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This article originally featured in the March edition of the Lancashire Business View
BY JIM FUREY, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, SKIPTON BUSINESS FINANCE
With a local working capital provider by your side you’ll have the chance to form a meaningful partnership with someone that will stick by your business.
Your business probably orders from local suppliers for catering, cleaning, or maintenance - but what about when you’re looking for funding?
Many may look for a big bank or even scour the worldwide web. But a local provider could offer an easier and accessible service, benefiting your partnership and even the local economy.
As you probably know, we trust people more when we share things in common. It’s human nature. When we’re closer to others, we understand them better. If it rains, we’ll feel the same problems. Businesses in the same region can weather storms and grow futures together.
So why is the default decision when choosing a finance provider to cast the net far and wide?
VALUING PEOPLE OVER NUMBERS
When it comes to partnering with an invoice finance provider, some businesses tend to focus mainly on cost and less on how local that provider is. It’s understandable why - we often think of finance only in numbers and almost forget about the human element.
We feel that it’s important for a funder to actually see your business, believe in your business and understand what future you aim to achieve.
A VITAL QUESTION TO ASK
This is why I remind business leaders when choosing a finance provider to always ask if they have a base nearby.
This is because it’s really important to meet your relationship team and for them to understand your business. If a storm comes wouldn’t you prefer to have a relationship manager who is nearby, who knows your business inside-out and feels what you’re feeling?
NATIONAL OVERVIEW, LOCAL FOCUS
Our key office in Manchester isn’t a branch. It’s a central base that houses underwriting, business development, relationship management, operations and everything else we need to help your business.
This means we physically see and feel how the business community works in our region.
There’s nothing like ringing up your provider and them recognising your voice, knowing your name and speaking to you as a human who knows your business. With the scourge of automated telephone systems, we feel that’s rare these days.
We have over a hundred clients in Lancashire alone, are open for business and can provide working capital to a business by advancing funds varying from £25,000 up to £5m.