Michele
& Dave Polivka
Owners
Polivka Furniture |
It's
a moment many entrepreneurs remember—the moment when they first think
to themselves "I could do this!" That moment came in 1992 for
Dave Polivka, then a master woods craftsman for a large milling company.
A year later, he and two others left the security of a regular paycheck
to start Polivka Furniture. "In the beginning we had no money,"
recalls Dave's wife Michele, the company's business manager. "We
all had mortgages, families, responsibilities—it was a big risk."
But Dave's
passion for the craft of wood was contagious and soon, word of the company's
high quality craftsmanship and their ability to repeatedly please even
the most demanding customers began to spread among architects and designers.
Despite
the fact that Dave and Michele's business was doing well, they had a difficult
time getting much attention from their bank. "We kept a substantial
amount of money in the bank," says Michele, "but I never felt
like we were appreciated, I guess we were too small."
Missouri
Bank is one of the few banks to focus all of its resources on small businesses.
Companies don't have to be big to get great service. In fact many of our
most successful customers started with us when they were very small.
A friend
told Dave and Michele about Missouri Bank. "The president of the
bank called us and asked to come by to meet us," says Dave, "Even
though we weren't happy with our current bank, we hadn't had time to do
anything about it and we weren't even certain whether we should expect
a bank to treat us any differently."
The meeting
with Missouri Bank went well and Dave and Michele have since changed their
expectations of banking.
"I
never liked going to the bank before," remembers Michele. "It
always seemed so stuffy. But I will never forget one of the first times
I went into Missouri Bank. I walked in and it seemed that everyone was
saying hello and walking up to greet me and asking about the house we
were building. I told Dave later that visiting Missouri Bank felt like
visiting a friend's home."
Back
to Meet Our Customers page
|
