Let’s Hear It For The Tortoise!

I want to tell you about my frustrating day. Why was it so frustrating? Well, I was too quick to take advantage of a ‘great contact’ and, by close of business,  found myself wriggling to escape from a so-called ‘fantastic’ deal because I had failed to pause for thought. Read and learn!

I wanted to raise a substantial amount of money from a bank and, on the advice of a business colleague (someone I have known for many years), I got in touch with one of the UK’s more ethical banks. A meeting was duly set up on the Wednesday. Met a good guy who said he would consider my request. No problem so far. Two days later on the Friday night I went to a networking bash and met another chap. I emntioned in casual conversation that I was on the lookout for commercial funding and, quick as a flash, he said ‘you need to speak with my commercial finance friend XYZ. He’ll be able to help you’. Keen to take advantage of a pending deal – for which I would need ‘cash’ – I telephoned the third party contact who advised that he operated, largely, via e-mail. All he needed was a financial ‘profile’ and he’d then in a position to approach his banking contacts and, hopefully, secure me a good deal. I worked like crazy to get the necessary information together for him. Meanwhile my ethical banking contact came back with the written promise of a £200,000 loan subject to the valuation of a building I was putting up as equity. This is where the situation started to become ‘challenging’. My ‘commercial broker’ asked me to forward the ‘ethical bank’ offer to him which I duly did, but I made the point of telling him that I considered this deal ring fenced from our arrangement since I had brought it to the table myself. He was non too pleased insisting that I had asked him to get involved and that he had already started liaising with the ethical bank in question. He felt he was still entitled to his £990 fee. Now, I shan’t go into the whys and wherefores but my position was a simple one………I brought the deal to the table and I wanted the broker to either better or add value to MY deal…..if he couldn’t, no fee. In summary I should have concluded my enquiries BEFORE bringing this guy to the table or made it abundantly clear that I had a deal on the table BEFORE declaring who that deal was with. That way I could have ring fenced my dialogue more effectively. Because I didn’t, I now I have an awkward negotiation to extract myself from a deal I shouldn’t have been so hasty to enter. Such negotiations only serve to damage reputation because, however, right you are, people, in this instance the commercial broker, will probably finish up speak badly of me, however right I may be, because he feels badly done to. Moral? When networking know the person you are talking to…….know quite clearly who they are referring you on to and make sure you do your homework first…….otherwise you will get bitten. Make haste slowly my friends…..there’s merit in moving at the pace of a tortoise!