Pub. 9 2019-2020 Issue 4

12 O V E R A C E N T U R Y : B U I L D I N G B E T T E R B A N K S — H E L P I N G C O L O R A D A N S R E A L I Z E D R E A M S www.coloradobankers.org Does It Seem Like Your Vendors Care More About Wall Street Than You, Their Customer?? BY BILL JONES, GOLDEN EAGLE INSURANCE A s a community lender, you believe that your service and product are by far an overall better value for your cus- tomers than larger regional or national lenders you compete with. Why do you believe that and why is it true? The answers are simple. Small tomid- size community lenders: • Highly depend on and are deeply connected to the communities they serve • Provide clients with access to their owners and executives • Deliver long term service and relationships that cannot be matched • Offer very efficient decision- making processes There are other reasons of course, but the bottom line is larger lenders cannot deliver the same overall value to the community as you can. So, a question to consider: If you believe your customers should choose you over larger national lenders then shouldn’t that same philosophy applies to the vendors that you choose? Small to mid-size vendors that are independently owned will provide you with the same advantages that you provide to your clients. Customers often say they feel like a number when dealing with the large lenders. Why is that? Large lenders’ service and decision-making processes are dominated by short-term quarterly numbers. Many times, they care more about Wall Street than the communities they do business in. The larger lenders want to out-price you and offer as many “bells and whistles” as they can. Communit y lenders regularly win those battles because of all the reasons mentioned. The same principles and logic apply to vendors. It makes sense to use vendors that will be there for you because their business depends on your success, where owners and senior management don’t hesitate to become personally involved in making sure that a product