Equipment Leasing Book Review

 

“Selling Leasing in a Tough Economy” by Jeffrey Taylor

 

 

A "must read" for anyone who wants to get into the

equipment leasing business---or as important--- "stay"--- in the equipment leasing business---be they sales, administration, operations, collection, or accounting.

 

Page 31---“Our industry is in trouble. We may be down, but we are not out. We are just going through another phase of leasing evolution. Good times are always followed by bad times, which are followed by good times. The question is, how long do the bad times last? History indicates 7-10 years.”

 

Page 11---“Let me give you some advice. I’ve been consulting to the leasing industry for more than twenty years. I’ve seen the good years and I’ve seen the bad. Believe me, things are going to get worse before they get better. Why? Because there are thousands of lessors chasing too few deals and not enough good credits to go around. Some lessors will eventually give up, shut their doors and sell their existing dealers for cash to pay off their creditors.

 

“How do I know that this is the future? Let me go back to 1961.”

 

The reader certainly gets more than their money's worth in this 151-page book.

It is a jewel. The material is both pithy and profound. You understand it the first time, and when you re-read, in context with the chapter, you learn even more. I particularly enjoyed the autobiographical approach.

 

Page 45—“ I believe there is one core skill which will define the most successful individuals. It’s the ability and propensity to engage in self-directed learning.

The only sustainable effective response to a rapidly changing world is cultivating the ability to positively transform ourselves and our organizations. And that’s the definition of self-directed learning.

 

“The individuals who become disciplined, systematic self-directed learners will be the success stories of this new era. Likewise, those organizations that become learning organizations have the best chance of surviving and prospering.

 

“In a nutshell, the only competitive advantage the leasing company of the future will have is its manager’s ability to learn faster than their competitor. In fact, I would argue that the rate at which individuals and organizations learn may become the only sustainable competitive advantage.”

 

Page 49---

 

“In summary, your learning goals should incorporate the following challenges:

 

--Increase your emotional intelligence

--Live with and enjoy a world of constant change

--Avoid activities which disrupt learning

--Destroy all achievement blockers

 

“It is not enough to just want to learn. One has to prioritize it and incorporate it into daily life.”

 

 

 

Who is Jeff Taylor? A man who has failed and appears proud of it, as it has made

him tougher, smarter, and wiser. In addition to being “street smart,” he is a brain. He earned his MBA in Operations from the University of Chicago, and his BA in Finance from Washington University. He studied music and composition in France at the University of Strasbourg and the University of Grenoble in France. He is a licensed CPA in Utah, California and New York and is currently a member of many finance and leasing associations, plus publishes a semi-monthly newsletter called Lease Accounting, Tax and Politics, which is read by more than 13,000 readers in 110 countries.

 

Page 13 (1981)---“At the time I was living in San Francisco (I got transferred there by Citibank to work for their foreign exchange operations---I quit when they tried to send me back to New York) and working for Peat Marwick’s consulting group. There was a bank in Seattle, called SeaFirst Bank, who had a leasing division that could not get a clean audit from Arthur Andersen. SeaFirst hated AA and wanted another CPA firm to come in and help them clean up their operations. Their accounting systems were in disarray and no one could prove the numbers. The only problem---no one on the auditing side knew COBOL. And I did.

 

“Over the years, I combined my COBOL and CPA skills to fix systems for all Peat’s major leasing clients---GE, Barclays, GATX, New England Merchant Leasing Security Pacific, BankAmerica and First Union, to name a few. I lived on the road and learned everything I could about how all leasing departments worked.

 

“While I learned the business and began to see how all of the pieces fit together, I got to meet some of the industry’s best sales people. I listened to every word of advice that I was fortunate to receive and started to keep journals of ideas, methods, and tricks of the trade.

 

“I developed a reputation for getting the job done and on time, I was treated well and started to make a lot of money...One day, in 1984, I browsed the local newsstand and fixated on a magazine called “Entrepreneur.” It was their first edition and I threw my entire accounting career away to develop my first PC-based training business ( The Leasing Coach.) I mortgaged the house with a 2nd, made a lot of money for a couple of years, misread the market in 1987, and lost all of my material assets and marriage in the process.”

 

 

Page 15---“As it would pass, I got to meet Sudhir Amembal, the founder of the lease training industry. Sudhir told me that he is expanding his business and that he thinks I would be great as a full-time classroom instructor...I worked for Sudhir, Shawn Hallady and John Deane for five years. In return for writing material for senior management and other instructors, developing new courses, running leasing conferences and creating PC-based software models, they agreed to teach me the leasing training business.”

 

Page 17---“the primary purpose for me sharing with you these travails is simple.

I want to:

 

--Share with you my own experiences

--Show you that it is possible to succeed with impossible odds

--Guide you to be the best person you can be

--Help you improve your own selling capabilities.

 

Page 69—Chapter 7 “ Twenty Ways to Stand Out in a Crowd.”

 

“Selling is an art not a science. Great salespeople create relationships and breathe life into them. They deliver unique services that create value that cannot be achieved anywhere else in the world. They communicate potential benefits to others without making them feel that they have to give up something to get something. In any words, great salespeople deliver win-win solutions.”

 

Chapter 7 is worth the price of the book alone.

 

The theme of “Selling Leasing in a Tough Economy” is one of the items mentioned in Chapter 12. Here is a quote:

 

Page 125---“Know every aspect of leasing.

 

“As I mentioned throughout the book, you need to read as much as you can. Find some time every week to read at least one leasing journal, one leasing newsletter, check out one leasing website and one major newspaper.

 

 

“In addition, learn as much as you can about the other operations in your company. Acquire as much detail as you can. It is the details that you will

prevent, or at a minimum, minimize mistakes from destroying your relationships.”

 

Selling Leasing in a Tough Economy

 

Chapter 1—Welcome to the Equipment Leasing Industry

Chapter 2---Will Leasing Survive?

Chapter 3—Where are the Leaders?

Chapter 4---Are you Ready to Learn?

Chapter 5---Why Companies Lease?

Chapter 6---The Lifecycle of a Lease

Chapter 7---Twenty Ways to Stand Out in a Crowd

Chapter 8---Identify Marketing Opportunities

Chapter 9-Eighteen Ways to Win More Business

Chapter 10---Work the Network

Chapter 11—When you Feel Like Quitting

Chapter 12---Advanced Marketing Concepts

Chapter 13---Quit Complaining

Chapter 14---Thank God

Chapter 15---Success Comes in Many Packages

 

Let me add, the cover of the book is also very attractive. It looks like something

you would want to put on the coffee table in your den or office. You can carry it with you on the plane or put on your bedroom nightstand.

 

Jeff dedicated the book to his wife Toby:

 

 

To buy the book:

 

http://two.leasingnews.org/Books_Direct.htm#selling

 

My suggestion is to send Mr. Taylor an e-mail --and ask him to

autograph the book to you. This is a classic you will want to keep:

JTaylor@executivecaliber.ws

 

$65 plus shipping

 

Christopher Menkin

 

Featured on 3/4/03 Leasing News

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