Happy Holidays?

I attended the holiday parties for two major business associations this week - the Commercial Finance Conference of California (CFCC) and the Orange County Chapter of the Association of Corporate Growth (ACGOC).

I've been a regular attendee at the annual CFCC holiday party whose membership is primarily asset based lenders. Attendance was down significantly at this year's event to about 200 attendees. A typical year draws well over 300 guests. Why the decrease? Possibly industry layoffs. With restructurings at CIT, Textron, GMAC, Capital Tempfunds and others, perhaps there wasn't as much to celebrate or no one left to celebrate. I also saw very few back office and administrative types compared to previous years. One lender said that the tightened purse strings led them to send only the deal people this year. I also noticed very few bankers in attendance - must have been back at the office filling out more reports on troubled loans.

This was my first year attending the holiday party for the ACGOC. This group's membership has a significant number of service providers to the M&A industry. Attendance was similar to the prior year according to the event coordinator. I spoke with many of the attendees - most acknowledged that their business had declined these last six months. Quite a few mentioned their clients were experiencing cash flow problems and the impact of the credit crunch.

Hope your holiday parties are filled with cheer. Should you need help finding the right lender or telling your story the right way for your business, read "Matchmaking for Business Loans" and give me a call!

Tags : ACG , Commercial Finance Conference of California , Commercial Finance Association