Credit Matters Newsletters

This month, we have a new listing for Jan Reeves in our Accounts Receivable category of the Better Business Club. In addition, the Australian Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman have listed in the Government Agencies area of our website. You will also soon be able to click through to their website for Kate Carnell's latest presentation on YouTube

Credit Matters is pleased to offer the attached article titled The Sam Hawk supply chain creditors, stakeholders and the PPSA. This article appears courtesy of the Queensland Law Society Banking and Financial Services Law Committee. The author, Peter Mills is a special counsel at Thomson Geer and a member of the committee.

Advertising via Credit Matters

If you are interested in reaching business prospects who need your services or products, contact Kim to see what he can do for you. There are many different opportunities to advertise your business via Credit Matters and it may not be as expensive as you might imagine.

In this newsletter, you will find the following brochures; an introduction to Jan Reeves an Accounts Receivable specialist, Stopline's whistleblowing and fraud investigative services, Credit Matter's "What's A Criminal Looks Like" flyer and the joint produced flyer by Credit Matters and Sales and Telesales Solutions on today's most underrated business tool, the telephone.

Almost everyone seems to be rushing forward with irrational exuberance when it comes to use of technology these days. So fast is everybody supposed to adapt or use new technology, many often forget the rules of risk, marketing, customer service and human behaviour.

Let us stop for a minute and think of just one aspect when rushing forward to use technology and into the digital world without due care. That aspect is TRUST.

What we do know about technology are the potential benefits, but not all the risks. We also know that fraudsters are (i) better adaptors of technology than the average business person and individual using the technology, (ii) have better quality technology and (iii) greater operating disciplines.

With increasingly use of technology therefore, the issues for all business owners and managers include:

(i) how are they going to trust the tools they use to do the work they need, will be beneficial;

(i) can they trust their employees and other people who interact with their business, and equally and more importantly

(iii) how will they identify the authenticity of the emails and other documentation they receive via technology products?

The conundrum for all of us is that technology is an essential factor in growing our business. Meanwhile, technology in the wrong hands, can equally destroy our business.

What do you see when your customer does not respond to your telephone calls, emails and letters about the unpaid invoice or with other problems?

Perhaps you may be understanding and accept your contact's lack of cooperation is an anomaly because it is a one off situation or a first-time contact. After all, none of us are perfect.

The experienced credit or accounts receivable professional recognises apart from aforementioned circumstances, that a lack of contact and cooperation by the customer is far more profound. Over time, credit and accounts receivable professionals learn to understand what they see when customers fail to respond to their contact attempts.

There are several possibilities which we can read into a lack of contact from your customer when they fail regularly to respond to your contact attempts. These possibilities include:

(i) the customer is a fraudster;

(ii) the customer's business is operated by incompetent management which fails to understand their business's creditability or payment reputation is affected by an uncooperative attitude and slow payments;

(iii) the customer employs accounts payable employees who are not supported with adequate operating resources or respected in their role;

(iv) if the customer also sells on credit, the business does not employ professional credit or accounts receivable employees and lacks adequate operational systems and disciplines to collect what is owed to them in a timely fashion;

(v) the customer arrogantly assumes they can dictate the payment terms to suppliers without any negative consequences.

(vi) the customer's management team proudly proclaims they are a sales and marketing oriented business;

(vii) there is a cashflow problem.

The experienced credit or accounts receivable manager will soon identify that a lack of contact means each of the above issues may be applicable within their customer's business. As such, the customer is going to cause unnecessary problems and costs for their own business.