Jeff Sands

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Too Little Too Late

I got a call recently from a business owner who was in trouble. First we got through the stories about his big mean bank. Then we talked about how great and glorious his business would be if only he could borrow another $800,000. Then we looked at his balance sheet and discussed the lack of rich uncles or friends who might lend him the $800,000.His bank is actually a little mean bank but they can... More

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The Wrong Bank

There's often a weird dance between lenders and less-than-stellar commercial borrowers. Banks try to politely say; "Leave" but they never really say it directly. And the poor business owner rarely understands what's being said. The worst lenders skirt the issue trying to be a friendly community lender and instead retract credit without any understanding of the damage they'll cause to the... More

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The Way Forward

I met three CEOs this summer. Each of them had the same issue although they were all in different industries: manufacturing, printing and retail. They each had a (pre-recession) $20-million company that's now doing around $10mm in sales. All three CEOs were killing themselves trying to get back to $20mm when in actuality that was not the best path forward. I walked in and saw stress, strain and co... More

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The Master CEO

Usually when a bank wants me to perform an assessment on one of their credits I find a business that is underperforming and an owner who has grown incapable of returning the business to its former glory. This is not the case with my Marvin Zamler. Marvin is nearing 70 years old, already has millions in savings from his last business and obsessively works on the basics of his business every single... More

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Banks Ease Terms

As one lender told me; "first we saw pricing go then terms, now it's a free for all out there". After hiding through most of 2009, lenders have spent the last few years coming back into the marketplace only to find that money is over-supplied and under-demanded in today's economy. The Federal Reserve's quarterly survey of senior commercial loan officers reports a continued easing of len... More