Most equipment dealers already offer financing in some form. Far fewer get much out of it.
The gap usually isn't effort. It's fit. A dealer signs up with a financing source, gets a link and a phone number, and tells the sales team to "mention financing." Then the program sits there. Reps bring it up when a customer flinches at the price, which is already too late, and they bring up the same structure every time regardless of what the customer actually needs.
The programs that close business are the ones matched to the deal in front of you. Below is a plain rundown of the vendor financing programs that consistently move equipment, what each one is built to solve, and how to tell which one belongs in a given conversation.
The vendor financing programs that close the most business for equipment dealers are:
Most dealers need three or four of these, not all eight. The rest of this article covers when each one earns its place.
A vendor financing program is a structured arrangement between an equipment dealer and a financing partner that lets the buyer arrange monthly payments at the point of sale, instead of going off to find funding on their own.
That last part matters more than it sounds. When a buyer leaves to secure their own funding, you lose control of the timeline, the deal size, and often the deal. The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association reports that roughly 8 in 10 U.S. businesses use some form of financing to acquire equipment. Your customers are going to finance. The only question is whether they do it through you or somewhere else.
Closes: deals that die from paperwork.
For transactions up to $350,000, FPG can issue a credit decision from an application alone. No financial statements. No tax returns. A complete application typically gets a decision in 2 to 4 hours, with documents out via DocuSign within 24 hours of approval.
This is the workhorse of most dealer programs. The friction it removes is enormous, because the moment a customer hears "send us three years of financials," momentum drops. Speed is the point: a buyer who gets an answer the same afternoon is still in buying mode. A buyer who waits a week has started shopping.
Use it when: the transaction is under $350K and the customer wants to move.
Closes: buyers who believe in the equipment but not the timing.
Payments start 3 or 6 months after delivery. The customer takes possession, installs it, trains the crew, and starts generating revenue before the first payment is due.
This is the single most effective promotional tool available to an equipment dealer, and it works because it answers the real objection. The customer isn't saying the equipment costs too much. They're saying they can't carry a new payment while the machine is still being commissioned. Take that away and the deal moves.
Use it when: the buyer's hesitation is about ramp-up time, not price. Also the strongest offer to lead with at a trade show.
Closes: customers in industries where cash doesn't arrive in twelve equal pieces.
Payments are built around the customer's actual revenue calendar. Higher during peak months, lower or skipped in the off-season. Common in agriculture, landscaping, construction, snow removal, and anything else where the year has a shape.
A landscape contractor is not going to sign up for a fixed payment in January that assumes December revenue. Present a structure that skips the dead months and the objection disappears, because you've shown you understand how their business runs.
Use it when: the customer's revenue is seasonal. Ask about their slowest quarter early in the conversation, then structure to it.
Closes: growing businesses and first-time buyers of a new equipment category.
Payments start lower and increase on a defined schedule over the term. Typically structured over 36 to 60 months.
This works for the operator who is confident about where the business is headed but honest about where it is right now. A shop adding its first CNC machine, a practice adding a second treatment room, a fleet adding trucks ahead of a contract award. The payment curve follows the revenue curve.
Use it when: the customer says "we'll grow into it." Give them a structure that assumes they will.
Closes: buyers focused on monthly payment, and buyers who upgrade regularly.
The customer makes payments over the term. At the end, they can purchase the equipment at fair market value, extend under new terms, or return it. Because residual value is factored in, the monthly payment is typically lower than a straight path to ownership.
There are two customers this fits. The one who needs the lowest monthly number to make the budget work, and the one who replaces equipment every few years anyway and doesn't want to be stuck owning obsolete technology. That second group is large in medical, dental, aesthetics, IT, and any category where the technology moves faster than the useful life.
Use it when: the customer cares about payment size or upgrade flexibility more than ownership.
Closes: the customer who wants the machine and wants it to be theirs.
Fixed monthly payments across the term, and at the end the customer owns the equipment for a dollar. Terms available up to 72 months.
No cleverness required here. Some buyers want a predictable payment and a clean finish line, particularly on equipment with a long useful life and stable value. Trailers, presses, mills, generators, production lines. Don't overcomplicate the conversation for these customers by walking them through six options.
Use it when: the equipment will still be earning in year eight and the customer plans to keep it.
Closes: deals that need a reason to happen this month instead of next quarter.
These are limited-window offers built around a specific push: a new product launch, aging inventory, a quarter-end target, a convention. FPG builds them collaboratively with the dealer and co-brands the materials, so the customer sees your name on the offer, not a generic financing company's.
