4 Reasons To Include Flexible Financing in Your Sales Strategy

Many sales prospects are left in the dust due to challenges in finding terms that suit both parties. Even the most stellar sales strategies need an extra boost to find the perfect middle ground. Flexible financing fits seamlessly with your sales motion to achieve more efficiency and effectiveness from lead capture to closed won. Keep reading to discover how flexible financing makes you a sales superstar and how to get started in minutes.

How Flexible Financing Fits into the Sales Process 

While flexible financing relates most directly to pricing and payment, it can also act as a consistent thread from the beginning to the end of the sales process. 

At earlier stages in the sales cycle, sharing the option of flexible financing with prospects can differentiate your offering while also serving as a strong method for gauging intent. 

Towards the end of the sales cycle, as the time to closing the deal draws nearer, the various flexible financing options provide an additional lever to support your end-stage negotiations. 

Benefits of Flexible Financing throughout the Sales Process 

Benefits of Flexible Financing for the Buyer

• Boosted confidence in their purchasing power - By proceeding through the steps to secure flexible financing, the buyer learns they have more options and flexibility in their payment terms. They also know the amount they’ve been approved for and can make their decision with confidence. 
• More ease in splitting up payments - The buyer can make a decision focused more on what they want to pay month-to-month versus the stress of allocating all of the funds upfront. 
• Expanded interest in wider offering - Between knowing the amount they can afford and the option for splitting up payments, buyers are able to choose products and packages that they may have initially thought were out of scope. They can find solutions that fully solve their needs without having to compromise. 

Benefits of Flexible Financing for the Seller 

• Better informed lead scoring - As the buyer moves through the steps of flexible financing, they demonstrate their level of intent, allowing you to prioritize accordingly. 
• More accurate sales forecasting - The flexible financing process provides realistic estimates of the buyer’s budget, allowing you to have a more precise contract estimate. 
• Increased ease in discussing pricing - Conversations around pricing and payment terms can happen earlier and more easily in your sales pitch instead of becoming a big topic near the close of the deal. 
• Faster revenue recognition - With Gynger, the contract is paid up front and the revenue is recognized right away while your customer enjoys their flexible payment terms.

4 Reasons to Include Flexible Financing in Your Sales Strategy 

Reason 1: Recognize Revenue Upfront

Your customers can choose from a variety of payment plans, but no matter which they choose, your company still receives the full payment upfront. It’s a win-win scenario. 

When the deal comes to a close, Gynger pays the cost of the contract upfront, and the customer pays Gynger over time. Your company recognizes the revenue while the customer still gets the benefits of smaller payments. Flexible financing not only allows you to improve cash flow, it also removes the risk of a customer missing payments. 

Reason 2: Accelerate the Sales Cycle

Adding flexible financing to your sales strategy will help you close deals faster. The sales cycle will progress more quickly as conversations around flexible financing drive better alignment between all parties. 

Discussing cash flow needs and payback periods with your customers can sometimes be difficult conversations. These hurdles can be sorted out much earlier in the sales cycle versus slowing the deal down in the final days. Your sales cycles will start to get shorter as customers will know with clarity the funds they can access, the way they will pay, and how the flexible payments will help them extend their runway. They’ll ultimately be able to make their buying decision faster. 

Reason 3: Increase Annual Contract Value (ACV) 

The moment your prospects learn they can break up payments over time, they’ll have a more open mind to your broader offering. With the smaller increments and an extended payback period, they can consider larger packages and more advanced product tiers.

Additionally, through their approval process, they may learn they can finance more than they initially planned. They can then add additional features or capacity to their contract that used to be on their wishlist. 

Whether it’s the payment terms or a higher approval amount, your prospects have a good chance of spending more with your business when they can secure terms that work best for them. Say hello to higher ACV.

Reason 4: Close Longer Term Contracts

Similar to how flexible financing leads to increased ACV, the option of smaller payments over time helps your customers feel more comfortable with longer term contracts. If they had to pay everything upfront, a one or two year agreement could be a major roadblock. Their funds may be limited, and they wouldn’t want to necessarily spend it all in one go. When they know they can break those payments up over time, they’ll be much more comfortable agreeing to a contract of a year or more. 

An additional selling point, when they agree to a longer contract term, they get access to the products they need locked into a price for a longer period of time. They don’t run the risk of prices increasing at the end of a 6 month period or from month-to-month. 

The longer term contract with the consistent payments helps them stabilize their burn rate over time while establishing the right technology and systems they need to grow their business. 

How to Include Flexible Financing into Your Sales Strategy 

Step 1: Find a flexible financing partner 

Here at Gynger, we’re passionate about making the technology purchasing process a better experience for all parties. With our Vendor offering, we support you with the tools you need to easily offer flexible financing to your customers. From the moment you create your Gynger account, flexible financing becomes an integral part of your negotiations, conversations, and overall sales strategy. 

Step 2: Generate a unique financing link for your customer 

Once you set up your Gynger portal, you’ll be able to generate unique financing links for each of your prospects. You can send the unique link to your customer to start their approval process and manage their payment terms and methods. 

Step 3: Include flexible financing in your sales process 

One of the key best practices we recommend is including flexible financing options in your early conversations with prospects. It allows for approval earlier in the sales cycle helping all parties get clarity on purchase intent,affordability, cash flow needs, and preferred payback periods. It’s also a massive opportunity to differentiate you from your competitors. You can give your prospects access to payment terms they can’t get elsewhere. 

Step 4: Support your prospect as they move through the process 

From the moment your customer clicks their unique link, they can begin the approval process. Customers can apply in minutes, get approved the next day, and then select their payment terms. Most of these steps won’t require much guidance, but in order to keep this as smooth as possible, be at the ready if they have any questions.

Step 5: Help them decide the best products and packages for their budget 

Once they’ve seen their approved amount and payment options, it’s a great opportunity to reassess the best offering for them. If your customer was interested in committing to a longer term contract but were concerned about cash flow constraints, this could be a good opportunity to revisit the conversation - especially if you offer discounts for larger commits. They’ll look to you for guidance on what packages make the most sense. Review their plans for the future and help them assess a different product or packaging might scale better with them over time. 

Step 6: Send the invoice embedded with the unique financing link

Gynger makes it easy. Their unique financing link will include the formal offer and invoice. They accept and make their payments from there. That’s it. It’s seriously that easy. 

Step 7: Gynger pays the invoice right away 

The step that really matters. Once your customer agrees to the offer and terms, Gynger pays the full invoice upfront. Gynger pays the total cost to you immediately, and your customer pays us back later. Nothing more for you to worry about. The payment is received by your company, and you can focus on your next big deal. 

Flexible Financing: An easy addition to improving your sales strategy 

As an experienced seller, you’ve seen that some sales strategies help more than others. Flexible financing is one successful sales strategy in particular that only takes a couple of extra minutes to include but adds a wealth of support to your overall sales process. 

With flexible financing, you’ll be able to recognize revenue upfront, accelerate your sales cycle, increase ACV, and close longer term contracts. 

Start integrating flexible financing today and watch your sales efficiency and effectiveness soar. Reach out to us at Gynger to learn more about how we can support you in this journey and help you close more deals with greater confidence and ease.