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Finding A Way To Go Your Own Way With The Right Small Business Loan

Everyone loves your homemade BBQ sauce, and you’ve started to wonder if you could actually create a business out of it. You learn about your potential market, create a business plan, develop your brand, work out the costs, find a location, and then what? More than likely you’re going to need a small business loan.

There’s no better place than to look to your local community bank. Community banks like Merchants Bank of Alabama, a division of SouthPoint Bank, tend to focus on the needs of the businesses and families where the bank holds branches and offices. They are also typically locally owned and operated meaning they know you, your family and how your business idea will fit into the local economy. And, perhaps the main benefit is that lending decisions are made by people who understand the local needs of families, businesses and farmers.

Two years ago, when we launched our new website, we set out to develop tools that would help our local small business customers. How are we different? What sets us apart? We knew that our local lenders connected us to our communities in very powerful ways that big banks can’t touch. That’s why we created a section on our site called Lender Connect. Here you can meet our local lenders and easily connect with them via phone or email. You can also get to know these local lenders by reading their bios. You’ll quickly see that the majority of them not only live here, but were born and raised here.

Merchants has developed real partnerships with local businesses and you can read about some of our local business success stories in the Way To Go section of our web site. Eight very different local small businesses with one thing in common. A bank with an uncommon commitment to our local small business customers. Read the stories and you’ll get the inside scoop on how we helped these remarkable business owners in Cullman, Hanceville, Fairview and Arab go from having a big dream to having a big following. Because community banks are themselves small businesses, they understand the needs of small business owners. Their core concern is lending to small businesses and farms and they make over half of all small business loans.

Get to know the local businesses near you. No matter what their product or service, their focus is delivering the best in customer service, just like their local bank does. From local restaurants and volunteer fire departments to a variety of retail establishments, we set out to build real relationships with our business customers.

Small business loans are available from a large number of traditional and alternative lenders. Small business loans can help your business grow, expand into new territories, enhance sales and marketing efforts, allow you to hire new people, and much more.

So, if you need to secure your first small business loan or to expand a current business, we invite you to start with your local community bank. Reach out to the lender nearest you, preferably via our Lender Connect portal. To give you even more information, we are sharing an article from a recent issue of Forbes, “10 Key Steps To Getting A Small Business Loan”. By anticipating what lenders will review and require, you will greatly increase your chances of obtaining a beneficial small business loan.

Read the full article at forbes.com.