Coaching the Team Back into the Black

When a long-term client becomes a troubled asset, every financial institution has its own trusted methods of evaluating the risk, seeking data from the borrower, putting together a recovery team and deciding when or whether a special asset is moved to the bank’s workout staff.

At its best, this process can enable lender and borrower to work closely toward solutions, pushing through the difficulty and returning the business to good standing. At its worst, the added pressure and distraction can put too much focus on freeing up cash and not enough on navigating the crisis.

At Coveted Financial, our consulting staff of former bankers adds value to this decision path through our direct experience with a wide variety of Chicagoland banks and businesses. We work for banker and borrower to assess the business situation, coaching the management team on recovery strategy, developing proven tactics for recovery -- and providing the lender with maximum visibility. We facilitate a three-way partnership, with the shared objective of coaching the team back into the black.

We begin with an overall study of the business, developing accounting tools to provide the team with both monitoring and insight. Cash flow analysis shows us where the life blood of the company is flowing and where current problems are causing delay or disruption. We work with the management team to establish and update the discipline of a rolling 13-week projection, showing how current results are coming along, as well as pointing to trends relevant to the long-range strategy and planning.

Based on our cash analysis, we coach the team on ways to increase margins, cut costs, trim less profitable products or services, monitor compensation, defer spending, speed up collection cycles, or use alternative financing tools such as receivables.

We recommend cost-saving improvements in operational systems, we advise on how commercial real estate, machinery or other assets can be converted to cash, and we guide the management team in aligning their budgets with the sales forecast and rolling projection.

As a facilitator, Coveted Financial will seek to align the objectives of lender and borrower. As our motto says, our coaching method is “Explore, Educate and Empower”. We combine a banker’s perspective with decades of analytical experience… to guide strategy, generate effective tactics and closely monitor results as lender and borrower work toward a win-win outcome.

When should a lender (or borrower) reach out to Coveted Financial Services? If you are a borrower in the greater Chicago area and find yourself encountering difficulty staying current…or if you are a Chicagoland banker with a client who may be facing a special asset situation, the time to start our partnership is now.

The sooner we are brought in, the more time all parties will have to form an effective team, understand the challenges and get to work on solutions for recovery. Schedule your free consultation today!