Bill King

By: Tamara A. McCullough

What happens when you cross a banker with a business consultant and add in a speaker for good measure? You get Bill King, a top-rated commercial finance consultant and professional speaker who uses his more than 20 years of experience in the banking world to help business owners arrange financing that they normally would have difficulty securing. With his business, 4 Kings Capital, Bill makes it his mission to be the voice for his clients. “Our mission is to be the advocate for clients and help tell their story the way a banker needs to hear it.” From experience, Bill understands that a lot of deals don’t get done simply because of the way that business owners present themselves and “don’t realize what they’re saying with their financial statement.” Bill gave a very poignant example to illustrate his point. “It’s like the book, ‘Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus.’ I give the example of I’ve been married

for almost 25 years. I think I say what I said to my wife, but it’s not at all what she heard. It doesn’t matter what I said, it’s what she heard that matters.” Navigating the Traditional Banking Route Bill’s career started working at Chase Bank in El Paso, Texas, which is where he’s from. Though he was born and raised in Texas, Bill’s parents are both from New York – his dad is from Hell’s Kitchen and his mom is from the Bronx. He credits his New York lineage with his bluntness and dry sense of humor. While at Chase, Bill was the Assistant Vice President Relationship Manager where he supported a few branches. From there, Bill moved on to Bank of America as a Vice President/Client Manager where he worked on deals up to $5 million. Since Bill was tired of the big bank bureaucracy, his next move was out of Texas completely. He and his family relocated to Lawton, Oklahoma, which was close to his wife, Veronica’s, hometown of Duncan. In Oklahoma, Bill worked

at Arvest Bank for three years, then moved to an Arkansas branch for two years. He wound up back in Oklahoma where he was named the Chief Lending Officer for the Lawton branch and managed a team of lenders. Things went so well that Bill was recognized as the 2014 Financial Services Champion by the SBA for the state of Oklahoma thanks to his knack for getting through the difficult loans. Bill explained, “In all of these loans, I was finding good ways of getting tough deals done. I knew how to find a way to bridge the gap since the lender is looking from a risk perspective, and the borrower is saying, ‘I need the money.’” In his role, one of Bill’s specialized capabilities was finding a way to work the middle ground. He said, “I try to find ways to get the deal done that would’ve been turned down.” Bill also learned the importance of reaching out if he couldn’t get things done on his own. “If I couldn’t do the deal, I would find someone, build a network. I’ll call another bank who can get the deal done when I can’t.” When the opportunity came about, Bill competed for the role of president at his bank. Ultimately, the position went to somebody else, but Bill learned a very important lesson. “If the #1 guy comes and you’re #2, your days are numbered.” Bill eventually left Oklahoma for Texas, working in several positions where he was involved in credit-making decisions. In his final role, Bill was a market president for a community bank. Part of his duties in this position included being part of the approval process, which would prove to help him in his current role.

In 2015, Bill decided that when he was finally done with the banking world, he would strike out on his own. This led to Bill and Veronica training in California to learn the ins and outs of their future business while Bill continued to work a day job. By 2019, Bill was ready to make the move and 4 Kings Capital was born. The kings in 4 Kings are actually Bill’s family with one important distinction. “My wife is the #1 king and owns more of the company than me. She’s the CEO, and I’m the President.” The name is also a riff off Bill’s affinity for poker since four

kings is a good hand. Keeping it in the family, Bill’s two kids will get more involved as the company grows. “For now, 15-year-old Gabby is our HR person, letting us know when we are being inappropriate in the workplace, and Mike is in his early 20’s and works in the business part-time for now.” Over the past year, Bill has placed more than $12 million in deals, which Bill views as a major feat. “What makes it more inspiring is these are deals that wouldn’t have gotten done because there was challenging credit.” As a commercial finance consultant, Bill regularly talks to three major groups. “I talk to lending sources in different categories, and they sometimes send me projects they can’t do. The second group is Commercial Realtors, equipment vendors, business brokers -- anyone that has a business client that needs financing help. I also speak to the actual borrowers, who were referred to me or I know them from when I was a banker. There’s some way they’ve gotten

in contact with me because they might have had a problem getting a loan or a problem getting financing.” Other Side of the Desk Having been part of credit decisions as a banker, Bill has extensive knowledge about why a lot of deals don’t get done. “A lot of people get turned down because they don’t know how to explain their position because the deal is not as bad as they think.” Bill also points out that borrowers might not go to the right lender since each bank has certain types of deals that they like. That’s why Bill focuses on educating his clients. “When I talk, I explain to the audience, whether business owners, consultants, CPAs, I explain the banking process.” Bill also explains the five C’s of credit and the elements that go into a commercial loan since he’s been on both sides and has the insider knowledge. “I’ve been on the other side. I was on the dark side now I’m on the other side,” Bill pointed out. Bill helps clients look more attractive to give them a better of chance of getting approved. “A client came to me with a loan proposal, so I had them take some things out and change some things. Sometimes owners give too much of the wrong information and not enough of what lenders really need.” Bill drills into his clients that brevity is best, so he uses his time with clients to help them better understand the questions that bankers do and don’t ask and how to provide the right answers. “I try my best to help business owners get approved if they can. If not, I find out why they’re not approvable.”

