Competition is a good thing, especially in banking. Choices allow a business to find the right partner to continue its growth.
Wayne Impullitti, president and owner of Impullitti Landscaping, a family-owned Bainbridge-based business with 100 employees, had inherited the banking relationship his father started when he founded the company in 1952. In 1990, Wayne took over sole ownership of the company, and continued the relationship until last year.
“For my father, a bank was just a place to put money in,” says the younger Impullitti. “He didn’t need a banking relationship. I started out with the same philosophy my father had.”
But Impullitti Landscaping needed more. The company grew to include design, installation, fertilization programs and now a greenhouse and garden center, and has moved to bigger facilities three times in the last 13 years.
The financial needs of the business were changing.
“I needed to have a better relationship with my bank,” says Impullitti. “I met the branch manager and started somewhat of a relationship, then the manager was gone. Then another one came in, and I started the whole relationship again.
“I needed to understand how the bank and the system worked. I started a good relationship with the branch manager, but then they left again.”
At that point, Impullitti was put in the private banking department, where he received excellent service from his private banker, but the system was working against both him and the banker.
“It was getting very difficult to work with them,” says Impullitti. “They would tell me I had a nice company, that was nicely run, but what they didn’t understand was that it was such an ordeal to do anything with them.”
The search started for a new bank. Impullitti picked four banks and essentially sent his business out for bid. He sent them information about his business and included details on all the financial changes he wanted to make, which included refinancing, buying property and setting up the new garden center as its own business.
“I brought the bankers to our location and did a slide presentation,” says Impullitti. “I showed them the facility and took them to some of our jobs in progress. I had all our financials prepared and ready. Every one of them said, ‘I had no idea.’
“They all thought I had a pickup truck with some mowers. They saw the scheduling board and would stop and read the names on them and realize a lot of them were part of their bank.
“We put on a presentation just like we were trying to sell a job, but this time I was selling me. Here’s what we do and here’s what we’re trying to be. After the presentation, it was a totally different feeling. This is a real business.”
After the presentations, he selected a winner.
“The one that reacted the fastest and was the easiest to work with was the one we picked,” says Impullitti. “I’m real happy with the way Huntington has been treating us. They are really easy to work with.
“Our old bank helped us out for many years, but after 51 years, it was time for a change.” How to reach: Impullitti Landscaping, (440) 543-6770 or www.enjoytheview.com
