Do Relationships Matter Anymore?
When a $50K car can be bought from a vending machine and a $500K home mortgages can be acquired from an app on a smart phone, one does wonder if personal contact is essential or even desirable to the transaction of business. Does the answer to this dilemma have to be an either/or solution? Will it depend on the item or service being acquired? Can a customer experience both sides of a sales experience in the same transaction: a self-service component and a human connection back-up if necessary?
Ours is a B2B Business (https://www.clune.net/index.php) and the essence of our “product” is term debt that can span 2-5 years. A lot can happen in that time frame. Therefore, we are more motivated than most to get to know our customers, both vendors who sell equipment and those who finance their acquisition with our company.
At the same time, all creditors, regardless of industry, now offer an online application tool for customers who are looking for financing. To stay competitive, it must be easily accessible and intuitive. Clune & Company, as a Division of Landmark Financial Corporation is no exception. You can find the application link here: https://www.lfcinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Credit_Application.pdf. Applications may be completed, scanned, and sent directly to one of our salespeople for their personalized attention to your request.
Additional services have been employed to streamline the process of credit approvals, and paperless document procedures, including e-signatures with DocuSign. https://www.lfcinc.com/about-lfc/.
Therefore, one source can provide both the efficiency of online tools that are backed up with easily accessible human beings for issues that machines can’t manage. While some transactions do lend themselves to a “vending machine” or an online application tool, the reality is that there are business agreements that are more consequential.
Let us know if we may be of service,
Kevin F. Clune, CLFP
Clune & Company