Bill differentiates his services and abilities from other consultants since they don’t have the experience and lack the skill set. “A lot of people oversell their capabilities. You can do a Google search and see how they bash banks. They have tag lines that make you believe any deal can get done, and it’s just not true.” Bill broke down the percentage of deals that get done versus not. “On average, 15-20% of deals are slam dunks, another 15-20% are dead no

matter what, and we can affect the 60-70% in between.” This is why Bill sees himself a resource to handle the deals that fall in the middle. “You can affect the approvability by talking to the right lender, creating competition and going to two or three lenders since they get competitive.” At any one time, Bill handles 10-20 active files that are all at different stages. Every loan is different with some getting done relatively quickly and others taking a longer time. “I had a $2.2 million SBA loan that took 60-90 days. I have a $1.5 million loan that took 4-5 months. I did a small equipment loan in 2 weeks and a commercial real estate one took 45-90 days.” A big challenge for Bill is dealing with the idea of why does he even exist since many people believe they can go in a bank and get a deal done on their own without his help. Bill used a “Forbes” article as an example where the approval rate for larger banks was at an all-time high at only 28%.

Taking the Stage

Not only does Bill speak to clients one-on-one, but he also speaks to larger groups as a public speaker. His previous banking experience serves him well in this role. “As a banker, I had to speak in front of groups a lot, and I continue to do it to promote my business and educate borrowers and people who need help.”w Although he was previously involved in Toastmasters and was the president of an Oklahoma branch, Bill has been part of the NSA for the past couple of years and joined the academy this year to help him improve his speaking skills and meet his goals.

“My goal in speaking is true for a lot of people since we speak as part of our business, not as our business. When I get up in a room full of people, my goal is to educate them, so they know more about what bankers look for.” To break the ice, Bill has a unique way of introducing himself as a self-proclaimed “former blood-sucking banker.” Bill uses these laidback ice-breakers as part of his speaking style, which he describes as conversational and more on the interactive side. “I have the best presentations when I’m presenting and have a Q&A with the audience. When somebody asks a question, I go down a rabbit hole since I don’t read from scripts. I’m a bullet point guy and ad-lib on the subject since I know what I’m talking about but not the next words.” Bill likes to think of himself more as a workshop speaker instead of a keynote speaker since he inspires business people and gives them the tools they can use without getting into all the motivational speaking embellishment. “I’m not using rah-rah language. I’m not quoting Tony Robbins. That’s great stuff, but business owners are looking for tools and info they can use instead of people telling them they’re great.” Another one of Bill’s trademarks is to inject humor and his New York brand of bluntness, which is obvious in some of his presentations. “I had a presentation called ‘Is your baby ugly?’ since business owners view their business as their baby.” It was a great way to get everybody’s attention and help connect the dots with ways for borrowers to look more attractive to potential lenders.

With the current pandemic, Bill has had to make adjustments to how he handles business matters as well as how he consults and speaks with others. While he had already been working from home, Bill was previously going to in-person networking events, but it’s forced him to get good with virtual training and meetings, including Zoom. “I’ve been delivering content electronically and putting together Zoom meetings, but I haven’t done anything for large groups.” Bill has also been advising businesses about loans to stay afloat in these economically trying times. “I’ve been fielding a lot of calls about PPP loans and helping people get in touch with lenders. I’ve also been gathering info on how lenders are changing how they do business to pass on to clients.”

Post-COVID-19, Bill knows there will be a lot more demand for his services. “It’s going to take longer to get loans approved. There’s going to be a lot of back-and-forth between the borrower and lender. The finance people are going to be asking more questions.” Since the economy is in a place where finance people are getting scared, this is causing banks to require more money down, which is leading to more borrowers getting turned down. At this juncture, Bill spends the time to explain to his clients what bankers are likely to ask, so they’re more prepared and have a better chance of getting approved. Bill also believes that terms are going to be more conservative with lower loan amounts available but more restrictions. He also predicts that a lot more banks will be asking for SBA guaranteed loans. “In a normal economy, where borrowers could usually get approved conventionally, they will now only get approved with an SBA guarantee.” Despite the economy, in a recent interview, Bill brought up a line that he often used to boost lenders’ confidence in his trademark style,