Show notes
We had the pleasure of speaking with Quentin Durr, Vice President- Regional Market Relationship Banker at Origin Bank.
In this episode of EntreNetwork we cover several key topics including:
· The most important lesson I’ve learned in the banking industry
· Why you need a relationship with a banker
· Small businesses need a banker more than larger businesses
· Tips for small business owners looking for a banker
· You shouldn’t be scared to say I need help
· The 3 C’s of lending
· Just do it
Connect with Quentin!
· Connect with him on Facebook: facebook.com/quentin.durr.10
· Follow him on Instagram: instagram.com/quentincdurr/?utm_medium=copy_link
· Connect with him through email: Qdurr@origin.bank or help@hightiderise.com
And if you want more content make sure you subscribe!
· Youtube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLn69yDxLB8XXOrCjjQqGz-bun-xfPZMEs
· LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/entrenetwork-podcast/
· Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/entrenetworkpodcast/
· Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Entre-Network-Podcast
· Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3BOCLtcgUmpIbPjDZsg1IM
· Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/entrenetwork/id1586024059
__________
Interested in joining us on EntreNetwork?
Visit our website and fill out the contact form at www.revisionmg.com/entrenetwork
Transcription
Team RMG 00:00
Welcome to entre network brought to you by revisione Marketing Group. This podcast is meant to serve as an entrepreneurial knowledge base of wisdom and practical tips and marketing, branding and technology to help grow your business effectively.
Sidney Jackson 00:15
So yeah, we’ll get right into it. So Quentin dirt, thank you so much for coming on entre network podcast, man.
Quentin Durr 00:23
Thank you for having me, of course.
Sidney Jackson 00:24
So kind of tell us about yourself, how did you become? Well get into the overall banking world.
Quentin Durr 00:30
So I would definitely say it was a god driven accident. And but also God purposely put me there. So I graduated in management entrepreneurship. I had zero interest in banking, but my grandma kept telling me, you need to go, you need to get into banking, you need to get into banking. I’m like, I’m not counting money. I hated it. I used to be in the restaurant industry. And I hated running the cash register, I would do the worst job instead of wanting to run the cash. I hated doing money. So I had went to work at a finance company, doing payday lending, which was terrible. Terrible, but I was always going in the bank, right? And collecting on people and all that kind of stuff, which terrible job. I know. Like if you are in that industry, much respect, because it’s tough. How long were you in and I was there for about eight months, but my brother actually owned a company. And so this was me testing to see if we wanted to do that, because we thought we’re gonna join forces and open multiple offices, you know, thank goodness that did not go that way. So I ended up a good friend of mine, Ron Willis, who’s now at lumen. He’s also part of couse our network and over the client experience at lumen. So a good friend of mine, he was at the bank, he left went open up Taco Bell, KFC, Caesar entrepreneurial guy himself. So he leaves and they had this spot, and my boss at the time, just wanted somebody that he could find that was motivated, just wanted to be out there and build relationships and that he could teach banking. And so I applied for it, we got to, you know, he knew me for coming in and out of the bank with the other stuff, and I always visit with them. And so he took a chance on me. And I had zero banking experience. You know, never I’ve never been a teller, you know, and just got put straight into lending. And it was pretty much a sink or swim situation. Wow. So I had to learn on the fly. You know, what, what was collateral? Was loan to value, you know what I mean? And but, uh, thank God, it all worked out.
Sidney Jackson 02:47
So who was your, your partner in crime? In a sense, that kind of taught you all of that stuff? Was
Quentin Durr 02:52
it Brandon Maxwell? And that was your former Oh, he asked do column balls, he’ll always be balls. Because he was so in general, like he was, it was the way that he took me in and gave me an opportunity. I’ll forever be grateful for that. So I mean, he would, we would sit down and talk and he would just kind of give me that game of of the do’s and the don’ts and more of the theory and the philosophy versus to transactional, so understood why I was doing versus what I was doing. And that made all the difference in the world.
Sidney Jackson 03:27
Wow. And for the people who don’t know what bank is and what city? Yep, so,
Quentin Durr 03:30
origin bank, and they are basically a three state bank, but I am currently located in Ruston, but spent most my time in Farmville. And that’s where Brian Maxwell is now.
