GE Capital Launches Series of Educational Webinars for Equipment Dealers

GE Capital, Equipment Finance, a leader in providing financing programs for equipment manufacturers through large dealer networks, is launching a series of free webinars to help these entrepreneurial business leaders sharpen skills related to selling products and hiring employees. The “Summer of Learning” series is applicable to equipment dealers in construction, lift machines, office imaging, information technology, medical equipment and commercial trucking.

The series is composed of the following topics:

• June 24: Financial tools to keep customers coming back.
• July 8: Social media and social listening.
• July 24: Social selling.
• Aug. 14: Hiring and retaining the right people.

“The Summer of Learning is part of our Access GE program, which brings the breadth and depth of GE to our customers,” said Diane Cooper, president of GE Capital, Equipment Finance. “Our goal is to help our dealer customers sharpen their selling and business management skills by providing them with insights and expertise from seasoned GE professionals with decades of experience in these topics.”

All webinars are scheduled to take place 2-3PM ET on the day specified.

To register for the June 24 webinar, click here.

To register for the later webinars, click here.

For more information on GE Capital’s Access GE program, click here.

Webinar Details

June 24: Financial tools to keep customers coming back

Bob Bedford, an Access GE Growth Leader with 25 years’ experience in wholesale and retail financing, works with GE Capital customers to address their unique business challenges. One common issue facing equipment dealers is learning financial selling skills to maintain margins in a price-sensitive environment.

Bedford will discuss:

• Adapting the sales process to incorporate payment-based solutions,
• Revealing the power of asking one additional question when uncovering buyers’ needs,
• Utilizing the power selling tool to optimize product solutions, and
• Examples of structures and scenarios that could potentially impact a dealer’s P&L.

July 8: Social media and social listening

Mike Lee, GE Capital’s IT leader of customer experience and collaboration, will provide dealers with a social media overview. For example, he’ll help them discover what the public is saying about their brands and their competitors. He’ll also help them figure out the biggest influencers in their industry.

He’ll give special attention to dealing with Gen Y (also known as the millennial generation), the population that was born in the U.S. between roughly 1982 and 2004. Whether they’re looking at turf maintenance equipment or high-density servers, these customers have distinctive behaviors at every stage of the buying decision process that differ from those of Baby Boomers and Gen X, for example.

Lee will discuss:

• Social media strategy considerations,
• What “social listening” is and how it can benefit businesses,
• Changing U.S. demographics, and
• How millennials use social media to make purchasing decisions.

July 24: Social selling

As the commercial training and development manager of GE Capital, Equipment Finance, Mike Kunkle helps sales representatives drive business results. A recognized expert on social selling, he’ll provide his formula for success in the digital age. He’ll teach dealers to:

• Conduct research
• Make connections,
• Generate awareness,
• Create interest,
• Build relationships, and
• Convert relationships into revenue.

Aug. 14: Hiring and retaining the right people

John P. Burke, the employee relations manager at GE Aviation, is responsible for global union relations and employee relations at all non-union sites as well as a wide range of strategic issues such as compensation and teaming.

His remarks will cover:

• Actively recruiting and hiring hourly talent,
• Understanding your company and how it’s perceived,
• Utilizing available resources to find talent, and
• Retaining hourly employees.

About GE Capital, Equipment Finance

With more than $36 billion in lease and loan transactions since 2007, GE Capital’s Equipment Finance business manages over 40 manufacturer financing programs that span 10+ industries, including transportation, construction, information technology, office imaging, golf and turf, healthcare and manufacturing. It maintains relationships with approximately 200,000 business customers through its network of dealers and distributors, and evaluates more than 1,000 financing applications daily.

GE Capital offers consumers and businesses around the globe an array of financial products and services. For more information, visit www.gecapital.com or follow company news via Twitter (@GECapital).

GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and curing the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.