When the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) forecasted that manufacturing revenue would drop an average of 10.3% in 2020, your shop likely belonged to one of three camps: the special-case sector that saw an increase in revenue (18% of ISM’s survey respondents), the bulk of manufacturers who saw their revenues plummet (58% of those surveyed), or the remaining 24% who saw no decrease or increase. That’s 82% of manufacturers poised to make a rebound.
The clients you serve have a sharp eye on the future as well. With 50% of SMBs failing within their first five years, they’re survivors, and so are you. That’s why you’re here, evolving toward tools that will help you feed your revenue stream now and into an increasingly profitable future.
To reach your goals, you need to adapt to shifting buyer behavior, cater to an underserved demographic, tap into unseen revenue streams, and ultimately move more product faster. Here’s how a no-fee, installment-based payment platform will help you do just that.
Adapt to Shifting B2B Buyer Behavior to Sell More
Quarantines, supply chain disruptions, the move from global to local markets—manufacturers had to contend with a lot this past year. Shifting buyer behavior is just one reason the industry struggled in 2020, but the rise of B2B e-commerce started gaining steam as early as 2018. COVID merely accelerated the need for equipment sellers to cultivate an agile online presence.
At least 73% of B2B buyers today are Millennials. Accustomed to shopping online, they have specific expectations for how the experience should go. Whether they’re shopping for pantsuits or pizza ovens, they want their online sales experience to flow as smoothly as Nutella and as fast as Venmo. As the Tinder generation, they want options too—specifically payment options. And if you don’t have what they need the moment they need it, you’ve lost the chance to sell to them.
A buy-now, pay-later solution grants the experience today’s buyers are used to and captures sales, but that’s not the only reason an incremental payment platform is good for business. It also helps you reach more customers.
Boost Revenue by Reaching 40% More of Your Customer Base
The second biggest reason SMBs fail is cash-flow, which is also why 40% of your potential buyers abandon their shopping carts, bounce off your site, or leave your showroom. The equipment you’re selling is too expensive for them to pay for all at once but not expensive enough to be worth a traditional B2B lender’s time. Many of them don’t fit the credit profile for a small business loan anyway. They’re lost in the financing shuffle, the equipment they need to start, grow, or scale their businesses is just out of reach.
In a perfect world, these special-case buyers would have access to a payment option that breaks up the total cost into smaller, incremental payments without convenience fees or interest. To move more product and boost revenue, a perfect world is what you’ll give them.
An installment-based payment platform bridges the gap that previously excluded the $500 to $25,000 microticket market, which constitutes a significant portion of your customer base. Payment platforms, as an alternative to a loan, credit card, or promo financing option, don’t bog down the purchasing process with paperwork, fees, and stringent approval requirements. For example, with clicklease’s proprietary algorithm, approval decisions are instant and often, with 46% of originations having a FICO score of 650 or less.
Yet there’s no risk. What you see is a purchase order paid in full. What your customer sees is their business getting off the ground or growing. As the lender, the tech, and the customer service, your payment platform handles the rest.
Does Your Payment Platform Pay You to Use It? It Could.
Until now, the consumer e-commerce space enjoyed installment-based payment solutions almost exclusively, connecting cash-strapped or credit-challenged buyers to expensive products by breaking the cost into manageable payments over a short term. But many of these platforms charge the seller convenience fees even as they cross over into the B2B e-commerce space, which can sometimes exceed the fees associated with credit card processing, anywhere from 2%, 5%, or even as high as 15% in some cases.
Any payment solution you add to your existing set of options should be a seepage-free conduit that reliably feeds your revenue stream, and convenience fees are a drain. As a no-fee, installment-based payment platform, clicklease not only eliminates convenience fees but also offers the vendor a path toward earning cash-back rewards for every deal that funds.
As you chart your path toward a profitable year, remember that if your payment platform isn’t keeping up with market trends, opening you up to new business, and offering you value-added perks, it impedes revenue growth and not the other way around.