Sidney Jackson 03:44
Wow. So your overall journey? What’s one of the one of the biggest lessons you learned just in the banking industry overall
Quentin Durr 03:53
value in relationships. That is the most important thing.
Sidney Jackson 03:59
And that’s one of the not mission statements, but values of the bank is
Quentin Durr 04:03
absolutely one of our key things as a return on relationship. You know, we have passed on many ideals, but we fight for every relationship. And that that’s it meets such a my passion that that that’s what’s been great about it is I don’t have to fake it. You know, like sometimes you get in that corporate world where you’re like, I’m gonna have to really just hate my job. And I’m just doing this for a paycheck. Like, I love my job. You know, like it, it feeds my soul to be like, oh, I need to go all in and be one on one with with this business and learn their industry and try to help them grow. You ain’t got to pay me. But it works out.
Sidney Jackson 04:50
Yeah. So what role are you in now?
Quentin Durr 04:53
So currently about two years ago, I was doing a lot of traveling and doing lending commercial lending small business lending. And lending on a regional level is tough, right? Because if someone in Monroe calls you and you’re in Shreveport, you’re you know that that availability cuts down. And so I had this vision of seeing so much issue for workforce development, and what business resources was available, right? What training grants, what opportunities to work with state agencies, and how they were short handed. And I was like, there’s, there’s this niche, I think we could do where we focus, you know, if we’re going to be trusted advisors, we’re gonna have to know more than just credits and debits, right, we’re gonna have to understand economic trends, we’re gonna have to understand what is that small business person really going through? And how can we be an asset and a value and interest advisor on that. And so I kind of went down that wormhole. And working with a lot of community colleges and small business, I went to my boss and kind of presented this idea. And shock, they’re like, We love it, let’s do it. In origin, it’s always been entrepreneurial. They they breathed, that it’s been a blessing, because not many times I’ve had, I’m going on my second made up job title. Second, you know, just because they it’s kind of like, sometimes you, sometimes you have to create something to make it to make that, you know, fill that void. And they’ve been very good about that. So now, so I say Regional Business Development, Small Business Resource Coordinator, there’s, there’s, we play with a lot of different stuff. But it’s really just working with companies building relationship, and helping them grow. And connecting them to their dream. You know, and that that’s good. A lot of people say, what do you do for the bank, and I struggle with that. So I’ve had to kind of condense it to, you know, work with companies build relationships,
Sidney Jackson 06:53
or relationships, so they can get a return on a relationship. Right? Absolutely incredible. Because when I first met you, I think it was during the run, right? Yep. And I was like, Oh, this guy’s a banker. It doesn’t fit the traditional mode of a banker. And then once you said your title, it was like, Okay, that makes more sense. But what does that actually mean? And then just to kind of watch you over topaz, I guess a few months, I guess, it hasn’t been too long. But I’m just to watch you build relationships. And yeah, just network around a room, it’s, it’s incredible. And you provide a whole lot of value to the bank. And when we’re talking about relationships, from an entrepreneurial standpoint, I want to kind of touch on the importance of having a banking relationship with a banker, period, whether it’s a well, whether it’s any kind of bank,
Quentin Durr 07:50
relationship with a banker is everything. Trust is everything. If you don’t have somebody in your corner, when you need it, you can fail. I’ve seen it to meantime, you can have a growing business, be doing phenomenal, and be in a situation and a cash crunch because of growth, and not have that resource. And that banker behind you understanding what your business is, where you’re at in that process, and being there to support you. I’ve seen a lot of people grow broke, you know. So the key and having that relationship is you really have to have somebody that understands where you’re at, what industry you’re in, what your business model is, and understand where you’re at in the process and have that ongoing conversation. So when something comes up, it’s not a shock. If anything, a good banker is going to be telling you what to be looking for what to be expecting, you know, that’s that trusted advisor culture that we have, it’s not going to wait to take an order from you, you know, we need to have an ongoing conversation, I understand where you’re at what your needs are. And then sometimes I might make a suggestion, like, Hey, you might want to look out for this, you know, or what about this. And so it just allows that growth opportunity, and then you’re not coming in at that time money, like don’t wait to your drownded. And then it’s too late, you know, because sometimes the numbers also don’t, don’t work in your favor. Right? I mean, sometimes a huge opportunity. I’ve had some where, you know, this was the big job, and they knew it was coming and we had been talking about it. But the numbers didn’t make sense, right? It’s a it’s a collateral issue. So we got a loan on faith and character and understanding that customer we’re lending on the relationship. We’re not We’re not lending on the cash flow word, right? Because sometimes it doesn’t sometimes you got to wait what 90 days 120 days for you get that first payment. So between then and you know now and then how do you feel that gap if you wait till you need that you won’t get it. But if you had that ongoing in that relationship with that banker, now it makes it a lot easier. You know, now, you know, they bought in, and I’ve had it, I’ve had somebody come and it was a, it was a million dollar deal, we helped structure, how you know how their payments were going to be made. And then we basically funded the gap. And so their largest deal came through our funding, and it was no collateral.
