Credit Matters Newsletters

This month we posted our first video introduction on the Credit Matters website as to the value of Credit Matter's risk management information offerings and facilities. 

There are new updates in our Word of The Month and Inconvenient Business Truth segments.

Advertising via Credit Matters

If you are interested in reaching a wider group of business prospects, contact Kim to see what we can do for you. There are many different opportunities to advertise your business. The benefit of advertising with Credit Matters is we offer one of the few opportunities to reach a broad marketplace of customers with financial risk management issues.

This month you will find an updated declaration from Express Mercantile on their Corporate Vision for 2016.

Whether as a business owner or employee, we can be susceptible to procrastination, or an inability to quickly take opportunities because of preconceived prejudices and hastily made conclusions. After all, at the end of the day, we are all human and not without some weaknesses.

In addition, we all seem to be under such pressures these days. The lack of time, a guilty conscious about not spending time with our family, working in the business and not on the business, a lack of money etc.

It is only by trying to sensibly managing these factors, can we start to mitigate the effects of missing opportunities and avoid jumping quickly to conclusions. Let us review two simple business interactions.

In the first example, acting quickly to the customer enquiry, complaint or credit claim, is not something which all businesses manage well. These customer contacts are normally perceived to be just another nuisance to be "managed" and placed in a queue to be actioned in due course.

In fact: every enquiry, complaint or credit claim is an opportunity to improve sales and cashflow. In the progressive and switched on business, these customer related issues, are perceived to be an opportunity to reconnect with the customer, correct problems and to make more money.

The second example is the non-paying customer. The role of credit or accounts receivable employees mainly involves dealing with poorly performing customers. As a result, they do not often deal with efficient and good customers who pay regularly.

When customer "x" a previously good customer hasn't paid despite letter, email or telephone contact, the first assumption may be "We have another dud customer." The first assumption is unfortunately too often correct.

Nevertheless, the correct assumption should have been, "This situation is unusual, I better contact them and see what is going on."

Frequently when an enquiry type contact is made, other issues are quickly identified which were causing the problems. You can then set about resolving the problems quickly and which may stop further incorrect assumptions and future problems. The customer in these situations was not trying to avoid payment at all. Other issues were involved and once corrected, the profitable business relationship can continue.

In everyday business affairs, opportunities frequently occur which can be taken up to improve your business. Unfortunately, often due to a lack of management thinking and actions, these opportunities can be missed.

If you believe the customer will wait for you to act or contact them about the opportunities which do occur from time to time, you are mistaken. Business is not just about working the work.

Operating and managing a business properly, means taking up of opportunities, anticipated and unforeseen, as they become available.  Developing a process which alerts managers and employees to the possibility of another business opportunity and providing the capabilities to take advantage of that opportunity is critical.

Losing an identifiable opportunity is disappointing. A business lesson can be learnt from these missed opportunities. Not seeing an opportunity is worse because it means your business is not structured and equipped to take up opportunities as they occur.