Iraq, Jordan, Egypt condemn Israel for attacking Gaza as Holy Land fends off strikes from Syria, Lebanon

Several Middle Eastern countries and other regional authorities have weighed in on the war between Israel and Hamas forces in Gaza, which started when Hamas terrorists, which rule the Gaza Strip, carried out a massacre of Israeli civilians in border towns and at a music festival on Saturday. It has claimed more than 2,200 lives on both sides in just five days.

Leaders in Iraq, Syria, Jordan and a prominent school in Egypt have expressed support for fighters in Gaza and have condemned Israel, where more than 1,200 people, including 155 soldiers, have died. The Gaza Health Ministry says more than 1,050 of their own people have been killed.

The war is expected to escalate as Israel has amassed forces near its border with Gaza, ahead of a potential ground operation. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has also moved troops to its northern border, which it shares with Syria and Lebanon, after the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles at Israeli soldiers.

Rocket fire from Gaza continued to fall onto Tel Aviv Wednesday and, as night falls on the region, additional rocket fire is expected.

ISRAEL AT WAR WITH HAMAS AFTER SURPRISE ATTACKS, MORE THAN 1,200 ISRAELIS DEAD

Other leaders, including the Vatican, have called for an end of the warring and the killing of innocent civilians.

Palestinian factions based in the Syrian capital of Damascus have expressed their support to fighters in Gaza, promoting the claim that Hamas is helping liberate their land.

The officials, from factions including the “Palestinian Islamic Jihad” and the “Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command,” have called for Arab foreign ministers, who are meeting in Cairo on Wednesday, to clearly state their support for the Palestinian people in Gaza.

ISRAEL RESPONDS TO HEZBOLLAH ATTACK FROM LEBANON DEPLOYING ‘TENS OF THOUSANDS’ TO NORTHERN BORDER

An IDF spokesman said Wednesday that Israel received rocket-fire from Lebanon and Syria and was mobilizing “tens of thousands” of troops toward its northern border in response.

Spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus did not say whether the rockets were fired by a Syrian militant group, Hezbollah or another faction. IDF returned fire, striking where the rockets were fired, he said.

There have been concerns this third front — in addition to fighting in Gaza and, separately, in Lebanon — heightened tensions and could escalate into a regional war.

The Kata’ib Hezbollah, a prominent Iranian-backed terrorist group in Iraq, released a statement Wednesday threatening to attack American bases if the United States intervenes in the current Israel-Hamas war.

“Our missiles, drones, and special forces are ready to direct qualitative strikes at the American enemy in its bases and disrupt its interests if it intervenes in this battle,” Ahmad al-Hamidawi, head of the Kataib Hezbollah militia also known as “Abu Hussein,” said in a statement.

US AMMO ARRIVES IN ISRAEL AHEAD OF EXPECTED GROUND OPERATION IN GAZA

Al-Hamidawi also threatened to launch missiles directly at Israeli targets and has called on Iraqis to demonstrate their support for the Hamas military campaign. They are also collecting money for to support Hamas.

Iraq does not share a border with Israel as it is separated by Jordan and Syria.

King Abdullah II of Jordan has called for peace between Gaza and Israel but said Israeli-Palestinian relations could never be stable without a “two-state solution.”

Such a proposal includes Palestinian people getting their own land and country, which Israel opposes.

AT LEAST 40 BABIES, SOME BEHEADED, FOUND BY ISRAEL SOLDIERS IN HAMAS-ATTACKED VILLAGE

“There will be no security, no peace, no stability without just and total peace that comes through a two-state solution,” King Abdullah II told the Jordanian parliament Wednesday, calling for a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The King of Jordan has also mobilized medical and humanitarian aid teams to the blockaded Gaza Strip through Egypt.

Al-Azhar al-Sharif, the Sunni world’s foremost seat of religious learning, released a strongly-worded statement Wednesday alleging Israel has committed “genocide and war crimes” against civilian Palestinians in Gaza.

The Cairo-based religious institution called for Arab and Islamic countries to take “a serious and unified position against the West’s inhuman rally.” It also condemned its “inhuman siege” of Gaza and claimed Israel’s attacks were killing “innocent Palestinian civilians,” which Israel has denied.

The statement called for an investigation into the alleged actions.

ISRAEL LAUNCHES MASSIVE AIRSTRIKES ON DOWNTOWN GAZA CITY, NETANYAHU SAYS: ‘WE HAVE ONLY STARTED’

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi warned about “grave security and humanitarian repercussions” in a statement Wednesday amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

He said his government, which has mediated previous cease-fires between Israel and Palestinian militants, is seeking to “contain the situation,” according to the Egyptian leader’s office.

Egypt has closed the Rafah border, which it shares with Israel and the Gaza Strip, according to an Egyptian security official.

On Wednesday, Pope Francis called for the immediate release of hostages taken by Hamas.

On Saturday, Hamas fighters carried out the most serious assault on Israel in its 75-year history. The attack, which took place on a religious holiday in Israel, included Hamas terrorists killing 260 Israelis at a music festival and the taking of more than 130 hostages. These hostages include Americans and European nationals.

Pope Francis said he is praying for those who saw “a day of celebration transformed into a day of mourning.” He also said that he is following events in Israel and the occupied territories with “pain and apprehension,” with “many dead and injured.’’

The pope clarified that “whoever is attacked has the right to defend himself” but said he was “very worried about the total siege under which the Palestinians in Gaza are living, where there are also many innocent victims.”

Thousands of people on both sides, Israel and Gaza, have been wounded. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

How to Build a B2B Marketing and Sales Funnel That Grows Your ROI

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a guide that showed you exactly how to get more sales?

