Banking Business Q1 2023

Business Profile: The Old Cannery

2 Your Business Plan Blueprint....................................................................... 8 Commercial Banking Center Profile: Eugene 10 Ten Ways to Retain Great Employees

12 Identifying What to Track to Better Predict Ahead

14 Nonprofit Corner: Specialized Products and Services

17 Heritage Direct: The Best Way to Detect Fraud Early 20

IN EVERY ISSUE

Heritage Helps 6 Our community involvement is part of our company’s DNA and something we’re very proud of. In this section, we highlight the good we're doing in our communities.

Wealth Strategies 7 Timely insights and tips from our Wealth Strategies team. PNWonderland

16 Explore the unique sights and experiences of our Pacific Northwest. Business Banking Mentor

18 Know these six important metrics for the success of your business.

My Heritage 22 Meet our relationship managers and learn about their heritage. Fraud Prevention 24 Take these steps to protect your business and finances from fraud.

Financial Dictionary

25 Empowering you to make smart business decisions by demystifying banking terminology. Equal Housing Lender | Member FDIC

Banking Business is a quarterly publication of Heritage Bank Director of Marketing Shaun Carson Editor-In-Chief Whitney Gibson Creative Director Erica Bolvin Managing Editor Stephanie Neurer Contributors Robert Groves Kara McDaniel Shanelle Prepotente Paul van der Salm John Stearns Cover photo Ben Jenkins Imaging 3615 Pacific Avenue Tacoma, WA 98418 800.455.6126 HeritageBankNW.com © 2023 Heritage Bank, member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender. The information in this magazine is general education or marketing in nature and is not intended to be accounting, legal, tax, investment or financial advice. Although Heritage Bank believes this information to be accurate as of the date published, it cannot ensure that it will remain accurate. Statements of individuals are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position or ideas of Heritage Bank. Contact us at 800.455.6126 or visit HeritageBankNW.com to make an appointment with one of our local experienced relationship managers to discuss your individual business banking needs.

Jennifer James Long | Headshots Eugene

Paul van der Salm Shutterstock

Welcome to 2023

and a fresh new year of business opportunities. We’re hard at work planning the upcoming year of valuable, informative content for you: our business customers. With each issue, we like to provide current financial news and trends, tips to demystify complex banking concepts, resources to run your business efficiently and other fun stories to help you get to know who we are as people.

As you plan your year, we invite you to reach out to your banker with questions or shoot us an email at BankingBusiness@HeritageBankNW. com to suggest topics you’d like us to cover.

You can also visit our website to request a digital subscription to Banking Business. We’ll send you an email each quarter when the magazine is available to read online, and we’ll even link you directly to our favorite articles from each issue.

Additionally, we’re excited to bring you even more content in 2023 through our new virtual webinar series covering a variety of timely topics and moderated by our knowledgeable bankers and expert guests. Past topics have included recession concerns and cybersecurity. Contact one of our relationship managers if you want to be notified about upcoming webinars.

Thank you for reading Banking Business and for trusting us as your banking partner.

Sincerely,

The Banking Business publishing team

P.S. We’re thrilled to once again have been named one of America’s Best Banks by Newsweek in partnership with Lending Tree!

Fun Takes a Front Seat at The Old Cannery Furniture Warehouse

Fireworks, festivals, frankfurters, fudge, animatronics and model trains aren’t typically associated with furniture stores. But The Old Cannery Furniture Warehouse isn’t your typical store.

The Old Cannery, located in Sumner, Washington, about 10 miles southeast of Tacoma, is an experience as much as a sprawling furniture store: from its kitchen that makes homemade fudge in a kaleidoscope of flavors to its talking animatronic people and animals to its model trains that travel seven miles on a suspended indoor track. It’s also sturdily stitched into the Sumner community fabric—hosting holiday events, supporting fundraisers and generally standing out in the city it’s called home since 1984. “We’re not a traditional retailer by any stretch,” said Dave Radcliffe, CEO of The Old Cannery, which is owned by Sherry Grout and her mother, Mabeth Grout. “One of Sherry’s common phrases is, ‘Make it fun for the children and the rest will happen.’

Our store is all about kids and having fun.”

That explains the trains running through the showroom, plus interactive trains for kids to operate, wooden train whistles given to every child, the fudge factory, visits with Santa during the holidays and more.

Keeping the trains running for kids is so important that the store has two full-time employees who ensure The Old Cannery never stops conducting fun.

The Old Cannery’s location next to real train tracks motivated the model trains, and the store’s community efforts are driven by its commitment to the region. It also owns a double-decker English bus, 1942 firetruck and tractor-pulled toy train that appear in local parades. (In 2022, Radcliffe was one of the grand marshals in Pierce County’s annual Daffodil Festival parade that runs through Tacoma, Puyallup, Sumner and Orting.)

The store’s holiday bridge-lighting ceremony, spanning over the Stuck River that links the store and downtown Sumner, typically draws several thousand people the Saturday after Thanksgiving and includes fireworks, Santa Claus and live reindeer. Santa visits the store every weekend until Christmas, drawing crowds of kids

Visit HeritageBankNW.com to read more of our business profiles, then make an appointment with a banker who knows your industry.

At right: Dave Radcliffe with The Old Cannery’s Heritage Bank relationship manager, Ann Fish

ARTICLE BY JOHN STEARNS

for free photos and wish-sharing. Special sessions are reserved for sensory-impaired children.

That bridge? It’s called The Cannery Way Bridge, and it replaced an outdated structure in 2019.

Before Thanksgiving, The Old Cannery delivered more than 1,200 turkeys for selected junior enlisted service members with families at Joint Base LewisMcChord (JBLM), just south of Tacoma, as part of the store’s partnership with military support group AUSA (Association of the U.S. Army). The Old Cannery has participated in the JBLM Turkey Drop for 12 years.

Events around Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day (the store has a tab on its website devoted to events) include store tent sales complemented by free hot dogs and sodas. The Old Cannery gives away about 10,000 hot dogs per event, Radcliffe said.

The store also plays a supporting role in the annual 5K Come Walk With Me fundraiser held each year in partnership with MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup. The walk, which raises money for items such as wigs and breast cancer research, starts and finishes at the store. It attracted about 1,900 walkers and another 1,000plus guests this past October, Radcliffe said.

In another example of community devotion, the store helped a small Sumner business displaced by fire last fall by providing Old Cannery space for the business to sell its Christmas ornaments over the critical holiday shopping season.

Whether holding its own events, sponsoring them or helping others, “We do it because it’s the right thing to do and the fun thing to do,” Radcliffe said.

Community matters

“We have a tremendous relationship with the city of Sumner, which is probably one of our biggest community partners,” he said.

He credited Sherry Grout for creating the fun, giving atmosphere, which isn’t done for recognition or sales, he said. But doing the right thing translates to sales.

Heritage Bank, which handles The Old Cannery’s business banking, has the same community approach, Radcliffe said.

“They are a big supporter of the community here in Sumner the same way we are,” and financially support events throughout the Sumner-Puyallup area, he said. Radcliffe praised the manager of Heritage’s Sumner branch on Main Street, Debbie Garrison, for her involvement in the community and the branch’s helpful staff.

“The staff that’s in the branch here, they just make it work,” Radcliffe said. “They are just professional, very great people.”

