(Article originally appeared in the Cheatham County Exchange on February 27, 2024)
Legendary service and extraordinary people are on their way to Ashland City later this spring.
Legends Bank, which started in 1998 in Clarksville and recently celebrated 25 years in business, is set to open its tenth branch, which will be located on S. Main St. in Ashland City and will also be its second branch in Cheatham County.
President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Bates, Jr., who was also one of the founders, discussed the draw of Cheatham County, first to Pleasant View and now Ashland City.
“There’s a lot of good small- to medium-sized businesses that operate in these communities, and there’s more coming. There’s lots of homes being built here. That’s something that we do very well. There’s going to be more just general real-estate lending needs as we grow, and that just kind of fits in our wheelhouse. We’re not looking to bank huge, massive corporations. I mean, we’re banking your mom and pops all the way up to $15, $20 million a year in sales. Those are nice-size companies. We have the tools to service those types of customers,” he said.
The bank’s motto, “legendary service and extraordinary people,” reflects the company’s desire to blend the best of modern banking technology with the personalized service often lost with national banking conglomerates, according to Bates.
“I think the way we like to do business resonates with people here. I mean, we like to have good technology, but we still want to be a people business. We want to hire good people that can provide service that you’re going to remember. That’s sort of what we’ve staked our claim on for 25 years.”
– Tommy Bates, Legends Bank President & CEO
Vice President J. Hayes Wellington takes it one step further in that he says he wants customers to remember more than just the name Legends Bank. He also wants customers to feel that the bankers who make up Legends are their bankers.
“When you ask somebody who’s your banker, they go, ‘US Bank.’ I say, ‘I didn’t ask you who you banked with.’ I said, ‘Who’s your banker?’ You got to have somebody you feel comfortable talking to because that is so important,” Wellington said.
One way the bank tries to offer more personalized service is through its card processing, which it does all in-house, so if there’s a problem, customers can talk to someone local. Bates said that he wants to set the tone of being accessible while also making sure that the technology customers have is that they can have all the conveniences at their fingertips.
“You can’t lose sight of that, that [customers] still want to talk to you if they have a problem. That’s how we’re trying to build our model is we’ll give you all the bells and whistles you need to not have to feel like you got to come in the bank every single day to make a deposit, but if you need to talk to somebody or you need to come see us, we’re going to be there,” Bates said.
Legends Bank offers an array of personal, commercial, and lending services with branches in Brentwood, Clarksville, Nashville and Pleasant View. For more information, visit www.LegendsBank.com.
Source: Cheatham County Exchange
(Posted on February 27, 2024)