What’s it take to always get the deal done?

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Learn how Amur Equipment Finance has helped the RMGT group. Listen to Don Hershiser, Owner, Graphics IV Ptg Eq & Supply, Inc., Chris Manley, Owner, Graphco, and Scot Gilbert, President, Paper Handling Solutions talk about the importance of Equipment Finance to printers in order to offer their customers the power of flexible financing programs.

Video Transcript

RMGT – Don Hershiser

Equipment financing is important to printers because banks are not really known for their ease of doing business with large equipment transactions or any equipment transaction for that matter. Generally, they want 20 percent down. With leasing, it frees up the customers’ money to be able to put it into his business rather than put money down with a bank.

Graphco – Chris Manley, Owner

Once that decision has been made to make the purchase, what I view as one of the huge advantages of Amur Equipment Finance, is that it works very, very quickly to process that deal through underwriting, to approve the deal in most cases, to document it and in a lot of cases to get us a deposit on the machine through the financing end, in sometimes 2 to 3 days. You can’t be in this business without having equipment financing. I think the question is probably better, which group are you going to work with, and I think the responsiveness that you have working with Amur is one of the key, key factors in making that decision.

What’s it take to integrate innovation and technology into your business?

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Learn how Amur Equipment Finance has helped to understand the needs of MGI Digital Graph Technology as well as the needs of their customers. Listen to Michael Abergel, Executive VP and Managing Director and Kevin Abergele, VP of Sales and Marketing of MGI USA discuss how the MGI customers require the financial ability to acquire the right equipment in order to integrate innovation and technology.

Video Transcript

Michael Abergel – Executive VP and Managing Director

Manufacturers, you know, are industrial, and for most of us, we know how to develop, how to manufacture, how to bring innovation and technology into play. But our customer, they need, in order to integrate those solutions, the financial ability to acquire that equipment.

Kevin Abergel – VP of Sales and Marketing

Well as a company, we do not have our own financing arm. This is something that we’ve never, you know, we manufacture equipment, we are not a bank. And one of the key things for us was to be able to find a partner that can actually understand our needs, understand our customers’ needs, and be able to make that transition as smooth as possible.

Michael Abergel – Executive VP and Managing Director

And without that ability to offer your customer that facility, the picture would dramatically change for most, probably 95% of the manufacturing operations on this floor.

Kevin Abergel – VP of Sales and Marketing

I think today equipment financing is vital, it’s probably the biggest obstacle for both manufactures who sell equipment and buyers who want to buy equipment, is finding not only competitive lease rates, but intelligently structured leases that can actually make life easier for them. So, for us, I can tell you that most of these deals are reliant on having a good finance partner. So, from our standpoint, a vital point of success is that leasing partner that we are able to work with. And by working with Amur, we have really found that, so we’re really very happy to be a close partner as of today.

Printing in the 21st Century

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The Future of the Printing Industry

Anyone following the march of technology would appreciate the transformational challenges faced by the printing industry over the last decade. Since the beginning of the digital revolution, businesses, governments and municipalities have been adopting new technologies, such as digital record keeping. The general population too, has been quick to adopt digital technologies in their daily lives, eliminating the need for many printed products. Traditionally printed products, such as newspapers, magazines and books, have become increasingly digitized. Companies have responded to more environmentally aware consumers with “go paperless” . The printing industry has therefore had to adapt in the face of significant headwinds to its traditional business model.

Printing Industry Trends

The good news is that the industry has, at this point, largely navigated digital led trends. In 2019, the industry is expected to continue to experience sales growth between 1-2 percent. While this cannot yet be defined as “robust”, the industry nonetheless is riding a period of more stable growth, in part buoyed by the favorable long-term macroeconomic growth of the overall U.S. economy. There are also business essential outputs in traditional paper format that will continue to be required, such as labels and package printing. Advertising and publishing still account for the two largest segments of the printing industry, but manufacturers are largely contributing to the health of the printing industry. The demand for specialized labeling, package printing, and point-of-purchase displays has increased substantially over the last few years, providing support to the overall printing industry.

