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Hi everyone, and thank you guys for joining us today.

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I'm very excited because I am talking to a veteran of the equipment finance

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world and he is gonna bring us a wealth of knowledge.

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Steve has been in the industry for over 30 years. Steve,

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thank you so much for joining us. Why don't you go ahead and,

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and introduce yourself and the title of your company and the role that you play

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in your company.

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My name is Steve Geller. My company is Leasing Solutions llc. Uh,

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it's a company that I formed in 2001 to work with, uh,

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with brokers to assist brokers in getting transactions funded.

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So, for those watching,

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can you kind of explain to us in a sentence or two your exact position and how

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exactly do you work with brokers because you,

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cuz you have a very unique position.

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Sure, sure. So I came up with this plan to, uh,

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to do broker deals with funding sources and reveal to the funding source

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that there was a, another broker involved. For the most part, these were,

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uh, funding source friends of mine, and they said, go ahead. If you,

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if you qualify the broker, were okay with moving forward.

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So is it okay to say you're a broker's broker?

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It's fair to say I think of myself as an intermediary.

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What is the thing that you would say is, uh,

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the one biggest challenge that brokers nowadays are facing?

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Finding the right funding source. Uh, knowing,

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knowing which funding source to send a deal to, and, uh,

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accepting the results.

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That is the biggest challenge that you see brokers facing.

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What is the biggest mistake brokers make that you've seen

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recently?

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Well, definitely trying to put a, uh, round peg in a square hole.

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Uh, you know,

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sending the wrong deal to the wrong funding source and not understanding the

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requirements of the funding source, what niches they're in, what they like,

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and what they dislike. Uh, geographic restrictions, rates,

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uh, that will, uh, allow you to close the deal with the,

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with your customer. If the rate's too high, the customer might say,

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I'm not signing with you. After spending all that time on an approval, uh,

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with the funding, with the funding source charging too high a rate,

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you walk away without, without a deal because the customer won't accept it.

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So I, I want to elaborate a little bit more on that, but before we do that,

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let's talk a little bit more about the size of these deals,

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the range that you work with. What does that range look like?

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Are we talking $50,000 in equipment financing? Are we talking about 5 million?

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What is the range?

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No, no. My range is, uh, at a low end I can do $5,000 deal. Uh,

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and I usually do up to two, 2 million at maximum.

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But, and it depends on the amount of work involved.

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Like I tell my brokers if I can,

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if I can take a $5,000 deal from you and just put it in the, uh,

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you know, as a pdf, send it to a funding source without not a lot of work,

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and I get an answer easily that I make a few hundred dollars on a,

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on a deal that makes sense for me. You know, I'm not a,

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a shop that grinds out every deal that's gotta pump out the business.

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Uh, I can do a small deal and, you know,

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and if there's a minimum amount of work, uh,

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and I can do a large deal to put the work into it to make sure it

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Fits. There's so many funders out there.

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How do you shop for the right ones for your, for your business?

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Well, you have to get to know what the funding source likes,

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go on their website, attend, attend conventions.

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There were zoom sessions, there were meet the funder sessions.

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Well, let me ask you,

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there's a lot of people that they think equipment financing, you know,

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is just like heavy machinery.

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Could you walk me through the different branches if you,

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if you want to call it that, of equipment financing and, you know,

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knowing that it's just not heavy, heavy equipment machinery?

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Well,

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It's technology equipment.

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We got technology,

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Computers, uh, there's a healthcare marketplace, medical, dental,

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and a specialty retail, uh, restaurant financing, you know,

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franchise financing.

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What do you look for when you're looking for funders?

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Well, the funders will generally list what industries they like,

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what industries they don't like, and what industries are forbidden.

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So you have to look at the keywords on the website. Right,

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Right, right. Well call up the broker rep and say,

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will you do restaurants? Will you do computer equipment? Will you do trucks,

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trailers?

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And that seems something so simple to do.

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But you've seen the problem with brokers that people don't really do that.

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Correct. Right,

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Right.

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It's something that seems logical.

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Elemental,

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Elemental. That's a, that's a great word. Right. But people don't do that.

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Right.

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What else should people be doing in order to be successful in this industry in

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order to find the right funding source in order to build that relationship,

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in order to make money? What el what should other people be doing?

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Well, you should have a number of different funding sources.

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So a number of different funding sources is number one.

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And, and you should have more than one funding source in each niche.

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Okay. More than one in each niche. Right, right.

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Okay.

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Because what happens if you have a repeat customer and the first funding source,

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you're, you have a, your prior deal at,

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they may be up to the maximum.

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So you need another funder with similar taste in deals to take,

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to take the second, second transaction. And you also want to protect yourself,

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especially in this marketplace, if a funder pulls back,

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you, you don't want to be relying on,

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on one funding source if all of a sudden the bank has liquidity problems and

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they're gonna say, we're growing too fast, or, you know,

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we have to slow down and, you know, and some brokers have been cut off.

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Give me three tips on how a broker could build a relationship with a

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funder for their deal, whether it's now or in the future. Well,

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Again, you know, conventions, phone calls to broker reps,

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to the funding source reps, uh, talk about what they like and what they dislike,

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size,

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size of the deal they wanna look at if they have those kind of

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transactions, try out the funding source

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When it comes to the smaller deals, uh, uh,

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for someone that that's just starting in the industry,

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what would you say is the best piece of advice for them to continue to, to,

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to build, uh,

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their portfolio and continue to build their relationships with others?

