Contrary to popular belief, it’s not all about the money. The best borrower/lender relationships are built upon trust and opportunity for mutual success. So be brutally frank and honest about the business and the principals – at the first meeting and throughout the relationship.
What are your successes and failures? What difficulties have you faced and how have you overcome them? What challenges do you face today and how are you dealing with them on a day-to-day basis?
If you can share past and current problems with the lender up front and you do not scare him or her off, it’s a positive sign. And if you do scare your lender off at that first meeting, well that was not the lender for you.
You deserve a lender that knows your successes and your failures-and will be with you in the trenches to help succeed.
Also remember that any decent lender will independently verify your facts, and if you’ve painted a rosier-than-reality picture, you may have lost that lender’s trust forever.