Old Cannery’s roots

Sherry Grout’s father, Tony, worked as a Tacoma fireman in the days when emergency calls were limited to fires only. So, during his time between calls, he would reupholster and build furniture at the firehouse before eventually expanding the work into the Grouts’ home on Enchanted Island in Spanaway Lake in 1953. From there, a business emerged—and grew. Tony would build furniture from wood he harvested and he and Mabeth would sew the upholstery. They eventually added furniture from local suppliers, filling their home with merchandise, according to the store’s website.

As business outgrew their home, the couple opened a store in 1979 off Center Street in Tacoma called Off Center Furniture, before expanding to today’s location in 1984 and renaming the business The Old Cannery after the building’s former use as a fruit and vegetable cannery.

It was then that Tony handed day-to-day operations and marketing to Sherry, with Tony focused on expanding the building, part of which dates to 1920, Radcliffe said. Tony,

who passed away in 2001, did several add-ons, the last of which occurred in 1995, noted Radcliffe, whose family was close to the Grouts growing up. Radcliffe became a furniture supplier for the Grouts’ store, then joined The Old Cannery in 2001 to help Sherry run it.

The Old Cannery building spans about 200,000 square feet, with roughly 77,000 square feet of that devoted to the showroom and the rest to warehouse and office space.

The store employs about 80 people.

Tony’s woodworking skill is highlighted in the fudge shop’s bar, which is made from a 103-year-old birch tree that fell at the historic Ryan House in Sumner during a 1993 storm. He salvaged the fallen tree after the city called him to see if he wanted it, Radcliffe said. Tony also used timber from Goose Prairie on the backside of Crystal Mountain ski area to make the store’s front sales counter. While fun and community are key at Old Cannery, the business is couched in furniture.

“We’re a full-service furniture store,” Radcliffe said, carrying “everything from your mattress and box spring and bedroom furniture to your sofa, love seat, dining room and accessories.”

The store also equips home offices and sells outdoor furniture in the summertime, said Ashley Krebs, advertising manager.

“Since we have the luxury of having such a large showroom, we really do carry all of it,” Krebs said of styles and price points. “We have stuff that’s perfect for a young couple’s first home and then we have designer pieces that are something you would see at other luxury stores in Seattle. We have something for everybody.”

The store gets plenty of customers from the South Puget Sound region and others from Portland to Everett. Some even come from Alaska and barge their furniture back home, Krebs said. Others come from east of the Cascades, for example Suncadia near Cle Elum, Washington, she said. “We really have a good radius,” Krebs said. “I think a lot of it is people have shopped for years with their families, so when it’s time for them to buy their homes, they always come back because they know what kind of service we offer and the selection.”

The Old Cannery tries to buy as much American-made furniture as it can from its wholesalers, Radcliffe said. It uses a Puyallup manufacturer, Grandwood Furniture, which makes furniture under Old Cannery’s name, called Old Cannery Classics, and whose founder was introduced to furniture-making as a teenager while working after

school for a furniture vendor in Old Cannery’s basement. Another northwest supplier, Stanton of Canby, Oregon, is Old Cannery’s largest upholstered-furniture vendor for sofas, love seats and recliners.

Radcliffe said Old Cannery puts the best price on furniture that it can without marking it up just to turn around and say it’s significantly marking it down to attract sales.

“We don’t play those games,” he said. “It’s going to be the best price that we can put on the furniture.”

Heritage showed interest

The Old Cannery’s relationship with Heritage Bank began about five years ago when the bank offered a higher rate of interest for a savings account than the store’s existing bank at the time. The return on that account led to moving the store’s business account to Heritage, which handles all of the store’s deposits and daily banking needs.

The bank and store share similar values, and The Old Cannery is loyal to vendors it enjoys working with, he said, also praising attention to the store’s needs from Ann Fish, vice president-relationship banking officer for Heritage. That good banking relationship proved invaluable during the height of the pandemic, when Heritage quickly processed a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan for The Old Cannery that allowed it to retain staff and pay the moving company it uses to deliver customers’ furniture. When the store had to close for the pandemic, customers who had made deposits on furniture or special orders continued to receive shipments from the mover, which was deemed an essential business at the time, Radcliffe said. The loan allowed the store to continue operating behind the scenes even as its front doors were locked.

“It was huge,” Radcliffe said of PPP funding. “It gave us a feeling of confidence because we had no idea how long we were going to be down and we had no idea what it was going to look like when we opened it back up.”

Asked what insights he has for other businesses about the benefits of working with Heritage, Radcliffe said it’s simple: personal relationships.

“At Heritage, you’re not a number,” he said. “They still do banking in the traditional fashion of relationships.”

ABOUT ANN FISH, THE OLD CANNERY’S RELATIONSHIP MANAGER

Ann originally started at Heritage Bank in 2003 and helped open and manage two branches in Sumner and Puyallup. After leaving briefly, she returned in 2018 as a relationship banking officer. She mainly focuses on building strong relationships with her clients and helping nonprofits and local businesses with their financial banking needs.

CHILDREN’S SAVINGS ACCOUNT PROGRAM TACOMA HOUSING AUTHORITY

In 2017, Heritage Bank partnered with the Tacoma Housing Authority (THA) and committed $500,000 over seven years to support their Children’s Savings Account program. The program originally sponsored a group of students from Lister Elementary and First Creek Middle School. However, in 2020, the THA redesigned and expanded the program to make it available to all children in the Salishan community.

Shutterstock

About the program

The program offers asset-building children’s savings accounts to help fund future goals. They can be started as early as birth, and they often pay for the child’s education after high school. Accounts typically start with an initial deposit and grow with the family’s deposits. Research shows that lowincome children with these accounts are several times more likely to graduate from high school and college than their peers without these accounts.

Other key elements

• Family savings accounts through the Washington State 529 Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) program

• Families can earn dollars from THA by completing milestones through pathway planning and financial education

• Access to the saving’s account contribution upon completion of the journey, high school and enrollment in a post-high school education or training program

• Access to financial literacy education and coaching

Successes

To date, THA has enrolled 208 students in the program, and the families have deposited a total of $7,085 into their children’s savings accounts. 2022 is the first graduating class, with 10 scholars completing the program and requesting payout to use towards college housing and transportation costs.

• Four students have been accepted into a four-year university and plan to pursue various degrees, including business management, teaching and dance.

• Four students plan to pursue trades, including nursing and culinary arts, at a two-year college/trade school.

This is the final article in a series brought to you by Heritage Wealth Strategies. Read the previous articles in our Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 issues from 2022.

Retirement Mistakes Small Business Owners Make

(and strategies to address them)

STRATEGY #5

Hire Outside Support

Running a successful small business requires a number of skills—from delivering your product or service to managing employees and growth. Accustomed to shouldering a vast number of responsibilities, many business owners seem to forget they do not have to do it alone.

Hiring outside help not only gives you access to experienced professionals who can apply their experience to your specific needs but it can also save you significant time. In a 2019 survey of almost 2,285 growth-oriented small businesses, over 60% expressed challenges with understanding and managing laws and government regulations.2

In fact, they spent an average of six hours a week just dealing with regulation and tax compliance.3

So, business owners have both personal and professional financial strategy needs on top of regulatory and tax burdens, thus, increasing their need for professional support.

What To Do Now

Determine what professional support you need. You likely should consider hiring a tax professional, attorney and financial professional. Your unique circumstances might require additional support.

