So, you’ve decided that leasing is the right way to go for your business, which will enable you to make important equipment purchases to keep up with demand while maintaining healthy cash flow. But which leasing company should you place your trust in?
A Google search for ‘equipment leasing companies’ brings up a raft of results, all claiming to offer flexible and transparent finance options that can be tailored to your individual business. Here’s how to choose the right one for you:
Check the credentials
A good place to start is the ‘Meet the team’ section of the leasing company’s website to see who is running the business and to get an idea of the scale of the organisation.
A quick LinkedIn search of the people at the top of the organisation should reveal a bit about their backgrounds. In an ideal world, you’ll find a strong leasing history and a track record of having helped businesses like yours to fulfil their potential by giving them access to additional funding.
On the flipside, if there’s a lack of transparency about who runs the company or the individuals behind it are ‘unGoogleable’, then alarm bells should be ringing.
Look for official affiliations
You want to see that the equipment leasing company is affiliated with all the right third-parties – one of which should always include the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the financial regulator in the UK that authorises which firms are allowed to provide financial services or products.
The FCA keeps the Financial Services Register, a public record that shows details of firms, individuals and other bodies that are, or have been, regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and/or the FCA. For example, if you were to search for Shire Leasing, you would find an ‘Authorised’ status with “permission to provide regulated products and services”.
Another affiliation worth keeping an eye out for is the Finance and Leasing Association (FLA). As a member of the FLA, the leasing company must sign up to either the FLA Lending Code or the Business Finance Code – industry benchmarks which reassure customers that they are choosing finance from a reputable source.
Listen to current customers
The thoughts and opinions of each leasing company’s customers will perhaps give you best indicator of which one you should put your trust in.
In the B2C space, customer reviews have a massive sway on purchase decisions. It’s no different in the B2B world, with businesses understandably wanting to see some hard, impartial evidence that the company in question is good at what it does.
Shire Leasing has a number of testimonials across several sectors, from catering to scaffolding. It just goes to show that we have an appetite to fund almost anything business-related.
Once you’ve analysed each equipment leasing company’s credentials, affiliations and testimonials, choosing a winner should become a little easier. But, if you’re still struggling to boil it down to one company, take a look at each firm’s offering – finance solutions, customer service, loyalty offers, payment options etc. – and choose the firm that can best support you to achieve your objectives.
If your research points you in our direction, or if you’d like to find out more about how we operate, give us a call on 01827 302 066.
