It’s easy to think about bankers and banks in terms of what they can do for your business. After all, banking is a service.

But banking is also a relationship and an intimate one at that. Banking relates to one of the most personal areas of professional life—money. The intimacy of financial relationships ends up giving them a lot in common with romantic relationships. So what kinds of companies are banks attracted to? And what can your company do to catch, and keep, a banker’s eye?

Each bank tends to have a type of business that it prefers to do business with. That doesn’t mean that they won’t court companies outside that type; it just means that they have preferences. Ideally, they’re always on the lookout for businesses with the most attractive qualities they can find.

Industry and Maturity

What kinds of businesses do banks prefer? Your industry is a big potential draw. Industry is attractive, obvious and a great predictor of success. Each bank has a private list of industries they favor called their “standard industry” list. Doctors, dentists, lawyers, accountants and other standard industries tend to be winners for most financial institutions. If you’re not in one of those industries, you might have to work a little harder to get a bank’s attention.

Your company’s maturity is an attractive quality to lenders. In an ideal world, the bank would hook up with you after the business is 3 years old or more. By then, most companies have passed the potentially awkward startup phase, are market tested and have had time to work out any kinks.

If a company isn’t that old, the best partners for the bank demonstrate their understanding of the market and their command of operations. Much of this is demonstrated through conversation about the company’s finances and a cogently written business plan.

Financial Mastery

Bankers want to partner with owners who understand their financials and are using them to make management decisions. Bankers are attracted to partners that are managing their cash flow rather than just experiencing their cash flow. Those sales calls are your chance to demonstrate your knowledge of how business events influence the way your cash flow and other financials look. That kind of talk will definitely prick up a banker’s ears.

On the flip side, not having this quality can be a mark against a continued courtship. Ever been out with someone who seemed great, but then, when you see them in another context, they turned out to be awful? That is how your banker feels when they’ve pursued a company for a period of time and then, when they finally get their hands on the financials, realize that the owners talk a good game but aren’t financially sound.

Accuracy, Appreciation, Commitment

Bankers are attracted to companies with financials that are based in the reality of how your company operates, not some alternate version created by your tax adviser to limit your tax liability. That process is the business equivalent of letting your CPA pull a Cyrano de Bergerac on your financials, feeding you lines to give the banker courting you, often with the wrong script.

So many business owners let someone else create their financial statements and never learn how to interpret what the financials actually say. And frequently, if the tax adviser is creating the financials without management guidance, the financials will default to tax savings rather than demonstrating profit. The banker is only hot for one of those.

Your bank partner wants to be in the loop. Connect with them on your company Facebook page. Make sure they’re on your email newsletter list. Ensure that they continue to feel like they’re an important part of your business.

A banker also wants to be appreciated. They welcome a thank-you from time to time. The absolute best thank-you a bank can get is a referral to another client occasionally.

When bankers find good partners, they want all of them. They want your business accounts, personal accounts, investment accounts and any other accounts. This is the primary yardstick by which the bank measures a company’s commitment to the relationship over time.

In short, banks have a type. If your business truly understands your market, creates and uses financial statements to manage the company, is a strong communicator, and is willing to commit, that type is likely you.