Ask your professionals to work together. Aligning your financial life requires an understanding of its many facets. Make sure your support team has a clear picture of how your various pieces intertwine.

Embrace the benefit of outside professionals. Your financial professional and other professionals are there to help support your needs with their guidance. Let them provide the insight you need and take the weight off your shoulders.

References

2 GoldmanSachs.com, 2019

3 GoldmanSachs.com, 2019

Source: 1 GoldmanSachs.com, 2019

This material is for information purposes only and not intended as an offer or solicitation with respect to the purchase or sale of any security. Investing involves risk, including the potential loss of principal. No investment strategy can guarantee a profit or protect against loss during periods of declining values. Neither the named representative, nor the named Broker-Dealer or Registered Investment Advisor, gives tax or legal advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All information is believed to be from reliable sources; however, we make no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. Please consult your financial professional for further information. These are the views of FMG Suite LLC, and not necessarily those of the named representative, Broker-Dealer, or Registered Investment Advisor, and should not be construed as investment advice.

Heritage Wealth Strategies is a marketing name of Cetera Investment Services. Securities and insurance products are offered through Cetera Investment Services LLC (doing insurance business in CA as CFG STC Insurance Agency LLC), member FINRA/ SIPC. Advisory services are offered through Cetera Investment Advisers LLC. Neither firm is affiliated with the financial institution where investment services are offered. Investments are: *Not FDIC/NCUSIF insured *May lose value *Not financial institution guaranteed *Not a deposit *Not insured by any federal government agency. 1000 SW Broadway, Suite 2170, Portland, OR 97205, (888) 360-0052.

Over 60% of small-business owners report that regulations negatively impact their growth.1

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YOUR BUSINESS PLAN BLUEPRINT

An effective business plan blueprint lays the foundation for success. Each piece of the plan should come together to help your business prosper in the years ahead.

Description of your business

Outline what you do (product/service) and what you’re good at (competitive advantage). Ensure you answer with details about the markets you target.

Try to think from the customer’s point of view and describe the benefit you provide. For example, rather than saying “we’re a café selling food and drinks,” a customer might resonate more with “we’re somewhere welcoming to sit and recharge with healthy food choices.”

Revenue streams

Identify the different ways that your business earns money. For example: retail, wholesaling, services, subscriptions, online selling, direct sales, online advertising, commissions, partnerships, etc.

The more revenue streams, the better, as you open your business to more ways customers can find and pay you.

Goals and objectives

Carefully defined written goals tell you where your business intends to go. Be as specific as you can, such as increase sales by 50%, launch two new products or enter a new market. For each, have a set timeframe.

More than 80% of small business owners surveyed said they don’t keep track of their business goals, while 77% are yet to achieve their vision for their company.

Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats (SWOT)

When mapping out your business blueprint, a valuable exercise involves writing down your perceived strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats and then managing each to your advantage.

Strengths (build on these) and weaknesses (minimize where you can) are factors you can usually control, whereas opportunities (take advantage when they happen) and threats (avoid at all costs) tend to be external influences outside your control.

Blocks to growth

A great business plan can easily become stuck when things change and roadblocks get in the way.

To keep your business blueprint on track, check that you have the right team, remove bottlenecks, seek help and advice from experts, talk to other business owners and ensure you understand the wider business environment.

Core competitive advantage

A core competitive advantage helps your business differentiate from the competition.

Compare your business with your competitors, and list what makes your business unique and why a customer would buy from your business and not someone else.

Cash flow forecast

It’s vital to have an idea of your financial liquidity over a certain time period, say 12 months. Get a plan underway by detailing your cash on hand, receipts and payments and anticipated balances at the end of each month.

Ensure you include every item and take into account seasonal changes in sales. In addition, plan multiple scenarios such as an optimistic sales forecast and a pessimistic sales forecast.

Use a cash flow template to predict ahead.

Generating leads

Outline your best customers (those the easiest to sell to and the most profitable), then describe what are you doing to encourage the ideal lead (online content, referrals, word of mouth, SEO, social, email, web, automation, advertising, direct selling, etc.).

Barriers you can build

Your business plan blueprint should also outline how you’re preventing the chance of direct competition.

Outline how you prevent either new entrants or existing competitors taking your customers or entering your market. This could include protecting your intellectual property, finding ways to do business that others are unaware of or by forming strategic partnerships.

Market research

Whether you choose to get customers’ reactions through an online survey or encourage them to fill out a more elaborate questionnaire, quality research can help you understand what your target consumer wants.

Both primary research (surveys, interviews and speaking to customers) and secondary research (government statistics, trade publications and information that’s already been gathered) can be useful for improving your business intelligence.

Two great questions: what did we do well and what can we improve?

Next steps

• Complete a full business plan

• Use a cash flow forecast to identify future financial red flags

• Share your goals with others to hold yourself accountable

Heritage Bank’s New Eugene Office Off to a Fast Start

ARTICLE BY JOHN STEARNS

Heritage Bank’s first Eugene office and its 11 staff—not unlike the speedy track athletes at nearby University of Oregon— have hit the ground running since the branch opened in August.

Jennifer James Long Headshots Eugene

Heritage Bank

L. to r.: Kara McDaniel, Chad McDermott, Jeff Kister, Shanna Reichenberg, Heather Gabbert, Jamie Louie-Smith

In Eugene, known as “Track Town USA,” the branch is the 50th full-service banking office in Heritage’s Northwest network.

“We have done a ton of events,” said Kara McDaniel, senior vice president, relationship banking team lead at the office at 149 W 12th Avenue, about 10 blocks west of the University of Oregon (UO) campus.

That included hosting a branch grand opening event on September 28 that drew more than 250 guests, plus attending and hosting numerous functions throughout the Lane County community. McDaniel said the office’s team of bankers has represented Heritage at more than 50 local events and nonprofit fundraisers in the market since the joining the bank in late May.

Heritage has been well received, she said. “I think the Eugene market knows the name Heritage Bank and we celebrate that because five months ago, nobody had heard of Heritage Bank, or at least very little,” McDaniel said in early November.

The Eugene office, in its short time open, has enjoyed success in both commercial loans and deposits, McDaniel said.

Commercial deals have included providing lending for new off-campus housing for UO students.

“There is a huge demand for student housing in Eugene and that’s something that Heritage Bank does well,” McDaniel said.

“We also have a lot of experience with the nonprofit sector and we worked really hard to be part of that community by being able to serve them through banking services,” she said.

Heritage’s community focus and willingness to give back was attractive to McDaniel and the five other banking officers who have worked together for many years at other banks. They all migrated to Heritage from a larger bank and before that worked at smaller community banks.

“Heritage seemed to have those same core values that we have all kind of grown up with, as far as making sure that we’re giving back to our community and knowing that any community that the bank is in, we want to make sure that we’re doing our part to make it as strong as possible,” said McDaniel, who’s worked in the Eugene market for 16 years.

“We’ve all worked in this community for quite a few years, we’re all very involved in different organizations and nonprofits within the Eugene market, so we’ve been allowed to really stay focused on the things that mean a

BUSINESS IN EUGENE BY THE NUMBERS

Major industries: construction, healthcare, manufacturing, technology, food and beverage production, wood products startups

Major employers: Peace Health Corp, University of Oregon, Eugene 4J School District, U.S. Government, Oregon State Government, City of Eugene, Lane Community College Statistics courtesy of Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce

ABOUT OUR COMMERCIAL TEAM

Combined banker experience: 162 years

Areas of expertise: Manufacturing, commercial and industrial, healthcare

CONTACT OR VISIT 149 West 12th Avenue Eugene, OR 97401 458.234.4800

lot to us, which is really great for Heritage Bank to allow us to do that,” she said.

