Taylor Moseley of General Finance on Earning Confidence in a Changing Industry

Q&A with General Financial’s Taylor Moseley

Taylor Moseley, one of the newest additions to the Fundbox list of top brokerage partners, is a proud son of a broker. As a Trade Finance Broker at General Financial, Taylor works with small business clients around the country. He has deep expertise in helping connect small business owners with the financing they need to grow.

In this Q&A, Taylor shares her personal mission and approach to helping customers. We discussed how he ensures repeat business, his thoughts on getting started with Fundbox, and a few thoughts on how the financial services industry is changing.

Taylor Moseley, Trade Finance Broker at GE Financial Services, LLC.

–

Fund box: Let’s start with a quick intro. Tell us a little bit about you and your company.

Taylor Moseley: The company I primarily work for is GE Financial Services, LLC, also known as General Financial. I’ve been in this industry for about six years now. I am the son of a broker: my father founded GE Leasing in 1986.

We provide equipment financing and alternative financing products for the construction industry. While I like cranes, professional vehicles, and directional drilling, I usually don’t turn down any business requests. That’s a little bit about me.

Would you say that the majority of your customers are customers in the building and construction industry?

TM: I would say that the majority of them are. I do restaurants here and there from time to time. Current production is also huge for us. With the construction field, I go deep into the segment, I think segmentation is the key to success. Knowing your products and how they affect customers gives you a competitive edge in our industry.

When I talk to customers, I’m not just trying to sell them. I want to understand how they make money, how the device works for them, their invoicing process. Put me in your shoes so I can go through the entire process from start to finish of your business. The better I understand their business, the better I can align them with products that will help drive their business in the future.

Construction is an interesting industry and I love it because every company is different. No two businesses are alike.

That’s what gets me out of bed in the morning: learning all the different ways people make money and how I can help them improve their business and improve their cash flow.

Would you say it’s your favorite job?

TM: Solving the problem is the best part, absolutely. It is very rewarding when a customer comes to me through a supplier or an agent and says, “I want to buy a bulldozer.” I started asking them why they wanted bulldozers. They said they needed more money, and I said, “Okay, how do you get paid?” They say, “Well, I get paid net-30 and right now, we’re pushing net-60. If I get another bulldozer, I can make more money and get caught up.” I said, “Well, you don’t really need the bulldozer, you need to deal with the delays in accounts receivable. Let’s tackle this together and assess how these might affect your bottom line. “

Then, when we had that conversation, if they were willing to listen, the light would go out for them: “Taylor really cares about our business. He solved a problem I didn’t even see there and gave me a choice on how to move forward and address that flaw. “I think it’s something that sets me apart that allows me to stand out in our industry.

The value of long-term relationships

Why should small businesses work with you and General Financial instead of someone else or instead of going it alone? Looks like they get more than just access to the funds if they work with you.

TM: It’s correct. They will find someone who will pick up the phone and be interested in their business for the long term.

I don’t want to finance only part of the equipment for them. Usually, I will have large credit customers come to me and want to finance a piece of equipment. I told them, “Look, my rate is going to be higher. You need your bank, and this is how you can best approach it.”

I will take the time to explain how they can continue to get that loan from their bank where they may have been denied before and shape it so the bank can fully understand the request and hope to approve it.

No one that I’ve met really does that. What I’m doing is, I’m not turning my back on the business, I’m looking for a long term relationship. I want that customer to remember that I was 100% upfront, honest, and transparent with them and to call me back next time. Sometimes it’s better to lose one and win more along the way. Referrals go a long way. I’d rather do that than make a quick buck and never talk to them again.

Does your strategy of actually trying to work with your long-term customers have a positive effect? Do you see people coming back a second or third time when they need help?

TM: Always. They come back for more and then they tell their friends, the people they’re working with, contractors and referrals. It really takes away a lot of the pressure to go out and find more business when you know you have a great portfolio that needs to turn to you for advice and that reduces your follow-up costs. town. You care about them, they are bringing you business because they have a relationship with you.

