Customer Testimonial:
At Closets by Design of South Carolina, their business is helping customers create the custom storage and organization solutions of their dreams. And, thanks to the financing solutions provided by the Wells Fargo Home Projects® program, their customers can enjoy the closet and storage upgrades they need today with the flexibility to pay for their project over time. Chelsea Blackburn, Closets by Design’s office manager, recently talked with us about the ways her business and her customers benefit from Wells Fargo’s flexible financing options.
Why did you choose the Wells Fargo Home Projects® credit card program?
Chelsea emphasized the importance of giving Closets by Design’s customers flexible payment options for their home improvements. “We find that it helps our customers to have a revolving line of credit to be able to work on their home projects,” she said. “It's easier for them to make monthly payments instead of paying everything out at once.”
How do the flexible financing options from Wells Fargo help your team during the sales process?
For Closets by Design, financing is more than just another way to pay — it helps their customers realize the full potential of their home improvement projects. “I’ve found that we can upsell a little bit more when we have the Wells Fargo offering,” Chelsea explained. “It just makes people feel a little bit more comfortable with adding a little bit extra.” Being able to pay over time can let customers take on the full project now rather than breaking it up into phases. “They may have not been comfortable with paying for the whole project at that moment,” Chelsea continued, “so financing helps them add on a little bit more that they didn't think they could.”
What types of financing promotions do you offer, and why?
While the Wells Fargo Home Projects® program offers a variety of promotions, Chelsea said that Closets by Design has the most success with their No Interest if Paid in Full plans. “Right now, we're running the 12-month No Interest if Paid in Full. Sometimes we offer the 18-month No Interest if Paid in Full if the customer is needing something a little bit more than 12 months.” Regardless of the term length, Chelsea reports that the plans are a big draw for her customers: “People really do enjoy being able to have special financing. Just having that security of not having a high interest rate for a certain period helps a lot of people.”
The key, according to Chelsea, is choosing a plan that meets the customer’s needs. “We work with customers to help them get the financing they want,” she continued. “We also offer a discount on our products, so our discount plus the 12-month or 18-month financing really drives business and does help sell a lot. When we have a percentage off on our products grouped with that financing promotion, it's very, very good for us.”
How does your team use technology to simplify and streamline the financing process?
From the application to back-office processing, Closets by Design takes advantage of Wells Fargo’s advanced tools to keep their financing program running smoothly. Chelsea was especially glad to have access to Wells Fargo Credit Connect, a powerful, easy-to-use application that lets her customers and her team process applications and transactions electronically using a tablet or mobile device. “Wells Fargo Credit Connect has helped so much, just being able to let the customers access the application directly, and letting us access our financing program online as well. Plus, we use less paper, saving the environment.”
Chelsea also mentioned the lift her business gets from having a link to the Wells Fargo credit application on the Closets by Design website. “A lot of times we send the application link from our website directly to customers. People often apply after they've already purchased with us, so we've actually been able to upsell them while we're closing the job. And after we've sold the job, we continue to use the online tools to drive things forward. It definitely helps a lot.”
Do you get the support you need from Wells Fargo?
“We've been doing this since 2013, possibly longer than that,” said Chelsea. “We've been using Wells Fargo for a while. And our relationship representative has been a big help with setting up our access to use remote transactions, walking me through all the different reports, showing me how to cancel properly, how to find a transaction, and how to teach my designers to create authorizations. Our representative has been a great help.”
Talk to a Wells Fargo representative today to learn more!
Contact us:
Wells Fargo Retail Services
1-800-577-5313
wellsfargo.com/homeprojects