It was while reading another forum I realised the frustrations business owners have with modern day bankers. In short they are constantly trying to cross sell business owners products they either don’t need or can get elsewhere for cheaper. However, when it comes to lending money they are rarely anywhere to be seen.

The modern banks that populate our high street today consider themselves as retailers and this is a message delivered to the employees of these banks on a daily basis. The buzzwords such as ‘cross selling’ are the main focus of all the banks and this theory is supported by businesses who apply for loans to help grow their businesses only to be bombarded by calls to sell them insurance.

It is fair to say that anyone that you meet face to face in a bank or speak to on the phone will have some sort of sales target. These targets drive behaviour and unfortunately advice.

The redundancy policies of the banks over the last decade have seen experienced bankers and lenders replaced with young sales people. The decision makers are a minority of people in an ivory tower they call the credit department. As such you are relying on the report that your ‘sales contact’ will submit to this credit department. Far from ideal as your contact will have spent more time attempting to sell you insurance than they have understanding your business and it’s real requirements.

The invoice factoring industry is not altogether different. It remain sales focused but on the whole it concentrates on products it understands and delivers. Another important difference is access to decision makers. Within the invoice finance industry it is possible to access decision makers and as a business you can really benefit from this.