Equipment finance lead sources: where deal flow comes from, and what each one asks of you

Every equipment lender pays for its deal flow one way or another: in sales time, in fees, in marketing spend, or in a share of each deal. Here is how the common sources work, what each one costs in money and control, and how to judge a new one before you sign up.

Dealer and vendor programs

For most equipment lenders this is the backbone. A dealer's or manufacturer's sales team puts financing in front of the buyer at the moment of purchase, and the lender that is easiest to work with gets the call. The files arrive warm, with a specific asset and a seller attached.

The cost is mostly people: a business development team that visits dealers, answers fast, and stays competitive enough that the dealer keeps calling. Dealer files also tend to go to more than one lender at once, because the dealer wants the sale closed more than it wants any particular lender to win it.

Brokers and independent originators

Brokers bring files a lender would not otherwise see, often from borrowers who never walked into a dealership with financing in mind. Brokers vary, and many are good at what they do. In common practice the broker decides where a file goes, may send it to several funders at once, and is paid by the deal, often with a fee billed to the borrower.

A lender that relies on brokers trades control of the first conversation, and of how the file was presented, for volume it did not have to find itself.

Bought or shared leads

Lead vendors sell the contact details of people who filled in a form somewhere. The price is per lead, paid whether or not the borrower answers the phone, and the same lead is often sold to more than one buyer. The screening, the calling and the qualifying all fall on the lender.

For a team with a call center built for it, that can work. For a community bank or credit union with a small equipment desk, it usually means paying to sort through files that were never inside the credit box.

Advertising and search

Paid search and online ads put a lender in front of borrowers who are looking right now. The lender pays per click or per impression whether or not anyone applies, and bids in the same auctions as every other lender chasing the same words. It rewards a team that can run campaigns, measure them and answer an online application quickly. It also brings in every kind of borrower, so the screening is still yours.

Past borrowers and referrals from people you know

Repeat business from past borrowers, and introductions from accountants, attorneys, insurance agents and other bankers, are often the best files a lender sees: the relationship already exists and the borrower arrives trusting you. They are also the slowest source to grow, because they come at the pace of the relationships behind them.

Referral networks paid on funded deals

A referral network sits between the borrower and the lender. In the model EFN uses, the business owner applies once, the file is compared against what each lender says it will fund, and it goes to one lender at a time. Every match is human-reviewed against your credit box before it reaches you.

The lender pays only when a referred deal funds, so a file that goes nowhere costs the time it took to read it. What you give up is the first conversation, so it is worth knowing exactly what the network told the borrower. EFN tells them it is free, that it runs a soft credit pull, that their file goes to one lender at a time, and that the lender makes every credit decision.

How to judge any lead source

• Fit before it reaches you: is each file checked against your credit box, or do you do the sorting?
• Exclusivity: does the file come to you alone, or to a list of lenders at the same moment?
• When you pay: per lead, per click, per month, or only when a deal funds?
• Control: who has the first conversation with the borrower, and what were they told?
• Consent and credit: did the borrower agree to have the file shared, and how many hard inquiries does it already carry?
• Incentive: is the source paid to find the borrower the right lender, or to sell the file as many times as it can?

Where EFN fits

EFN works exclusively with direct lenders: banks, credit unions, specialty finance companies, and equipment finance groups that fund deals from their own balance sheet or credit facility. We do not work with brokers, loan packagers, or intermediaries.

Each deal goes to one lender at a time, with no competing calls from other lenders. You have 24 hours to claim it; once you claim it, it is yours until you pass. Unclaimed after 24 hours, it moves to the next best fit.

Joining is free. The referral fee is 1% of the funded amount, and a referral fee applies only on deals that actually fund. Pay nothing for leads you pass on. One flat referral fee for every lender in the network. No lender can pay to be routed ahead of another.

EFN does not replace a dealer program or the relationships your team already has. It adds files you would not otherwise have seen, one at a time, on the terms you set.

Common questions

Which lead source costs an equipment lender the least?
It depends on what you count. A source that costs nothing per file can still cost a great deal in sales time, and a source paid per lead costs money on every file that goes nowhere. A fee paid only on funded deals puts the cost where the revenue is: on the deals that close.

Are bought equipment finance leads exclusive?
Often not. Many lead vendors sell the same contact to more than one buyer, so ask before you buy. EFN sends each deal to one lender at a time: claim it within 24 hours and it is yours until you pass.

Does a referral network replace my dealer relationships?
No. Dealer and vendor programs bring files at the point of sale. A referral network brings borrowers who were never at a dealer's desk, or whom a bank turned down, and it works alongside the programs you already run.

What does EFN check before a file reaches me?
The file is compared against your geography, equipment, credit box, time in business, deal size, documentation and asset rules, and a person reviews the match before anything is sent.

How is EFN paid?
By a referral fee of 1% of the funded amount, only on deals that actually fund, invoiced after funding. Joining is free, and the borrower pays nothing to use EFN.

Set your box. Receive only what fits.

Watch how it works (2 min) · See a sample routed deal

Free to join. The referral fee is 1% of the funded amount, and it applies only on deals that actually fund.

More for lenders: Equipment finance deal flow, matched to your credit box · How an equipment financing referral reaches your desk · For second-look equipment lenders: the files the bank passed on · Looking for equipment finance brokers? A referral network for lenders instead · Equipment leasing referral partners: what a good one looks like · How to get more equipment finance applications without buying leads · Pay only on funded deals: how a success-based referral fee works · Application-only equipment deal flow, matched to your program · Second-look equipment and truck deals, for the lenders who fund them · Small-ticket equipment deal flow, sized to your program · Guides for lenders

Equipment Funding Network is a matching and referral service, not a lender and not a broker. Lenders make every credit decision and set every term.