Maybe it would provide insights into what your customers want and help highlight the actions you need to take at each point in their journey.

Sounds great, right?

Well, what I’m describing is a B2B marketing and sales funnel. If you don’t already have a funnel strategy in place, you’re behind; 87 percent of marketers create content tied to different stages of the customer journey.

Here’s what you need to know about building a funnel that helps increase your sales.

What Is a B2B Marketing Funnel?

A B2B marketing funnel is a blueprint that shows businesses how their customers interact with their brand from the first encounter. It details the journey the people take to become a customer and sets out marketing actions that should take place at each point in the funnel.

It is very similar to a sales funnel and the lines have become quite blurred. However, it’s easiest to picture them side by side:

  • Your marketing funnel creates touchpoints and gives the prospect reasons to purchase.
  • Your sales funnel details the tangible actions you take to convince people to make a purchase.

Both B2B marketing funnels and B2B sales funnels are distinct from their B2C counterparts.

The reason is businesses make purchasing decisions in very different ways to individuals. Businesses tend to spend more money, take more time, and have more stakeholders (particularly if it’s a high-value purchase), which means the journey is longer and more complex.

B2B marketing and sales funnel B2B Customer Journey

In fact, 77 percent of B2B buyers say their last purchase was very complex. The B2B buying cycle is also longer, with 74.6 percent of B2B sales taking at least four months to close and nearly half taking 7 months or more.

This makes it increasingly important that B2B companies are investing in both their marketing and sales funnels to ensure they’re fully optimized.

Why Does My B2B Business Need a Marketing Funnel?

There are lots of different reasons you need a B2B marketing funnel. I’ve selected five of the most important benefits, but these are just the tip of the iceberg:

  1. The B2B customer journey is more complicated, so it needs more oversight.
  2. Modern customers value experience, which is why customer experience is the number one priority for 45.9 percent of businesses.
  3. It allows you to coordinate the efforts of different team members.
  4. You can maximize the efficiency of marketing tools to automate large parts of the process.
  5. It helps you spot inefficiencies and optimize your marketing process.

These are incredibly important benefits, but perhaps the most crucial benefit of a B2B marketing funnel is it provides a plan. You’re not taking ad-hoc actions; you’re taking strategic steps to move the prospect towards purchase.

Prospects have to work through each prior stage to reach the consideration stage. They need specific information at specific points in the journey to do this.

When you do this well, it delivers real results. Simply by reducing friction in their funnel, GoCardless, a financial software company, increased conversions by 139 percent.

Sometimes all it takes is small tweaks, but the key is understanding your funnel.

B2B Marketing Funnel Stages

Someone interacting with your brand for the first time has different needs than someone who’s a regular site visitor. They’ll have different questions, and expect different things from you. How do you make sure you deliver the right content or experience at the right time?

By understanding your B2B marketing funnel, you’ll have a much better idea of what your audience wants at different stages in their journey.

B2b marketing funnel visual

1. Top of Funnel = Awareness + Attention

An SEJ survey found top of funnel content is created more often by marketers than middle or bottom of funnel content. 95 percent of marketers create top of funnel content.

Before prospects consider your products, they need to discover your brand—which happens in the Top of the Funnel, sometimes shortened to TOFU.

For many businesses today, the top of the funnel is characterized by:

  • brand building
  • content marketing
  • SEO
  • paid advertising
  • social media posts
  • influencer marketing
  • video marketing

At this point in the marketing funnel, your potential customers have a question or pain point they need to be solved, and by providing the answer, you initiate the relationship. Your customer has no affinity for your brand though, so you need to draw people’s attention and keep them engaged.

Not easy to do in crowded spaces like social media platforms.

This is why having a clear marketing funnel is so helpful, and it will build awareness for your brand, setting the platform to grow relationships.

2. Middle of Funnel = Interest + Consideration

According to the SEJ survey, 86 percent of marketers create middle of funnel content.

At the top of the marketing funnel, you’ve grabbed people’s attention, the middle of the funnel details what you do with it.

B2B sales are rarely made on the first touchpoint. On average, it takes eight touchpoints to make a sale, which shows you’ve got to do plenty of marketing.

You have to build the relationship and create trust before businesses sign on the dotted line.

The middle of the funnel is where you build interest and position yourself as a trustworthy partner that can help solve pain points. To do this, you’ve got to demonstrate that you:

  • understand what those problems are
  • care about the prospects’ problems
  • have the answers to solve those pain points

This is where marketers rely on targeted, educational content to guide the prospect toward the answers to their problems.

You’ll give away lots of information for free here, but don’t lose sight of the ultimate goal: persuade prospects that the quickest/ easiest/ most effective way to solve the problem is with what you’re selling.

We’re not at the hard sell yet, but we’re planting the seed and building purchase intent.

3. Bottom of Funnel = Intent + Action

76 percent of marketers create bottom of funnel content, per the SEJ survey.

At the bottom of the marketing funnel, the goal is clear: get the conversion.

You’ve put a lot of work in to get people here, and now is the time to capitalize. To do this, you want to be direct, with strong calls to action that lead to purchase pages.

You’ll still use content to guide your prospects through the journey, but it’s shifted slightly now. Here’s a bottom of the funnel content example:

Case study for B2B marketing funnel

This case study provides specific actions and links directly to a page where prospects can reach out.

At this point, you’ve helped the prospect to understand their pain point and convinced them that they need help solving it. Now, you need to ensure you’re the company they turn to for help, not one of your competitors.

