Taking A Banking Partner

Why is building an honest and enduring relationship with a bank important to the future of your business? For many reasons, including having a partner who is clued in enough to your business to lend advice—not to mention credit— when you need it and even when you don’t. A long-standing relationship with a bank can afford a small business services beyond the best rate on a credit line or commercial loan.

“We follow the relationship—we’re just like an accountant or attorney as far as knowing where a business is, what their business plan is, and why a proposal will or won’t succeed,” explains Julieann Thurlow, senior vice president at Reading Co-operative Bank (www.readingcoop.com), a local financial institution in Reading, MA.

Reading Co-operative, like most banks, has some expectations of small business customers to cultivate that kind of symbiotic relationship. The primary requirement, though, says Thurlow, is “honesty and openness.”

Here are a couple of suggestions for fostering this kind of relationship:

• The paper shuffle. Complying with a bank’s requests for financial information or specific documentation is critical, says Timothy Bombard, vice president of lending at East Cambridge Savings Bank (www.ecsb.com), in Cambridge, MA.
• Full disclosure. Make sure you inform your banking partner of any potential news—good or bad. “The biggest mistake is waiting to come to the bank until it’s too late,” Thurlow says. “We can institute changes if we know a problem is coming down the pike, but if we don’t know until something is past due, there’s nothing we can do.”
• Regular contact. Thurlow advises quarterly updates to let your bank know how your business is doing.

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