“The peace of mind to be able to call the customer and say, ‘Hey, we have financing’ — knowing it was a good product for them — is something we simply didn’t have before.”

— Sofia, Shared Services Team Lead at Ergeon

Ergeon, a top fence company with 109 locations (and counting) throughout the US, needed a new financing provider. The company’s previous financing partner was lackluster for several reasons. 

First, customer loan applications took an eternity to be filled out. As a result, the company was losing deals. Furthermore, Ergeon often wasn’t paid out in a timely manner following a job, which affected the company’s cash flow. 

Ergeon prides itself on being a customer-first company driven by technology, and by providing features such as video calls and an advanced online quote tool, Ergeon makes it incredibly easy for customers to get a quote — and ultimately, a repair or service. Ergeon's new financing partner needed to provide as good as of a customer experience, and Wisetack was a dream fit.

3 key ways Wisetack has helped

• Ergeon has increased sales by 20% since introducing Wisetack financing.
• Hundreds of customers in California needed urgent fence repairs following the January 2023 rain storms, and Ergeon was able to help many of them thanks to financing.
• Ergeon now routinely gets paid the day after a job is complete — whereas it sometimes took weeks with the previous financing provider.

About Ergeon

Wisetack and Ergeon have a lot in common — most notably we both have the mission of providing a better experience for homeowners in need of a home improvement project. No wonder we work together so well.

Ergeon specializes in fence services (wood and vinyl), but recently has expanded into turf as well. The company owns the consumer-contractor relationship from start to finish, creating a seamless experience for both parties.

Today, Ergeon’s service areas cover 45 million households, and the company seeks to grow that number threefold in the next couple of years.

What makes Ergeon successful?

To learn more about Ergeon — and the company’s success using Wisetack — we spoke to Sofia Galindo, the Shared Services Team Lead. Sofia, who’s been at Ergeon since 2020, oversees three teams: customer service, tech support, and accounts receivable.

When we asked her what separated Ergeon from its competitors, her response was decisive: technology. Easy online appointment scheduling, a sophisticated quoting tool, and the option to set up a video call allow customers to get accurate quotes — fast. 

But once a customer gets a quote, they need to think about payment options — and financing is often at the top of the list. In fact, 62% of customers consider the ability to get financing an important factor when hiring a pro. That’s why Ergeon has always made it a priority to have a financing option available.

The problem? Their previous financing provider just wasn’t cutting it.

Losing deals due to a poor financing experience

“We were losing deals because we were not able to work with a proper financing company.”

What was wrong with Ergeon’s previous financing provider? “A lot,” Sofia chuckled.

For customers, just to prequalify required them to fill out a long form of questions. They were also often wary of the credit impact of the application, which caused many to just use a credit card instead, according to Sofia.

(See the difference between a soft and hard credit pull here.)

And for those who did complete the application, the approval process was just as tedious. “It was hard for the customer to even receive an email back,” Sofia added. 

This slow application process meant that, sometimes, Ergeon wasn’t sure if the customer had qualified until the project was completed. To make matters worse, Sofia says that receiving the funds was also a problem, with payment sometimes taking two to three weeks to get through. 

For Ergeon, all these issues resulted in lost opportunities: “We were losing deals because we were not able to work with a proper financing company,” Sofia said.

First impressions with Wisetack

Having had enough of losing potential customers, Ergeon started to look for a new financing partner. According to Sofia, Ergeon wanted to work with a company that was “fast, effective, and provided a great customer experience.”

Ergeon’s finance team did some research, and stumbled upon Wisetack — a product that seemed to check all the boxes. After the team set up an initial call with Wisetack, Sofia was sold: “The first meeting we had, I didn’t ask much — I just wanted you guys to walk me through the process. And you did a great job.” 

Sofia said that two of the most important criteria in her decision to choose Wisetack were the fast merchant payments and the fact that customers could check their credit options with no credit impact.

But the next question was: Could Wisetack walk the walk?

A financing provider (finally) up to par

Sofia didn’t have to wait long to know she had something special on her hands: it happened on the very first financing application her team sent out.

“I was in a meeting with the AR (accounts receivable) specialist who sent it out, and he said, ‘I hope it’s not the same as the previous company,’” she told us.

Just two minutes later, the customer was prequalified. “We stopped the meeting. We were so happy!” Sofia said exuberantly. Immediately, the AR specialist went into the merchant portal and sent the customer the financing application. Ten minutes later, the purchase was approved — and he was in shock (in a good way). “No way. We’re done?” he exclaimed. 

This initial experience solidified Wisetack as Ergeon’s financing provider of choice, and word started to spread within the company.

Gaining momentum and helping customers in a dire situation

First, the rest of the AR team learned to offer Wisetack when making collection calls. Then came Sales. 

“For a long time, the sales team was screaming, ‘We’re losing deals!’,” Sofia told us. But when she introduced them to their new financing option, “their faces were priceless,” she recalled. Within a week, everyone was trained.

And in January, just a few months after Ergeon started offering Wisetack, the first major positive impact was felt. At that time, record-breaking storms hit parts of Northern California, causing severe damage to thousands of homes. This was pertinent to Ergeon, as many of these homes needed immediate fence repairs.

Although some customers were covered by insurance, they didn’t get reimbursed right away and were hesitant to move forward with repairs. It was a perfect moment to offer Wisetack. “We’d tell them: ‘How about you pay with financing, then pay off your loan once you get reimbursed by insurance?’” Sofia told us.

The pitch was effective, and as a result, hundreds of customers received the urgent fence repairs they needed.

Using Wisetack across teams

“The message the AR team sends customers is: 'Let us help you out. We have payment options.'”

It is safe to say that Wisetack has met Ergeon’s expectations — and then some. Sofia estimates that Ergeon’s sales have increased by about 20% since the company started offering Wisetack financing.

A big reason for that success is that both the sales and AR teams at Ergeon have eagerly adopted Wisetack, frequently leveraging it as a tool when talking to customers. 

How the AR team uses Wisetack

On the other hand, Ergeon’s sales team leverages Wisetack to close more deals. The team brings up the financing option on almost every call proactively, mainly because they know exactly how the tool works, according to Sofia. “They learned it very quickly,” she added.

For example, Ernesto, one of Ergeon’s top salespeople, works on 6–10 deals a day — and mentions Wisetack on every single one of them.

(Proactively bringing up financing to customers is a best practice. Learn how to do it here.)

Advice on how to choose the right financing provider

“The fact that applying for a loan with Wisetack doesn’t affect their credit really catches their eye."

There are many things to consider when looking for a new financing partner. Sofia, who went through this experience herself, has three tips for other businesses:

1. Customers care about their credit.

Being able to check financing eligibility with no credit impact gives customers more confidence to apply. “The fact that applying for a loan with Wisetack doesn’t affect their credit really catches their eye. Even if they’re declined, there’s no risk,” Sofia told us. 

2. Speed is everything.

According to Sofia, both customer applications and merchant payouts need to happen fast for a financing platform to be most effective. With Wisetack, Ergeon gets paid within a business day of a job being complete and its customers can qualify for financing in minutes — the latter also being a huge sales point for both sales and AR teams.

3. Teams will adopt a simple product more eagerly.

As we mentioned earlier, various teams at Ergeon know exactly how Wisetack works, partly because the product is so user-friendly, and partly because of great training. (We’ve got tools to help you train your team here.) As a result, they are not afraid to proactively mention it on calls.

Sofia and Ergeon have found their financing partner of choice. Still looking for yours? Check out our checklist of what to look for when seeking a new financing company.‍‍