Many years ago, when I was setting up my business and struggling, my banker in Jerusalem gave me some invaluable advice.

The gist was: Talk to me, especially when you see yourself getting into trouble.  And he added: I cannot promise a great solution, but you being forthcoming will show me that I can trust you. Thus, I will see what I can do.

So true. And now consider that advice in the light of these three stories from business mentoring clients of mine, all of whom can be categorized as a small enterprise (SME). Each has suffered, financially and logistically, as a result of not ‘keeping in touch’ with the clerk, who was supposedly looking after their money.

Story no’ 1: My client had not doubted the integrity of his bank, who she had been using for over a decade. She had rarely needed their help. Everything appeared dandy. That is until she hit the painful area of poor cash flow and was seeking a loan. So, she fixed an appointment.

However, despite arriving on time, the clerk was busy with somebody else….for over 30 minutes. After all, my client was not a known commodity. Despite eventually being seen by somebody else, she started digging around and realized that she was paying exorbitant charges. To cut a long story short, she now speaks regularly with a different bank who had offered her a loan on much better terms.

Story no’ 2:  After much legal haggling, this client’s bank was forced to lift the restrictions that had been placed on their account. So that seemed fine and there would be no further ramifications, correct?

Years later, my client entered a different branch of the same bank, where is was considering opening up a new account. The conversation was stopped after 2 minutes. He had received a straight refusal. Why? The original branch had not completed “the paperwork”, and thus it appeared on the computer as if they had an existing account, which was still restricted. Again, my client had stopped liaising too early.

Story no’ 3: In this case, my client took over an existing business. In the change-over period, a couple of cheques bounced, even though there was sufficient reserves. Nevertheless, my client ignored the lines on his statements, as the cheques went through the following day.

that he had been (and therefore still was) a bad credit risk. He paid the price for not communicating as much as he could have done.

The lesson: Small and medium sized businesses have a tendency to run away from the banks. It is time-consuming and they are often seen as unfriendly if not simply inconsiderate to the requirements of SMEs. If you suffer like that, then move. My experience is that most bankers are looking look to provide their customers with practical solutions. T o learn about what is available, it is the responsibility of the business owner to talk regularly to his ‘supplier of financial services”.