Speed banking center serves up advice, wine

There are no velvet ropes dictating where to wait in line, no wide counters and glass partitions separating bankers from customers, and certainly not any stuffy closed-off offices with advisors sitting behind giant walnut desks.

When clients walk in, it’s hard to tell that Seacoast National Bank’s Accelerate offices — deemed “fuel cells” by its creator and the Bank’s Chief Lending Officer Russ Holland — are even banks. The offices are furnished with modern, peppy green chairs and abstract art pops on the walls. There’s a sleek bar that serves coffee by day and wine by night, encouraging clients to stop by any time.

The offices cater to small business owners, and Holland hopes they’ll help bankers and clients develop stronger, more collaborative relationships.

Accelerate offices are staffed with several experienced “accelerators” who advise clients on the financial products the bank offers, such as small business loans and credit lines. An “analyzer,” or underwriter — a person responsible for approving a loan — is also there to talk with the small business owner.

“What we’ve done with the fuel cells is put a team of very experienced commercial lenders and underwriters right in front of the customer, so a small business owner or a professional can go in and really get some good advice,” Holland said. “In a typical bank, the small business owner or professional would never sit face-to-face with that level of experience or an underwriter.”

In a traditional banking situation, there are several hoops to jump through, a hierarchy of consent levels to get a loan approved. The representative at the typical bank can’t just say yes or no, but at Accelerate, their analyzer is experienced and authorized to make decisions on loans right there, which makes the process quicker.

Visit acceleratebusiness.com for more information about the services offered by Seacoast National Bank’s new Accelerate offices. The Winter Park office is located in Hannibal Square at 444 W. New England Ave., and is one of three locations in Central Florida.

And whether the answer is yes or no, clients have the opportunity to talk to the person in charge, and that’s what the neo-entrepreneurs, business owners age 30 to 50, are all about, Holland said.

“Our target is Generation X, that demographic is all about empowerment and engagement,” he said. “They really expect to be a part of the process.”

“We’re not just here to say no,” said Brian Moseley, an analyzer at the Winter Park office. “I want to give them reasons why, that’s always a better way to handle business.”

Accelerators and analyzers give clients free advice on the next steps to take to eventually get approved for a loan or grow their business. And if their expertise can’t help, they’ll connect the client to someone who can, whether it’s a human resources consultant or a life coach.

So while the atmosphere is very modern and all banking transactions are done through ATM and online, the relationships built between clients and accelerators feel like old school banking, said client Jeff Campese, who got a credit line through Accelerate for his Orlando marketing company Red Rocket Studios.

“It’s a combination of being totally accessible to the decision makers and them knowing me and my business,” Campese said. “It’s the first time in a long time, on the business side, that we felt like clients again, rather than that the bank was doing us a favor.”

“I like getting to talk to the person behind the numbers, behind the business,” Moseley said. “Customers are looking for much more interaction … that’s the model that’s going to set you apart in this industry.”