Team RMG 10:29
This episode is sponsored by project brand reconstruction, if you’re a business owner looking to grow your business in 22, but you’re not truly satisfied with your website and social media content to do a big push in generate leads. Well, you’re in luck at revision marketing group, you have created Project brand reconstruction, to redesign your website and social media content to be consistent with your brand, which will allow you to generate more revenue. To learn more about Project brain reconstruction and join our waiting list. Visit our website at WWW dot revision mg.com backslash brand reconstruction
Quentin Durr 11:12
on a million, you know, yeah. Because of the relationship. Yeah, absolutely.
Sidney Jackson 11:16
So when’s the best time to start having or start a relationship with
Quentin Durr 11:22
yesterday? Right, because you always need something, right? I mean, it’s not just business. I mean, you know, that first car, you’re saving up for your child for their college fun to have an overdraft from an accident? Who do I call to my debit cards not working? Right? I mean, all those things require knowing somebody. So if you don’t have a relationship with a banker, who you gonna call, if you have a big cheque coming through, and you really need it paid, but your other money, you had made it to the bank to make a deposit, you’re gonna call to let them know, like, I got this covered. I have the money. I just can’t get to the bank, like having that relationships, everything. You know, a lot of people just text me, hey, this coming through, you know, and I understand the situation. So I’m able to prove it. And they have no hiccups, you know? So I would say when now, you know,
Sidney Jackson 12:19
so not not when you need it. Not when you need it, it’s mostly building a relationship on a front end. So you can have that trust built up with the banker, and have that relationship. So it’s, they already kind of trust you with it.
Quentin Durr 12:33
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it’s kind of like any relationship, you don’t jump out there and just get married. Right, unless you do you know what? You get to know him first. Right? You meet them hopefully, right? The ones that if you’re looking for a long term relationship, yeah. Right. You gotta have that upfront, get to know each other, understand each other. And then from there, build out that relationship. So you don’t want to wait till it’s too later. You’re, you’re in need, don’t wait to need a loan to go find a banker. Yeah, you know,
Sidney Jackson 13:05
so for small businesses, or micro businesses, so micro, my definition, I’m pretty sure it’s different. But sub 500,000, when would be a good time to start communicating with bankers, because, um, some of these businesses are just kind of like starting up in a inject some capital into it themselves. And they’re extremely afraid of bankers, because they haven’t had a business relationship where it’s, they needed a banker,
Quentin Durr 13:36
right? So small business needs the banker, more than the larger, which might sound crazy. But if you think about like this, the small business person has to build a relationship. Whereas a larger company might stand on its own already, right? You come and you you’re a large corporation, you have a large balance sheet, large net worth, great cash deposit, you have something to leverage, right, those are the one that can go to any bank. The small guy has to build a relationship, help the banker understand what they’re trying to do, and then hope the banker is wanting to grow with him. So the first thing they got to do is find a banker that they like a trust and always say, look around, you go to events, see who’s plugged in, see who’s actually given and pouring their soul into their community is probably who you want to be with. Right? And then from there, get to know them. go to lunch with them. Most banks have a budget to eat lunch, a free meal, you know what I mean? Like go go hang out with them, you know, introduce yourself, spend some time with them. See if if your values and your you know, morals and everything aligned with theirs. And then from that point, you know, hey, I’d like to do some business with you. You know, so it’s important for the small banker. Start now, even if even if you are, this is just a side hustle. Yeah, you need a banker because you’re going to need a car, right? Most people need a car loan. But you may need a signature loan. I’ve started many companies off, leveraging personal credit, to have that capital injection to start the business. You know, which, that’s a whole nother conversation of credit scoring, all that can be next series. But you know that the main thing is you got to start now. Yeah, you know, so when when do you start yesterday?
