Corporate  Capital Leasing Group Grows to 24 Offices 

“In the last issue of Leasing News, you profiled the companies who offer training for people who want to get into our industry. That prompted me to write about a project we have been working on this past year. I have been in the leasing industry for 36 years and although our company has been what would be classified as a “small broker”, just like everyone else we had a desire to grow. I woke up on New Years day this year and had a thought about all of the talented people in this country who sadly were unemployed not only in our industry but in so many others. If we could only harness the experience and contacts of some of these people and apply it to leasing, the results could be enormous. The problem would be how to attract them. We could offer a training course like the companies you wrote about but to us the real payoff in our business is doing leases not training people to be our competition. A good salesperson could earn more for us in lease commissions than any amount we could charge to train them.  

“Of course if we didn't charge anything then everyone would sign up and we would waste time in training people who would never produce for us or would take what we taught them and open across the street. So we decided on a modest investment that would be refundable. Don't laugh but we advertised this opportunity on Ebay and offered a protected territory of their home state. They would pay $500 for a security deposit on the training materials and when they booked $50,000 in business, they would get a refund of their security deposit plus a bonus of $200. They get a 60 page manual, four CDs and samples of marketing pieces. They would sign a 10 page Agency Agreement which clearly spelled out what they could or could not do and how their commissions would be paid including splitting commissions between territories in case of an overlap. 

“ The first month we had 4000 hits on the Ebay listing and over 90 people who were interested enough to ask for more information. The backgrounds and experience of some of these people would make a recruiter drool. We picked the people who's experience would allow them to offer leasing to a niche market. For example one had traveled the Pacific Northwest selling computer programs to machine shops. Another had worked for 17 years for a construction equipment dealer arranging financing for their customers. One was in the sign business; another a CPA; another is a commercial mortgage broker. We have some who have experience selling trucks and trailers and one who has worked for 15 years selling farm equipment in Nebraska. One owns several businesses including an ambulance company and he is one of the founding members of an ambulance trade organization. Our people do nothing but identify prospects and take applications. When they get an application, they hand it off to us and we take it from there including direct contact with the Lessee.  

“In 7 months we have established 24 offices in 27 states from New England to Hawaii and the results have not only been excellent, in a few cases they have been remarkable. We call our people Regional Managers and several have set up their own web sites in conjunction with ours. One closed a $100k lease the first day he was with us and another did $90k the first two weeks. Our guy in Texas now has two sales people working for him and other regions are planning the same. It's not all good news though. A few have realized that this is something that they cannot do and have asked us to replace them which we have but some fall out was to be expected. We have some people selling leasing full time and others doing it part time until they build a base of business.  

“We have stopped adding territories for the time being but there are still a few key states that I would like to see filled. We have set up an online bulleting board with 10 different categories so that our Regional Managers can communicate and draw from each others' expertise. With apologies to you, I also write a “Sunday Sermon” which is usually marketing tips or announcements of accomplishments the previous week. I am in the process of moving my family and our main office from Rochester NY to Naples. Florida in August and hope to add a few back room people there. Our goal for the first full year of operation is for each of our 24 Regional Managers to average $100k a month. Do the math. Not bad for a “small broker”. 

“ This all proves the theory that small ticket leasing is not complicated. It is a numbers game and if a salesman tells enough people that "we finance equipment" some will say "I'll take it". It also proves MY theory ‘You show me a salesman who is willing to get up in the morning and go out an sell leasing at his own expense with no draw or salary and all I ask for is 100 more just like him'."  

Ken Glasgow
CCLG Inc.
d/b/a Corporate Capital Leasing Group
24 Offices Nationwide
800-549-9570
www.cclg.com
ken@cclg.com