To do this, marketers rely on:

  • case studies
  • comparison guides
  • webinars
  • demos
  • free trials
  • optimized landing pages
  • social proof

The top and middle of the funnel are designed to get people to the bottom of the funnel, but it’s here that you drive it home and complete the sale.

4. Post-Funnel

A B2B marketing funnel doesn’t finish once you’ve made the sale.

You’ve worked hard to build a relationship with these people, so you want to maximize its value. To do this, you need to have a firm understanding of your post-purchase marketing.

Repeat customers are nine times more likely to convert, so this is a crucial step in driving ROI.

This is where you continue to engage with the customer, ensuring they’re getting the most out of their product, and solving any issues they might have. It’s also a time where you will look to upsell and cross-sell by:

  • showing how your products work better together
  • highlighting features of upgraded packages
  • communicating new improvements you’re making to your products and services

The goal is to keep the conversation going, so when the customer decides they need something more, you’re the first business that comes to mind.

What Is a B2B Sales Funnel?

A B2B sales funnel is a visual representation of how leads are captured and moved through the funnel.

The B2B marketing funnel is primarily concerned with creating the right touchpoints to guide the prospect through the customer journey.

The B2B sales funnel is more concerned with the actions that nudge the prospect closer to becoming a customer. For instance, rather than writing educational content, you have a sales rep guide the prospect through a demo of your software.

You should have a marketing funnel and sales funnel that work in unison to give the prospect everything they need for maximum efficiency.

Why Does My B2B Business Need a Sales Funnel?

Your business needs a sales funnel for the same reasons it needs a marketing funnel. Namely, the B2B customer journey is complicated.

Even the most straightforward decisions can become complicated when selling to a business. The typical B2B buying journey includes six to ten decision-makers, each with specific interests. You’ve got to bring them all together to make a positive decision about your product.

It’s hard to do this without a plan of action, even if that plan of action looks like this:

Why Does My B2B Business Need a Sales Funnel

Your B2B marketing funnel helps guide the stakeholders through the process in the background, but your B2B sales funnel outlines the overt actions you take to convert prospects.

Again, this is broken down into different stages so your team knows what actions to take at each point.

B2B Sales Funnel Stages

Every business is unique, which means prospects will take a slightly different buyer journey. For that reason, you’ll find plenty of different B2B sales funnel examples.

In general, they’re based on the same principles, such as AIDA, Forrester’s Model, and the Conversion Funnel. This section will keep it simple and break the B2B sales funnel down into six stages.

1. Awareness

You’ll immediately notice the similarities with the B2B marketing funnel here. As I said, sales funnels and marketing funnels are intrinsically linked.

We talked a lot about content in the marketing funnel, specifically what type of content is needed at each point of the customer journey. The sales funnel is much more focused on the methods you use to create brand awareness and drive demand.

This is where you’ll test different marketing methods and keep a close eye on results to see what offers the best performance.

Strategies might include comparing click-through rates on social media ads with Google Ads, or working on cold emails for lead generation.

The key is to keep an eye on key performance indicators, such as:

  • site traffic
  • growth of social media profiles
  • sign-ups to your email newsletter
  • click through rates on paid ads
  • downloads of gated assets

The B2B sales funnel might be more complicated than B2C, but they all start with awareness.

2. Interest

It takes time to build interest in your products—first, you need to build a relationship.

At this point, you aren’t calling them five times a day to push a sale. You need to let them establish an interest in your product or services so that they take the first action.

Keep track of the content your prospects engage with and offer them upgraded content to cement their interest.

For instance, if someone signs up for a live demo of your software, this is a strong indication of interest. This allows you to move to the next stage in your process and actively pursue the sale.

Make sure you’re creating high-quality content upgrades, and use them to determine how hot or cold a lead is.

Your lead scoring might look a little like this:

  • signed up for email newsletter: 2 points
  • downloaded a beginner’s guide: 3 points
  • downloaded a brochure: 5 points
  • attended a webinar: 8 points
  • started a free trial: 10 points

This helps you see exactly how motivated your prospect is so you can reach out at just the right time.

3. Consideration

The consideration stage of the B2B sales funnel is where it can get a bit more “salesy.” Your prospects have recognized their pain point and identified your products as a potential solution, but they’re still weighing up certain things:

  • How big is the problem they need to solve?
  • How quickly does the problem need addressing?
  • Can they address the problem internally?
  • What alternative products can address the problem?
  • What budget can they allocate to solving the problem?

Studies show this is the point in the customer journey where 60 percent of prospects want to speak to a sales manager.

At this point, you should have a good amount of information on the prospect, and guess what?

This information will help you to help the prospect solve their problem; with your product!

In the consideration stage, your prospects are looking at reviews and evaluating your product, but often the fastest way to do this is simply by speaking to someone.

4. Intent

The intent stage of the sales funnel is all about refining leads. People know who your brand is, they know they need a solution, and they’ve considered all their options. However, they still need that final push.

For example, maybe they add an item to their cart but don’t convert. You’re not alone—in fact, just under 70 percent of carts are abandoned.

That’s because adding an item to a cart or even filling out card details is a sign of intent. It’s the next stage of exploration, and as your abandon cart statistics probably show, many prospects don’t get past this stage.

Understanding the difference between intent and what’s needed to complete a purchase is an important part of the sales funnel because it allows you (or your sales team) to step in at the right time.

An abandoned cart, unused software trial, or demo sign up is a good sign because it means you’ve got a hot lead. It’s an opportunity to get them on the phone (or initiate your abandoned cart email series) and provide the push they need to convert.