Sidney Jackson 15:35
Yesterday for everybody? Yep. Indeed. Small as far as small businesses, what kind of tips would you give them? As far as interfacing with a banker, or formulating a relationship with a banker,
Quentin Durr 15:50
like, say, you know, look around, you see what they’re doing. Find somebody that you think is going to want to actually grow with you be interested? Good bankers are hard to find. You know, because our industry is seeing a squeeze, where you have a lot of older bankers, and you have a lot of young and not a lot in the middle. It seems to be that way. And obviously, like our industry, like all we’re, we’re trying to do more of less. So the capacity becomes difficult to it’s a service issue, right? How do you maintain great service, but watch your overhead? So you want to find somebody that’s passionate about what they do? If they’re not passionate about what they do? You know, are they gonna? Are they gonna return your text at seven? In the evening, right? You know, like, those things. So find somebody you like, because you want to, like this person, you’re about to get real intimate with them. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like, it’s finance, it’s, Hey, I, I’ve got this bill coming through, I need help. It’s, you know, but that’s the relationship party shouldn’t be scared to say I need help, like, you will need help. And that’s okay. But that’s the bankers job is to be there when you need it, you know, so find somebody you like that, you know, you don’t want to run around with, you know, because many a time constant, I’m, we’re in the car for hours, run around talking, strategize and understanding what they’re trying to do. And then go in their lobby, really see what they’re about, you know, a lot of stuff is a vibe, if you walk in, and it feels like a library, and, you know, nobody talks to you. Yeah, you know, or if you come in, and some eyes, if they’re rude, or, you know, you know, just just, you know, it’s like, it’s like, kind of one of those things tested, find the right one, and then when it feels right now you want to trust but verify, you know,
Sidney Jackson 17:46
verify. So, now, I think this is incredible, as far as small businesses looking to grow within a different industry. And then they they’re trying to have a banking relationship, what would be something that a banker is looking for, aside from the character of the person?
Quentin Durr 18:13
Yes. So, you know, there, there is a responsibility on the business, also to be good stewards of their money, right, you know, credit, character, you know, collateral, those are kind of the three C’s, you know, of lending, but from a business standpoint, you want to make sure that you understand your finances, if you don’t find someone to help you, you know, understand your situation, you know, don’t over leverage the business. But also understand that, that relationship is two ways. So if, you know, if you say you want to, you know, you’re in that point, you have a knee and you want to borrow money, you know, saying what are you bringing to the table to, like any other relationship, right? So, a lot of time people want to leverage, you know, take a loan to start a business, that may not be the best thing to do, you know, you may need to save up, but that initial, you know, equity injection, you know, then, you know, it only makes sense to borrow when that Borean is going to make you money. If you don’t have any revenue to justify borrowing that money, may want to think about why are you borrowing the money? You know, so some of those things to understand to have a good understanding of what you’re doing, what your business is doing, and being educated about your business. You know, because ultimately, it’s not the bankers job to make you successful. It’s just to help you be successful.
Sidney Jackson 19:38
Yes. No, that’s good stuff. So with that, in just looking at the banking and so it’s not on the set of relationship is a person to person relationship. It’s not necessarily on a business level, right. So it’s not origin Having a banking relationship or relationship period with revision marketing group, it would be the founder. So Sydney Jackson, right?
Quentin Durr 20:09
Absolutely. So I mean, that’s that’s the relationship key of it, because you are the business. Right? If Sydney goes down, what happens to the marketing company?
Sidney Jackson 20:24
Michaela takes over. Yes.
