How Anderson Equipment is managing and protecting data
Hello, and welcome to Equipment Connect. Join Equipment Finance News editors as they connect with leaders in the equipment finance industry on both the lender and dealer sides of the table to discuss new developments, market analysis, trends, tips, and more. We aim to create more productive dynamics between lenders and dealers to make the industry stronger and more profitable. This podcast will help take the industry and you to better results. I am Johnnie Martinez, senior associate editor of Equipment Finance News.
Johnnie Martinez II:Equipment Finance News is the one publication for both dealers and lenders filling a critical gap in the market. Find us at equipmentfinancenews.com. I would like to introduce John Boy, finance and sales manager at Andersen Equipment, the inaugural guest of the Equipment Connect podcast.
John Boy:Yeah. Thanks, Johnnie for having me. My name is John Boy. I've been working here at Andersen Equipment for the past 6 years at our corporate location in Pittsburgh. We are the Komatsu dealer for primarily the northeast stretch from West Virginia all the way up to Maine.
John Boy:We also sell Takeuchi, Dynapac, Mecolec. So we have quite a few brands that we represent. We we do service everything throughout our whole territory. And one of our main components is obviously being able to provide financing for the customers that are are coming to us for either purchasing equipment, leasing equipment. And we we've been doing this in this territory since 1935.
John Boy:We have quite a long track record with a lot of the companies we've been working with and in the territory that we we represent.
Johnnie Martinez II:All these different product lines that you have to to manage on the finance side. Right? Is there difficulty juggling that many different brands, or is it all sort of a process you get used to?
John Boy:So it's something where, you know, at the beginning of every month, whenever all the subsidized financing programs are released, you know, I'm getting 5, 6, 7 emails that I I have to kinda track everyone's programs and promotions and rates and terms and conditions. So some manufacturers have conditions as far as age of the equipment to still be considered new. Some have, conditions where they just can't be retailed yet. Keeping track of that can be, you know, labor intensive, but but something I've done a lot for our sales guys is make sure that I have a a finance bulletin that I blast out that I I mentioned to all our guys and summarize pretty easily for them to take out on their calls with them is, you know, here are the current programs, here are the current machines that apply. And, oh, by the way, if you have a machine that doesn't fit in one of these categories that you wanna sell to a customer that that customer needs to finance, Here's some of the banks that we partner with.
John Boy:Here's some of the lending institutions we partner with. And, that that's been very successful to be able to give guys a a one page, 2 page list of here's my options when a customer asks.
Johnnie Martinez II:Gotcha. And then sort of to your point, right, that relationship that you have with sales team, you know, not just the beginning of the month, but throughout the the entire process.
John Boy:It's huge. Well, I mean, I've I've got my cell phone going off right now. I can feel my my iWatch blowing up with, with text messages and phone calls from guys. And a lot of people think, you know, you're a finance guy. You're working bankers hours.
John Boy:But I get calls from a a one of my favorite salesmen down in West Virginia. My wife laughs every day at 6 o'clock. He gives me a call, and once he gets back in the cell phone reception and lets me know what he's working on and and things that he needs for the next day to to make that day successful. So it's more of a give and take relationship with the guys, and you get pretty close with some of these sales guys to to make some of these deals happen. Because let's be honest, if we're if we're in this equipment business, I don't see many of these owner owner operators that are they're sitting in the excavator cap, digging a trench or a land pipe or doing whatever they're doing, they they don't have access to a laptop until maybe 9 or 10 o'clock at night.
John Boy:So we we've got to remember even as the finance people that we're we're working on their schedule too. So we've gotta be pretty flexible. So it's been I I came from the banking industry working in commercial lending and retail banking where it was at the end of your day. 4:30 hit, the branch closes, your location closes, clock stops. It's not that way, especially now with with technology coming in.
John Boy:So
Johnnie Martinez II:You touched on a few times there. We're getting into a a big technology month in July. Our feature's themed around this. To an extent, we're gonna have a a conversation around this here. Right?
Johnnie Martinez II:When you start talking about getting technology in the finance and sales process, how how do you approach the the tech stack and and sort of how do you manage that that process to make sure that, you know, you're working with the best technology you can and make sure the sales side and your customers, they've only got technology access at different times depending on where they're at?
John Boy:Yeah. So one of the easiest things that we've done is take all the paper out of the equation. So a lot of sales and especially on the finance side, every everything was paper. It was stone and tablet back in the day. Then they finally came up with the whole paper idea getting getting papyrus rolls and stuff to the bank, it felt like.
