Transcript:

Hello.  My name is Perry Revell.  I’m a commercial banker here with AB&T and I want to talk to you a little bit about our commercial banking approach and how we approach long-term client relationships.  It’s our hope to convert customers strictly from a transactional base into a long-term client relationship.  And one of the ways that we do that is by getting to know that business, understanding who they are and what’s important to them, and in hopes to become a trusted advisor.  One of the things that’s so crucial about that is to not make the assumption what the business needs before we have that conversation.  It’s sitting down with them, asking a series of detailed questions, getting to know the business and how it operates, really listening as being the most crucial aspect of that.

One of the analogies that we like to use in terms of being a trusted banking advisor is that of a three-legged stool.  If you think about that, there’s three legs that all have to work together in order for the stool to be supportive.  And one of the legs that we feel like it’s important for a business to have is a good attorney.  The second one would be a good CPA.  And we hope by becoming the trusted banking advisor that we could continue to support that business.  And what you get when that happens is you get advice and solutions that are customized directly to that particular business, because all three of those are working together to make sure that the business thrives, has what it needs, and meets its objectives.  

One aspect we work closely with the business on is cash flow management.  It’s understanding the ins and outs of the cash flow, understanding what’s going out, what’s coming in, how it all works together.  One of the main ways a business can maximize their cash flow is a simple enough formula.  It’s speeding their receivables and controlling the payables.  The key there is to do so that you don’t jeopardize supply relationships and make sure that it fits within the overall objectives of the business.  But what we do is we take the financial information, we sit down, we analyze it in detail, we sit back down with the business owner, and we run through the numbers.  We identify trends to see where improvements can be made.  We look for areas where efficiencies can be added.  And what we really try to do is quantify in dollar figures what those changes can mean for that particular business.

We want to show if you just simply speed your receivables by two days what kind of impact can that have on your business operations.  Further, what if you just take a week, you stretch your payables by just a week, how can that improve the overall cash flow of the business.  Once that whole conversation takes place, we’ve got an idea specifically what they need and it really is come to an agreement with the business because they’ve been a part of that process as well.  It could be a working capital line of credit for inventory purchases.  It could be ACH origination to pay employees by direct deposit or pay a vendor at a certain date and time.  It could be merchant processing that could speed the receivables by just two or three days.  It could be a purchasing card to purchase equipment and inventory.

The solutions are customizable and based solely on that business.  Though as we, as a trusted advisor for a commercial business, we’re looking directly for solutions that meet that particular business’ needs, because we feel like when that business succeeds ultimately we succeed.  For more information about how we can partner directly with you, feel free to give me, Perry Revell, a call, or Matt Rushton in our Commercial Department a call as well.  We can be reached at 446-2265, or on the web at abtgold.com.