The art of not talking...

Wow is this a tough one for me. I like to talk, a lot. Too much I'm sure. I met my match today with a client that I sat down with. I'm not sure this person even knew I was there as the conversation was one sided at best. Oh I got in the occassional grunt, and even tried to focus and steer the conversation back to the task at hand with zero luck. It reminded me of something my grandfather once said, you don't learn anything by talking. When I got home tonight I shared this with my kids and tried to really nail that point home.

Often on calls or when out to lunch with a client I find myself not only dictating the conversation, but dominating it. That can't be fun for anyone else (although I do consider myself a decent conversationalist) and I often find myself in my head telling myself to breath and start asking those always important questions that get my guest talking about themselves and their businesses. It is only when they truly open up that the real conversation begins, with me assuming the role of the patient listener. And if there is one thing I learned early, there isn't a business owner on this earth that doesn't love telling their story, and I genuinely love to hear it. Makes us better bankers, helps develop trust, and that sought after feeling of actually being a team, working toward a common goal (their success) in an open way.

So the next time you are out with someone, ask yourself am I doing all the talking, is the conversation about me or them and am I adding any value to the discussion? Most important take some deep breaths, sit back and actively listen to your guest. You will be surprised by how much they are and aren't saying.  There are so many clues contained within what your guest is saying, its up to you as a good banking partner to fish those out and explore them with good questions and collectively brainstorm some real solutions that will add appreciable value to your relationships.

Nobody is going to die.....

Ok folks, let's keep things in perspective here. We're bankers, we're not doctors. If we don't get the report to the boss about past due loans, or get our quarterly updates done until next week things will still be ok in the world. So PLEASE stop acting like these things are stressful, I like to say they will get done when they get done and not a second sooner!

Now if your client needs something, payroll issue, line of credit not working, on line banking down, these are the circumstances where a bit more urgency needs to be applied, but as far as the day to day mundane beurocratic responsibilities we are expected to do so someone can check it off their to do list, well I'm just saying let's try and keep things in perspective!

Prioritize those things that you initiate, versus those that are initiated for you.....

Go with your gut.............

We have all received those phone calls, the seemingly too good to be true opportunity. You wonder, why are they calling me? Why aren't the big boys dancing all over this seemingly air tight opportunity. STOP, the truth is they probably already have and either spit this deal out, priced it too high for the borrower or knew something character related that made the deal unbankable in their institution. GO WITH THIS. What does that mean? Ask them why they are coming to you and what other banks they are talking to. That always garners a few creative answers, more often than not with the eyes shifting everywhere but on you.

The real fun begins when right after telling you about the great deal they ask the banker's favorite question "so what's my rate". ATTENTION anyone out there looking for money. Try to at least give the banker your business name and maybe even your full name before dropping this daisy of a question on us. AND understand that we need to do a lot more than hear a good story before we can even quote any type of rate. So maybe hold that question in your pocket for a while, we know you are thinking it so stay with us, we'll get around to it after we vet the deal a bit....you know the things like how are you going to pay us, what can we sell if you don't, and do you have anything to fall back on to give us time to work this through if things don't go as planned (called the guarantor, more on this later).....

So I'm side tracked, that's going to happen a lot. The point is if a deal walks in out of the blue and its too good to be true, it is. 9 out of 10 times the person will need the money yesterday and will immediately (after asking rate) ask how you can circumvent your policy on his or her behalf to get the deal done fast. NOTHING GOOD EVER HAPPENS QUICKLY. So as the banker, set the expectation of timing and get them your list of everything (yes everything, not just the first two pages of the tax return sir, we bankers like the whole bloody thing), and please, please, please get a nice juicy list of references. By now your gut isn't liking how this feels at all, listen to it and start peeling those layers of that onion, on your timeline, not theirs.

Lending in Vermont can be fun....

Yup, you heard me right. I've been doing this lending gig for several years now, first for one of the bigger, badder banks (more on those later) and now for an adorable little shop located on the Canadian border. So yesterday I get to "paper" a small loan, enhanced with SBA guarantees (more on these later also). The business was a smaller start up that has hit the market hard and is garnering quite a following. As mentioned I enhanced with a few SBA guarantees due to the start up nature of the business. One note had a 50% express guaranty, the other an 85% guaranty, all but mitigating the start up risk. Borrower is a dream, great financial reporting and believable projections. Nerdy stuff I know but I get off on it. Did I mention the product they are producing is superb?

So why was this one fun? Simple, the guys were real people, looking to put a quality product into the VT marketplace and eventually beyond. Great families, jobs being created, all the reasons I like doing this job. Can't disclose much more but it was the sort of deal I enjoyed sharing with my kids, and when I can happily do that I know I'm doing the job right.