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Jun 01 2013
June ICEL Chairleader's Article - 10 Email Etiquette Tips Did you know that National Email Week is celebrated in the month of June? Email is becoming an increasingly dominant form of communication in the business world. And, since a whole week has been dedicated to honoring this technology, I thought we would look at 10 tips for improving email communication. 1. Subject Lines. It could be argued that subject lines are the most important part of an email. They are generally what convince a recipient to either open an email or ignore it. Subject lines should contain concise, descriptive information about the topic you are addressing - the meat of your email - and the action you would like the recipient to take. They should also be descriptive enough to allow the recipient to quickly find your email if he or she needs to refer back. Be specific and streamline your subject by using short words and eliminating unnecessary words. Consider using action verbs and dates and times when needed. And never leave the subject line blank. more... |
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Jun 01 2013
May ICEL Meeting Recap: Stop Being Bullied By Bad Customers Nina Flurer, CCE, a regional credit manager with H&E Equipment Services, Inc. presented at the May ICEL meeting. She addressed the topic of how to stop being bullied by bad customers - a topic to which most all credit managers can relate. Ironically enough, the term bully can be abused (no pun intended). Just because someone engages in behavior that someone does not like or agree with, does not necessarily mean it is abusive. Nina encouraged attendees to incorporate the "reasonable person test." This test requires asking if most people would consider what the other person is saying or doing to be inappropriate or unacceptable. Once it has been determined that the actions of a customer are that of a bully, his or her actions will typically fall into one of two categories more... |
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Apr 01 2013
The Imperative Partnership Why the sales driven organization must encourage partnership between sales and credit to succeed. The selling team of yesteryear would have a hard time getting along, or even understanding the business world of today. Things have changed such that a client's credit worthiness is just as, or even more important than, the gross revenue potential of that coveted client. In the old days when the "big sale" ruled all, we (the selling organization) kept the credit department quite busy cleaning up when one of those big sales turned into a big collection nightmare. more... |
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Mar 01 2013
Credit/Sales Smack Down Have you experienced ballistic moments dealing with sales people? If you have, you are not alone. At times, the friction between credit & sales produces a duel of epic proportion; well it seems like it at the time. Sales: Excited voice "I have a new customer that is 'golden' and they want to buy A LOT - RIGHT NOW!" Credit: Up go the hackles . . . "Ummm, looking at their credit report and payment history, the only possible way we can sell them is cash in advance." Sales: Angry "Oh Come On! They're good for it!" Credit and sales have very different personality . . . more... |
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Feb 01 2013
Liens or Secured Transactions (UCC) I am often asked by creditors whether they can file a lien against their customer's property because the customer is seriously delinquent. The creditor is usually looking for a simple "yes" or "no" answer. But, it really isn't a simple question so I respond either with the standard "depends," or launch into a series of questions. Why? Because some liens can be filed without the debtor's consent and some require the debtor's consent. There are voluntary liens: those that require the debtor's consent, and involuntary liens more... |
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Feb 01 2013
Odds It's Fraud Business credit fraud is an intentional plot to scam a business out of "value" without payment. This may be accomplished by providing a credit department with carefully crafted inaccurate information hoping that it goes unnoticed thus allowing the flimflam artist to get away with as much value as possible. Let's look at an attempted fraud scenario that happened recently in Utah. An NACM member received a phone order from a caller in Ohio declaring that they had a "staple emergency" and needed product to be "shipped immediately" more... |
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Jan 01 2013
Understanding the NACM Demand Letter and Collection Service One of our goals here at NACM is to give our members the tools needed to minimize bad debt. We do this by providing credit reports on your potential and existing customers so you can evaluate your exposure. We, also, provide education directly pointed to the extension of trade credit. Even so, there will always be customers who don't pay and that is why we offer the services of our collection department. Sometimes people just need an extra push and moving to a professional collection agency provides that next psychological level of motivation to the debtor. more... |
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Dec 01 2012
The 5 C's of Credit in Today's Economy Jobless rate climbs. Tougher bank rules. Wall Street drops. Firms less optimistic . . . With headlines like these how are we ever to feel confident about extending credit to anyone? Fortunately, the tried and true 5 C's of Credit are still valuable tools for evaluating a client for creditworthiness. more... |
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Dec 01 2012
Collections Rut? Mix Things Up! Recently, I noticed that our receivables had plateaued. We had several accounts that were showing up on our aging day after day, week after week, and with no apparent progress. Since I know that doing the same thing, the same way, and expecting different results is the definition of insanity, I decided to try to mix things up. Instead of setting up new procedures or policies, all I did was to reassign which accounts were handled by my collectors. Sounds simple, right? more... |
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Dec 01 2012
Enforcing a Judgment Across State Lines You've been awarded a judgment against your debtor for the collection of the debt. Knowing that it is now your responsibility to collect that debt, you contact a collections attorney [editor's note: or NACM] to assist you in enforcing the judgment. But what happens if your debtor moves to another state or the property to be seized is located elsewhere? Do you lose your judgment? No, but there is a process you must go through to have the judgment be valid in another state. (Actually, before you can seize assets located in a different county of the same state, you must docket the judgment in that county. But that is more common and relatively easy.) more... |
