their budget. Price is the number one factor affecting purchase decisions. By displaying the lowest monthly payment option alongside the full price of a product or service, your customer can understand at a glance how financing can help them afford exactly what they want.
For example, paying an amount of $10,000 for the car they want to purchase might seem out of reach to many customers. But by breaking down the cost into monthly payments of $103, that big-ticket purchase suddenly becomes much more affordable.
- Highlight financing at the point of sale
It’s important to promote financing options throughout your store, including at the point of sale. Most customers won’t ask about a store’s financing options, simply because they don’t know how to do so. By displaying marketing materials that promote your financing program at the point of sale, customers will understand their loan options and how they can benefit from financing. Simple materials like pamphlets, tent cards or stickers displayed at the point of sale can help raise awareness for your financing program.
- Develop marketing programs
Offering customers attractive financing incentives can help your business increase sales and drive up the average transaction amount. Some common marketing programs include:
- Open loans
- Loans for good credit, bad credit, new credit
- Low interest
- Train your sales staff
Your sales team is crucial to the success of your financing program, because they’re the front-line staff interacting with customers everyday. It’s important that all members of your sales team receive in-depth training on your financing program so they’re able to:
- Explain how your financing program works
- Properly position financing to customers
- Outline the requirements to qualify for loans
- Address common questions and concerns from customers
Your sales staff can’t expect customers to ask about financing, so they should be able to identify opportunities within their sales conversations to present financing options. For example, when a customer asks about the price of a product or service, they’re providing an opening to discuss financing solutions. The sales team should be able to quickly and accurately provide a financing quote to customers. That way, consumers get a clear picture of what they’re loan payments would be, and how the cost fits within their budget.
- Simplify the sign-up process
Make it as easy as possible for customers to apply for financing, to minimize customer frustration and application abandonment. Streamline the data collection process as much as possible, while still collecting all the crucial customer information you need to complete a loan application. It’s a good practice for businesses to offer customers as many sign-up options as possible. In addition to letting your customers apply for a loan in store, you should also allow them to apply for financing safely online, so they can complete the loan application on their own time and don’t need to worry about their privacy.
If you take the time to promote your financing program in store, online and through direct conversations with customers, your business can increase its revenue by closing more sales and driving larger transaction sizes.