Following on from my earlier blogs:
I remember a business that I had as a demanding client when I myself was their bank manager. They didn’t have signficant facilities with us and tended to be in credit most of the time. However the owner was paranoid about the fragility of their cash flow and how quickly they could turn into a heavy borrower if key clients didn’t pay on time. He attached a lot of importance to trying to forewarn me that this could happen and seeking my reassurance that I would support him if it came to it.
He ‘relationship managed’ me. I didn’t need monthly figures from him but he sent them. Not only that but he wrote a super one page report (which also went to all his staff) about how the month had gone, covering things like client issues, staffing up-dates, new business gained, how gross margins had moved etc and it also included a very basic three month cash flow.
He engaged me in helping to improve that report so that it told me what I wanted to know. He invited me to his managers meetings – to do a short presentation on how I viewed his business.
If I put his report in the in-tray to read later and I didn’t go back to him within a week he used to call me to ask for feedback.
On reflection:
- Was all this a bit of a pain when it wasn’t really necessary? – Oh yes
- Did I understand his business? – Oh yes.
- Did I respect him for doing all this? – Oh yes.
- Was I minded to move heaven and earth to help him when the time came when he did need a significant level of unsecured finance? – Oh yes.
The busines is still doing well, 15 years on (I keep an eye out for it still you see) – good on you Andrew.