Credit Management Association» Hot Tips

What I think I do. What I really do.

Dina Amadril — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:42:51 +0000

At our last Board Meeting those attending were gracious enough to help me out with ideas for a “What I Think I Do/What I really Do” meme for Commercial Credit Managers.

Click to enlarge

Here is a link to the origin of this internet meme: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/what-people-think-i-do-what-i-really-do

Please feel free to post it to Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, email it around. The best way to save it to your computer would be to click it and see the largest version. The right click on the image and choose “Save As” to save to your computer.

Preventative Maintenance For Credit Groups – Larry Convoy

Dina Amadril — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 16:58:53 +0000

Warning Lights

Credit groups like automobiles have warning signals when something is not operating as it should be. Having just seen my own car’s dashboard light up like a Christmas tree due to a worn power steering belt, I think being aware of the signs and a little preventative maintenance might keep your credit group running for many more years.

Reports are FLAT – Are group members just entering the same accounts monthly on your Past Due /Meeting Review reports. Is the company that filed for bankruptcy in January or the business that closed its doors in March still being reported? Remind them that they should be adding new accounts and deleting expired ones each month. One solution is to contribute their full accounts receivable to CMA, set the reporting parameters (for Past Due) and let CMA do the rest.

Attendance STALLING - With www.anscers.com providing instant information, many feel attending the meeting is not necessary. Members must be reminded that meetings support the online data. Meetings give you access to professionals who know who to call in AP to collect, members can explain how to file a lien or small claims action and can share other best practices that can save your company $$$. Our speaker program is a great resource to educate. Make each meeting a learning experience.

Membership needs TUNE-UP – Groups used to grow by adding companies selling common products (steel groups add steel manufacturers). With businesses consolidating, moving offshore or just closing up, consider adding companies selling the common customer. Our Door and Window Network has recently added companies selling hardware, different product but common customer. Look at your customer, what other types of vendors are selling them.

Let’s use the last 4 months of 2011 to refresh tired reports, call absentee members and think outside the box for group expansion. Spread the idea that one trade line reported, one comment at a meeting or alert from a new member could make a significant impact on your company’s bottom line and your job.

Remote Deposit Capture from UTA

Dina Amadril — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 14:58:56 +0000

Faster availability of funds – no more lock boxes or delays in depositing. Safer because you’ll never see a bad check again – no more returned checks.

EASY TO USE: With Remote Deposit Capture (RDC), you simply insert the check into a scanning machine and it’s instantly deposited into your bankaccount. United TranzActions provides you with everything: a scanningmachine, processing software and full reporting at your fingertips.

Download more RDC info. (67)

NACM Member Vicor Corp. Warns of Fraud Using Their Name

Dina Amadril — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:52:36 +0000

News Release from Vicor Corporation sent to their NACM Affiliate:

“We are aware of fraudulent purchase orders purporting to originate from Vicor Corporation being placed with distributors of office electronics that lend themselves to easy resale (e.g., laptop computers, projectors, and network routers). Please note our Internet address is www.vicorpower.com, and any email correspondence would originate from an addressing ending in @vicr.com. It is not our practice to ask our suppliers to ship to addresses other than those listed as company locations on our website. Given the volume of such fraudulent activity, we ask that recipients of suspicious purchase orders confirm the validity of such by contacting us at fraud.inquiry@vicr.com.”

How to Be Business Friendly

Dina Amadril — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:34:45 +0000

Business Friendly

By Nancy Friedman, the Telephone Doctor

When you take the “friendly” out of Business Friendly, all you have left is business – business as usual. And we all know that’s just not good enough.So our new program deals with the tender subject of how to be Business Friendly. And it’s NOT just for the phones. Being Business Friendly is for all touch points of customer service. Any way you touch or reach out to your customers on the phone, in person, by email, voice mail, fax or snail mail, we need to be Business Friendly.

First of all, you may be asking yourself, “What the heck is Business Friendly?” Well, it’s the middle ground between being too cold, impersonal and uncaring, and the other extreme of being too over familiar. We’ve all experienced both I’m sure.

Here are the five points in delivering Business Friendly customer service.

Every Call is Unique – Don’t Become Desensitized: The transaction you get at the end of the day needs to be as upbeat and helpful as you were with the first one of the day. What happens is often times we get the same questions over and over and it’s easy to become desensitized. We need to remember that to the customer, his question is new to him. And it’s the first time for him; no matter what time of day it is.

Solve the Problem – Don’t Argue: You know the old saying “the customer is always right.” Well, at Telephone Doctor we’ve changed that around to “the customer always thinks they’re right” and that’s the perception we need to deal with. There are indeed times when the customer is wrong and we as service specialists know and realize it. Of what value is it to tell them “Oh Mr. Jones, you are WRONG.” None is there? So focus on the problem; don’t worry about whose fault it is. There is zero value in arguing with a customer. Don’t even get in the ring with them. You will lose every single round. Focus on solving the problem.

Show Empathy – Don’t Ignore What The Customer Says: The other day, I called a company and explained that the product they sold me wasn’t operating properly. The answer from the company representative? “Oh, OK.” AGGGGGG. That drives me crazy. First of all, it’s NOT OK that the product wasn’t working right. And secondly, where was a little empathy? Where was some sort of acknowledgement that they indeed heard what I was calling about. None. And you can have empathy in happy and good things too. Empathy isn’t only for disasters and bad times. You can join in when someone mentions a birthday, a vacation, a wedding, or anything that is happy. Point is, just do not ignore what they say. COMMENT on it.

Smile: Yup, the customer can hear it. We all know that. And since we all know that, we all need to do it. And by the way, smiling is showing your teeth. If your teeth aren’t showing, you’re only grinning – not smiling. Grins can’t be heard! Let those puppies show!

Avoid Emotional Leakage: What? Ok, what’s emotional leakage, Nancy? Well, that’s getting mad at Peter and taking it out on Paul. Not right, not fun and not fair. To take a negative thought or emotion out on one person and transfer it to another? Let’s show you how to avoid emotional leakage when one transaction goes bad and you need to deal with another one immediately.

Take a deep breath
Regain your professional composure
Smile (Even if it’s phony)
Then start the transaction

Being Business Friendly will make a huge difference in customer satisfaction. Don’t be cool and aloof and don’t get too familiar; be the middle ground and deliver Business Friendly customer service.

Reprinted with permission from Telephone Doctor, Inc. Based in St. Louis, Telephone Doctor is a customer service training company offering DVD courses, web-based training, keynote presentations and on-site workshops. Contact them at www.telephonedoctor.com