John Boy:But finally now, you don't have to physically be there to get business done. There was not too long ago, 20 years ago, you had to actually show up in the bank to sign all the paperwork. Now they've they've moved from being able to do remote signings to now being able to do esignings. So you look at the advent of, like, Adobe Sign, which is what we use for all of our sales agreements and and finance documents. People can accept machines and and sign off on the terms and and agree to loans that before it would take weeks to get to somebody out in the woods somewhere or, you know, on a on a mine site where some of us aren't even allowed to set foot on, it it could be tough to to make that happen without technology.
John Boy:So as as we've evolved and gotten away from doing the paper documents, we've gotten to the esign. You now you can open your smartphone, sign right from your smartphone. You know, as long as you have pockets or a fanny pack or whatever you're carrying around with, you know, it's, it's easier to access some of these guys that were on a job site until 10 o'clock at night.
Johnnie Martinez II:Ultimately, it goes back to to what you're saying before about at least the customers have their demands and, you know, the sales teams are doing their part to meet them, and you gotta do your part to meet the sales team and the the customer's demands where they're kinda at.
John Boy:Yeah. And we've we've had to figure out ways to get creative with it, as an industry where we understand that these guys are king edge up. They're they're elbow deep in grease sometimes. And we've we've gotta make this happen so that we we can keep going about our business and and be profitable on on both sides of the the deal. So we we've gotten better as an industry, advancing.
John Boy:I think the auto industry is still a little further ahead than us. That that's something that's been interesting being in this industry for 6 years. In the past 6 years, we've evolved so much. Sometimes because of being forced to, like, some of the COVID advances that we've had. But I think, coming out of some of those instances, we've we've positioned ourselves better as an industry.
Johnnie Martinez II:Gotcha. And then sort of speaking of the the entire equipment industry, you know, much has been made about dealer management systems over the last Yeah. Kind of week and a half. How did you guys approach the DMS side of things and make sure that you can continue to to operate regardless of sort of what challenges occur?
John Boy:Yeah. So, you know, there's always going to be cyber attacks. As we move more towards technology, there there's gonna be more openings for people that wanna do harm. You know? That used to be physically going into a building and stealing computers.
John Boy:Now that everything's hooked up, it's virtually going in in in locking doors and keeping people out. So part of what we've done as a company, we have a fully staffed IT team. We have software writers. They're constantly pouring over the data, rewriting it to make sure it it makes sense, not just for our business operations, but also for security platforms, making sure that any vulnerabilities are patched up, and that we're we're constantly backing up all of our data to ensure its security so that we we can keep our doors open on a daily basis. Seen in the auto industry, I think that's what you're referring to earlier where, there's a lot of dealers that that went to the outside platforms.
John Boy:And while there's there's no fault to doing that, it does lead to a higher risk of larger shutdowns when that happens. So we've decided to, as a company, invest in ourselves and in writing our own software, to ensure that we're the ones controlling the outcome of of any potential ill will against us.
Johnnie Martinez II:Interesting to to hear that, you know, you again, so much has been made about a lot of this outsourcing and things of that nature. But you guys made the decision to, hey. We're gonna keep this on our own terms, internal. We'll have our system, and we're gonna trust our IT team to manage it and position us to be able to to keep operating.
John Boy:Yeah. And that's that was a a decision of our ownership group. They they sat around and and figured that, you know, we we could go outside. We could keep it inside. There's there's multiple versions of doing this.
John Boy:There's blended versions. I mean, there's there's multiple dealer portals that you can be involved with, but that that decision was made by our executive group. I I actually enjoy being able to walk down the hall to the person who writes the software and say, hey. There's this little wrinkle that I'd like to see put into our software. Can you add this?
John Boy:Can you code for this? And being able to actually sit down and work through the code with them and say, here's a spot where we could improve our systems based on something I've seen pop up, whether it be new insurance requirements, new documentation that we need, such as the Newark disclosures that were just released last year. So we've been able to start to add some more wrinkles in that that might take a lot longer for, a development group to push in because of, hey. They might not operate in New York, so why would they need to have that? So because it's it's pertinent specifically to our locations, we're able to tailor our our own software to what we specifically need.
Johnnie Martinez II:It makes sense especially with these disclosure laws. Everyone's kind of got a different flavor they're looking at doing. So having that ability to go in and chat and get exactly what we need for this exact region, I can see the benefit of that. So sort of building off that, you know, we've talked a lot about the, the sales team. You're working with them.