Abandon cart email series have an open rate of 41.09 percent, which means you’re getting a second chance with a large chunk of potential customers. If you can reach them on the phone, your conversions are likely to rise even further.

5. Evaluation + Decision

Here’s where you drive the sale home: the evaluation and decision stage of the B2B sales funnel.

Your prospect signaled their intent, but they’re not quite ready to make a decision yet. How do you take them to the next level?

At this point, stakeholders complete their final research and come together to make a decision. The challenge is there can be so many people involved in the process.

You might have someone from marketing, someone from sales, someone from customer support, and someone from corporate, and they’re all considering slightly different details. You’ve already put in a lot of hard work to progress all these people through the sales funnel, now it’s conversion time.

In the evaluation and decision stage, your sales team should contact the prospect regularly to answer questions, highlight benefits, and work out a deal.

6. Purchase

Just because someone has decided they want to buy your product or service doesn’t mean it will happen. There’s still a lot that can happen before people enter their card details and you deliver the product or service.

Take site speed, for example. The average transaction conversion rate for a page that takes under two seconds to load is 6.32 percent. Once you drop below two seconds, that number decreases to below 3 percent and continues to fall as load time increases.

B2B marketing and sales funnel Conversion rate stats

When people make a big investment, they expect it to be convenient, which means you need to improve the purchase process in any way possible.

The first hurdle they’ll face is your payment process, and if it’s not smooth, people won’t convert. Make sure it’s intuitive, easy to use, and pre-fill details when possible. User testing can help you spot issues in the process.

You’ll also want to keep a close eye on people who drop out of the funnel. They’re often well-qualified and may respond to retargeting ads or social selling.

How to Create a Cohesive B2B Marketing and Sales Funnel for Your Business

Your B2B marketing and sales funnel is unique to your specific business and your specific place in the market. Even your closest competitors don’t have the exact same model, team, or resources.

Since you can’t just copy a pre-made blueprint, how do you create a cohesive funnel?

1. Set Your Goals and Objectives

Before you look at any business process, you’ve got to understand your goals and objectives.

People who write out their goals are 20 percent more successful in accomplishing them, so it’s crucial to outline what you want to do.

You might choose to focus on:

  • total sales
  • average sale value
  • conversion rate
  • percentage of repeat sales
  • customer satisfaction

The important thing to remember is you don’t have to have just one funnel. Your goals may differ depending on the audience you’re appealing to, so the customer journey will change as well.

Set clear key performance indicators to assess your progress.

2. Understand Your Target Audience

Understanding your target audience is everything in digital marketing. If you get this wrong, then it doesn’t matter how much money you throw at it, you won’t see maximum results.

It’s worth going the extra mile to understand your target audience because funnels focus on the customer journey. If you don’t understand their wants, needs, and pain points, then you can’t take the right actions at the right time.

B2B marketing and sales funnel Customer profiles

Build out detailed customer profiles so you have a clear picture of what your ideal customers look like.

3. Organize Your Team

As you can see, comprehensive B2B marketing and sales funnels have a lot of different elements. To maximize effectiveness, you’ll draw on a range of talents and knowledge.

The important thing is to ensure that marketing and sales are working together. When those two teams become siloed and communication breaks down, your funnel becomes much more inefficient.

If you haven’t worked with a B2B sales funnel in the past, this can be a big change. Get buy-in from your team, and showcase how your new funnel will make life (and ROI!) better for everyone.

4. Choose the Right Channels

If you want to reach your target audience, you need to be in places where they hang out. This can change a lot depending on demographics.

Take a look at what percentage of U.S. adults use Instagram:

  • 18-29: 71 percent
  • 30-49: 48 percent
  • 50-64: 29 percent
  • 65+: 13 percent

If you’re trying to reach an audience aged 50+, then Instagram might not be your best option. Your job is to find out where your audience hangs out and tailor your content to fit these platforms.

5. Create Your Assets

There’s one thing that should be consistent throughout the B2B marketing and sales funnel: high-quality content.

Whether you’re creating a beginner’s guide at the top of the funnel or a detailed comparison at the bottom of the funnel, you’ve got to have the right assets. As you’re planning your B2B marketing funnel, you need to think about what assets you need to create at each step in the journey.

Two-thirds of marketers are increasing their content budget for precisely this reason.

6. Track Your Progress

Your B2B marketing and sales funnel shouldn’t look the same two years from now. That’s because you should be constantly monitoring results and optimizing accordingly.

It’s not about setting up a funnel and sitting back and relaxing.

You’ve created a great framework, and now you start to work on the fine details that will take it to the next level. Make sure you’ve got a process to help you track results to keep improving.

B2B Marketing and Sales Funnel Frequently Asked Questions

What are the differences between a B2B sales funnel and B2B marketing funnel?

A B2B marketing funnel is about creating touchpoints and giving prospects a reason to buy. A B2B sales funnel is more action-oriented, highlighting the actions you need to take at each stage in the customer journey to convert a prospect into a customer.

Do I need to create both a sales and a marketing funnel for my B2B business?

Yes. To completely understand the customer journey and the actions you need to take at each point, it’s best to have both a sale and marketing funnel for B2B businesses.

How much does it cost to create a B2B marketing funnel?

You can create a B2B marketing funnel using your own resources, but if you pay someone to do it for you, expect it to cost between $5,000 and $10,000. As this serves as a blueprint for marketing and sales, it’s worth the investment.

How much does it cost to create a B2B sales funnel?

It’s possible to create a B2B sales funnel yourself. It takes time to build out the perfect funnel, but if you have the right skills, it can be very cost-effective.