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Nov 01 2012
Politics Can Affect Credit With the elections on our minds, have you ever wondered how politics affects the world of credit? If you don't, you should. Regardless of your political persuasion, the people who govern us have an impact on our daily lives. This is true and applicable to our careers and how we conduct business. When it comes to politics and government, I want to quote Dr Seuss; "Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple." To demonstrate the significance of the influence of politics on our business take a small piece of the puzzle and look at the evolution of the Mechanics' Lien laws over the past several years. We have gone from a simplistic means to file a lien for unpaid debts as suppliers to ... more... |
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Nov 01 2012
ICEL Recap: Demand More of Yourself Dawn Meehan, a former Survivor television show contestant, spoke to ICEL in October. Dawn's presentation was enthusiastic and energetic and provided fascinating insight, especially for the Survivor TV show fans in the group. more... |
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Nov 01 2012
NACM Canons of Business Credit Ethics In performing our responsibilities as credit professionals and as members of NACM, we pledge to conduct our duties within the boundaries of the law and to not intentionally injure the reputation of others. Each of us pledge ourselves to the highest professional standards and principles, and by reading the Anti-Trust Compliance and Anti-Defamation Statements in group meetings, we are agreeing to abide by these statements. The last paragraph of the statement begins "The Association and Credit Groups endorse and comply with the highest standards of professional conduct . . ." Each group member is agreeing to guard, secure, and keep in confidence, the information that is exchanged for the sole purpose of analyzing and extending commercial credit within their individual company. more... |
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Oct 01 2012
Personal Guarantees-A Simple Agreement To Improve Credit and Collections Credit and collections - it's what we do for a living. Without collection opportunities, we would not be employed. As much as we bemoan the challenges we confront on a daily basis, we have to admit that this challenge is what puts food on our tables. This reality aside, one signature on a simple agreement can assist in the credit review process and help streamline collections. Obtaining a personal guarantee can literally change the way a credit manager determines credit worthiness and, ultimately, in a worse-case scenario, help collect on a past due balance. The ultimate goal of a personal guarantee is to bind a third party to pay your company in the event of default on the part of a business that entered into an agreement to purchase and pay for goods and/or services to your company. A properly drafted guarantee agreement can be invaluable ... more... |
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Sep 01 2012
Character Make a Difference more... |
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Aug 01 2012
Putting Your Best Players On The Field Vince Lombardi once said, "The secret is to work less as individuals and more as a team. As a coach, I play not my eleven best, but my best eleven." As credit managers we are expected to do more with less in the new challenging economic environment. We need to be "playing our best eleven" in order to run efficiently and effectively to produce the results that are expected. As stated in the NACM Principles of Business Credit manual, several areas of knowledge or skill sets are required by the credit department: Computer skills, analytical skills, customer service skills, expert negotiation skills, communication skills, understanding of business and credit law, and a thorough understanding of accounting and finance disciplines. As managers, have we sufficiently prepared our team with the necessary skills to succeed? more... |
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Aug 01 2012
Getting Permission To Attend Credit Conferences NACM's 116th Annual Credit Congress was recently held in Dallas, TX. The conference was well organized and there were a number of great speakers with a lot of good information and instruction. We realize that many of you wanted to attend but your company was not in a position to pay. To help improve your chances of attending next year. Objection No. 1: There's not enough money in the budget. Answers: A. Accounts Receivable are usually the second largest asset of a company. Doesn't it make sense to educate the person managing it? B. Education is insurance not an expense, and it's the best insurance for A/R C. The cost of attending the conference versus the cost of bad debt due to poor credit decisions or lack of collections could be considerably less. more... |
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Aug 01 2012
Imagine What You Could Do Think about the skills you've developed and use on the job. You do cash application, manage customer accounts, and work aging reports. You organize and prioritize collection calls, deduction management and unearned deduction issues. You're a good collector with a customer service attitude; you get the money and keep them happy! You're an investigator; you gather and analyze information to make wise credit decisions. You need emotional intelligence to relate to different types of people and personalities, prevent and resolve conflicts, have empathy and insight about feelings, motives and concerns of those you deal with. You're a negotiator and diplomat; you address and resolve issues with customers, sales and management and leave them satisfied with outcomes. more... |
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Jun 01 2012
The Influential Credit Manager So, how do you get management, sales, customers and others to trust and value your knowledge and experience and to take you seriously? Become more credible and influential. more... |
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Jun 01 2012
ICEL Meeting Recap: The Human Factor of Credit and Business Success Often times, people separate the Human Factor from the bottom line and overall strategic thinking. As individuals, we need each other to realize our potential individually and in business. When we understand our own personality and different personality types and styles, we can learn to maximize the differences to achieve success. Mr. Matsumori informed us that the number one reason people leave their jobs is other people! It's not the job, working conditions, or pay issues, it's relationship issues. more... |
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