Johnnie Martinez II:You're working with the customers. You're working with your IT team. You know, a big part of the equipment industry that we've we've talked about, me and you, as well as we've been talked about in this industry is the relationship aspects to it. Right? You've gotta have this rapport with all these different people.
Johnnie Martinez II:How do you approach the relationships? We'll talk you know, focus on the the sales and customers to an extent already, but especially when you start looking at kind of the lender side of it.
John Boy:It's still I hate to say old boys club, but there's there's still some of that mentality in our industry right now as far as the networking goes. It's great to be able to meet in person. There I don't think that will ever be replaced. I know going the past 2 years to to the Equipment Finance Connect has been a huge help. We found, lending sources, whether it be First Citizens Bank that I got in touch with again.
John Boy:KS State Bank is another one where we we had a real need for, municipal lending. We didn't have any ability to do that before. Now because we've met at events, we've made those connections. We've hung out and talked over a beer to to say, hey. What what capabilities do you have?
John Boy:What more relaxed setting than than being in a honky tonk at Tennessee somewhere in Nashville? Can you get some, flavor of what someone has the ability to do? So it it's it's never going to be replaced there. Sourcing on LinkedIn is a good way to start the conversation. Sourcing through directories, like you guys have the directory set up on the website now.
John Boy:Finding sources that way is good, but there's still gotta be that personal connection. It's important not just because we're a we're still a society of in person physically. I know I like to go to the store still and try on a t shirt before I buy it. Call me old fashioned. I'm not ordering all my clothes on online.
John Boy:I actually go into Macy's or wherever, and the one the one Macy's left still in Pittsburgh and and pick my clothes out. But, you know, it's it's important to be able to physically go meet with people, network with them, understand what they can do. And once you build that in person relationship, yeah, I I can text one of my one of my connections and say, hey. Does this fit what you guys can do? I can shoot a quick email.
John Boy:I can make a phone call. But being able to connect and understand that, hey. We can level with each other. We're still people. It's not this robotic version of doing things.
John Boy:That's that's important. I I think I can hear a lot of echoes of sentiment from other finance managers that that would feel the same way.
Johnnie Martinez II:Right. And I don't know if you do that intentionally, but you you have talking about the going to the Macy's trying on the t shirts, then you also talk about letters and the fit. Right? The fit is such a big part of this.
John Boy:Right. Right. Yeah. I mean, I you and I you and I are 2 different sized people. I can't I can't buy the same shirt you can buy.
John Boy:It it looked like a a blanket on me, and then it looked like a bib on you. It's it's not how it works. When we go to stores, we we gotta walk in and and go, okay. I need x size or, you know, you go to a tailor. You get you get your 1st suit and go to a tailor.
John Boy:That's a whole different experience. You you get that custom fit, that custom need, and you can't get that if you're shopping online. You and how I don't know how many digital tailors are out there, but I can guarantee I can count them on one hand. They're not gonna get a fit that that's perfect for my size. So when we when we go and and get a suit fitted, it's the same way as financing.
John Boy:We gotta make sure it fits. We gotta make sure it looks good, and we gotta make sure it's practical. I'm not I'm not gonna have a Dumb and Dumber suit when I, show up and and look at my mail and see a nice bright orange suit sitting there staring back at me. Unless you're more of the powder blue guy, I'm not sure. But, I wanna make sure it it fits my customer needs and and makes sense for me and the customer.
Johnnie Martinez II:Great insight as always, John. Thank you so much for your time today, you know, learning more about the connections in the industry, what you guys are doing on the technology side, and really just the best way to to kinda move forward as the equipment industry, you know, deals with one challenge after another.
John Boy:Yeah. It's it's gonna be interesting moving forward, and it it'll always be interesting. That's why I enjoyed so much.
Johnnie Martinez II:Thank you for joining us on Equipment Connect, a product of Equipment Finance News and Royal Media. In addition to Equipment Connect, Equipment Finance News also hosts an annual Equipment Finance Conference called Equipment Finance Connect, where dealers and lenders gather to network and connect around financing opportunities. We also have a lender directory which features a selection of equipment lenders to help dealers find the solutions they need. Listeners can access Equipment Finance News, the Equipment Finance Connect podcast, Equipment Finance Connect, and the lender directory at equipmentfinancenews.com. Thank you for joining us at Equipment Connect, where we aim to take the industry and you to better results.
