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Bank offers creative solutions for client problems
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Published with the October 1, 2013 Baton Rouge Business Report. Copyright © 2013 Louisiana Business Inc. Special Advertising Section.
For a business owner who is seeking assistance, a conversation with a banker who fails to grasp the company’s needs or potential can be disheartening. It’s exactly the type of experience that banker Jeff Martin believes businesspeople should never face.
As the community banking executive for south Louisiana at Regions Bank in Baton Rouge, Martin encourages the relationship managers on his team to use a more innovative approach to client service.
“When our people go out to talk with clients, they go equipped with information not only about the client’s business, but also about the underlying industry and what makes it tick,” he says. “They ask questions, and they listen to the answers.”
By treating a client meeting as an exploration of goals and needs, Martin notes, bankers come away motivated to find creative solutions to customers’ challenges. Maybe a client is having cash-flow issues brought on by changes in vendor collection policies or spending on equipment maintenance, for instance.
Regions bankers try to understand how such situations are affecting the company’s cash position and help develop solutions. Regions bankers have demonstrated to thousands of clients in industries ranging from health care and maritime to oil and gas, agriculture and professional services that banking service is about more than just lending money.
“We firmly believe that when relationships are built in the appropriate way, you provide value to the client and to the bank, and you will probably help the community as well,” Martin says.
Part of Regions’ service to customers involves its access to industry data that’s not generally available in the broader marketplace. An affiliation with major insurer Regions Insurance Group, for instance, puts a wealth of information in the bankers’ hands so they can put it to work for clients.
A host of cash-management and other business services available from Regions have become crucial to the operations of thousands of companies around the Gulf South, but just as important as managing cash is protecting it.
“Fraud protection is a huge part of what we do,” Martin says, pointing to features such as Treasury management and positive-pay services that can increase account security.
Martin believes Regions’ approach to building relationships with customers has put it at the forefront of local business banking.
“When you have a banker who truly understands who you are and what you’re trying to do as a company, it makes a huge difference in reaching your goals.”
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