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Conclusion: B2B Marketing and Sales Funnels

Ultimately, business is about making sales. B2B marketing and sales funnels are a complete guide to how your business builds a customer base and makes sales.

You’ll never convert every prospect, but making small improvements to your conversion rate can transform your business.

Your B2B marketing and sales funnels show you how to do this by providing your team with a clear picture of what action they need to take in any given situation. Once you map out the process, it becomes much easier to track results and improve your performance.

The B2B customer journey is complicated, but it’s much easier to navigate with a good B2B marketing and sales funnel.

How are you incorporating B2B marketing and sales funnels into your business plan?

Get Sprinter Vans with Business Credit: We Show You How

Building Your Commercial Fleet of Sprinter Vans While You Build Your Business and Its Credit

Want or need sprinter vans for your business? Then you should be building business credit!

Your business doesn’t start off with good business credit already built. In much the same way, you probably didn’t start with any vehicles. Or, at least, not with business vehicles you wanted to keep. And even if you bought your business fully created, you can still build it to greater heights. For all three goals, it pays to work in an orderly fashion. Step by step, it all works together.

Building business credit will mean getting vendor accounts. Starting with vendor credit accounts is a proven way to start building business credit. But we don’t include vendors just because they report to the business credit reporting agencies. We include them and we talk about them because they have quality products that you can use and great customer service. They are not just a means to an end!

But let’s start off with some basics.

How Do Sprinter Vans and Business Credit Work Together?

In general, the term ‘sprinter van’ is used more or less synonymously with ‘cargo van’. But it’s actually the name of a line of vans made by Mercedes-Benz. However, much like the words ‘Kleenex’ and ‘tissue’, the brand name has entered the lexicon as a synonym for a more general term.

Sprinter Vans and Business Credit Together

Sprinter vans tend to be a bit taller than full-sized SUVs. Per Zip Recruiter, you generally don’t need a special commercial license to drive a sprinter van. But in some states you may need a chauffeur’s license if you’re driving passengers.

According to Car and Driver, “over 50 percent of Sprinter vans that are sold in the U.S. are used for commercial purposes. The other half of these vans are sold as passenger shuttles and recreational vehicles, such as limousines, office vans, family vans, wheelchair accessible vans, and golf vans.”

Sprinter vans can currently cost between $35,000 and $45,000 and that’s before you add options.

Building Business Credit the Right Way

Start with building business credit. But you can’t start with high limits. First build starter trade lines that report (vendor credit). Then you’ll have an established credit profile. Then you’ll get a business credit score. With an established business credit profile and score you can start getting high credit limits.

The Process

Use your credit and pay on time, just like you should with personal credit. These vendors we’ll show you will report to the business credit reporting agencies. And you’ll build a good business credit score.

But Just What is Starter Vendor Credit?

These trade lines are creditors who will give you initial credit when you have none now. These vendors typically offer terms such as Net 30, instead of revolving. So if you are approved for $1,000 in vendor credit and use all of it, you must pay that money back in a set term such as within 30 days on a Net 30 account. However, there are some revolving accounts which are still considered to be starter vendors.

Vendor Credit Accounts

You must pay net 30 accounts in full within 30 days. And you have to pay net 60 accounts in full within 60 days. Unlike with revolving accounts, you have a set time when you must pay back what you borrowed or the credit you used.

To start your business credit profile the RIGHT way, you need to get approved for vendor accounts that report to the business CRAs. Once that’s done, you can then use the credit, pay back what you used, and the account is reported to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax, or some combination.

Details

Once reported, then you have trade lines, an established credit profile, and an established credit score. Using a newly established business credit profile and score, you can then get approval for more credit under your EIN. For vendor credit, you can often leave your SSN off the application since this credit isn’t on offer through a bank.

With and EIN and not your SSN on the application.  the credit issuer pulls your EIN credit. They see a solid profile and score, and as a result can approve you for more credit. Keep in mind, credit through a bank will require your SSN. It’s an anti-money laundering requirement under federal law.

Vendor Credit Cards

Vendor credit cards will get business credit building for your business going. Once you’ve added payment experiences from three vendors, and they have reported to business CRAs like Dun & Bradstreet, you can start qualifying for fleet credit. Make sure business credit cards don’t report on your personal credit

Every step and every credit provider is designed to help your business. The idea is to help you qualify for business credit cards that you will actually use. This isn’t building for the sake of building, and it isn’t just to increase a number. These credit providers are going to have what your business needs to succeed.

Demolish your funding problems with 27 killer ways to get cash for your business.

Business Credit Benefits

Keep in mind, business credit is independent of personal. Applying for it often won’t harm your personal credit scores, although it can if you offer a PG and then fail to pay. An inquiry will also impact personal credit. Too many inquires can hurt your ability to get an approval. Building this asset can only help your business. You can help your future business right now.

Vendor Credit Benefits

You MUST have 3 or more vendor accounts reporting to move onto more credit with higher limits and better terms, more reporting accounts are even better. It will take 30-90 days for those accounts to report, 60 days on average.  Do NOT apply for tier 2 credit without having 3 or more accounts first.

Getting a Vendor to Pull Credit Under your EIN

Remember, there is no Social Security requirement for starter vendor credit. This is unlike bank loans and more universal business credit cards. So leave the field blank. Don’t fill in any other number, as that’s a violation of two Federal laws. A blank field will force them to pull your business credit under your EIN.

But note: some creditors will still require an SSN for verification purposes. You should present your SSN in this situation but make sure you aren’t agreeing a PG or personal credit check.