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How do you do that? How do you maintain the momentum?

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Well, just,

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you have to have a source for that business to get deals approved for a vendor

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and get the vendor on your side referring that,

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that business to you as a broker. And, uh,

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and make sure you send it to the right funding source. Uh,

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get 'em turned around fast, get 'em approved, get 'em documented,

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get 'em funded.

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Let me ask you this, from start to finish, from when,

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when a broker starts the deal, they have the right funder.

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They ha they understand the funding source from start to finish.

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How long should it take?

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Uh, no more than a week.

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I've talked to a lot of people and they've told me anywhere from three to five

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years is when you fully start understanding a specific niche when

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someone's just starting out. I'm

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40 years and I'm still learning it. Exactly.

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I think that's, that's,

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that's a great perspective to give the people viewing this.

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But for people that are just starting out and they're trying to understand

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everything, walk us through why it's important to find a niche,

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find the funders of that niche and really start creating your business around

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that versus trying to learn everything.

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The key is to find a mentor,

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to find another broker in the business, uh,

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who you get friendly with.

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Maybe someone you've gone to a convention and met and chatted with and,

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you know, pick up the phone and call and say, Hey, I have X, X, Y,

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Z transaction. Uh, what, what can I do with it?

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Or what do I need to know about it? Or who does these types of deals? You know,

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and, and, and why, why should I go here or not there on a,

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on a transaction? You know? And it,

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we have a very friendly industry and, uh, you know,

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if you make the right friends and mentors,

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they'll lead you in the right direction.

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So for those guys that are just starting out in regards to the size of the

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deals, what should they be focusing on?

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Because I know everyone wants to make money and everyone wants to make the big

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bucks.

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So what would you say is the range that they should start focusing on to start

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making money?

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Well,

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it's a tough question to answer because there are a lot of different funding

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sources that look at, again, look at different size deals,

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and it depends what you, uh,

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what the broker feels comfortable getting involved in.

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If he likes complex transactions, do a million dollar deal and, you know,

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and make a few points on it, that's a healthy commission as well.

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But there's more work involved on a small transaction, you know,

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$25,000, $50,000 deal. You can do some work on it,

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send it in and, you know,

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and get it done faster than a million or $2 million deal.

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Let's talk commission for someone that's starting out,

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for people that are new to the industry and they want to have a solid,

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healthy commission their first year, what does that range look like?

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What have you seen?

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Well, I, you know, on a smaller transaction, you can make 10 to 15 points

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And on a bigger transaction, on the bigger deals, well,

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Uh, two or three points, you know, a million dollars,

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you can make two or three points, not, not an unhealthy amount as well,

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but, but if,

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but if you have a million dollar deal and you try to make eight points on it,

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you know, and you could sell a customer on it, you got a weak credit, you gotta,

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it's, it's indicative that there's a problem in the,

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in the transaction that may be the funder who approved it doesn't

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realize

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because a customer who's willing to pay that high rate,

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uh, could be desperate for the money.

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So when it comes to points and when it comes to understanding, uh,

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what someone can expect their first year, um, in commission,

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I guess like their salary, you know, obviously this is a commissioned job.

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What would you say that magic number is between what range?

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Well, there's some, some guys who are making in the, uh, uh,

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close to a hundred thousand dollars if they pick the right,

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if everything pans out right, you can start pumping out deals and, uh,

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and do pretty well,

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Inflation is big right now. Um, that's,

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a lot of companies are worrying about that.

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What impacts have you seen impacting the equipment financing world?

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Well, I'm seeing tougher approvals, uh, more,

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more declines on good transactions.

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So for someone that's seen, how do you maneuver that?

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How do you maneuver this type of environment?

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Those of us who have lived through past events like this, you know, it's,

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you know, you ride with the punches. If you're a new broker and you see this,

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you think it's the end of the world. And, uh, you know,

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it's tough to get, get beyond that. I mean, we, we spoke about recently at a,

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at a conference that, uh, you know,

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the new brokers don't know that this,

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that there are cycles and this is just another business cycle.

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Steve, could you give us tips about maneuvering this type of cycle?

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What tips do you have

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Now? Look into different niches. Uh,

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if you get comfortable in a niche that lenders don't want to, uh,

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don't want to partake in, you're gonna have to find another niche.

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So defensively, you gotta always be looking at different niches.

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Don't get comfortable in, in one, in one type of financing. In,

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in one, one niche. Don't, don't do wall bowling alleys,

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you know, because the bowling alleys, uh, go away, which they have,

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you know, then you're stuck.

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Any other tips on understanding funding sources and building a relationship with

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funding sources? Any tips for that?

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Invest in conventions. Visit funding sources, which, uh, a lot of, uh,

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many brokers don't do.

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They get on with the funding source and don't visit, and,

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and if they go to conventions,

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they only meet the top two or three people from that funding source.

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They're representative, but on a daily basis,

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they're dealing with the, with the person and credit,

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they're dealing with the documentation people they're dealing with,

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the funding people. Most of these people don't go,

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don't generally go to conventions. If you show up and visit a funding source,

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you're gonna meet all these people that, that are just voices over the phone.

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And likewise for them, they get to meet you and, and understand,

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you know, your, your abilities.

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Steve, thank you so much for your time. Thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah,

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thank you.