The office has three commercial bankers who handle customers’ lending needs and are led by Shanna Reichenberger, a senior vice president. The team’s other bankers are Jamie Louie-Smith and Jeff Kister, also senior vice presidents. They specialize in manufacturing, commercial and industrial and health care lending.

The office also has three relationship banking officers, led by McDaniel, who handle commercial customers’ dayto-day banking needs, from deposits to wiring money, or ACH payments, payroll transactions and other treasury needs for business clients. The team’s other bankers are Chad McDermott and Heather Gabbert, both vice presidents. They have longtime experience working with Eugene-area nonprofits, the legal sector and communitybased businesses.

Rounding out the team are assistant relationship banking officers Penny Shields and Ashley Mielenz; relationship banking analyst Leana Zdisheva; senior credit analyst Paul Kiesse; and loan production assistant Lalena Selander.

Ten Ways to Retain Great Employees

When you think of key assets, most people immediately think of buildings, machinery or vehicles. Yet the truth is, while your location and machinery allow you to operate, it’s your staff who can most influence your progress.

The type of service customers receive from your employees can make a huge difference to whether they return to you for products or services or recommend you to others.

However, hiring great personnel is only half the solution. Once you hire them, you also have to retain them.

Provide consistency

Regardless of what an employee’s role or responsibilities are, they should know what’s going to happen if they achieve or fail. And if that’s not directly communicated to them, they will look to what happens to their colleagues for insight.

If you haven’t done so already, provide each employee with a detailed job description outlining all their responsibilities, tasks and targets so they know what a satisfactory performance level is. If a reward is linked to each goal, make sure they know about it.

Now that they know where they stand, it’s up to you to respect the goals and limits you’ve set by maintaining them. If they change, sit down with the employee and discuss the new rules; provide an updated job description so their new responsibilities and targets are on record; and consider remuneration, title or benefits boosts if they’re going to take on a greater load.

Provide growth opportunities

One of the common characteristics of motivated employees is a focus on professional growth and building a career. Not all small businesses can accommodate careers. In fact, a one-company career is an increasing rarity in this day and age, but it can give employees an opportunity to gain experience for a future job.

This might mean researching a special topic, leading a small team or reporting back from a conference. Assigning a special responsibility aligned with an employee’s own long-term career goals can be a simple way to show you care about their future, even though you might not be able to take advantage of their skills in the long term.

Optimize incentives

Benefit packages are usually provided in a one-size-fits-all template but there’s no reason why they can’t be tailored. HR surveys regularly show that what appeals to one staff member

doesn’t appeal to another, so setting your benefits package to a universal standard devised long in the past or based on industry norms won’t necessarily prove competitive. It’s all in the eye of the beholder.

Survey your employees every couple of years to find out what they want and make sure you act quickly on your findings. What may prove desirable now might not be so desirable in a few years’ time, as lifestyle trends and economic factors change.

Be honest

Business owners often want to shield employees from reality if hard times are ahead, but in truth, that’s a very hard trick to pull off and it can often backfire. Often, hearing nothing about your employer’s future viability is worse than hearing bad news. At the same time, it can send the message that employees aren’t valued because they’re being kept in the dark.

If there are challenges ahead, the smart employee will want to know what they

are and even have some degree of self-determination. Detail the hurdles and involve staff in how they and the company are going to affect them.

Reward

Rewards don’t have to be hefty bonuses. They can be something as simple as a movie pass or a day off. The important thing is that the employee’s hard work has been recognized.

A common managerial mistake is being ultra-fast in spotting mistakes and then treating a job well done as business as usual. However, you can never assume an employee knows they are doing a good job, so let them know they’re doing well so they then have a level of performance they can work to maintain.

Ask for feedback

You research your markets and competitors, so why not get feedback from your employees as well? Set up a pressure-free system for gathering feedback, preferably anonymous, or just make it clear your door is open so employees can bring up any issues.

You may be surprised to find out what influences your employees’ day-to-day happiness at work. Most people don’t like bringing up issues of any kind to their boss (even if they are relatively inconsequential), so you may find even tiny changes, such as changing the brand of instant coffee in the break room, have a big impact on staff.

Asking for feedback reassures employees they have the freedom to speak up rather than suffer in silence while, again, emphasizing their value to the company.

Engage and excite

A job is not unlike a product you ask a member of the public to buy into. After all, your employee is investing a significant part of their life to their role. If you want them to carry on investing their time and future, make the workplace meaningful and the company fun to work for.

Communicate your passion for your business to employees and tell them about its potential so it becomes a project they feel good contributing to. This will not only have a positive effect on customer service—as the employee will champion the company to customers—but it will help them buy into the role, creating an emotional connection to their part in the company.

Having a fun company to work for can be as strong an incentive as pay and benefits. Again, it’s all about emotional connections, so don’t view team building opportunities simply as ways to get staff working more cohesively during work time. They’re also a great way to bring everyone together to have fun. In addition, scheduling regular social events can have a positive impact on staff retention rates.

Provide tools and training

Asking someone to carry out a role without the proper training or tools contributes to a feeling of working in an unfair and inconsistent workplace. Make sure your employees are coached and supported sufficiently by you or their supervisors. Equally, they have to be given adequate resources to fulfill their duties and leeway at times when those resources might be temporarily unavailable.

Coach your managers

A company owner can have a fair and equitable attitude to employing but still lose employees thanks to the actions of their middle managers. Your managers should be coaching and offering constructive feedback, and you should be doing the same for them. If you set a silent example, they may well be doing the same for their staff—a trend that can have a big impact on retention.

Impart your experience to your managers or, if you don’t feel comfortable doing that, hire a leadership trainer who can do it for you. One of the top reasons quoted for leaving a company on exit surveys is the attitudes and actions of immediate supervisors, so it’s worth investing in your managers as much as you invest in their teams.

Having a fun company to work for can be as strong an incentive as pay and benefits.

Every business

will have a series of signals that indicate business conditions are changing. It could be the number of new leads in your pipeline, foot traffic, web traffic, work in progress, contracts awarded, speed of your distribution channel, onboarding, yields or downtime, etc. These business metrics often give an early warning signal before the financial impact is felt.

Here are five business metrics you may like to start to track and improve.

LEADS AND NEW BUSINESS

This is the number of prospects in your sales channel. This could be downloads or enquiries from your website, people entering your location or the number of proposals you’ve been short-listed for. Take note that lead times can vary significantly. Customers on a retailer’s website might take a few minutes to decide to buy something. Building companies may have to wait for months (or years) before a lead generates revenue.

Lead metric examples:

• The number of partnerships or strategic alliances. For example, it’s common for companies in the construction industry to form groups when soliciting or quoting bids.

• Qualified traffic from your website and the number of registrations for your e-newsletter, product whitepapers, demos, samples, reviews, video explanations or free quotes.

• The response rate to advertising (it’s still ok to use traditional media if it works) or digital advertising.

• How many new customer targets and markets you’re entering.

Identifying What to Track to Better Predict Ahead

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• New distribution channels you’re launching.

• The number of new products or services you’re introducing.

