Getting a loan can feel overwhelming. You need money to grow, cover expenses, or invest in equipment — but banks and credit unions want to make sure your business can pay it back. The problem is many business owners walk in unprepared, and that can mean long delays or even a “no.”
The good news? With the right prep, you can walk into that loan meeting confident, ready, and with numbers that make sense to both you and the lender.
What Lenders Want to See
When you apply for funding, lenders usually look for five key things:
- Cash Flow — Do you have enough money coming in each month to cover expenses and loan payments?
- Financial Health — Is your business profitable, and do you have enough cushion to handle ups and downs?
- History — Do your past results back up your future plans?
- Forecasts — Do you have a clear, realistic picture of where your business is headed over the next 1–5 years?
- Loan Impact — What happens to your cash flow, profitability, and overall stability once the new loan is added? Lenders don’t just want to know if you look good today — they want to know you’ll still look strong tomorrow.
Most business owners don’t walk in with all of this ready — especially forecasts and loan impact. That’s where RunSmart comes in.
How RunSmart Makes It Simple
RunSmart by Projection Genie makes the loan prep process fast, simple, and affordable. Instead of hiring an expert or spending weeks buried in spreadsheets, you can connect QuickBooks, let RunSmart do the heavy lifting, and have lender-ready financials in minutes. Here’s how it works:
- Connect to QuickBooks — You securely link your QuickBooks account to RunSmart.
- Pull In Your History — RunSmart requires at least 24 months of past financial data, which it imports automatically. That way, every forecast is based on real performance, not guesswork.
- Run the Numbers — Using advanced statistical algorithms, RunSmart analyzes your history, spots seasonality, and builds forward-looking projections.
- Generate Reports — Out comes a set of easy-to-read forecasts, financial health scores, and loan-impact views that show you — and your lender — exactly where your business stands.
And all of this happens in a matter of minutes.
Forecasts You Can Trust
For many small business owners, forecasting means guessing future sales and expenses with no rhyme or reason to back it up. RunSmart does it differently:
- It uses advanced statistical models applied to your own historical financial data to create reliable, lender-ready projections.
- It recognizes the natural ebbs and flows in your business — slower months, busier seasons — instead of showing flat, unrealistic trend lines.
- It updates automatically whenever you sync new QuickBooks data, so your forecasts stay current.
That means your projections aren’t just wishful thinking — they’re grounded in real performance, powered by proven methods, and generated in minutes without needing to crunch numbers or hire an expert.
Health Scores and Loan Impact Views
RunSmart also gives you simple A–F letter grades across profitability, liquidity, solvency, efficiency, and capitalization. You can see strengths and weaknesses at a glance — and lenders can too.
Most importantly, you can test what happens if you add a loan. RunSmart shows how new debt changes your monthly cash flow and overall financial health, so you’ll be ready to answer the question every lender has: “Can this business comfortably handle the payments?”
Why It Matters
Walking into the bank with clear forecasts and loan-impact views doesn’t just look better — it can be a game-changer for your application. When you do it right:
- You show the lender you’re organized, forward-thinking, and serious — not someone making vague promises.
- You reduce back-and-forth clarification requests, which speeds up underwriting and increases your odds of approval.
- You avoid one of the most common pitfalls: faulty financial documentation or unrealistic projections, which often lead to loan denials. In fact, research shows that integrating cash-flow analysis into underwriting significantly improves approval odds and lowers risk (NBER).
- Conversely, when you submit weak forecasts, use rough guesses, or bring in outdated spreadsheets, you risk undermining your credibility. That can mean delays, tougher terms, or outright rejection.
Getting this right doesn’t mean more work — it means smarter results with less effort. And with RunSmart, that work takes minutes, not weeks, saving you both time and the expense of hiring costly outside help.
Conclusion: Walk In Ready
Getting a loan doesn’t have to be intimidating. With RunSmart, you’ll have forecasts, health scores, and loan impact views that tell your financial story in plain language, backed by real data.
And best of all — you don’t need a finance degree or an expensive expert to get there. RunSmart makes it easy, fast, and affordable, so you can walk into the bank with confidence — and get to “yes” sooner.
Ready to get loan-ready? Try RunSmart today!