By Jeff LaLima

Growth is just one way to measure the success of a business, and frankly, I’ve always viewed happy customers as the best indicator that we at Financial Partners Group are doing something right. 

That said, am I opposed to our company being recognized as one of the fastest-growing independent lessors in the country? No. No I am not.

Recently, FPG was #4 on Monitor Daily’s list of highest percentage growth year-over-year among equipment finance lenders. We grew 135.7% in lending volume over the last 12 months, or $190 million more volume than we had a year ago, and ended up #21 overall on Monitor Daily’s list of largest vendor channel equipment lenders. 

Why am I proud of that? First of all, it’s the company we’re keeping, as we’re mentioned in the same breath as titans of the industry like U.S. Bank Equipment Finance, TD Equipment Financing, and Bank of America Global Leasing. The fact that FPG has done this with a team of 43 people as opposed to thousands is, I think, a testament to the caliber of work we’re doing.

Secondly, it’s really just the beginning for us. Before 2021, we had been operating with a heavy focus on ensuring customers could rely on us and were thrilled with our level of service, but we were doing it without a marketing, customer success, or built-out finance function. Needless to say, everyone on the team was wearing quite a few hats and a few extra pairs of socks. Over the past 12 months, we’ve made strategic investments in those functional areas, bringing on experienced leaders to help build and grow the business further.

In addition, we’re focusing on building out the tech and systems that let us do more and be more efficient, so we can do what the giants of equipment lending do without the enormous teams they draw on. We’ve made a significant push to have a digital-first mindset in everything we do and we’re seeing the benefits of that payoff.

Finally, this is a testament to the trust we’ve earned from our partners, which matters a lot to me. FPG has dozens of vendor partnerships–it makes up the majority of our business today–and we’re not growing this rapidly with strained relationships and unhappy suppliers. We’re rewarding them for their trust with this kind of growth, and they’re rewarding us with continued business that we’ve earned over years. 

These are the long-standing relationships that make our business work, and they underpin our success, period. 

As I said at the beginning of this post, growth is just one measure of success. We’ve seen finance companies experience astronomical expansion over and over again, only to find out they built that success on a rickety foundation or lost sight of the customers that got them there. I’m touting FPG’s place on the Monitor Daily list because I am proud–wouldn’t you be?–but also because it’s a reminder of how we got here and how we’ll get to the next rung on the ladder. 

Growth for this company will never come with shortcuts or slipshod business practices, because we want this rocket to not just keep going up, but bring everyone who trusts us as a lender along for the ride. What good is success if you can’t share it? 

Trust us when we say that this is just the beginning of the growth we’re anticipating for Financial Partners Group, and believe me when I say that means exciting things for those of you who turn to us for the financing you need.

Check out the full list on Monitor Daily right here.