• Decide which lead metric is relevant to your business, identify the best way to track it and then set up the reporting cadence that works best for you (weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, etc.).

CUSTOMER RETENTION

Your customer retention metric (or customer burn rate) tells you if customers are returning to your business, or dropping off, possibly without you noticing. Customer retention can be down to how well you manage your customer relationships, support for when things go wrong and offer personal one-on-one help. You may want to develop a net promoter score, where at the end of each engagement, customers rate your service. Consistent poor results could hint at future trouble. Other metrics you may want to track related to customer retention include returns, refunds and complaints, hinting at poor delivery or fulfillment.

PRODUCTION AND QUALITY

For many businesses, the amount produced at the right quality is a key metric. For example, agricultural businesses rely on high yields, manufacturers prefer to have their equipment and machinery operating at full capacity and professionals like to bill as many hours as possible in a day.

Other production metrics to measure include:

• Project or cost overruns, indicating poor pricing and costing, or unseen delays due to the supply chain, with no contingencies in place.

• Delivery accuracy and completing projects on time. Small shortfalls add up to lost time and productivity.

• Increase in downtime (staff or machinery) from inaccurate scheduling or mismanagement.

• Quality-specific indicators for construction, or the number of project defects (the ratio of inspections passed to the total number of inquiries).

SAFETY AND EMPLOYEE WELLBEING

Physical, mental and employee welfare are important measures of risk and liability. For example, you may be less concerned about physical injury in a professional services business but mental health and stress might be a focus. Alternatively, physical safety in building, manufacturing or construction businesses can be much more common.

These metrics can include:

• Your safety or incident rating, record and the number of accidents.

• The number of employees who leave (your turnover rate) or an increase in sick leave (which hints at internal issues).

• Employee happiness and support, especially with any employees working from home who may feel isolated.

ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY

Almost all industries are threatened by the effects of climate change, either directly or indirectly. The disruption to a smaller business compared to larger businesses can also be more severe. For example, a flood can ruin a single owner-operator retail business, whereas a nationwide retailer can probably survive. The origin of what you sell, and sustainability practices (recycling, use of environmentally friendly materials), can also be tracked. Metrics to consider:

• Reputational risk. Customers may not want to see your fleet of trucks leaking diesel fumes, and the media could highlight your failure to participate in avoiding climate change.

• The number of customers switching to suppliers to those that embrace climate change and can demonstrate their green credentials.

• Recruiting employees who want to work for a business that better fits their ideal business culture.

NEXT STEPS

As a business, it makes sense to know what non-financial metrics indicate you’re doing well or not. Deciding what these are and then monitoring regularly will allow you to detect early what remedies need to be put in place. Decide which non-financial triggers you want to track and set regular performance measures. Measure your carbon footprint and then plan to reduce it over time.

Seek help from sustainability experts or talk to other small business owners to discuss environmental action.

We can help you identify what to track with your finances. For a complimentary account review, visit your local branch or go HeritageBankNW.com and request to be contacted by a banker who knows your industry.

Visit These 10 Uniquely Pacific Northwest Museums

There’s a lot to be discovered about the PNW’s rich history. With quality exhibits hidden away in cities throughout Washington and Oregon, you can explore artifacts, objects, history, art and all of the other treasures that encapsulate what makes this region so special. Here’s a list of ten unique museums to visit that will captivate residents and visitors alike.

Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture (Seattle, WA)

Located on the University of Washington campus, this active research museum houses one-of-a-kind objects and artifacts with a focus on dinosaurs, fossils, Northwest Native art, plant and animal collections and cultural pieces from around the world. burkemuseum.org

Columbia River Maritime Museum (Astoria, OR)

Experience an extensive collection of seafaring vessels, maritime artifacts and fine art come to life through exciting exhibits, demonstrations and hands-on activities. Current exhibits explore the impacts of shipwrecks, the science of storms and the opportunity to tour the floating lighthouse, the Lightship Columbia. crmm.org

Forks Timber Museum (Forks, WA)

This little museum in the self-proclaimed “logging capital of the world” offers a look into the rich history of homesteading, farming and logging in the Pacific Northwest. It’s even situated inside an authentic log cabin for a little extra ambiance. forkstimbermuseum.org

NW African American Museum (Seattle, WA)

Focusing on the experiences of African Americans whose route to the new world was through slavery as well as exploring the lives of recent immigrants, the museum seeks to celebrate the culture and contributions of African Americans. Be inspired through visual arts, music, crafts and literature or participate in community events for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth. Not in the Seattle area? Explore the museum’s online educational programs such as the monthly interactive story time for children and the Descendents lecture series. naamnw.org

Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum (Tacoma, WA)

The Karpeles collection consists of more than a million historical documents in the categories of literature, science, religion, political history, exploration, music and art that rotate between all Karpeles Museums across the country. Plus, admission to this Tacoma museum, overlooking the Wright Park Arboretum and Victorian-styled Seymour Botanical Conservatory, is free. karpeles.com

Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum (McMinnville, OR)

This museum, a favorite for all ages of aviation fans, fosters learning and preservation of aerospace history. Popular exhibits include the Spruce Goose, the largest wooden airplane ever built, and a life-size replica of the Apollo Lunar Lander and Rover. The museum hosts regular events and guest speakers in the onsite theater. evergreenmuseum.org

Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) (Seattle, WA)

MoPOP illustrates pop culture as a catalyst for learning, connecting and creating. Housed in an incredible building designed by internationally acclaimed architect Frank Gehry, the collections feature local musical legends and iconic pop culture movements that have impacted history. Sensoryfriendly events, featuring low lighting and volume, and a variety of educational and virtual programs are available. mopop.org

High Desert Museum (Bend, OR)

Worth the trip off the I-5 corridor, the High Desert Museum celebrates the natural world and cultural history of the High Desert. Get up close to native animals including turtles, lizards, birds of prey, a variety of amphibians and the museum’s resident porcupine siblings. Explore native American art and Oregon Trail artifacts or participate in a workshop or educational event. highdesertmuseum.org

Spark Museum of Electrical Invention (Bellingham, WA)

Spark embraces the wonder and mystery of electricity through exciting and educational experiences for audiences of all ages. The collection of unique and rare artifacts fill six galleries and interactive exhibits include the static electricity lab, the Theremin, the world’s first electronic instrument, and the Mega-Zapper, a nine-foot Tesla Coil that creates bursts of lightning on command. sparkmuseum.org

Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education (Portland, OR)

Telling the story of the Jewish experience in Oregon through photographs, art and artifacts, the museum’s core exhibits also address the history and tools of discrimination as well as explore the tools of resistance. Visit the museum’s website for a calendar of educational events or to take a self-paced virtual tour of the Oregon Holocaust Memorial. ojmche.org

Left: The Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon

Mary Harrsch/Creative Commons

We know that the financial needs of nonprofit organizations are uniquely different. At Heritage, we are committed to supporting organizations in the communities where we live and serve because communities where neighbors work together thrive both economically and socially.

We recently rolled out new nonprofit checking account options specifically for nonprofit organizations. Both checking accounts are interest bearing1 and, from what we’ve learned in our experience with the cash flow of nonprofits, we’ve provided ways for organizations to minimize fees in order to maximize their community investment. Our Nonprofit Interest Plus account (available to 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(6) nonprofit organizations exclusively) comes with additional benefits2 valued at over $1,500 per year as our commitment to our nonprofit partners.

