Vision. Ambition. Drive. A crackerjack of an idea for a new or expanded business. If you have these, then you need just one more thing before you can start changing the world for the better (especially whichever parts of it you happen to occupy).
Capital
“Commercial and industrial lending has been one of our bank’s main focuses since its foundation 61 years ago,” said David Thompson, market president of First Western Bank & Trust’s Eden Prairie branch. “It’s a large part of the reason why we have grown from a single location in Minot to 19 branches across Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.
“Driving Midwestern commerce and industry onward has been good to us, although we never view business lending as a means to an end. Far from it! We love our neighborhood, and are on a mission to fill it with as many success stories in our communities as possible.”
Metal
“Many banks strictly view borrowers as grids of data,” said Tony Seipp, vice president of commercial lending. “We find potential where they refuse to look for it: in people.
“For example, we recently partnered with a gentleman who sought to purchase a metal workshop. He had very little experience in metalwork. He had very little equity to put toward acquiring the business as well. He just wasn’t the kind of borrower national banks typically fight over, to put it mildly.
“We saw something those banks wouldn’t: a master of construction and consummate salesman, whose mind is one of those which picks up trades easily. He may not have been a smith, but he’s something far more precious. A dyed-in-the-wool entrepreneur. We pushed the parameters to structure his deal and secure his SBA loan, and it was absolutely, positively worth the effort. His shop has been an enormous success since almost day one.”
Flour
“Another of our recent clients had previously only manufactured parts for flour milling equipment,” said Tony Berthiaume, senior vice president commercial lender. “Specialized work, to be sure, although his profession had also taught him a great deal about equipment sales in general.
“He reached out because the primary seller of his equipment was looking to retire. He had a limited amount of time to buy out that company, which was admittedly a tall order – i.e. one that would increase the size of his own business by at least tenfold.
“Steering that client toward victory required me to do more than fill out a few forms. I had to act as a partner: fine-tuning his SBA loan, of course, but also structuring his deal, advising him on business matters he hadn’t dealt with before, and serving as a sort of Shark Tank panelist to some of his more adventurous ideas.
“It was the kind of multi-faceted service only a community bank can provide. And it paid off. That client is currently in the process of taking over the entire second floor of the building he’s headquartered in.”
Installation
“We have yet another client who specializes in technological installations,” said David. “Sound. Video. That sort of thing. He came to us because his sales had declined following the unexpected loss of one of his larger clients. He needed a quick infusion of capital so he could pursue an all-new line of business.
“Any other bank probably would have told him to take his time. ‘Call back once you’re back on your feet.’ Translated: ‘You’re on your own. Tough luck.’
“But we knew his history. We saw how well he understood what he was doing. We respected the extraordinary attention to detail he poured into his business plan. We were full believers, which was fortuitous for him, because any other bank probably couldn’t have tailored the ideal SBA loan to his singular needs. No one is able to secure longer and more flexible repayment terms than First Western, or faster. We recently turned an SBA loan around in only four hours!”
Dreams
“Term loans. Working capital. Lines of credit,” said Tony B. “They’re not just the tools of commercial and industrial lending.”
“They’re the tools we use to minimize the amount of risk our clients have to assume in pursuit of their dreams,” said Tony S.
“They’re also the tools we use to help build a community we’re proud to be a part of,” added David. “Bless my wife, who has to put up with me pointing out all the businesses First Western has served whenever we go for a drive. It’s a warm and fuzzy kind of feeling I never got out of national corporate lending. Only a hometown banker can know it.” FirstWestern.Bank