Quentin Durr 20:27
So then whose businesses become? Michaela, right? So you follow where the where the decision making is, that’s where the importance as to where the relationships at. So just like the bank, if if you don’t have a banker, who you’re going to call, if you just call up to the bank, you know, at frontline person’s not going to give you the advice you need. Yeah, that’s not their job. You know, so you need a relationship manager, that’s going to help you, you know, so it’s a person person. Even even with the larger companies, the relationship with CEO or the CFO, or, you know, the operations officer, you know, those ones that are running the company. That’s where you got to have the relationship, because that’s where ultimately the decision making false. Yeah. So,
Sidney Jackson 21:23
indeed, so what tip would you give to just the last word of wisdom for just entrepreneurs? Entrepreneurs,
Quentin Durr 21:33
we were talking about this on the way over here, and in even with with our podcast, with Catalyst with, you know, our conversation, it’s always come down to just do it. Just do it, a lot of we get so tied up and talking about how we’re going to do it. Or why should we do it? Just do it. Just, you need a banker? Go get one. What are you waiting on? Absolutely. Like, you want to start a business? What are you waiting on, you need to form an LLC, go format, you know, you got that first client, you want to go talk to that you think you might be able to help them? Go talk to them? You know, they we get caught up so tough, so much. And, you know, the fear. And the worry is what if we fail? You know, once you get over that fear of failure, it’s it’s a, it’s double blue skies from there.
Sidney Jackson 22:28
Yeah, it is definitely a lot of fail. And just overall in life, I think, in some of our clients that we get in, it’s like, they want to start a business, but they want it to be perfect right out of the gate. They want to strategize, they want the website to be top notch social media top notch. But at the same time, you have to go ahead and act, right. So you can get information then. And then you can prep yourself. And then we can pivot instead of having some extremely structured, this is how we kind of approach it, and then banking. Um, it’s important to have like that business plan. But business plans shouldn’t be the Bible, it should always be changing. Yeah,
Quentin Durr 23:09
because you know, it’s, you can have the plant without planting the seed. So you got to start sowing those seeds now. You know, and then put that work in, there’s a lot of work. A lot of people just want instant gratification, a lot of work. And that work is what you’re talking about the learning curves, the the understand, oh, that didn’t work, and we pivot right now that or hey, COVID hits the world change. Now, what do we do? You know, if you’re afraid of failure, entrepreneurships not for you. Because you will fail? It’s not. It’s not if it’s when you know,
Sidney Jackson 23:47
how often Right, right. So I’m touching on COVID. Before we wrap up, how did banking relationships, just specifically what your bank held during the COVID relief? And
Quentin Durr 24:02
so the words PPP have given me PTSD? Yeah. But it was a critical time to be there for companies. And I know Origen and myself, and everybody that was involved in our taskforce knew that and we said, banks, were going to have to get our economy through this, because we were the only conduit to help push this money out. And so when I say we were 15 hour days, I mean, I was hitting approval at midnight. You know, we did whatever we had to do, and I think we ran through in the first couple weeks, like 3000 application for like 700 million. You know, and we’re only three states. Yeah, you know, so I mean, we we knew COVID work could potentially put a lot of companies out of business and that PPP and we stayed on the eidl And, you know, really just trying to be and that was funny as I’d started this whole position with the bank. So I’d already had contacts with the SBA with LED, and all these things. So we were kind of ahead of the curve of being like, Oh, we got to offer people business resources. Oh, that’s funny. And doing that last six months, right. So it was just natural. We, you know, as soon as it dropped, we had a lot of people with a lot of knowledge. And then we have people with technology. So we were able to really fine tune our process, understood the language and hit the ground running. And I’m, I’m very proud our president of Louisiana, Larry little led that charge. He’s here in Shreveport. But he was he was great. And so everybody that I work with, and now of course, now we’re going through the forgiveness phase and all that and so we’re just over that hump, but it was challenging, but I think we I like to think we it goes back to that banker because when COVID hit, we were not doing PPP loan for non customers. There’s too much fraud involved. Guess what? It’s too late. You know what I mean? You have to have that relationship built are those times you you’re like, thank goodness, I got it. Right. So that that was a prime example why the banker is important.
Sidney Jackson 26:23
Incredible. Incredible. And for the people who are looking for you online, where can they find you? What’s the best place to reach you?
Quentin Durr 26:31
Um, so if you want to email cuter at origin dot bank, or help at high tide rise.com two different ways. And then of course, Facebook went under Instagram, Quinton, cedar. Any of those is fun, so I’m easy to find my cell phone on here right now.
Sidney Jackson 26:55
Awesome, man. Thank you so much for coming on entre network podcast. I enjoyed it. And I think our listeners are going to have a whole lot of value add from this specific episode. So thanks.
Quentin Durr 27:07
Hey, I appreciate y’all having me. And if I can ever help or be involved, you know, I’m here. Absolutely. Thank you.
Sidney Jackson 27:14
Thank you.