Diamond Financial has been able to embrace and manage change while keeping our promise, vision, and value proposition. We always maintain six lenders that we have volume with so that they fit our box and criteria instead of the other way around. We are able to use the right lender for every business acquisition opportunity that comes our way. Our philosophy is simple, work with six or less lenders but consistently maintain volume levels with each of between $15-20 million. We demand that each lender of ours conform to our guidelines, processes, and timelines which consistently produces results. Since we know each and every job function required to bring a transaction to a successful closing, we monitor each team member and keep them on task. We also demand performance by all third party vendors used by most SBA lenders, which also keeps your deal on track.
change, it’s happening today
This newsletter will discuss change and how it affects you, your company and your living. It’s happening today and everyday as part of our business community, so let’s talk about the actual effects.
By Steve Mariani
October 14, 2019
Change is inevitable. How do we accept change, manage change, embrace change, resist change and cause change? Diamond Financial was founded in 1996 and has been under the same management team with the same focus, understanding, and embrace of change since inception. Many changes have occurred every year that we have been in business, but while we embraced and managed the changes that occurred, we also made sure that our core value proposition did not change, but was enhanced by changes. We made strategic changes each year to assure our trademarked consistency in the handling and processing of SBA mergers and acquisition transactions stayed the same.
Consistency, and knowing what to expect in terms of people, process, and outcomes, are most important to our brokers, our only customers! Our three day yes or no and 94% close rate when we say yes has allowed our dedicated broker customers to achieve revenue levels of over $500,000 annually. What has been your experience over the years with the lenders? Turnover in personnel thus turnover in relationships? Changes in processes and procedures causing deals to be declined or dropped? Many lenders have dropped out of even offering SBA loans after processing large volumes of SBA loans for many years. Lender development officers have moved to other banks and those other banks many times have had different processes and rules as to what type of transactions they will or will not consider. The lending landscape is continually changing, making it more difficult for brokers to secure SBA financing for their acquisition deals. Lenders come and go almost annually these days, and lender consistency is non-existent anymore. Yes, it may be the excellent development officer that you have had a relationship with for many years, but now they’re at another lender, one you’ve never heard of, and they now have to learn their “new” back office processes. Do you really have the time to allow them to learn on your transaction? Do you really want to?
Within the last thirty days, I’ve attended two major conferences and learned that three of the exhibiting lenders had people representing them that were employed for less than sixty days. My thoughts immediately turn to the banking employee turn over rates, which, based on LinkedIn, hit an all time high in 2016 and is continuing to grow. How could any development officers possibly be familiar with their own back office approval requirements and of their closing process when so many employees will be changing in their shop just this year?