10 essentials for credit management

Credit management has grown tremendously in the past years and has moved up the agenda at many companies. And rightly so, because a lot can be achieved with well-structured credit management. Credit management is much more than making sure that your customers pay on time. Analyses of payment risks, identifying payment problems, monitoring of operational processes and deploying your credit management policies across your organisation are all important components. There are many ways to plan and execute credit management, and there is technology to support it. Check out the 10 essentials for credit management that we have collected during our many OnGuard software implementations:

1. Your customer remains a customer A new customer is usually brought in with much elation. But after that he is often treated as a debtor rather than as a customer. Do not focus too much on-short term profits, but invest in the long-term relationship.

2. Divide your customers in profiles Are all your customers the same? Probably not! Some customers have been doing business with you for years while others are new and unknown. It is likely that you have customers that purchase large volumes while others only place small orders. Divide your customers up in (similar) groups to get more insight.

3. Determine appropriate monitoring Verify how you currently deal with your customers. When do you contact them? And at what time? Do you choose to do this by letter, mail, phone or otherwise? By approaching your different customers (customer profiles) appropriately you spend your time efficiently and you achieve the greatest return.

4. Provide a feasible plan If your plans are too ambitious you confront your employees with an excessive number of actions. The overview disappears which is demotivating. By segmenting your customers well and monitoring which approach yields the desired result, you can make the most of your credit managers.

5. Consult as many sources as possible Get insight in the stability and liquidity of your customers by gathering information from different sources. By combining external sources with your own experiences, you are able to assess risks more accurately.

6. Strict on the process, gentle towards persons You have an agreement with your customer. Stick to your policies and processes and let your customer know that you are expecting him to keep his promises. Communicate in a pragmatic business way but keep your communication friendly and personal. So stick to your agreements but don’t forget to apply the personal attention that a customer needs.

7. Keep in touch Communication is key! Reserve time for personal contact with your customer. Only by actually speaking to each other you can figure out what the motivation is behind a failure to settle. Discuss what you can do to speed up the payment and jointly determine a feasible payment agreement.

8. Take advantage of complaints Approach complaints as valuable input. Complaints show where the weaknesses are in your organisation. What parts in the order-to-cash process need to be improved? This information can help your improve business and processes.

9. Promote credit management within your organisation Let your internal organisation know what credit management does and share information. Do not approach your colleagues as competitors or inhibitors but believe in the principle that different departments can reinforce each other.

10. Use reports for insight Regularly assess the effectiveness of your credit management department. Is the workload realistic? Do your employees manage to follow the planned policy and planning? Are you achieving the desired results with your current policy? Flexibility in your approach keeps the focus on results.