“Nonprofit organizations play a vital role in our communities by not only providing critical services needed to survive but also the opportunity to have a better life. They foster civic engagement, drive economic growth and build healthy, sustainable places for people to live and work. That’s why Heritage created a special nonprofit banking package that includes a variety of solutions so customers can manage their finances easily and efficiently. We understand each nonprofit is unique, and our banking options are flexible enough to meet current needs while remaining adaptable as the business grows.”

-Kristy Weaver, SVP, Regional Manager – Relationship Banking

We also offer a comprehensive suite of lending and treasury management as well as online and mobile banking to allow organizations to focus on their mission knowing that they have a strong banking partner in us.

If you run a nonprofit organization and would like more information about these accounts and other ways we can help you pursue your mission, visit HeritageBankNW.com and complete our simple contact form or stop by your local branch. Our team of banking experts will help you find the right fit so your organization can thrive—today and into the future.

1 Interest rates compound daily and paid monthly. Contact us for a list of current deposit rates.

With our Nonprofit Interest Plus account, you are eligible for a special banking package valued at over $1,500 per year. This is our commitment to our nonprofit partners.2

• No monthly maintenance fee for Heritage Direct, business online and mobile banking

• Choose one of the following with no monthly maintenance fee and no setup fee:

o Remote deposit capture including a single feed scanner

o ACH origination

o Corporate bill pay featuring dual control

• $200 credit toward initial check order with Vericast (formerly Harland Clarke)

2 Special package pricing valid while the nonprofit account associated with the services remains open. We may discontinue offering this package at any time.

Six Business Numbers to Track Success

It makes sense to be aware of and track your main financial indicators. The more you observe what the numbers are doing, the faster you’ll see what’s working and what isn’t and can take immediate action. There are six main business measurements that will give you a regular snapshot of how your business is doing. For each, we will outline what you can do to improve them.

Gross Margin

Gross margin is the difference between what you pay for a product and what you sell it for. Look to improve your gross margin by:

> Increasing your prices. Make rises small enough not to impact possible demand where pricesensitive customers might switch if they see the competition as cheaper.

> Reducing cost of goods sold by using lower cost materials or different components where possible, without affecting quality. Consider importing if there’s a significant cost saving for the same quality with no impact on customer perception.

> Researching lower cost providers or consider asking your current supplier to reassess their pricing (especially if you have a long-term relationship).

> Reducing waste. Conduct an exercise to spot areas where there’s excess waste and then devise a way to minimize it. Recycle and reuse any waste materials you can and make sure your employees are doing so as well.

Average Revenue Per Customer

This metric is about increasing the number of things customers buy from you. It can be products, hours, services, warranties, insurance—anything where a customer is encouraged to buy two things rather than one.

Use the data from your accounting software or sales system to identify trends and plan promotions. Look at what your best customers are buying, think of other products or services that could be sold with them and tailor special offers to bring these customers in more often.

Learn to up-sell and cross-sell. Think of the classic sales lines “would you like fries with that?” or “buyers like you also bought this.” Consider complementary items customers could buy when making a purchase or how their choices can be impacted by what similar people to them have bought (think Amazon).

Consider tempting customers to spend just a little bit more by bundling products or maybe offering them a reward, such as free shipping on orders of a certain amount.

Focus on your “gold” customers, those responsible for high, profitable sales. Target the ones with the most potential and then develop a specific proactive plan for each of them.

Revenue Growth

Steady, predictable revenue growth is the sign of a healthy company. Grow revenue by:

> Using in-bound CRM software to better predict who is more likely to buy from you and to set up lead generator tools or content to gather interested prospects.

> Developing new products or services for your existing customers.

> Creating a marketing plan to identify, locate and sell to new customers. Look for new distribution channels to expand your customer base, such as third-party selling (Amazon, eBay, iTunes, etc.) or your website.

> Franchising, especially if demand for your product or service warrants it.

Net Promoter Score (aka Customer Satisfaction)

Tracking customer satisfaction by asking for opinions, feedback and ratings can provide indicators of dissatisfaction (for remedying) and potential advocacy (for marketing amplification). Anything that improves the communication between customers and a business should lead to better decision-making.

Analyze the market to identify trends and try to predict customer needs. Find out what people are saying about your competitors and use that information to improve the customer experience in your own business.

Track customer complaints. Document who the customer is, what they were unhappy about, what was done to resolve it and if they went away satisfied.

Leverage social media to keep in touch with your customers and measure their levels of satisfaction. Talk to them directly and ask them to engage in polls and surveys. Optimize your marketing budget and track campaign performance by connecting apps like Google Analytics, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Email annual or bi-annual customer satisfaction surveys. Incentivize them to take part in the survey by offering a discount or small gift.

Revenue Per Employee

Revenue per employee can be affected by several factors, including average revenue per user and better systems, processes and automation. It’s often useful for those businesses that sell per hour. To encourage higher revenue per employee, try:

> Making sure your employees have the equipment and training they need to do the job right and keep them informed about business performance and management decisions, especially those that affect them.

> Setting goals for your employees. Help them put a sales plan in place and then measure how successful it is.

> Regularly optimizing incentives for your employees to find out what they want and acting quickly on your findings.

> Making sure your sales data is transparent so everyone knows who’s selling the most.

Summary

Net Profit Margin

This is a measure of profitability. You can increase your net profit percentage by:

> Lowering your direct or overhead costs by looking around for better deals on things like energy, internet and telephones. These types of consumables have multiple providers where the product is generally undifferentiated.

> If your location isn’t mission critical then consider moving where rent is lower.

> Reviewing your equipment needs. You may be better off leasing equipment only when it’s needed, rather than buying it outright.

> Looking at outsourcing some of your less specialized duties, such as administrative tasks like payroll, to companies that will charge a monthly fee instead of a salary.

> Making sure you swiftly collect money that’s owed to you.

By tracking and improving these six variables, you should be able to improve your gross margin, raise the value of your average sale, drive revenue, build the productivity of employees, increase your net profit percentage and have happier customers.

Fraud and cybersecurity are two very popular terms right now. It seems like every day a new story breaks about the latest fraud trends or scams to be aware of. And cybercriminals don’t discriminate. They go after individuals, families, young adults, the elderly, small business owners, large corporations—essentially everyone and every industry.

As a business, you not only have to worry about your own information being compromised but also your customers’. That means fraud could result in the loss of personal or proprietary data, money and/or products as well as your reputation. Customers may lose trust in your business and look for alternative providers or suppliers.

According to a 2021 study by IntSights, an organization that’s committed to helping businesses detect and analyze fraud, 25% of all malware attacks targeted banks and other financial institutions.1 Another report indicated that checks and ACH debits were the methods most impacted by payment fraud in 2021 (66% and 37% respectively).2

Fortunately, Heritage Direct is equipped with fraud mitigation tools that are able to combat such threats. A common one used is check positive pay, a service that protects against altered, forged and counterfeit checks. It matches the presented check dollar amount, check number and check date against checks that have been previously authorized by your business. If any of these items don’t match up, an exception is created and you’ll be alerted that a decision is needed. Check out our 2021 Q4 issue for a complete definition of check positive pay.

In 2020, we introduced ACH positive pay, which allows you to monitor ACH transactions posting to your account and determine whether they should be paid or returned to the originating bank. First, you set up filters so transactions presented for payment are analyzed based on your

preferences, then you can establish rules to authorize future payments or block transactions until you manually approve them.

