Welcome to our September newsletter.
In this edition, I want to share some “Back to the Future” thoughts and musings as to deal-making in this “always digital” and “encroaching AI” banking environment of ours.
Then, we will provide compliance and collaboration updates, along with a reintroduction to an exciting private lending platform available on our network.
To all of our success!
Just 10 Calls Per Day…
Oh, for those business days of yore…
Those of us like me who’ve been around a while remember the days when “data rooms” were just that: physical rooms with locked doors, filled with carefully printed due diligence materials in three-ring binders. Buyers had a limited window to sift through the documents and decide, often in a single afternoon, whether to make an offer or move on.
And, of course, back then, it wasn’t just deal processes that were different. There was an entire culture of business lunches, cocktails (or two or three!), and in-person meetings that weren’t adjuncts to the business day, but were the actual work we are all expected to do!
Things have changed.
But just maybe…and especially as all of these new AI deal-making and work process technologies accelerate in their disruption of our industry, it might be high time to reach back for some “Back to the Future” mindsets and work styles?
Let’s call “Doing the Marty McFly” 🙂
As in less email, less text, less LinkedIn, less Zoom, less Calendly…and a little more just picking up the phone and SELLING.
Try on this tidbit: I’ve had the same public business number for over 20 years. Before the pandemic, I would receive a dozen cold calls and solicitations every day.
Now? Aside from robocalls, it’s slowed to a trickle.
And no one with experience and gravitas seems to ever call me and try to sell me anything.
So maybe there is an opening for all of us to communicate our experience and gravitas in that most natural and best possible way – via actual conversations!
Even when no one picks up, the old salesman in me knows it is good for the soul to break away from the reactive “checking the Inbox” to proactively picking up the phone, smiling and dialing!
In this genre, I have just returned from a trip to Singapore, where a 9 am to 9 pm Monday through Saturday work week is pretty much standard.
And on the long flight home, I reflected on a recurring, distressing production pattern: when bankers transition from large firms to the independent model, far more often than not their fee production drops off a cliff.
For sure, some of this is driven from loss of the “branding cache” that larger banking firms still command, whether warranted or not.
But a lot of it results from a natural devolution to working just a bit less hard and long when we are doing so virtually and by our own lonesomes.
I know that a big reason many of us choose the independent banking model is for the personal freedom “no bureaucracy” “no office politics” lifestyle it uniquely affords.
But that “Wall Street” high-intensity, work-till-you-drop mentality still makes a lot of people a lot of money.
The excellent news is that as independent bankers we can have it all.
The freedom and empowerment of our model and the FAT EARNINGS of the bulge bracket.
Here’s a simple hack to mesh the two worlds: for the next 60 days, let’s add ten outgoing, unscheduled phone calls per day to our daily routine.
To prospective clients, to buyer and investor groups, and partner relationships.
To anyone and everyone who might drive a deal.
Let’s do it for 60 days and see what comes up.
I am confident that our wallets will thank us.
As importantly, our attitudes and optimism will too.
Creative Lending for Entrepreneurs. Pasadena Private Lending (PPL) is a privately funded non-bank lender for small to medium-sized companies led by successful entrepreneurs. The firm’s capital comes from within its own community of high-net-worth entrepreneurs. Therefore, unlike traditional banks and loan brokers, it can close loans in as quickly as 10 business days.
Loan sizes range from $1 million to $10 million, and common applications include Acquisitions, Sales Growth, Dividend Recapitalization, Bridge Financing, and Asset Repositioning. Since 2021, 40+ loans have been funded, and over $200 million in capital has been distributed across the PPL portfolio.
Visit pasadena-private-lending.com for details and disclosures, or contact Jason Shlecter, Director of Credit, at 626-993-9350 or [email protected].
Happy September to all!
