Becoming A “Yes” Partner to Meet Clients’ Complete Cash Flow Needs
By • Published January 25, 2022 • 4 minute read
Banks constantly and diligently seek ways to deepen relationships with their customers – and it’s not an effortless task. It’s a fiercely competitive industry on all sides, from old guard financial institutions to the latest fintech startup. There’s always a new product, incentive, or innovation to test customer loyalty.
That is why it is so important for banks to be able to say “YES” to a client when they need help in areas outside of traditional bank offerings or proprietary solutions. Many banks have lost their marquee customers because they allowed a competitor to establish a foothold.
Instead of providing a product from their own portfolio or directing the customer to a trusted partner, the customer is forced to turn to a new bank that can provide that product. Eventually, this can erode the incumbent bank’s footprint with the customer.
Fortunately, there has been a cultural shift among financial institutions. Banks are focusing more on leveraging partnerships rather than building solutions from the ground up.
A Forbes article put it best: “Bank/fintech partnerships are a win/win. They help banks offer services that would take them years to develop, and they help fintechs scale distribution faster and more cheaply than they could on their own.”
Being a “YES” partner means understanding common customer pain points and having solutions at the ready to cure them. In some cases, the solution is high margin. Other times, the solution is part of a tried-and-true long game strategy. Meeting a customer’s needs today is a proven way increase margins tomorrow.
A customer pain point often overlooked is the payment and communication of invoices to suppliers. For many customers, especially those with global supply chains, paying suppliers on time is difficult and expensive. The volume of supplier payments as well as different geographies, currencies and regulations make it burdensome to process supplier payments in a timely manner.
The burden doesn’t only fall on the buyer’s AP resources – suppliers also suffer. In addition to the obvious downsides of delayed payment (disruption to cash flow, operations and growth), the supplier’s AR resources are also taxed. These are just a few reasons why many companies are implementing supplier payment solutions and why banks should view this as an opportunity to step in as a partner.
A Digitized B2B Payment Solution Deepens Customer Relationships and Supports Client Growth
Commercial customers need more than lines of credit. Growing companies require new solutions to streamline B2B payments and reduce the AP/AR burden across their supply chains. Being able to refer customers to a partner solution is one way to strengthen customer trust and loyalty.
Partnering with PrimeRevenue gives banks an added advantage. Our SurePay Platform not only helps customers streamline on-time supplier payments, but it also facilitates early payment through programs like supply chain finance and dynamic discounting.
That brings us back to the long-game strategy. At some point, most customers will need a cash flow strategy that’s broader than commercial lending – whether it’s to navigate supply chain disruptions or invest in labor, infrastructure and market expansion. Whatever the reason, banks have an important role to play and margin to earn. Early payment programs like supply chain finance have exploded in popularity, and giving customers access to a unified B2B payments platform that supports ALL payments gives banks a seamless way to fund and facilitate higher-margin products like supply chain finance. As an added benefit, suppliers already using the SurePay Platform for on-time payments will be more inclined to participate in an early payment program that’s supported by the same easy-to-use and easy-to-onboard technology.
If you’re a financial institution that wants to learn more about the PrimeRevenue SurePay Platform, let us know here. We can help you develop a long-term strategy to serve your clients both now and in the future.
