Credit Matters Newsletters

We are pleased to announce Credit Matters first Professional Development Award which will be offered in 2017. You must be a Member of Credit Matters to be eligible for the Award. More details can be found in the attached flyer and shortly, via our website at www.creditmatters.com.au.

Advertising via Credit Matters

If you are interested in reaching business prospects who may need your services or products, contact Kim to see what he can do for your business. There are many different opportunities to advertise your business via Credit Matters. The benefit of advertising with Credit Matters is that our newsletters only go to dedicated readers interested in financial risk management issues.

We are pleased to announce PS Law is a new member of the Better Business Club. They have kindly provided the attached article with a helpful note to all Advisers on their responsibilities in regards to the PPSA. 

There also an attached flyer from The Kaplan Group which may be of interest if you are about to commence a business relationship in the US or have an existing debt with a US based business.

Dealing with bad customers is like drinking bad wine. It leaves a nasty taste in your mouth as you realise once again bad customers have cost you money, drained your energy and make doing business so difficult.

It is a theme we mention frequently in our newsletters and blogs: not all customers are of value to your business. Too often when our marketing and sales acquaintances tell us that "The Customer is King" we are forced to say, "Yes but, not all kings are good kings."

A theme also mentioned often, is that if you want to succeed in business, you must emotionally "own" your business. When you allow your business to be held to ransom, by other entities, including customers, then you do not own your own business. When this happens, you are generally on a slippery road to damaging problems, and potentially the loss of your business.

The problem for any business, is understanding how to do business. Yes, it is important to ensure you have what the customer needs, can supply their needs at an affordable price and deliver the best possible level of customer service. However, if you cannot achieve these goals without going broke, you don't have a business.

Dealing with bad business customers is therefore its own art form which is not often practiced these days. Part of the problem is the easy availability of credit and customer expectations that credit is now their right.

In addition, salespeople are encouraged to offer credit whilst selling on cash is often discouraged by management. The reality is; selling on cash takes much more work and extra effort to make the sale. In one aspect, selling on credit is all too easy and is now part of the problem and all too often results in bad customers.

Business was never easy, especially if you wanted to survive over the long term. Dealing with an occasional bad customer is unavoidable. Dealing with bad customers constantly, is no recipe for success. The secret of success is to identify those bad customers which are going to cost you.

It would be preferable if we could identify the bad customers before we granted them credit, but this is not always possible. The core principle is to learn to identify the bad customer before they cost too much, just as would buying wine. Bad customers are like bad wine, all you get is a bad taste in your mouth.