The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1922-02-16
TELL BANKERS TRUTH
ABOUT BUSINESS
REGARD THEM AS BEST FRIENDS
AND NOT AS ENEMIES, FOR
THEY ARE ANXIOUS TO SERVE.

(From the American Press.)
How ere you fixed with your bank
e,? Have you gained his confidence?
Or does he say no to you?
A banker, in a sense, really is
credit man, and should be accorded
much the same treatment. Upon your
success in getting on with him will
depend very largely the well being
of your business.
Every business man should have an
account with reliable, accommodate
ing local bank and should get as in
t:mately acquainted with the banking
people as possible.
Your business affairs should be an
oren book to your banker. All your
transactions with him should be 100
per cent frank and honest.
Are you sure you regard the banker
al his real valuation? Do you under
stand him as he really is? Do you
have an adequate comprehension of
the bankers business?
A bankers stock in trade is money.
He handles it very much as you do
merchandise. He sells the use of
rnoney. If he couldn't do this, he
wouldn't be running bank very long,
as he would get no profit.
This money the banker handles is
there for you to use in expanding your
business. The banker is glad to let
you have it under the right kind of
conditions. And he is as eager to
make the transaction as you are.
Some merchants seem to regard the
banker as one who, if he got the
chance, would prey upon them and
squeeze them dry. They keep away
from him as much as possible and
then 90 to him as a last resort when
they need money. Then they go, hat
Il, in hand, much in the frame of mind Of
tie man who faces judge to be SEN
ttnced for stealing chickens.
When you sell thing to a GUS
toner, who is being favored, the Gus
toner or you? The proper answer
is both. How would you like your
customers, as they enter your store
to purchase something, come with
fear that you would not confer the
favor upon them? They don't enter
that way, if they have the money to
lay for what they want, or if their
credit is good. They enter your store
because you have something they
need-something you can sell at a
fair price, and that they are willing
to pay for. It is a business trans
ection, pure and simple. If you don't
want to sell them, they can go to
your competitor. AS long as they
aye square with you, they know full
we'll that anything in your store is
theirs, and that you will expend a
g1eat deal of effort to get their trade.
Why can't you regard your banker
in the same light? Why isn't his
money merchandise as much as is
your stock? If he couldn't get peo-
r]e to use his money and pay him for
the use of it, he could not run bank
ten minutes. If he couldn't loan
money, he would be in the same shape
you would be if you couldn't sell
merchandise.
A distorted idea about borrowing
money has kept many a merchant
from building up his business right.
They fear it is a reflection on their
business ability, on their credit, when
they have to ask for loan. The fact
is there are plenty of times when a
merchant loses by not using the bank
e,'s money.
Take, for instance, the discounting
cf bills. You actually can save money
BY paying interest to the bank for
money with which to take your dis
count. It is expedient, at certain
times during the year, to arrange
short term loans to take discounts
or meet maturing bills.
And loans of this kind, if your af-
fairs are right, boost your credit not
crly with your jobber, but with the
bank as we'll. The banker is like the
credit mamie has high regard for
the merchant who discounts or pays
promptly at the due date.
To be right with the banker you
have to be right with yourself. To
be right with yourself and the store
you have TO know yourself and your
store; hence the necessity of being
able to show your banker at any time
that your affairs arc in satisfactory
shape.