After working nearly four decades as a commercial banker, Alan Stanford has spent the last few years as an adviser with a Small Business Development Center office in Spokane, showing business owners how to strengthen loan applications, among other things.

In the past two years, Stanford says he's noticed a concerted effort by banks to have employees, often called relationship managers, in each branch who mainly focus on working with small business owners for lending and deposit services. While banks and credit unions have had this focus to a certain extent in the past, it has increased significantly, he asserts.

Banks typically base a group of commercial lenders at a central administrative center to support businesses with loans of $250,000 or more, Stanford says. More recently, banks have been increasing their efforts at branches to place relationship bankers and new lending programs in front of small businesses with credit needs of less than that amount, he says.

"Banks are getting a lot more relationship-oriented with small businesses, which is a big plus for small business owners," Stanford says. "What banks are trying to do is to put someone who is available to them to have dialogue with small business owners directly."

Stanford adds, "U.S. Bank, Banner Bank, Washington Trust, Chase Bank, and AmericanWest are among those putting a huge effort in to put more relationship managers out on the street, if you will, talking to small business owners."

Stanford works in a SBDC office on the Riverpoint Campus, at 665 N. Riverpoint, with another SBDC adviser, Tammy Everts. The SBDC program operates two Spokane offices where a total of 10 people work, including the Riverpoint office and its administrative office, at 1235 N. Post, that also has space for a SBDC export center to advise businesses exporting products.

Washington State University is the primary U.S. Small Business Administration contractor in the state managing the federal funds provided to the statewide program, which has 24 centers and an annual operating budget of $4.2 million. The statewide SBDC program has 34 full-time workers across the state, and of those, about two-thirds of them are employees of WSU, including Stanford.

A graduate of the WSU College of Business, Stanford spent much of his banking career in the Seattle-Bellevue area, including 20 years at U.S. Bank, mostly as a loan officer and a business relationship manager in commercial lending.

Stanford returned to Pullman in 2003 as a branch manager for Spokane-based AmericanWest Bank, then moved two years later to AmericanWest's Spokane offices to start small business and consumer lending programs, he says. Before joining the SBDC, he worked for four years as a commercial lender for Spokane-based Wheatland Bank.

For his SBDC role today, Stanford also meets with business owners to advise them on other business support services that include developing business plans, revenue forecasting, budgeting and credit review, mergers and acquisitions, and employee development.

Nationwide, SBDC programs provide a variety of small business counseling, training, and market research services that are funded by the SBA as well as through state and local sources. Other examples of SBDC support include business marketing tips, cash flow analysis, and product exporting advice.

"Financing advice is a small part of what we do, and a big part of what I do," Stanford says. "We work with clients looking to expand their business or wanting to acquire another business."

While Stanford is trained to assist businesses in SBDC's other business development support roles, he says most of the time he's teaching borrower education when people are applying for SBA loans, direct bank loans, U.S. Department of Agriculture loans, or other types of loans.He also assists other SBDC advisers statewide when their clients have financial questions or are seeking loan advice.

In 2011 and 2012, Stanford met with nearly 300 business clients from the Spokane area, while also providing assistance to other SBDC advisers. For both years, Stanford helped owners here access about $2.4 million in capital used to start or grow their small businesses.

At a SBA ceremony held in May in Seattle, Stanford was recognized with the state SBDC star performer award, which also will be presented to him at a national conference for the Association of Small Business Development Centers in Orlando, Fla. this fall.

In Spokane, Stanford estimates about 75 percent of the businesses he advises employ 20 or fewer people. Others have up to 85 workers. A majority of his SBDC clients serve the industry sectors of manufacturing, health care, retail, or food and drink production.

Stanford credits Everts with helping clients through her expertise in business marketing and economic development. They both might see a client for a short number of weeks, but some business owners have returned to the SBDC office here for the past 10 to 15 years, he adds.

"We're a chief operating officer pro tem for small businesses," he says. "If they have issues, we'd like to be their first call. We have a number of resources at our disposal."

In his role today, Stanford says he often reaches out to commercial lenders at Spokane-area banks to see how he can help their small business clients. He says loan officers sometimes refer business owners to him, if the owners are unfamiliar with the process or are missing loan package information.

He estimates about 40 percent of the clients he sees who need financial assistance are referred to him by banks, while the balance come to him directly either because another SBDC client recommended the visit or individuals themselves learned about the support through SBA or SBDC referrals.

"In a lot of cases, the business owner goes into a bank, and the bank takes a look and knows it's not a complete loan package and elements are missing," Stanford says. "They send them to me."

He adds, "I also do a lot of work with clients who get declined, and I help them understand why. It may be because of insufficient working capital, so we'll further clarify that and steps to correct it."

He says other reasons loans are declined include insufficient collateral or declining sales. In meetings that are kept confidential under federal privacy rules, Stanford says he goes over financial statements with the business owners, explains a typical bank loan process, and discusses what banks seek in documents, such as detailed projections for business growth and revenues.

"As best I can, I walk them through the lending process and tell them about what are the typical questions they'll be asked during a loan interview, so it goes more smoothly," Stanford says. "I'll help them fill in the blanks."

Stanford adds that some people don't fully understand what financial statements are telling them about expenses and profits, and the steps they can take to manage better results. He often offers tips for better pricing strategies, ways to expand revenue sources, and how to reduce overhead expenses.

"That's part of financial education, so they understand what their financial statements are really telling them," Stanford says. "If they make some of the changes and follow the plan, then they are in a better position to reapply."

His desire is to get the borrower and banker using the same language, he says.

He adds, "Banks usually don't have the time to do that kind of coaching. I try to promote myself to banks as a resource."

As one example, he says bank employees typically ask during the loan interview how business owners plan to spend the borrowed amount, and some owners provide a general answer that they will use it to expand business. It's better to provide an estimated cost breakdown of expenditures.

If the reason is to grow by introducing a new product, Stanford can help an owner develop a cash-flow analysis that breaks the amount up into specific outlays toward that goal, such as anticipated expenditures for marketing, hiring an employee to do sales, and increasing inventory.

The statewide SBDC started 35 years ago, says Brett Rogers, Spokane-based director of the program. Of its $4.2 million annual budget, the SBA funds $2.1 million, Rogers says, and other institutions, including WSU, provide matching funds and in-kind contributions.