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Our Subscribers Say...
I think Credit Today is fantastic. You cover many practical topics in the credit field that I use regularly. Just one recent example—a conversation on the ListServ about preferential payments—gave me tips that I used in an actual case. The specific information I picked up from this one discussion saved me $10,000, enough to cover my membership for many years!
- Steve Savino
Manager of Credit & Collections, ASSA Abloy Americas Division, New Haven, CT
Credit Today's Resource Directory and their online e-mail forum (ListServ) provide information on almost any credit-related topic you can think of. It is a great way to exchange information with other credit professionals. As the saying goes, "You don't know what you don't know."
- Scott Goen,
Credit Manager, Big Lots Stores, Inc., Wholesale Division
"We've recently started using the ListServ tool within Credit Today. This is phenomenal and powerful forum for gaining immediate feedback, ideas, and suggestions, relative to any credit topic under the sun, all in a real-time e-mail format."
-Javier Vela, Senior Credit Manager, Global Credit Services, JDA Software Group Inc.
"Being a part of the Credit Today online community is like having the expertise of hundreds of credit managers at your fingertips. These credit execs are willing to help you solve topical business issues as they arise. In the current environment of ever increasing competing priorities which reduce our opportunities to meet peers out of the office face-to-face, this is the most valuable tool you can have on your desktop! It's important that we have a mechanism to reach out to our counterparts quickly to exchange knowledge as well as to stay on top of industry trends."
- Victoria Artis, Director of Customer Financial Services, Pfizer, Inc.
"Over the last 10 years I've seen Credit Today evolve from a monthly credit publication into a quality source of information and guidance for the B2B credit community. The website, with its user friendly form downloads, will take you from examples of new account credit applications to bankruptcy forms and everything in between.
The Credit Today ListServ has become the pre-imminent online forum, providing an opportunity for discussion and comments (and occasional humor) from an impressive list of credit professionals."
David Dungan, Director of Credit
Justin Brands, Inc. (A Berkshire Hathaway company)
Fort Worth, Texas
"There are numerous credit periodicals available to the credit professional today. How good is Credit Today? Is it relevant? I always have to read it late, or online because my credit analysts want to read it the minute it comes in. When my staff wants to read a publication before I have a chance to read it then something is working in that publication. We have cancelled our other subscriptions. When you have the best you do not need the rest."
Ron Woods
Corporate Credit Manager-World Wide
Thales Navigation, Inc.
"The newsletter, coupled with the website and the ListServ, are to us, more valuable than any other credit publication, bar none. I try to use at least one article out of each newsletter for departmental training/discussion sessions."
D. Mark Constantine
Corporate Credit Mgr
Fulton Paper Company
"I love Credit Today and read every issue cover to cover. For me, the greatest perk of a subscription is ListServ. I believe Credit Today's ListServ members may be the most knowledgeable Credit brain trust in existence today. I have saved and categorized hundreds of contributions on a wide variety of topics which I refer to often. It's an easy and cost effective way to network and learn."
Doug M. Thomas
Kimberly-Clark Customer Financial Services |
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A Plan for Job Success
The first step in making sure you are meeting the training needs of your collection employees is to conduct a job analysis. A survey of present and previous employees should be included in such analysis to determine what skills and attributes are necessary for success on the job. "Remember, the way we deal with customers is different from procedures in other departments," observes the credit manager of a Southeastern utility company. "When customers contact us, their electric bills are past due. They may have received final notices that their service will be disconnected. Naturally, that's very upsetting, and we want our employees to have the skills necessary to handle these situations properly."
With the assistance of the company's clinical psychologist, the utility has identified six critical dimensions for credit department employees:
- Listening. The ability to get information regarding facts and feelings from customers in oral communications. Active listening involves skills necessary to restate, summarize, reinforce, and ask clarifying questions.
- Oral communications. A knack for effective expression--both verbal and nonverbal--in individual and group situations.
- Sensitivity. Courtesy, empathy, awareness, and the ability to accurately perceive the feelings of others.
- Judgment. The capacity, based on available information, to objectively develop alternative solutions to problems.
- Tolerance for stress. The strength of character necessary to perform under pressure and opposition, and to be effective while handling customer challenges and hostility.
- Impact. The interpersonal skills to create and sustain a good impression, command attention and respect, and give an air of confidence.
The company created a training strategy to develop these essential skills. In addition to required technical training, employees attend a two-day session on listening and a one-day stress management seminar. One year after their initial training, employees take a one-day listening refresher course.
"Customers start sounding alike after a while," says the credit manager. "We impress on our credit counselors that each call is to be handled as though it was the first call of the day. But it's hard to keep fresh after you've listened to 50 or 60 people, each with a sad story to tell. We believe training helps our employees maintain their sensitivity during every customer contact. It also helps them handle stress."
Choosing the Right Employee
Credit works very closely with Human Resources to screen prospective credit counselors. "You must consider your training strategy when selecting employees if you want to increase your department's success," she says. "Our job interviews are not casual conversations. We have very specific questions that are designed to give us the information we're looking for." This includes asking applicants how they would handle situations that routinely occur in the credit department.
Human Resources Portal For Credit Managers
The biggest problems in credit are not financial issues; they're PEOPLE issues. So we've compiled a portal with all kinds of resources designed to assist credit pros manage this most difficult part of the job. Learn what's working and what's not from those in the trenches, as well as hard data from our benchmarking surveys, including our industry-leading Salary & Job Satisfaction Survey. Check out Credit Today's
HR Issues Today Portal
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"A person need not be strong in all six areas, but should at least rate adequate in each," says Bradley. "Such traits as sensitivity and tolerance for stress are not easily learned."
It is also important to determine if someone is too strong in a particular area. "An individual's judgment might be clouded when evaluating financial risk if he or she is too sensitive to the customer's problems," she notes. "An effective credit counselor maintains a critical balance between the needs of the customer and the interests of the company."
Commitment Is Crucial
To guarantee success, the commitment to training must be shared by all levels of management. "Top management must be willing to support these efforts through budget allocation, development, and implementation," she says. "To reinforce this commitment, supervisors should note the skills developed through the program in each employee's performance review. Supervisors must also provide continued reinforcement and feedback. Before training begins, employees should understand their supervisors' expectations and objectives. Employees must be aware that management supports the program and that their future performance will be measured on the basis of skills included in the program."
Training with a strong emphasis on interpersonal skills ultimately reduces bad-debt write-offs. "We're enhancing the service we provide to our customers by letting them know what we expect of them," she says. "We can't change customers' circumstances, but we can collect amounts owed, with empathy, and allow customers to maintain their self-respect."
Editor's Note: The above article originally appeared in the Credit & Collection Manager's Letter, a newsletter purchased by Credit Today in 2006. This article originally appeared prior to 2000.
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Credit Groups 2012
Wonder What the ROI is on Credit Groups?
Find out here...
It's been 4 years since our original ground-breaking survey on credit groups and we're revisiting this most important topic. Among other topics, we're investigating:
- What are the top services being offered by credit groups
- How much credit groups cost
- What the value of credit group services is
- What the value of credit group services is in comparison to credit reporting services
- How data is submitted
- What percentage of credit groups reveal terms
- What percentage of credit groups share data outside the credit group
And much more...
Click here to participate!
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May 2012
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