Shopping for a Bank, Part II: The Regional Bank

As I recounted in Shopping for a Bank, Part I, I hate math, numbers, accounting, the whole shebang.  Since the March Grow Smart Business theme is small business finance, I was not sure what I would write about, as my posts are normally about marketing.  Then a light bulb went on: Since I am currently bank-shopping, I would use my experience as blog post fodder.   I already wrote about the upside of doing business with a small community bank; specifically, Access National Bank, which is headquartered in Reston, VA and has five branches.  I now turn my sights on a regional bank; next up will be a huge national bank.  My goal is to figure out which type of bank would be most convenient, easiest, and most fun to do business with.

Without further ado: the regional bank.

I met Mike Moore, Assistant Vice President at BB&T, through networking.  He is a really nice guy, and if you read enough of my blog posts, you know that the simple act of being nice earns huge points in my book.  We sat down together recently, and he gave me some background on the bank.  It was founded in 1872 in Wilson, NC and is now headquartered in Winston-Salem, NC.  Their territory stretches from Maryland down to Florida and over to Texas (after first leap-frogging over Mississippi and Louisiana).  They have 1800 branches, and their bank is in the top ten in the US in terms of size.  They also own the sixth largest insurance brokerage firm in the US, and they have a merchant services company under their umbrella as well.

Just as I asked Access National to run down a list of what makes them unique, I asked Mike to do the same.  Here’s what he said: 

1. Over the past 18 months, BB&T’s focus has shifted to servicing small to mid-sized businesses rather than just personal accounts.  As a result, Mike and his colleagues are not strictly lenders anymore but rather small business advisors who build a collaborative relationship with their clients.
2.  Not only does Mike put together banking and financing plans for his clients, but he also meets with and speaks to his clients on a regular basis to find out if their needs have changed.  He is also easily reachable via email or his direct office line.
3.  “We’re as big as you want us to be, and we’re as small as you want us to be.”  BB&T offers all of the products and services the huge banks do, but only if you need them.  In other words, credit cards, mortgage refinancing, special car loan rates, etc. are not pushed on BB&T clients.
4. Though BB&T is fairly large, decision-making is done locally, allowing Mike and his colleagues to make quick decisions on behalf of the bank for their clients.  The fact that the employees are empowered to make decisions that put the bank at risk (lending is a risky endeavor, after all) speaks volumes about the leadership at the bank.  It is extremely important for me to work with people and institutions who view trust as a two-way street.
5. Because BB&T has its own insurance brokerage firm and merchant services company, they can offer lower rates on certain services.
6. BB&T is still lending money to small businesses, even start-ups.  Mike said the fact that the media constantly talks about restricted access to capital is wrong, and he gave me examples of loans he has recently made to clients.  I wonder if it’s only the huge, TARP-dependent banks that are not lending money?

When compared to Access National, BB&T offers the same highly personalized service.  I would not be a number with them, something I really appreciate.  Naturally, they offer more products and services, but one product in particular is a big deal for me: BB&T offers a credit card, while Access only offers a debit card.  However, Access is across the street from me, while I’d have to drive to BB&T.  Again, not a huge difference, but an important one.

Next up: the huge national bank (and yes, they received TARP money!).

This entry was posted on Friday, March 12th, 2010 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Capital Access, small business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.


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