When you’re going into business for yourself there are literally dozens of important decisions to make. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in almost every company has some of the same decisions to make. Do we need office space? What are our insurance needs? Where do we get our supplies? Where are we getting our phone and Internet? Who is handling payroll and employee benefits? With so many choices to have to make one of the most important you need to make and one that should be a number one priority is who are you going to work with to handle your business banking?
Why is this decision so important? Well, aside from being the people who handle your money your business-banking partner can help you in several areas. The obvious ones are business checking and lines of credit. In addition to those main ones most banks offer an expanded line of services these days to be a better resource for all your financial needs. Most banks offer cash management tools to ensure that your cash flow needs are always met and you don’t have any surprises. Many banks offer payroll services that will consolidate the number of vendors you need to run your business. Speaking of consolidation many banks offer invoicing services to help you get paid quicker and tax services which can help you save when it comes to accountants and tax time.
Some banks also make premium services available to business banking clients that might be otherwise unavailable. If you’re a small business owner that means you’ll be putting in long hours. Sometimes those long hours mean you’ll miss regular business hours at the bank. How do you get all those check deposited from those invoices that you got paid more quickly on? You should be looking for a bank that offers remote deposit services to their clients.
There are always going to be banks competing for your business. It’s important for you to decide what services are the most important. That will help you choose the bank that suits your needs the best. Once you have that decision made, all the others ones should be easy.
