Yes, time sure flies by your business quickly. If you are not careful, you can easily lose control of your finances and develop money troubles. Getting quick business loans may be the answer, but you cannot get them from banks.
Running a business calls for quick actions. You cannot hurry or rush to judgment, but you have to move faster than the competition. This often requires quick business loans. However, where you go is as important as how much you get. Know your options to make the decision that is right for your business.
Why You Should Never Go to Banks for Quick Business Loans
A bank will typically take 2-3 months to turnaround a business loan. Why the slow turnaround? Banks have a lot of other loan applications to consider and the anything under $500,000 is not worth their time. The words quick and business and loans do not exist together at a bank. They can’t even give you a quick answer regarding your application, let alone get you fast business cash. Still, they are happy to string you along, squandering your valuable time.
You must satisfactorily complete all the paperwork they require. Banks will want a 3-5 page application to be filled out. It might take you or your bookkeeper a few days just to gather all the information you need. There will also be wasted time as you go back and forth with the bank over small details and endless questions.
A bank will expect 100 percent of the loan amount in collateral to back up your loan. This means you must pledge your assets in order to get an emergency business loan. If you don’t have enough real estate, equipment or accounts receivable, you will be denied. Not only that, but banks excessively scrutinize your assets to ensure they will indeed reduce their risk. For example, if you pledge accounts receivables, they will check to make sure your clients and customers have good credit histories as well. In truth most small businesses will not qualify for quick business loans. The best you can get is a home equity line of credit, where you must put your home at risk for the sake of your business. That makes it an especially dangerous option because you could end up losing both.
Banks have federal regulators to answer to because banks get money from the federal government. In addition, they also have shareholders to answer to. Both these groups expect to see major profits and very minimal losses. Then there is the depositors’ money. Would you put your hard earned money in a bank known to take troubling risks with it? Therefore, a bank must be especially careful and this often leads to even good small businesses being denied quick business loans.
The bank will insist on having all your financial details. This includes current and past debts and business bank loans. They will also look at all your bank accounts (business and personal), credit cards and tax information. Other documents required will be sales and payment history, credit references and audited financial statements. If your business has multiple owners or partnerships, they will also request information in detail from anyone who holds a major stake in your organization. It’s possible that the bank will also ask for insurance against the death of any principle at your company. Typically, this is meant to guarantee that if you die, the bank will be paid first. Most importantly, you should expect to sign a personal guarantee.
A local bank has the same requirements as a national bank. The only difference is, at a smaller bank, at least the loan officer will talk to you and give you an idea whether or not you will qualify for an instant business funding loan.
Look forward to numerous rules and regulations when dealing with a bank. One of the most common is a loan covenant or debt to equity ratio that you must agree to. This means that you must keep your numbers within certain parameters. If you don’t, they will consider your loan to be technically in default.
You will need at least a 680 or better personal credit score to get a commercial bank to even look at your application for quick business loans. This is often a difficult threshold for small business owners to meet because you must constantly make sacrifices and take out numerous cash advances and small business loans to get your business off the ground. As a result, your credit score may not be where it should be. Additionally, building up a credit score for your business takes time. Therefore, banks only have your personal score to consider.
Every year, the bank will want to renew your line of credit. Although you already have a LOC with them and have gone through all the steps previously, the process still isn’t quick.
Where is the Best Place to Go for Quick Business Loans?
If speed is what you are looking for, the bank is not your friend. This has been true for the last 10 years or so. For businesses with sales of less than $7 million, then you will be better served by alternative financing companies like Financing Solutions (www.financingsolutionsnow.com). We provide lines of credit, cash advances, and debt restructuring products.
At Financing Solutions, you do not need collateral. You will also not be hit with lengthy, complicated applications. Our application is only 10 questions long. If you decide to move forward you will send easy to get business documents like a tax return, bank statements, driver license, etc.
There is no credit check done to get an offer letter. Best of all, we do not ask for personal guarantees (unless in the cases of fraud)
We really understand small businesses because those are the only clients we handle. In addition, we are small business owners ourselves. We know what it’s like to be turned down for small business financing from a bank.
There are no application fees and if you are only charged when you actually use your line. Every business should have a line of credit for emergencies and new growth opportunities. You just never know when they will come up. Everything can be complete in 24-72 hours.
Quick Ways to Grow Your Business
Growing your business can be a struggle. It is important to focus, gain perspective and identify ways to attract more customers and put more cash in your coffers. There are hundreds of strategies out there. The trick is finding the ones that will work best for your unique business. These simple to implement techniques could hold the answers you are looking for to build up your bottom line.
- Create a sales funnel. This is a way to understand the steps your prospects go through on their way to becoming your loyal customer. How do they arrive at the decision to ultimately make a purchase? What are you doing right/wrong in the conversion process? Businesses use sales funnels to generate interest in and make people aware of your product or service. You move customers through this funnel through a variety of marketing and educational activities. These could include an offer for free shipping, an email campaign or limited-time products. You must then measure the results to better monetize these efforts. It may take a little time to start, but once you identify your ideal customer and what he wants, it is easier to grow your company.
- Invest in a customer management system. Once you have identified your ultimate customer, you must keep him happy and coming back for more. To do this, you must consistently reach out, get to know his likes and dislikes and track his interactions with your business. This is too time-consuming to manage manually so having a system that does it automatically is crucial. Your employees can input data into the system at each touch point to ensure you don’t overlook anything. When you do this, you will take customer satisfaction to a whole new level.
- Pay attention to the competition. You might think that everything is going fine for your business. Customers are coming in, employees are performing effectively and product is leaving the shelves. This can change in an instant if a competitor starts offering something you don’t. Initiatives like advertising the ways they are better than you, engaging customers on social media and paying higher salaries to workers are just a few of the things they can do to steal your thunder. If you are not paying attention, it will blindside you. By the same token, you can also research what your competition is doing well and see if it will work for you also.
- Find the right source for fast business funding. You cannot implement any growth strategy if your primary focus is getting to the next moment or making the next payroll. Having a place to turn when your business needs money now is vital. More and more small businesses are finding success with Financing Solutions. Growth opportunities can come at any time from numerous sources. With ample resources, the sky is the limit for your business.
