Like any relationship, your banking relationship is facilitated by certain standards. By demonstrating professionalism through respect and preparation, you will help to build your relationship with your banker and increase your odds of business success.

EXPERT TIP | Gary Furr, Organizational Development Consultant:

Preparation is an excellent way to demonstrate professionalism. Meeting with your banker should not be a shoot-from-the-hip experience. Instead you want to think through what your banker needs and how you can present your information in an organized format to help make things easy for your banker. Consideration helps to facilitate your relationship.

Here are a few tips for cultivating a professional relationship with your banker:

• Show competence by being prepared with accurate documents as well as knowledge about your industry and your business.
• Be polite and treat you banker with the same level of respect you would treat your very best customer.
• Always be on time for meetings. Being reliable shows respect.
• When communicating through written correspondence with your banker, make sure that you are brief and to the point.

With over 40 years of C-level business experience and an MBA in organizational development, I am uniquely qualified to help you achieve success in your business. Give me a call to set up a free consultation: 503-312-3145.

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Your banker is invested in your success. For that reason, they want to see a strategy geared toward customer focus, because that is a strategy that breeds business success. Can you explain to your banker how you are meeting your customers’ needs?

EXPERT TIP | Gary Furr, Organizational Development Consultant:

In order for your business to succeed, you need to be focused on meeting your customers’ needs. Very few customers will pay to have you meet a non-need. Get to know your customers and what they need from you so you can organize your business to meet those needs.

As a business owner, you want to understand your customers so that you can exceed their expectations in solving their problem or achieving their goals. Your banker wants to see this understanding because they know it will benefit your strategy.

You should be able to explain to your banker who your customers are, what product or service you are providing to meet or exceed their needs, and where they are located geographically. How is your company organized to meet those needs and provide superior performance? Presenting this information will help inspire your banker’s confidence.

With over 40 years of C-level business experience and an MBA in organizational development, I am uniquely qualified to help you achieve success in your business. Give me a call to set up a free consultation: 503-312-3145.

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Consider your banker to be a partner in your business success. How do you facilitate partnerships? You do so by taking care of the relationship, and one simple way to do that is to express appreciation.

EXPERT TIP | Gary Furr, Organizational Development Consultant:

Just like you want to have a great relationship with your customers, bankers want to have a good relationship with you, their customer. It is your responsibility as a business owner to treat this relationship with your banker as one that is about more than money. Consider it a long-term investment in your future and develop it accordingly.

The more that your banker understands you and your business, the lower the risk to the bank. If you want an excellent relationship with your banker, it means you are not switching banks for a quarter or half basis point. It means you are putting value on the relationship and not just the finance charges and interest rates.

Think of your ideal customer or client. Do you want them switching vendors over a few cents or dollars after you have worked hard to build a great relationship? Of course not! Express your appreciation for your banker by sticking with them.

With over 40 years of C-level business experience and an MBA in organizational development, I am uniquely qualified to help you achieve success in your business. Give me a call to set up a free consultation: 503-312-3145.

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Bankers want to see business owners with a proactive vision for the future and a plan, because that increases their chances of success. If you are being reactive and do not have a plan, your banker will be concerned.

The business owner who does not have a plan or is not following the plan is a potential risk for the bank. Being reactive is when you react to everything that comes your way.

Vision and a detailed plan are the guardrails that prevent you from getting lost in being reactive. That is why bankers want to see this kind of planning. They want to know that your actions are being guided by something more lasting than the day-to-day issues and problems that crop up.

EXPERT TIP | Gary Furr, Organizational Development Consultant:

Being able to explain to your banker how you will execute on your plan is important and demonstrates your proactive mindset. This gives them greater confidence that you will achieve your goals and continue to grow as a company—because all great companies have plans.

With over 40 years of C-level business experience and an MBA in organizational development, I am uniquely qualified to help you achieve success in your business. Give me a call to set up a free consultation: 503-312-3145.

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