Backyard Banking
As a banker with Truist, Lynn Kuhns never hits the road to visit a business client without bringing the essentials: lollipops and dog treats.
When your clients are in the Amish community, it's a given that business and family go hand in hand. That means kids and dogs. It also means those meetings probably aren't taking place in an office.
"I've had appointments in barns. I've had appointments in tobacco sheds. I've had appointments on porches, at kitchen tables," Kuhns says. "I had an appointment in the middle of a tobacco field a couple of weeks ago."
Kuhns is part of a small, local community banking team at Truist focused solely on serving Amish business owners.
Truist may be the seventh largest bank in the U.S., but it prides itself on offering the feel of a small community bank.
"We understand the needs of our community members and want to meet them where they are," says Senior Vice President Sarah Lesser. "We want to serve you in the way that you feel most comfortable."
For the Amish community, that's clearly in-person, in their own backyard.
Truist has served its Amish customers for years at its local brick-and-mortar branches, and bankers like Kuhns have always had their share of Amish business clients for whom on-site visits were the norm. But the acceleration of digital banking in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic changed things.
From processing loans, to sending documents to basic communication, banking has become a digital world, and most customers enjoy - and even demand - that convenience. But not all.
"There was a big void there," Kuhns says. "There's such a large population of non-digital clients in this area. How are we going to work with those people when they're not readily accessible to digital means of communication or doing business?"
For Truist, the answer was a dedicated team of individuals to serve its non-digital banking community in Lancaster, York and Chester counties, Lesser says.
Currently, that team includes Kuhns, a 26-year banking veteran, and Kim Kinsey, who spent 15 years with Truist's bank branch in Intercourse, where she worked closely with the Amish community. They also have two full-time assistants, Karen Kibler and Erica Bettleyon, along with underwriters who understand the financial nuances of the Amish community. "It's really exciting and something we're proud of in our organization," Lesser says.
Kuhns and Kinsey handle financial services for businesses that include everything from furniture manufacturing and sawmills to construction and home improvement. And, of course, they serve farmers as well.
Although they handle primarily business banking for the Amish community, that can sometimes overlap into the personal banking arena, especially in the case of family farms. In those cases, Kinsey says, they can connect clients with one of Truist's local bank branches.
"We all know the individuals within the branches in the areas that we service," she says. "We partner with branches on the personal side. Sometimes we take the paperwork that needs to be signed out there for loans or opening an account. It's a team effort."
Kinsey believes Truist offers the best of both worlds.
There are undeniable advantages to being a larger bank, she says, including the flexibility for customers to bank outside the local area, something Lancaster County's many snowbirds appreciate. But for the Amish community, who may have limited transportation, phone access and digital capabilities, knowing they have a dedicated Truist staff who will go above and beyond to assist them where they are makes all the difference.
"These are good, hard-working people that make great clients," Kuhns says. "It is very fulfilling and a pleasure for us to be able to provide excellent service to the Plain community in a manner that they are comfortable with. ... They want to deal with somebody they know in person. They want to sit down across from them and get to know them."
It's not just the Amish customers who appreciate that personal way of doing business.
Kinsey and Kuhns enjoy visiting the Amish, learning about their businesses and developing those relationships, too.
"In a kind of age where digital seems to be the world, this brings that personal touch back where we still have that human connection," Kinsey says. "We thrive with that personal connection."
