What Two Lenders Had to Say About ASBTDC

ASBTDC's bimonthly enewsletter for our friends in the banking industry

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· Market information and research

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We want to help your borrowers better understand their market, industry, and financials. ASBTDC offers one-on-one consulting services for current and prospective small business owners at no charge.

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A Client's Point of View

"Working with the Small Business and Technology Development Center helped make my dream of owning a business a reality. Their guidance made what could have been an overwhelming project doable."

Heather
Lawrence-Harris,

new owner of The Gift Shop in Dumas. She received assistance with the business purchase from the ASBTDC office at the University of Arkansas at Monticello.

Read our client story about The Gift Shop

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The Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration through a partnership with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock College of Business and other institutions of higher education. UALR is committed to the policy of providing equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate in employment, admissions, programs, or any other educational functions and services on the basis of sex, age, disability, race, and national origin, color, or religion.

December 2011

Fact: Over the last 10 years, ASBTDC assisted clients in securing more than $450 million in total capital.

Source: ASBTDC Economic Impact Study Data

Helping local small businesses obtain appropriate financing is a value you deliver to your community as a lender. The ASBTDC relies on lender referrals and relationships to deliver high-quality services to our shared small-business clientele statewide. Recently, we sat down with two Arkansas lenders, Robi McDonald of Centennial Bank in Jacksonville and Gary McMillan of First Community Bank in Cabot, to get their feedback on working with ASBTDC.

How have the services of the ASBTDC made your job easier?

McDonald

McDonald: "The ASBTDC staff helps my customers organize their ideas, thoughts and goals into a strategic plan. The plans are accurate and professionally organized, and they use terminology that is meaningful to me. The proformas are not overstated or understated, they are realistic. I know I can trust the staff and the product."

McMillan: "From a standpoint of lender liability, it is helpful to refer my customers to a neutral, professional third party who can assist in developing proformas."

McMillan

Is there a particular type of customer you are likely to refer to ASBTDC?

McMillan: "It covers the spectrum. It could be a business getting ready for expansion or one needing to get their financial house in better order. It may be someone who could benefit by an analysis of their financial statements."

Have your customers used our market research services?

McDonald: "The GIS mapping capabilities helped one of my customers with site selection for a type of business that is highly dependent on location. They opened a few months ago and are exceeding their projections."

How would you rate ASBTDC services? How likely are you to refer future customers to us?

McDonald: "The services for both lenders and small businesses are topnotch. Community banks should be in the business of helping the local business community, and referrals to the ASBTDC are one way for me to deliver value to my customers."

McMillan: "Now that the center is staffing a satellite center in Cabot, my customers can receive not just high-quality consultation but it is much more accessible. Small business owners are busy, and they can't always spare the time or expense to commute to Little Rock for assistance."

John Twyford cuts the ribbon for the opening of the Cabot Business Assistance Office.

At Your Service

The ASBTDC serves the state of Arkansas through a network of seven fully staffed centers located on university campuses. In addition, we partner with numerous local banks, economic development offices, and Chambers of Commerce that provide meeting and/or training space in their communities.

For instance, Baxter County is served by the ASBTDC at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, which is a long way from Mountain Home. Two Mountain Home banks, First Community Bank and Liberty Bank of Arkansas, provide meeting space for ASBTDC, helping us deliver direct services to local businesses.

Recently, ASBTDC opened a satellite location in Cabot through the leadership of the local banking community. Would you like our staff to work more closely with your customers? Contact ASBTDC Consulting and Market Research Manager Heather Robinette at hbrobinette@ualr.edu.

Startup Story: Pitza 42

The motto at Austin and Ashton Samuelson's new Conway restaurant, Pitza 42, is "Eat Good, Do Good." Since opening Sept. 20, the startup is living up to the slogan by serving healthy, delicious food and providing a meal for a hungry child for every meal sold at the restaurant. The owners donate to the charity Feed My Starving Children the funds necessary to purchase one meal for every meal they sell.

Pitza 42 The restaurant's menu is also unique: customers can order a pizza built on a pita bread crust or a salad. Either is assembled in front of patrons as they walk down the line of fresh ingredients.

ASBTDC assisted the couple with business and financial planning, market research, website optimization and more. The Samuelsons heard about ASBTDC from Centennial Bank's Robi McDonald. John Twyford of ASBTDC began working with them in May. Austin showed him an outline of their plan, and John helped them get from grand idea to grand opening.

"We loved working with the ASBTDC. John Twyford and the rest of the staff were extremely helpful throughout the entire process," said Austin. "They helped us with everything from developing our business plan and marketing plan to helping us search out the best financing options. We are so thankful to the ASBTDC for being such a huge asset throughout this process."