Putting Your Banker to Work for You

Jan 27, 2020

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Ways your banker can work for you-For Tanner

Introduction
What’s working for Ag – listener or farmer feedback
- Noah Wendt of A & W Farms
  - Organic farming
How can your banking relationship better benefit your farm?
- How can it not? The relationship should not be filled with a well I don’t know if they will keep me around for another year. Or I’m not sure my line will get renewed. Communicate early and often so there aren’t any surprises for either party.
- Learn more about what your banker is looking for. If you learn how to provide the information your banker needs more timely, more organized, and more accurate it should provide a more favorable response.
  - Faster answers because it’s easier and probably gets moved to the top of the list.
  - Better rates because each loan gets a factor for how good of a manager you are.
- Work with them to make sure your information is accurate. The more you learn about reading a balance sheet or putting a projected cash flow together the better you can spot mistakes.
  - They do happen, don’t let them cost your farm time or money.
- Get more out of them for free! You’re already paying the interest and random fees. If you communicate clearly what your goals are for your farm a good banker will intuitively want to help you succeed.
  - Make connections for you, share opportunities, grant loan requests, find items for sale, etc…
- Make sure they are a part of your advisory team (future). Leverage their education and experience to make sure your farm is positioned correctly, poised for growth, or prepared to wind down.
- Keep them honest. Unfortunately, repetitive relationships get into a rut for pricing, structure, and more. It doesn’t cost anything to have a relationship with another banker. Be open and set honest expectations, but those conversations can lead to interest savings, proper structure or new ideas.
Summarize
- Keeping your banker in the loop helps keep your farm running strong. The less surprises there are the better the experience will be. Don’t dread going into see your lender, but form a relationship of trust where you look forward to what you can gain from the meeting. If you don’t have this now, maybe you need to build a new relationship.
Challenge
- How comfortable are you navigating a balance sheet or cash flow statement? Make an appointment with your banker to ask what you could provide them to help make their process go smoother. DO you consider your lender to be an advisor? Are there other lenders in the area you could network with to begin building a relationship with?
Conference Update
Submit questions and topic suggestions

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