ASC Finance for Businessis, as you might have guessed, a finance broker. Our job is, among other things, to help those looking at buying a small business to find the funds they need. We do that by understanding your requirements, submitting an application, and negotiating with lenders to find the finance that’s right for you.
One thing we get asked by clients sometimes is quite simply “What’s the point?”. You could look for finance on your own – why use a broker? Well, there are a lot of reasons that having a broker on your side, whether that be ASC or another company, can be invaluable. We’ve summarised a few of them here:
1. The bank manager has disappeared
If you want to speak to the person in charge at your bank, who can you actually speak to? Odds are you’ll end up talking to someone in a call centre half the world away. In the modern world, the bank manager has disappeared! If you want to find out anything about your application, you’ll need to go through a flood of automated call systems, citing the oh-so-important account number that you’ve been reduced to every time. Even after all that, your chances of speaking to the relevant person are still slim to none!
With a broker, though, you’ve always got someone you can talk to. A broker is a real, tangible point of contact in the finance process, and one to whom you’re a person, not a number. Having a broker on your side means you can actually call up and discuss your application, without all the bureaucracy.
2. Finance is complicated
Business finance is vast. Did you know that here are more than 300 banks that can lend to UK businesses? Each of them has their own products, priorities and criteria. For the inexperienced punter, it can be near-impossible to find the right finance for your business. Between all the restrictions, jargon and more, you can end up drowning in a sea of options.
A broker, however, makes those options simple. It’s quite literally their job to research and find the right options for you, presented in a manner that’s easy to understand. They focus on the finance, so you can focus on what really matters – running your business.
3. A broker knows the right people
Finance might have a lot of numbers involved, but at its core it’s a personal business. People make the decisions in finance – this makes who you know as important as what you can do when it comes to searching for funds. Most businesses looking on their own are unlikely to know anyone in the finance process – as we said, you can’t talk to anybody at the banks anymore
Knowing who makes the decisions at lenders is a key part of a broker’s knowledge base. Being able to speak to them directly can skip a lot of the bureaucracy and box-ticking of the finance process, and has a notable impact on your chances of success. With a broker on your side, you’ll know who you need to speak to as you move from one part of the process to the next, and you’ll always have a contact who keeps track of your progress.
4. Why should you have to spend the time looking?
This is an oft-neglected thought, but it’s a valuable one nonetheless. When you’re looking at buying a business, you’ve got a thousand things to be looking at. Price negotiations, takeover preparations, how it might integrate with existing business if you have one – the list goes on and on. When you’ve got all that to handle, why should you have to spend time looking for finance?
One of the most valuable things you’ll get from a broker is time. A broker is there to let you focus on the things that matter – running and developing your business.
These aren’t the only reasons to use a broker – every business is different, and will benefit from brokers in different ways. However, no matter the scenario, having a broker on your side when looking for finance is always worthwhile!
ASC Finance for Business are Commercial, Business and Property Finance Brokers with 50 years of arranging faster, simpler, better finance for small businesses.
To speak to your local ASC Regional Director about getting finance, click here.
