Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM APRIL 2017 40 T his is not a story about banks, (although it could be) but of relationships and supporting local business. A few years ago, my family borrowed some money from a large national bank to buy a rental property. I won't divulge the name of the bank but let's just say it's one that's been in the news a lot lately, has been fined by the government and has opened a lot of new accounts that customers didn't necessarily want. It wasn't a bank I'd ever banked with but a good friend had a relationship with a banker there. Just like my friend promised, Ryan was professional and efficient; the loan was approved quickly and the terms were reasonable. A few months later, I got a note from Ryan saying that he'd left Biggie Bank and was now a senior lender at a local community institution. Fast forward a couple of years and I wanted to refinance the loan to develop another property. In the years since we'd gotten our loan, our building had been completely leased, all the payments had been made automatically and on time, and the balance had been reduced. My sisters and I—who had guaranteed the loan—were still living where we had been and had financial statements that were even stronger. We now wanted a larger loan but it was still for less than half of the value of the building's appraised value—plenty of equity there. I thought the easiest way to get our new financing was to go back to Biggie Bank. From the get go, I noticed a big difference from the application process just three and a half years earlier. They wanted more information about the building and a complete profile of our tenants; more information about our finances. The process took months before our new banker timidly called to say that our loan had been approved—for half of what we needed. He said that he thought it had been a good deal but his loan committee wasn't budging. Thanks, but no thanks. I immediately called my former banker Ryan at his new bank. He couldn't have been happier to have a shot at our business. I instantly knew that as a community bank I'd be treated as a person not as a cog in some big corporate wheel. Ryan brought me a holiday gift while I was getting the paperwork together. He not only picked up documents from me but scanned them so I didn't have to spend hours doing it. For the most part I just forwarded some of mountain of paperwork I'd put together for Biggie. Ryan and his team were on the case quickly. They were eager and willing to do what it took to put our loan in place. I had a couple of phone calls and just a couple of weeks after starting the process, the loan was approved. When he called to tell me we were ready to close his only question was "are you sure this will be enough?" They emailed the documents to my sisters and I closed 10 days later. Not only was the service terrific, but the loan terms were better than Biggie's as well! Lesson learned yet again—support local businesses. There's one more chapter. In 1988, a business associate opened a bank in Denver. Tom was a great businessman and I was happy to move most of our business to his new MegaBank. When our store burned to the ground in 1992 forcing us to declare bankruptcy while we waited for the insurance investigation to be completed so that we could rebuild, Tom stood with us and helped us reorganize and become one of the few businesses to exit from Chapter 11. Tom sold his bank to Compass Bancshares in 2000 and several years later, it was sold again to Spanish holding company BBVA. Because it was easier to stay put than to go looking for a new bank, I continued to do my business and personal banking at BBVA Compass. Last week I was talking to the branch manager and told him that I'd just gotten a large real estate loan—and that even though I'd banked with his bank for nearly thirty years, it never occurred to me to ask them for the loan. He was visibly disappointed. Because this bank has high turnover and no professional bankers on their staff, I have no relationships with anyone there. It's like having a relationship with an ATM. You don't borrow money from machines. Lesson learned—relationships create repeat business. As a locally-owned business, you can serve your community much better than your Biggie competitors. No one owes you their business—you must earn it. A differentiated customer experience and an active effort to create relationships can put you at the head of the pack. Elly Valas is an author, speaker and retail consultant. She can be reached at elly@ellyvalas.com or 303-316-7568. Elly Valas Retail Views RO A TALE OF THREE BANKS

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