How are small businesses growing? We sat down with two merchants who spilled the beans on their strategies, discussing everything from customer reviews and the competition, to how they talk about pay-over-time options with customers.

Meet the panel

Jason Dixon is owner of Jason's Heat & Air, an HVAC company that's served the Paragould, Arkansas community for more than 8 years.

Caitlin Halle keeps the trains running at Landworks Enterprises, a tree services and fence company based in Manchester, Connecticut.

Justin Coopersmith is a customer success leader at Wisetack, working directly with businesses to use consumer financing to help grow their business and improve customer experience.

Highlights from the panel

Finding new customers through a positive customer experience

Landworks acquires customers primarily through referrals and general word of mouth. To generate positive reviews, Landworks is hyper focused on the customer experience to first build a solid relationship. They also use a tool to request reviews.

Landworks' website also plays a big role in helping them get new customers. It has a request form that’s integrated with their field management solution, Jobber. Recently, Landworks has been reaching back out to prospects to attempt to close a deal by passing on recent cost savings in materials.

In fact, Wisetack is a competitive differentiator for Landworks. “We’re one of the few [tree services companies] in the state that offer financing,” Caitlin said, which helps customers decide to use Landworks over another company. (You can read more about how Landworks gained a competitive edge with Wisetack here.)

To build customer loyalty, Jason’s Heat & Air warranties competitor units, meaning they’ll repair HVAC units installed by someone else. They also have a no fix/no pay policy — you won’t get charged for a service call if they didn’t do any work. “It’s blessed us in a small community,” Jason said. “Customers know if they call us out, they can afford us.”

Discussing pay over time options with customers

Wisetack has helped Landworks close more deals. While customers often ask about financing up front, it also comes up when the scope of a project expands. “The financing helps make that bigger project doable for customers,” Caitlin said, also adding that it serves as a bridge for customers who want to split how they pay for a project.

Jason finds that monthly payment options help customers choose a repair or replacement that fits their budget. He appreciates how many customers so far have been approved for at least some loan amount with Wisetack. “I’ve been with four different financing companies and Wisetack has been hands down the best,” Jason said.

Jason likes bringing up financing proactively to customers. “I always use financing as a nice, generous offer to ease the blow of the cost,” Jason said. Caitlin has a similar approach, “I say, ‘Just wanted you to know we offer it. If it doesn’t work out for you, you can go another route.’”

The Wisetack experience for customers

“I’ve had nothing but positive feedback about Wisetack,” Jason said. “For people that work third shift and have odd sleep hours, it’s fully automated, so they can do it at any time at their convenience.”

Caitlin has had a similar positive experience. “It’s very quick,” she said, “We get the information we need on our end, they get the information they need.” She also noted that customers are easily able to call Wisetack to ask questions or resolve issues, and always walk away happy.

Ready to add financing to your tool belt?

Read more about how Wisetack financing works or contact us to discuss.