Building Business Credit – What You Really Need to Know

You won’t get a Visa or a MasterCard (more universal business credit cards) right away. You need to have credit to get more credit. Start building trade lines to get the big payoff. Getting initial credit is the hardest part. The vast majority of trade vendors who issue credit don’t report it to the business reporting agencies. So, you MUST find sources which actually report.

Using Business Credit Vendors

Check out three of our favorite starter vendors:

  • 76
  • Wex Fleet
  • Marathon

All three come from Wex

76

Phillips 66 Company owns 76. It has more than 1,800 retail fuel sites in the United States. This card reports to D&B and Experian. But keep in mind: before applying for multiple accounts with WEX Fleet cards, make sure to leave enough time in between applying so that they don’t red flag your account for fraud.

Qualifying for 76

To qualify, you need the following:

  • Your corporate entity must be in good standing with the applicable Secretary of State
  • An EIN
  • Company address matching everywhere
  • D-U-N-S number from Dun & Bradstreet
  • Your business license (if applicable)
  • A business bank account
  • Business phone number with a 411 listing

Your SSN is necessary for informational purposes. If concerned they will pull your personal credit talk to their credit department before applying. You can give a $500 deposit instead of using a personal guarantee if you’ve been in business less than a year. Apply online or over the phone. Terms are Net 15. You can use this card at any P66, 76, or Conoco fueling location.

Wex Fleet

They report to Experian and D&B. Wex offers universal fleet cards, heavy truck cards, and universally accepted business fleet cards. Their cards have features supporting a small business. This includes a rewards program. But before applying for multiple accounts with WEX Fleet cards, make sure to have enough time in between applying, so that they don’t red flag your account for fraud.

If you’re not approved based on business credit history, or been in business for at least a year, then a $500 deposit is needed or a Personal Guarantee. Apply online or over the phone. Terms:  Net 15 (Wex Fleet Card), Net 22, or revolving (Wex FlexCard).

Qualifying for Wex Fleet

To qualify, you need:

  • Entity in good standing with Secretary of State
  • EIN number with IRS
  • Business address (matching everywhere)
  • D-U-N-S number
  • Business License (if applicable)
  • Business Bank account
  • Business phone number with a 411 listing

Demolish your funding problems with 27 killer ways to get cash for your business.

Marathon

Marathon Petroleum Company provides transportation fuels, asphalt, and specialty products throughout the United States. Their product line supports commercial, industrial, and retail operations. This card reports to Dun & Bradstreet and Experian. Remember: before applying for multiple accounts with WEX Fleet cards, make sure to have enough time in between applying so they don’t red-flag your account for fraud.

Qualifying for Marathon

To qualify, you need:

  • Entity in good standing with Secretary of State
  • EIN number with IRS
  • Business address- matching everywhere.
  • D-U-N-S number
  • Business license (if applicable)
  • And a business bank account
  • Business phone number with a 411 listing

Your SSN is necessary for informational purposes. If concerned they will pull your personal credit talk to their credit department before applying. You can provide a $500 deposit instead of using a personal guarantee if you’ve been in business less than a year. Apply online or over the phone. Terms are Net 15.

Let’s move onto what’s called fleet credit.

Fleet Credit

Fleet credit comes after starter vendors. It comes from places like Gulf and Exxon. You can use it to:

  • Buy fuel
  • Maintain vehicles of all sorts, including sprinter vans
  • Repair vehicles

Even businesses which don’t have big fleets can still benefit. Yes, fleet credit works for sprinter vans. These are usually gas credit cards.

There may be a minimal time in business requirement. If your business can’t make a time in business requirement, you may be able to instead offer a personal guarantee or give a deposit to secure the credit.

Now that you’ve got a bunch of cards to support your fleet, it’s time to look at vehicle financing to buy the fleet!

Vehicle Financing

Much like you probably didn’t buy your personal vehicles outright, financing is a great way to get a vehicle now, without having to wait until you can just pay cash and drive it off the lot. With a fleet car, your choices are usually buying or leasing. Providers include banks like Bank of America or the financing arm of the manufacturer, such as Chrysler Capital.

Using Business Credit for Vehicle Financing

You can even finance a vehicle purchase or lease through our Business Credit Builder. These offers are in Tier 4, so they’re going to have certain requirements that business credit neophytes just won’t be able to meet. Lenders will want to see that you have the income to support the purchase.

Consider Ally Car Financing.

Ally Car Financing Through Credit Suite

Ally provides personal financing. But they will also report to business credit bureaus. If your business qualifies for financing without the owner’s guarantee, you can get financing in the business name only. Ally will report to D&B, Experian, and Equifax.

Qualifying for an Ally Commercial Line of Credit

You will need:

  • Entity in good standing with Secretary of State
  • EIN number with IRS
  • Business address- matching everywhere
  • D-U-N-S number
  • Business license (if applicable)
  • And a business bank account
  • Bank reference
  • Fleet financing references

If you use a personal guarantee, Ally will not report to the personal credit bureaus unless the account defaults.

Qualifying for Ally Commercial Vehicle Financing

You can get a lease or a loan. To qualify, you need most of the same things as you need for an Ally Commercial Line of Credit, except for a bank reference and fleet financing references. There is no minimum time in business requirement. Apply in person only, as the dealer will advise if you have an approval or will need to provide a Personal Guarantee (PG).

Ford Commercial Vehicle Financing Through Credit Suite

Ford offers several commercial vehicle financing options. These include loans, lines, and leases to actual business entities. This is not for sole proprietorships. You can get a loan or a lease.

Ford may ask for a Personal Guarantee (PG) if you are not approved on the merit of your application. Apply at the dealership. Ford will report to D&B, Experian, and Equifax.

