There are a few factors that make Village Bank great. Chief among them — our people. At Village Bank, we hire friendly leaders in the financial industry, ensuring we have capable individuals to serve your needs and help you find the right financial solutions for your family or business.
One such example is Barkley Townsend, the Village’s Cash Management Solutions Manager. Barkley is a lifelong Virginia resident, having grown up in Midlothian, though she now calls Powhatan home. She likes living in this area because it’s quiet and has that ideal “country neighbor” feel, where everyone says hi and knows each other.
That belief and desire for community makes Barkley so good at her job. Barkley was originally ready to become a CPA, but when she first entered the banking field, she was hooked. “I started as a teller in the drive-thru and found that I love the job, particularly on the business side of the operations. It was challenging and impactful, and it gave me a chance to help businesses thrive,” said Barkley.
While working as a business service relations representative, Barkley was introduced to the cash management side of banking. Once she began working in this area, Barkley realized there was no going back.
Cash management means monitoring cash flow and ensuring that your business has the cash and credit to pay the bills and continue to operate. This sometimes isn’t easy — businesses of all types may find they need help when in this area.
That’s where cash management solutions come in. Financial institutions are often well-situated to understand a business’s needs and what specific financial help they may require. After a good look at how a business operates, a cash management specialist can advise that business on various tools to enhance and stabilize its cash flow. This can include forecasting tools, procedures to streamline accounts receivable, and ways businesses can improve relationships with customers and vendors to enhance cash flow.
At Village Bank, Barkley serves as our Vice President, Cash Management Solutions Manager, helping customers identify available tools and create cash management plans to reduce costs and ensure businesses have enough money to operate. The tools that Barkley can help offer include accounts receivable collections, account payable services, treasury services, and fraud & asset protection.
Barkley said that this job is a perfect fit for her skill set. “I love helping people run their businesses in the most efficient and cost-effective way,” she said. “More to the point, it’s hands-on. If you do this job right, you can make people comfortable enough to pick up the phone and call when they need help.”
Barkley notes that cash management solutions require complex and in-depth solutions. This allows her to truly understand the way a business works and how to make it operate even better. “Banking needs for businesses are often deeply complicated, and I love that. There are many moving pieces in business banking, and quite a few people are often involved. Solving cash flow problems is like a puzzle, but instead of pieces, you are trying to manage a series of interlocking services that can make a business stronger. It’s a form of problem-solving and one that I love.”
As noted above, the array of cash management solutions is vast, and identifying which solutions apply to which businesses is often challenging. After all, any time wasted pursuing a solution that doesn’t work is time taken from more profitable activities. This reality explains why Barkley likes genuinely getting to know a business and understanding its operations.
Barkley says she doesn’t have any business type she likes better than others but notes that owner-operated businesses can be a joy to work with. “Smaller, more intimate businesses allow you to get to know them—and their employees—in a deeper way. That being said, I enjoy every client. More to the point, I like winning my clients over, making them feel comfortable, and letting them know they can depend on me. I want customers to think of me as their friend at the bank. It’s like my Mom says: If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. That’s what working with small businesses lets me feel.”
To be good at her job, Barkley says she needs to take ownership and responsibility for your wins and losses. You also need to be genuine, transparent, and empathetic. After all, many of these small businesses have been around for decades, and Barkley takes personal responsibility for her ability to help them.
Being good at banking also means constantly expanding her knowledge. That’s why Barkley recently became a Certified Treasury Manager. This certification allowed Barkley to expand her already extensive knowledge base about cash management, helping her learn new cash management options and make businesses more efficient. More to the point, it gave her a broader, richer understanding of what cash management is, how to make it efficient, and how to be more cost-effective for bank-side operations.
When she’s not helping her small businesses thrive, Barkley has a thriving family and social life. Her blended family has six kids between the ages of 10 and 30. Barkley also has one step-grandchild, whom she adores. When not doting on her family, Barkley plays in a band with her Dad, takes motorcycle rides through the mountains, and spends time with her husband, whom she calls her best friend.
If you are a business owner with questions about cash management solutions that will fit your needs, connect with Barkley at Village Bank. We’re here to help.