Advertisers have also found that printed products still garner more attention than their digitized counterparts, and therefore deliver a higher Return on Investment (ROI) in certain circumstances. The top three of these advertising products are provided by printers and are comprised of direct mail, brochures and pamphlets. There are at least 30 main product categories that the printing industry produces, including categories ranging from brochures, and magazines, to labels and specialty printing.

In order to maintain and gain efficiencies, while adapting to new trends, the printing industry requires equipment that is designed to meet the challenges of today.

One company that provides the industry with the latest and most technologically-advanced printing equipment is Cleveland, Ohio-based, Graphco. Graphco provides sales and maintenance for offset printers, digital printers, packaging offset presses, and specialty finishing equipment.

One high-performing press offered by Graphco is the RMGT 9 Series press manufactured by RYOBI MHI Graphic Technology. This machine is a marvel with its output and efficiency, saving the printing operation tens of thousands of dollars annually through waste reduction, increased output speed and flexibility. These features translate into an improved bottom line for the printer. While the machine is not inexpensive to purchase initially, it is an advantage to printers looking to dramatically improve their margins in a highly-competitive environment.

Printing Equipment Financing

As the owner of Graphco, Chris Manly understands the importance of helping his printing customers gain a competitive advantage. Chris also understands the importance of having a finance partner that can quickly help his customers purchase new, technologically-advanced presses.

Chris stated, “You can’t be in this business without having equipment financing.” Considering the cost of one of these presses can exceed the high six-digits, the need for financing is apparent. Chris has been working with Amur Equipment Finance for years and has come to rely on the quick service provided by the company.

“Once the decision has been made to make the purchase, what I view as one of the huge advantages [of working with] Amur Equipment Finance, is that they work very, very quickly to process that deal,” Chris remarked.

Financing speed is obviously important to Chris and Graphco, and it is also important to their customers. They are after all the ones that need to be able to quickly adjust to new trends, so the speedy financing offered by Amur Equipment Finance allows them to quickly acquire the printing equipment they need to succeed.

Do equipment vendors really need to offer financing options to their customers’

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Featured in the January 2017 issue of Dealer Communicator.

Dealer Communicator is a Manufacturer Sponsored News Journal whose purpose is to help channel manufacturers solidify their dealer relationships and to find worthy dealer/distributor partners.

It’s not uncommon when I approach new or prospective vendor accounts that they reply that they do not offer financing as part of their sales process.  “My customers never ask about it” they reply, and that causes me to evaluate the merit of that response.  If the vendor is exhibiting at a trade show, they are there for a purpose.  They typically have a sales force and some degree of marketing as well.  Why do they do all of this?  It seems pretty simple to me – to let the world know what they have to offer. 

By the same token, if a company comes along and develops a new product that revolutionizes their industry, would anybody ask for it if they did not know about it?  If a company sells dishwashers and takes on a new line of garbage disposals, would anybody ask about the disposals unless they somehow knew that the company offered them?  The answer is a resounding “NO”.  So, it stands to reason that the same is true for financing.  Why would anybody ask a vendor about financing if they have no reason to believe that they offer it?

In today’s world many customers are looking to their equipment suppliers for a turnkey sale including the equipment, delivery, installation, training, warranty, service, and financing.  The vendor that offers the complete package has a better chance of closing the sale than the one that offers a less complete package, including financing.   Think of the world of car sales.  Almost every ad you see on TV leads with financing, anything from “no money down” to “0% financing” and everything in between.  The reason for this is that many people make large purchases such as cars based on monthly payment and affordability (financing).  The world of equipment sales is no different.  In many cases, the company owner or CFO looks at the acquisition of new equipment in one of two ways; will it increase sales or will it decrease costs?  They compare the projected increase in sales or decrease in costs to the monthly cost of the acquisition, and if the monthly cost of the equipment is less than the anticipated increase in sales or decrease in costs, then the acquisition makes sense from a cash flow standpoint.  Let’s say that the company determines that the new equipment will save them $2,000 per month and the monthly payment for that new equipment is $1,500, they see an immediate cash flow benefit of $500 per month.   So, the financing of the equipment becomes as important as the acquisition and cost of the equipment. 

With the financing of your equipment being such an important component of your sale, why would you wait for a customer to ask for it?  Why not make it a part of your equipment sale presentation and offer your customer a turnkey equipment acquisition experience. 

 

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