When it comes to the business owners you’re working with, are there specific challenges that come up over and over again?

TM: A lot of small business owners don’t understand business credit. Everyone understands their credit score, but as a broker in the industry, you must be able to explain to them, “Yes, you have a credit score of 750 but we do not lend above credit score. your use. We are lending based on the ability of the business to repay.”

What I find particularly interesting is that the people who are running these businesses, who are working every day to make money, pay salaries and try new things, they don’t understand that there is a whole business side to the company. their job. . What does the Dun & Bradstreet report look like, are they paying their transactions? Do they have an 800 number? Do they have bricks and mortar? [store]?

Elucidating business owners about this whole new aspect of credit they didn’t understand before is really rewarding.

First impressions in the fund box

You started working with Fundbox recently, right? Do you have anything to share about your experience so far?

TM: Getting involved with Fundbox is awesome. Porter, I met him in person, he is very knowledgeable. It’s been a pleasure talking to someone who understands exactly what I’m trying to accomplish. I asked a lot of very complex questions and the introduction was quick and simple.

Fundbox, in general, has been fantastic. We hired a new salesperson just to handle Fundbox.

By the way, Fundbox gave me all the tools at my fingertips as soon as I signed up. That was unbelievable. I would say that the “great” moment for Fundbox, for me, was this: I had a client who called me and we were working on a lot of issues. I said, “I have something new, let’s try this.” I literally directed him to sign up for Fundbox on the phone, and within five minutes he had access to $45,000. He had the money the next day.

There’s no place in the industry where you can do it without getting killed, in terms of interest and fees. Paperless process, automatic processing, instant decision, portal, everything is perfect.

When that happens and the customer says, “I’m approved,” and he’s [the funds he needed], in less than five minutes on the phone… it was a “fantastic” moment for me. I said, “This is a very powerful tool.” We need to harness this power.

How lending changes technology

One of the ways that we can get things done quickly is thanks to our machine learning risk models, which remove some human intervention from the process. Overall, do you have any thoughts on how machine learning, artificial intelligence or other technological innovations will continue to affect the future of lending?

TM: Yes: smart contracts. I think our industry, in particular, is lagging behind in realizing how close we are to the future of trade finance. The whole industry is changing. I think, as a broker and as a funding source, whoever you are, if you don’t consider smart contracts, machine learning and AI because you think it’s just a science story, study fiction, you will be in for a big surprise.

When you say smart contract, can you explain what that means?

TM: Take any physical device contract you normally sign or DocuSign and program it into dynamic software. It’s a smart contract.

Soon, most devices and the lending world will be using smart contracts. The question is are you ready for it or not? A smart contract is basically what you’re done with [Fundbox] portal. Machine learning, automatically reads bank statements and certain credit parameters, whatever your risk model is and you’re making a judgment.

You will never completely replace the need for people, there is always a need for individual attention to every customer. But the more you can automate tedious tasks, the more time you can spend with customers. That’s what matters, your relationships.

It’s correct. I think most people wouldn’t want to substitute personal attention. We’ve automated what’s important to our business, but not everything. For example in our customer support we think it’s really important to have helpful people locally available and available to talk on the phone and people appreciate that because because there are some things you just need to communicate with people to complete .

TM: Sure. I agree with you 100%. That’s one more thing that I love about Fundbox: If I have a question or need, Porter or Antonios is a call right away. While they may not answer my calls every time I call, I guarantee to get the call back that day or the next and have human interaction.

That is really important. As our industry becomes more automated and faster, we won’t lose the human touch.

TM: That’s why we get paid great sums.

Sure. Thank you so much for your kind words and all your insights, Taylor. Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

TM: I appreciate you, thank you for giving me the stage and the opportunity.

Finally, I would like to mention the Trade Finance Brokers Association of America, the number one association for Trade Finance professionals that connects and provides the tools and resources needed to thrive.

Thank you, Taylor. Congratulations AACFB and cheers for you!