Other positive pay options include payee positive pay, which adds the functionality of scanning for mismatches in payee name, and reverse positive pay, which lets you review all prior day checks that were presented for payment and determine whether a check should be returned.

Heritage takes fraud and the privacy of our customers’ information very seriously. Not only do we have an entire fraud risk/investigations team, but our staff is trained to look for suspicious activity and catch cyberthreats before they occur.

Your relationship manager and treasury management relationship officer can help determine whether positive pay might be a good fit for your business as well as discuss any other fraud prevention tools that can provide greater security and control over your accounts.

Our digital banking options give you greater control and access to your funds—anytime, anywhere. Track expenses, transfer funds, detect fraud, view statements and more. Contact your relationship manager to discuss how Heritage Direct can support you and the way you do business.

CONTRIBUTOR: SHANELLE PREPOTENTE

Shanelle started her banking career in 2004 and has 15 years of experience in commercial banking. She partners with commercial banking officers and branch teams to help choose products and services that suit her clients’ needs. Shanelle’s goal is to simplify their day-to-day operations through the use of Heritage’s treasury management products.

References

1 intsights.com/resources/2021-banking-and-financial-services-industry-cyber-threat-landscape-report

2 jpmorgan.com/content/dam/jpm/commercial-banking/insights/cybersecurity/highlights-afp-2022-payments-fraud-and-control-report.pdf

DID YOU KNOW?

Checks and ACH debits were the methods most impacted by payment fraud in 2021 (66% and 37% respectively).2

Dutch by Blood, American by Birth, and an Admitted Nerd

Icome from a family of Dutch bulb farmers but the farming gene skipped my generation. I can’t grow anything very well and I joke that I don’t have any green thumbs. Instead, I help people grow their businesses as a relationship banking officer based at Heritage Bank’s Vancouver, Washington, office. I also work throughout the Portland metropolitan area.

My parents emigrated to Woodland, Washington, from Holland in 1980 to start a bulb farm, which still exists today. I had a great upbringing there. Field trips from my school often visited the van der Salm Bulb Farm (literally “field” trips) to learn what it takes to grow all the beautiful color that emerges from lilies, tulips, hostas, dahlias, peonies, irises and more. The farm primarily sells bulbs wholesale but it also sells peony roots and grows lilies commercially.

I remember during the massive floods of February 1996, when the East Fork of the Lewis River abutting our fields flooded about half our farm. I joke that I should have stuck my finger in the dam because our dike broke. I remember asking my parents if I could swim in our field afterward but was denied.

What they didn’t deny me, however, was appreciation for our Dutch heritage, taking us kids to Holland each year to visit family. Little did I recognize then how fortunate I was to travel internationally.

While my parents, Jerry and Tonny, are retired, the farm operates today as Our American Roots under my brother, sister-in-law, sister and “pseudo brother,” who came to the farm 27 years ago as a Dutch foreign exchange student to learn bulb farming, got his horticulture degree, then returned as an employee and later became part owner.

While I don’t farm, my wife and I still attend family dinner at my parents’ house every Monday that typically includes about 13 to 15 family members, with my four siblings (not counting my pseudo brother) and nieces and nephews. My extended Dutch Catholic family is large, with my dad hailing from a family of eight and my mom from a family of nine, which means many aunts, uncles and cousins. (The archbishop would consider me Paulus, the name I use on my Facebook page, but I go by Paul.)

Our family enjoys Dutch traditions, including celebrating Sinterklaas, essentially Dutch Christmas, each year. It celebrates the legend of St. Nick, who, among other things, told girls needing dowry for marriage to leave their shoes by the fire, in which he’d leave money after slipping into their homes at night. Instead of celebrating Sinterklaas by leaving our shoes out, we draw family names from a hat and then present that person with a gift and poem that playfully mocks them over events of the past year.

Photos courtesy Paul van der Salm, left to right: Paul enjoys board games; Paul and his wife, Brittany, at Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto, Japan; the bulb fields on the family farm.

While my siblings and I grew up bilingual, speaking Dutch and English, we’ve generally resorted to English-only to avoid alienating our significant others. My Dutch is passable when I visit Holland but it’s not perfect.

The language of soccer, though, runs thick in my blood. Soccer is huge in the Netherlands, and I’ve been playing since about age five, including intramural and adult rec leagues. I found myself torn this year during the FIFA 2022 World Cup, as the first knockout game was the Netherlands vs. USA. My main relief going into the game was that I knew I would still have a team to support in the quarterfinals. However, it was hard to see the United States leave the tournament so early.

I also get my kicks swing dancing, typically traditional jazz swing or Lindy Hop. I’ve enjoyed swing dancing for almost 20 years now.

I credit the dancing for helping get me out of my shell. Back in high school, I pretty much stuck to reading my Star Trek books. Today, I enjoy fantasy sci-fi video games to help unwind, and I also play board games with friends about once a week. I have quite the collection of board games.

It’s probably pretty apparent when people get to know me that I’m a rather raging nerd. I strive to learn something new every day. I’m a big sucker for history. I was fascinated by military history as a boy. I now read a lot of classical history and am interested in Roman history specifically. More recently, I’ve been reading more about the Middle East, Africa, China and Japan.

My community involvement includes serving as treasurer on the board for Cappella Romana, which produces and performs Byzantine and Eastern Orthodox chant music nationwide and beyond. The organization tries to honor the past and keep supporting the art for the future.

I’m also board president for A Caring Closet, a Clark County nonprofit that takes in durable medical equipment such as hospital beds, wheelchairs, walkers and other items and provides them free to community members in need.

At home, my wife, Brittany, who consults for Mercer on the states’ intellectual disability programs, and I are relatively newly married, having tied the knot during the pandemic. We have an easy-to-remember wedding date: 10-10-20. We don’t have children yet but we have plenty of four-legged dependents, with two dogs and four cats.

We live in northeast Portland, three blocks from Salt & Straw ice cream shop— which is dangerously close for me—and a block from the dog park—which is too far away if you ask my dogs.

I joined Heritage in May from a larger bank and am thrilled with the move.

Heritage is a bank with a great reputation in the community. It’s a fabulous size that really empowers you as an employee to be able to help your clients in more unique and creative ways than perhaps you’re able to do with a big bank, or a non-community bank. The access to be able to talk to leadership to help process through things and the impact that Heritage is able to have in the community because of its flexibility and size were the main factors that drew me here.

ABOUT PAUL VAN DER SALM

Paul van der Salm, assistant vice president-relationship

The team was drawn to Heritage for its size, culture and “making sure that we’re able to support our clients’ needs and advocate for our clients and really advocate for our community,” McDaniel said. “It was just a perfect alignment of what our values were, us as a small group of bankers, as well as what Heritage Bank represented, so it was a great fit.”

In addition to the team’s experience with student housing projects, LouieSmith has experience in lending for the health care and dental sectors, which is a strong niche for Heritage overall, McDaniel said.

Manufacturing is Kister’s specialty and he and Reichenberger both work a lot in that sector, as well as with commercial contractors. Reichenberger also works with trucking companies.

As for community causes the bankers are involved in, the team sits on 24 boards and committees for nonprofits and local government agencies, McDaniel said, including Relief Nursery, United Way of Lane County, Looking Glass Community Services, Food for Lane County, Kids First, Springfield Education Foundation, Parenting Now, the EugeneSpringfield chapter of the nonprofit Risk Management Association and the city of Junction City, among others.

