One Leasing Broker’s Approach to Financing
After track practice I picked up my 12-year-old niece Katie Rose. As she is often the bearer of great wisdom, I love to listen to her.
To acquaint you with Katie, she is a very smart young lady who attends a Catholic school. Competition and discipline are serious matters at Holy Spirit Grade School.
When she was six, she knew exactly the correct punishment for her teenage cousins. What was the infraction? One of the cousins had planned a wild drinking party while Aunt Mary was on duty when their parents were out of town.
My darling niece’s punishment suggestion was exactly what I followed. Her cousins, she said, should have their cell phones taken away for a week. In addition, they could not have friends over for a “play date” (although at 17, they don’t call them play dates any longer!). And of course, Aunt Mary would remove all TV watching privileges for a week.
Katie’s mommy and daddy taught her about actions and consequences. For Katie, punishment involved removing things she valued.
Let’s take Katie’s knowledge about how people deal with bad behavior and apply it to our work. And I don’t mean you begin by removing telephone privileges at the office.
What I thought about was how we dish out consequences for suppliers who conduct themselves in an inappropriate manner.
A few days ago I was on the phone with a leasing broker who used a racial slur. That was the first indication that I was dealing with someone who was prejudiced. Strike #1.
Then he bragged about how good he was at what he did. Not unusual for a salesperson with a healthy ego. Strike #2 in my book.
The real problem, though, was that he represented the lease to a bank leasing company and withheld information about the financial details that would result in a credit decline. He needed the approval for the deal to go through; to make the “big bucks.”
Did he lie? No. His crime was omission. And if the leasing company ever finds out about his deception, he might get the punishment he deserves.
I ran this by an owner of a leasing company whom I have known for years, Kevin Clune of Clune Leasing, and he said if a leasing broker did this to him, he would “cut him off at the knees and never deal with him again.”
This is the kind of broker who gives the leasing industry a bad reputation. Clients lose. Leasing companies lose. Vendors lose. Strike #3. He’s out.
If you’re trying to decide whether to buy or lease equipment, read the article “Buy or Lease” written by Kevin Clune, owner of Clune Leasing, featured in the Commercial Journal. Read it online at www.Clune.net or download the PDF from IndependentLeaseReview.com.