Qualifying for Ford Commercial Vehicle Financing

To qualify, you need:

  • Entity in good standing with Secretary of State
  • EIN number with IRS
  • Business address- matching everywhere
  • D-U-N-S number
  • Business license (if applicable)
  • And a business bank account
  • Strong business credit history, with a good Experian business credit score.

Now that you’ve got the cars and the cards, it’s time to look at using your business credit for vehicle financing.

Demolish your funding problems with 27 killer ways to get cash for your business.

Vehicle Financing

With commercial vehicle financing, business owners may be required to personally guarantee vehicle loans.  If you are a co-borrower the loan will most likely report to your personal credit report. Starting off by giving a personal guarantee means you can get money, and start building your commercial fleet, now instead of later.

PG (Personal Guarantee) Financing

According to Investopedia, a personal guarantee is “an individual’s legal promise to repay credit issued to a business for which they serve as an executive or partner. Providing a personal guarantee means that if the business becomes unable to repay the debt, the individual assumes personal responsibility for the balance. Personal guarantees provide an extra level of protection to credit issuers who want to make sure they will be repaid.”

When you provide a personal guarantee, you are adding your Social Security number to the application. You should expect a hard inquiry. You’re also adding the details of your personal income to the application.

No PG (Personal Guarantee) Financing

With no PG financing, you can get higher limits and better terms. Continue to build exceptional business credit and pay your bills on time. In general, the following will eliminate the need to provide a personal guarantee for this type of financing:

  • good business credit
  • a decent amount of time in business or
  • good personal credit

Much like with any other kind of business borrowing, the more assurances you can give the lender, the better.

Get Sprinter Vans with Business Credit: Takeaways

Use business credit to buy everything you need to run a fleet, from fuel to service. And use auto financing to buy your sprinter vans. Help make your business’s future bright – today! Let’s get together and have a conversation about getting started.

The post Get Sprinter Vans with Business Credit: We Show You How appeared first on Credit Suite.

New comment by bugmachine in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (August 2021)"

Jisc | United Kingdom (Bristol, London, Manchester, Harwell) | Software Team Lead | REMOTE and/or ONSITE | Full stack: React, Typescript, Scala, C#, Postgres, Serverless Framework, Terraform, AWS, Azure

https://jobs.jisc.ac.uk/Jisc/JobDescription/8WPseeWuTCE

We believe in ‘Technology for Good’ – in improving lives through education and research. Our passionate team of people want to make a social impact and challenge conventional thinking as they work on cutting-edge, emerging technologies and solutions – the kind you won’t find anywhere else.

Jisc’s Software Development Group is a central resource that works closely with the different product families across Jisc to create digital products that meet their vision and users’ requirements. Focusing on technical innovation and software delivery, we pride ourselves on building the right thing, and building the thing right. We do this using agile methodologies, with continuous testing, architecting, integration, delivery and validated learning.

Flexible working, great benefits, great people.

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Sturm Ruger's stock turns lower, falls 1.0% after rallying as much as 2.3% earlier

This is a Real-time headline. These are breaking news, delivered the minute it happens, delivered ticker-tape style. Visit www.marketwatch.com or the quote page for more information about this breaking news.

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5 Steps to Get a Business Credit Card, Bad Credit or Not

If you have bad personal credit, you may find yourself struggling to get a business credit card. The key to getting a business credit card, bad credit or not, is business credit. 

You Can Get a Business Credit Card, Bad Credit Not Being an Issue

You’re likely aware business credit is a good thing.  You know you need it to help you fund your business.  But do you know how it helps you specifically get credit cards, even if you have bad personal credit? Furthermore, do you know how to get it? 

How Do You Get Business Credit? 

Business credit doesn’t just happen like personal credit does.  You have to work to build business credit intentionally. While not hard, it is a process, and a time consuming one at that. The sooner you start the better, especially if you need a business credit card, bad credit being an issue. 

Business Credit Card Bad Credit: Separation is Key

First thing’s first. You have to establish your business as an entity separate from yourself the owner. This means not using your own name or address. That doesn’t mean you have to get a separate phone line, or even a separate location.  

You do need separate contact information however.  You can get a business phone number pretty easily that will work over the internet instead of phone lines.  In addition, the phone number will forward to any phone you want it too so you can simply use your personal cell phone or landline if you want.  Whenever someone calls your business number it will ring straight to you. 

You can use a virtual office for a business address. This is a business that offers a physical address for a fee, and sometimes they even offer mail service and live receptionist services.  In addition, there are some that offer meeting spaces for those times you may need to meet a client or customer in person. 

business credit card bad credit Credit Suite

Learn more here and start building business credit with your company’s EIN, not your SSN. 

Business Credit Card Bad Credit: EIN not SSN

The next thing you need to do is get an EIN for your business.  This is an identifying number for your business that works in a way similar to how your SSN works for you personally.  Some business owners used their SSN for their business. This is what a lot of sole proprietorships and partnerships do.  However, it really doesn’t look professional to lenders, and it can cause your personal and business credit to get all mixed up.   You can get one for free from the IRS.

This step is vital.  When you apply for a business credit card, bad credit can get in the way mainly because your SSN signals a look at your personal credit.  If you use your EIN instead of your SSN, the lender will only be seeing the credit attached to your business. 

Business Credit Card Bad Credit: Incorporation is Not Optional

Incorporating your business as an LLC, S-corp, or corporation is necessary for separation of business from the owner, and many other things. .  It lends credence to your business as one that is legitimate. It also offers some protection from liability. 

