"Hello, may I speak to Mary Sarnoff, please?" said John Webber, credit staffer for Smith's Department Store.

"This is Mary," Mrs. Sarnoff replied.

"Hi, this is John Webber, from Smith's Department Store. I've taken over your account from Sandra Richardson. She left me a note that you had called. I guess you must be having some sort of payment problem, huh?"

"Well, no, " said Mrs. Sarnoff.

"Oh, I see," said Webber. "You must be shopping around for the best deal right now, is that it?"

"No," said Mrs. Sarnoff, "it's not that. I only ..."

"Well, then," answered Webber, "why don't we get right down to business. Let see, I have your name. Is that with one "f" or two?"

"Uh, one. But that's not why ..."

"Okay," said Webber. "Now we're getting somewhere. Let me just call up your account on my computer and ... oh ..."

"What?" said Sarnoff. "Is there a problem?"

"You've got a big payment due, Mrs. Sarnoff," said Webber. "This is something we should talk about. This is something we can't have happening."

"Look!" replied Sarnoff. "I sent in that payment two weeks ago!"

"Two weeks ago?" said Webber. "Uh, that was just around the time I took over your account from Sandra."

"That's right," said Sarnoff. "That's why I called. I had been having some financial difficulty, and Sandra worked out a payment plan for me. This was my final payment and I wanted to thank her and wish her good luck in her new job."

"That's what this note is about?" Webber said. "You don't want to open an account?"

"No!" Sarnoff said. "But I am thinking of closing one!"

What could Webber have done differently?

Click "Next" for the answer.

Answer and Analysis

Taking over someone's job means more than putting your family pictures on the desk. It means doing your homework on each and every credit account you'll be responsible for. If Webber had spent some time with Richardson, he would have learned about the status of the accounts he was taking on. He would have learned about Mrs. Sarnoff, how long she had been a customer, what she was like and the status of her payments. All these details are important. If you're taking on a new position in the credit department, make it a point to sit down with your predecessor and ask him or her to bring you up to speed on your customers. If you're the one who is moving up in the department, do likewise for the person coming in to fill your shoes.