It happens in every business… a service provider you’ve worked with for years just isn’t meeting your needs any more. But how do you know when it’s time to make a switch? We spent some time with Chris Hooke, the accountant for California Closets of New Jersey, to find out why his business left their previous customer financing provider and switched to the Wells Fargo Home Projects® credit card program — and why they’re sticking with Wells Fargo.
What made you decide that it was time to look for a new customer financing provider?
For Chris and the team at California Closets, it was all about the bottom line. “We were previously working with a different program,” he said, “and their rates were going up. And the rates were already exorbitant! So it just made sense to start looking for something else.”
Chris also mentioned that their previous provider had very short purchase windows for preauthorizations, which was a hassle for both customers and staff. “We started out with a four-month purchase window, and the furthest they would extend it was six months.” For customers taking on larger, long-term, multi-phase projects, that could mean having to reapply for credit in the middle of the project! “It was just a nightmare for both our customers and for me, being the administrator, to have to get another credit approval,” Chris said.
Has switching to the Wells Fargo Home Projects program changed the way you and your team think about financing?
Chris admitted that with their previous financing provider, the staff at California Closets didn’t always emphasize financing in their sales presentations to customers. “In the past,” he said, “we’ve not really pushed financing as much as we have with Wells Fargo, because it didn’t really make sense — the merchant rates were just too high, and we were not seeing a rebate for volume.”
Since making the switch, though, it’s a different story. “Now that we are using Wells Fargo,” Chris continued, “I’m trying to push the designers to offer it as the first thing, very early on in the presentation, to expand the mind of the customer.”
You mentioned bringing up financing early in the conversation with customers. How does your team integrate “the financing talk” into a sales presentation?
“Our sales representatives have a packet that they give to the customer that includes financing information and a QR code to access the Wells Fargo credit application,” Chris said. “It’s very helpful to be able to put that information right in the hands of customers so the sales reps don’t have to email them a link to complete the application later.”
Chris and the team have found that the ease of the application process really makes a difference with their customers — and makes it easier for those customers to work with California Closets again in the future. “With Wells Fargo, it’s basically a one-time setup,” he said. “Our customer only has to get approved once, they can use their account multiple times, and they don’t have to get reapproved for each project that they’re doing with us.”
What about when the project is done?
Chris appreciates how the Wells Fargo Home Projects program makes it easy to collect when the California Closets team has finished a renovation for a customer. “With Wells Fargo, we’ve already done a preauthorization, so we know that we’ve secured the funds and can cash in on them after the installation.” According to Chris, it wasn’t always so easy with California Closets’ previous financing program. “Our previous provider relied on post-authorization, which was torturous — people could hold off and hold off and hold off on paying.”
Since switching to the Wells Fargo Home Projects program, do you get the support you need for your business?
“I've never had a problem getting the support I need from Wells Fargo,” Chris said. “I know that I can either call our relationship representative or I can call directly into Client Processing, and I haven’t had a problem where they haven’t been able to figure it out.”
Make the switch to Wells Fargo today!
Contact us:
Wells Fargo Retail Services
1-800-577-5313
wellsfargo.com/homeprojects