Which option you choose does not matter as much for these purposes as it does for your budget and needs for liability protection.  The best thing to do is talk to your attorney or a tax professional.  

Business Credit Card Bad Credit: Separate Bank Account

You have to open a separate, dedicated business bank account.  There are a few reasons for this.  First it helps solidify the separation between yourself and your business.  Also, it will help you keep track of business finances. This is important for tax purposes. 

There’s more to it however.  There are several types of funding you cannot get without a business bank account.  Many lenders and credit cards want to see one with a minimum average balance.  In addition, you cannot get a merchant account without a business account at a bank. That means, you cannot take credit card payments.  Studies show consumers tend to spend more when they can pay by credit card.

business credit card bad credit Credit Suite

Learn more here and start building business credit with your company’s EIN, not your SSN. 

Business Credit Card Bad Credit: Starter Vendors

Now, once you have these things in place,  you need to get accounts that will report your payments to the business credit agencies. It sounds easy enough, but the catch is, you have to find vendors that will extend credit without you first having credit. 

We call these vendors starter vendors.  They will extend net terms on invoices with little requirement. They don’t check credit. Typically, they require a certain number of days in business, a minimum average balance in a business bank account, minimum annual revenue, or some combination of these things. 

Extending the credit isn’t enough however.  There are some that do this, but there are far fewer that will actually report those payments.  You need vendors to report payments to the business credit reporting agencies, thus building your business credit score. 

The Snowball Effect

Of course you are wondering what any of this has to do with applying for a business credit card, bad credit being in the way. Here’s how.  Once you have several of these starter vendor accounts reporting, your score will be strong enough to support store credit. 

A business store account is usually issued for that specific store or website specifically.  Their limits are usually on the lower side as well.  However, after you get a few of them and use them responsibly. Your score will grow even strong. These are cards from places like Home Depot, Staples, or Best Buy. 

Then, you should qualify for fleet credit. These are cards from places like Shell that are used specifically for gasoline and automotive repair and maintenance.  

After a few of those are reporting your consistent, on-time payments, you should have a strong business credit score and be able to apply for standard business credit cards that are not limited by where you use them or what you use them to buy. By using your EIN and not your SSN, you can get a business credit card, bad credit on your personal credit report and all. It’s all a big snowball effect. 

business credit card bad credit Credit Suite

Learn more here and start building business credit with your company’s EIN, not your SSN. 

In the Interim

In the meantime, you can give your business credit building efforts a kickstart with a card like the Brex card for startups.  It  is one of the few true options if you are looking for a business credit card, back credit not being an issue.  Even a FICO as low as 300 may qualify.  There is no annual fee, and you can apply with your EIN rather than your SSN.  There is no personal guarantee requirement. 

The only catch is, not all industries qualify, and some industries require more paperwork than others.

You could also try getting accounts that you already have a relationship with to report to the business credit reporting agencies. This could be vendors you work with already. Maybe ask them if they will consider net terms and reporting payments. If you already make your payments consistently on time, they may be willing to do so without a credit check. 

You could also consider asking utilities that you already pay regularly to report your payments.  They may say no. They don’t have to do it. But they might, and if they do it can only help your business credit grow faster. 

A credit line hybrid can be another great option to help speed things along. You have to have a 680 or better personal credit score, but you can take on a credit partner if you don’t meet that. The account still reports to your business credit, so you can keep building your score. And, you can get up to $150,000 unsecured financing for your business. 

An Expert Can Help You Through the Steps 

It sounds easy enough to do all of this on your own.  However,  there are some steps that are easier than others. Specifically, it can be very difficult to find starter vendors that will report to your business credit. For this and other difficult steps, it can be very helpful to have a business credit expert help you out. It’s definitely worth considering. 

 

The post 5 Steps to Get a Business Credit Card, Bad Credit or Not appeared first on Credit Suite.

New comment by GuiloLa in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (November 2020)"

Lazy Lantern (YC S19) | Staff Backend/Data Engineer, Senior FullStack Engineer | Full-time | Remote

Lazy Lantern is an AI-powered product analytics solution – Pure data product with many challenges around AI & Big Data

– Founders with experience at leading Silicon Valley companies

– Several unicorn customers, dataset of billions of events

– Backed by top-tier US & European investors, incl. Y Combinator

Contact: gl@lazylantern.com

Comprehending The Money Market

Recognizing The Money Market

The cash market is one of the most safe economic markets readily available. It is generally made use of by huge firms, economic organizations and also federal governments to safeguard their cash sources for a brief duration of time. The major distinction, however, in a cash as well as a bond market is that the cash market is typically for an extremely brief duration of time, generally under a year.

In the most standard of type, the cash market is a loaning of cash by a federal government establishment or various other big companies. When your following bull market drops off, this might be where you prepare to place your cash.

You can additionally contrast the cash market to the supply market. While in the supply market the private financier is able to obtain right into the video game instead conveniently, the cash market is dealing with such a big quantity of cash that it is a lot also high for a lot of.

If this all audios as well great to not obtain right into, the finest means for the specific to obtain right into the cash market is to look right into cash market common funds. These funds swimming pool with each other cash from a number of resources so that they can contend for the cash market shares.

The primary distinction, however, in a cash and also a bond market is that the cash market is generally for an extremely brief duration of time, typically under a year. In the most standard of kind, the cash market is a loaning of cash by a federal government establishment or various other huge firms. While in the supply market the private capitalist is able to obtain right into the video game instead quickly, the cash market is dealing with such a big quantity of cash that it is a lot also high for many. If this all noises also great to not obtain right into, the finest means for the specific to obtain right into the cash market is to look right into cash market common funds.

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