Pride and Banking

Has there been a shift in how your banker interacts with you. Or conversely how you deal with your banker. What has changed? Communication is a two way street and if that breaks down, generally the relationship breaks down, no matter what the relationship is. This is no different in your business life. Did something happen that you didn't tell your banker about and now has negatively impacted your operation? Has there been a key change in your management, in your industry, that you should have told your partners about sooner? Know this, IT IS NEVER TOO LATE to bring your banker up to speed. Do not be afraid, even if you think it is too late, to air your dirty laundry. Bankers can't help if we don't know and we certainly can't help if its too late.

So often we get the phone call or email with the need for some permanent working capital, and that likely is money needed to catch up for some business event that has already happened, not in anticipation of something happening. How could this have worked better? Let's use an example: your sales are off due to weather, you are falling behind a bit on payables and you are worried that you will continue to fall behind unless there is an injection of cash to help you through a slow period (FYI, everyone has a slow period, business is cyclical, frustratingly so). You SHOULD call your banker at this point and talk through options but you don't, why? Pride seems to be the culprit in most cases, you just can't accept outside help because it is your business and you will handle it. Sometimes that works out ok, sometimes it doesn't. Another reason is you are embarrassed that this is happening to you, well that emotion is also natural but don't let it cripple your judgment.

If you can remember one thing from this rambling, know that your banker is your partner, you owe the bank money, but the bank has invested that money in you and your business so if there is a way to help before its too late we will try to help you find that solution. I encourage frequent interaction with your banking partners, the more you can work collaboratively with your bank, the less surprises you will see in the relationship and you will likely avoid experiencing banker fatigue.

jb