Equipment Financing and Business Networking Go Hand in Hand

By BNI & Referral Institute - Nov 21 , 2011

By Lester  M. Salvatierra

To work in the finance services industry, whether it be financial or estate planning or business financing, requires that individuals establish trust with their clients. A great deal of trust. The kind of trust that permits a person to disclose the nature of his or her worldly possessions to someone else, to follow that person’s advice and be guided by that person in making key personal and business decisions. Such decisions can resonate throughout one’s life.

Successful financial professionals traditionally have been required to invest years and years in establishing themselves and their brand, and in building trust. In the past, you didn’t get into the financial industry unless you were prepared to devote a good portion of your life to it. Eventually, if you were around for 20 years or so, people (and clients) probably figured that you’d been doing something right to last that long.

Networking

Becoming successful in financial services requires that you learn, understand and follow the core values of networking. Every business, even specialized ones such as equipment financing, can truly benefit from building a strong network based on competence, connections and accountability. But since trust is so keenly vital to financial services, it’s particularly relevant here.

Professional networking organizations such as Business Networking International (BNI) are based on the concept of “givers gain”: I give you business and you will reciprocate. At the heart of that is trust. Each person must trust the other to do the right thing, both with their intentions and capabilities. Business networking can accelerate the development of trust among our peers and networks because by following a system such as BNI’s, you will learn to develop targeted skills in the pursuit of new business opportunities. Skills that guide you in how to act, dress, what to say and to do the key things that will elevate the trust factor and your reputation much more quickly than if you waited for it to happen on its own.

A financial planner told me once he didn’t need to network because he had regular business referred to him by his old friends. I asked him how long did it take to develop his business and contacts and he replied, “Thirty years.” Who has that much time to build a network, let alone a business? Why not build the same devoted network on a much faster pace with highly predictable results?

A finance specialist or broker or any person in the financial industry can build his or her name and reputation with a consistent dedicated effort in few short years as opposed to the decades it use to take. This is a key consideration for any profession that requires a high trust factor to be successful.

Build a diversified network, develop trust within it follow-up with contacts and colleagues and connections on a regular basis and you can establish a foundation for long-term success. Business networking and financial services such as equipment financing are on the same side of success.

Lester M. Salvatierra is an experienced and licensed Finance Specialist with First U.S. Finance (http://www.FirstUSFinance.com). He helps small to mid-size companies lease or finance a wide variety of equipment and special projects nationwide. He is passionate about referral marketing and is a business networking coach and Area Director Consultant for Business Network Int’l in Ventura County, California. Sign up now to follow his business networking blog at: http://theRogueNetworker.com