Stack of barrels

Letters From Leton: Stuck Over a Barrel

Having not taken a true vacation in a while, one week in February my wife and I traveled South. On the first day of our travels, we stopped for supper at a restaurant. The hostess said it would be thirty minutes and took our cell number to alert us when our table was ready. Thirty minutes, then forty, then fifty, and finally an hour passes. During this time, we noticed patrons coming up to the front to get their own silverware. We left. A half-hour after we left (90 minutes in total), we get the text that our table was ready. We were 30 miles down the interstate by that point.

During our vacation, I chatted with many small business owners. They all said they were shorthanded and couldn’t find help. They also mentioned other challenges such as large banks limiting change orders and the high cost of credit card transactions. I told them about services like Zelle and FedNow that would allow them to be paid without higher debit and credit card fees.

On my way home, it was clear to me that these businesses needed help. Where was their Banker? Every business I spoke with stated their bank had not been in to visit them at their business. Not one. People need our help. Businesses need our help. They need us to be knowledgeable. And they need us to go to them.

Oh, the final part of the story – I let the restaurant chain I mentioned earlier know about the issues at that particular store (remember people can’t fix things if they don’t know about them). They thanked me and sent me a meal coupon which we ended up using at a location near home. Service was quick and the food was good!

One failure does not mean you stop trying. That is a lesson the restaurant (and hopefully our bank) knows well.

Stay Safe.
– Leton

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“Letters From Leton” is a blog series comprised of the weekly updates that Leton Harding – President, Chairman, and CEO of Powell Valley National Bank, shares with the Bank’s team members. These newsletters are full of uplifting anecdotes and intriguing insights that are applicable beyond the Bank, so we want to share them with you.