Promotions work because they create a deadline the customer didn't have. A deferred payment offer that ends October 31 gives your rep a legitimate reason to call back, and gives the buyer a reason to answer.
Use it when: you have a specific inventory or timing objective. Build the offer around the objective, not the other way around.
Closes: the deals your current program declines.
Not every dealer needs a new primary financing relationship. Plenty of dealers have one that works fine for clean credit and standard transactions, and no answer at all for everything else. Startups. Used equipment. Challenged credit. Unusual structures. Larger transactions.
FPG works both ways: as a dealer's primary financing partner, or as an additional source inside a broader program specifically for the transactions the primary source won't support. As a direct lender with access to 25+ strategic funding partners, the point of the second-source arrangement is simple. Your sales team always has somewhere to turn, and the customer gets an answer instead of a dead end.
Use it when: your team is walking away from deals they'd rather not walk away from.
| The customer says | The structure that fits | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| "I just want to own it" | $1 Buyout | Predictable payments, clean ownership at term end |
| "What's the lowest monthly?" | Fair Market Value | Residual value reduces the payment |
| "We're growing into this" | Step-Up | Payments follow the revenue curve |
| "Our busy season is May to October" | Seasonal / Skip-Payment | Payments match revenue, not the calendar |
| "I can't take on a payment right now" | Deferred (3 or 6 months) | Equipment produces before payments start |
| "How long is this going to take?" | Application-Only (to $350K) | Decision in 2–4 hours, minimal documentation |
| "We upgrade every three years" | Fair Market Value | Return or renew at term end, no obsolete asset |
| "My bank turned this down" | Supplementary source | Access to 25+ strategic funding partners |
A distributor selling packaging systems runs about 40 quotes a month. Average transaction sits around $180,000. Their close rate is respectable, but roughly a third of quotes go quiet after delivery, and when reps follow up they hear some version of "still working on the budget."
They add financing to every quote as a monthly payment line, not as an attachment or an afterthought. Two structures get presented by default. Application-only for anything under $350K, so the answer comes back the same day. Deferred payments for any customer buying a line that requires installation and operator training, because those customers are three months from full production and they know it.
Nothing about the equipment changed. The pricing didn't change. What changed is that the buyer is now looking at a number that fits in a monthly budget conversation instead of a capital expenditure request, and the rep has a reason to call on Thursday instead of waiting.
That's the whole mechanism. Financing doesn't make equipment cheaper. It makes the decision smaller.
Three things, consistently.
Financing shows up before price becomes an objection. If your reps introduce financing after the customer balks, it reads as a concession. Introduced early, alongside the specs and the delivery timeline, it reads as part of what you offer.
The options are visible everywhere the customer looks. Monthly payment lines on quotes. Payment ranges on product pages. "From $X/month" on booth signage. An application link in the follow-up email. A program the customer has to ask about is a program that doesn't get used.
Someone answers the phone. When a rep has a deal in motion and a question about structure, they need a person, not a queue. That single detail determines whether your team trusts the program enough to lead with it.
Does offering financing cost the dealer anything? A standard vendor program doesn't carry a cost to the dealer. You're paid in full according to your payment terms once the equipment is delivered and accepted. Promotional programs with subsidized terms are a separate conversation and are structured deal by deal.
Does the dealer take on any credit risk? No. Credit approval, documentation, and collections sit with the financing partner. That's the practical difference between a vendor financing program and carrying paper yourself.
Who owns the customer relationship? You do. Co-branded programs are built so the customer experiences financing as part of your service, with your brand on the materials. FPG works behind your name, not over it.
How long does it take to launch a program? Considerably less time than most dealers expect, because FPG builds the materials, the application links, and the rep training. Most programs start with a soft launch on one product category or one sales territory, then expand once the team has run a few deals through it.
What if a customer already has their own financing arranged? Let them use it. Then quote a payment anyway. A meaningful share of buyers who arrive with their own arrangement end up taking the dealer's option because it's faster and requires less of their time. You lose nothing by presenting it.
Can used equipment be financed? Yes. New and used, across virtually any equipment category.
If you're building or rebuilding a dealer financing program, don't try to launch all of these at once. Pick the two structures that match the majority of your deals, train your team to present them confidently, and add from there once the habit is established.
FPG works with equipment dealers to design programs around how they actually sell. As a direct lender with access to 25+ strategic funding partners, we structure around the deal instead of forcing the deal into a structure. Real people, real expertise, and a program built for your equipment, your customers, and your sales process.
Ready to build one? Call (603) 696-7076 to talk with our vendor partnership team.
FPG. Here to help you grow.