“We’re just excited to be at a community bank where we’re all focused on the same thing, which is building a brand and fitting in the culture piece as well—making sure that we’re here and we’re doing our best to advocate for our clients, for our community and for the bank,” McDaniel said.

banking officer, is based in the Vancouver office and serves the greater Portland metropolitan area. He specializes in helping nonprofits, the commercial and industrial (C&I) industry and professional services with understanding their treasury management needs.

Q: What is cybersecurity?

Just like you’d protect your home with house security (locks, gates, doors), cybersecurity protects your business from malicious (and accidental) attacks through your internetconnected networks, computers, mobile devices, software and applications. These cybersecurity measures are designed to defend against attackers seeking to gain access to your data, destroy or extort sensitive customer information or get you to pay funds into a false account. Good examples of cybersecurity measures include strong passwords, multifactor authentication, employee education and prepared disaster recovery plans.

Q: What is a data breach?

A data breach is when an intruder gets unauthorized access to your information, such as customer records and personal information, intellectual property or company secrets. It’s often a PR nightmare having to inform the customers and suppliers that you, and maybe their data, has been stolen.

Q: What is malware?

who then demands money. If you don’t pay (usually by an untraceable currency like Bitcoin), the attacker will delete your data or lock your screens and deny you access.

Q: What is scareware?

Scareware is similar to ransomware, this time threatening to swamp you with annoying notifications, reveal your online behavior (real and not real) or threaten you with consequences, like a tax audit.

Q: What is a denial of service?

Cyber Security

FAQs

Malware is named from “malicious software,” where software has been installed on your computer or network without you knowing and tries to disrupt your business. It could be executable code, computer viruses, worms, trojans, bots, spyware, ransomware or other malicious programs. Often picked up when installing or clicking on links you or an employee shouldn’t.

Q: What is a phishing email?

Phishing is when someone disguised as a trusted contact or source tries to defraud you, often through email, text message or social media contact. Attackers try to get personal data, such as passwords or bank/credit card numbers, by hoping that you’ll click on fake links to sites or open attachments that then install malware or direct you to pay money to a fake bank account.

Q: What are business email compromise hacks?

Business email hacking involves someone gaining access to an employee’s business email account so they can pose as the employee, to then trick others into fraudulent wire transfers, gift card purchases or other financial transactions. Often, the hack involves the attacker impersonating the business owner but can include pretending to be a supplier requesting you use a new bank account for your latest purchase.

Q: What is ransomware?

Ransomware is when you’ve mistakenly installed a rogue piece of software (from clicking on a link or opening an attachment), giving access and control of your systems to an attacker,

A denial of service is when your computer/laptop or your network crashes because someone or something has flooded your devices with unwanted traffic or information. It literally denies you access to the internet and your data, with the attack typically consuming all your hard disk space, memory or server capacity. Usually, the attacker demands money in exchange for ceasing their attacks, calculating the financial and reputational damage of you being shutdown is worse than the ransom.

Q: Do I need cyber insurance?

Cyber-risk insurance depends on your risk profile. You’re less likely to need it (or not as much coverage) if you have robust cyber security protection, good awareness with staff and a well-defined process for restoring business systems. But every time your business connects to the internet, you expose it to potential hackers, so cyber insurance protects you from financial loss and can cover you for claims if your use of the internet caused someone else to suffer a loss.

Q: How do I write a digital disaster plan?

First, list all the things you have connected to the internet (servers, desktops, laptops, phones, etc.) and outline how you keep these safe (passwords and back-ups for example). Then note all the data and mission critical software you can’t do without. Once you’ve identified the assets and data you want to protect, next to each, outline what you do to keep hackers out (passwords, multi-factor authentication, staff training, etc.) and what you’ll do if any of it fails. Then test to make sure it all works.

Q: What is two-factor authentication?

Two-factor authentication is when you are asked for one more security step before gaining access to whatever you’re logging in to. Often, it’s an email or a text asking you to enter a code or confirm it was you who logged in. These codes are randomly generated the moment they’re required, often only valid for one use and usually time-out if not used within a certain short period of time.

Q: What is three-factor authentication?

Three-factor authentication is even more secure and usually needs three different types of security, typically knowledge (something you know, like a PIN, username or password), possession (something you have with you, like a phone that gets sent a one-time password, a key fob or ID card) and inherence (something biological, such as a fingerprint, retina or voice recognition).

Q: How do I know I’ve been hacked?

It’s not always obvious but some common hints you’ve been hacked include an inability to log in to an account, unknown programs opening when starting your computer, pop-up windows, lots of spam emails, social media posts appearing that you didn’t write or your computer isn’t performing as it usually does (slowed down or crashes more frequently).

Q: What’s the best way to back up my data? There are multiple ways to back up your data. The easiest is to copy everything to a USB drive or CD but that’s not always practical with large amounts of data. You can also use cloud services like Google Drive or Dropbox but those are more to sync files across devices than a pure back up, especially if you need to save terabytes of data. Experts often recommend the 3-2-1 rule: three copies of your data, two local (on different devices) and one off-site. For most people, this means the original data on your computer, a backup on an external hard drive and another on a cloud back-up service.

Q: Who can help me with practical cybersecurity advice?

If you have internal staff or an external IT provider that manages your cybersecurity, then great. Otherwise, we suggest going to www.fbi.gov/investigate/cyber to access information on potential or real-time cyber-attacks. Use the 2FA Directory to check what IT services use multi-factor authentication, which is a recommended prerequisite for accessing critical data.

Q: Who do I contact if I’ve been hacked? The police, the bank, someone else? First, if you’ve been hacked, get it fixed! Either by your in-house or external IT support person. If you don’t have anyone, there are lots of consultants and IT support businesses you can call. Then report it to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov. Other people to tell include staff, customers and anyone else who supports your business (bank, accountant, business colleagues, etc.). Visit our website and click Resource Center in the top right corner for more information on internet privacy, risk management and fraud mitigation.

FINANCIAL DICTIONARY

Lockbox

Lockbox services are provided to businesses that receive a large volume of payments or large-denomination checks and helps streamline collections and payment processing. The business will establish a dedicated post office box (P.O. Box) that is managed by a lockbox provider. The lockbox provider will then collect the checks from the P.O. Box and prepare the customer’s deposits for delivery to the bank.

By digitizing everything that comes into the lockbox, payment information, remittance information and optional check copies are captured and management reports are provided to the customer. This process helps the business lower internal processing costs, convert receivables into cash quickly and speed up the collection of customer payments. We’ve partnered with an expert lockbox provider that serves all of our customers’ needs— processing payments faster and more efficiently than conventional methods. For more information about lockbox services and to get a quote, contact your treasury management relationship officer.

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR: ROBERT T. GROVES

Robert has been in banking for 22 years. He started at a larger regional bank as a treasury management implementation coordinator and eventually pivoted to assistant relationship manager – government banking division. He now works at Heritage as one of our treasury management relationship officers.

The right loan, right now.

Heritage Business Express offers flexible loan products, a streamlined application and an approval process that’s faster than traditional loans to help you get back to business quickly.

– Commercial real estate loans available up to $1,000,000

– Loans and lines of credit available up to $500,000

– Variable and fixed rates with a variety of terms available

Ask us for details or apply in the branch today.