You always have to be wary of the customer that sets up a seemingly legitimate business simply to "bust out"--taking goods and disappearing without paying. Here are some specific steps you can take to protect your company from a bustout.

• Know your salespeople and their performance. In credit, you typically know which sales reps are go-getters and which are not. Either way, that understanding can be helpful in assessing what kind of orders are coming through them. When you receive orders from new customers, identify the salespeople involved. Orders from salespeople whose track records are poor in terms of overall sales performance should be scrutinized carefully. On the other hand, the go-getters are sometimes known to submit anything they possibly can, so that's something to keep in mind as well.

• Get to know the salespeople personally. Your sales reps can be your "eyes and ears" in the market place and help you if you develop a good working relationship with them and explain what your concerns are about potentially fraudulent accounts. Even though they're paid to sell, most genuinely have your company's overall interest at heart. They will be straightforward if you ask the proper questions. And most will know that an account is bogus, again, if you ask.

• Seek more information. If, upon conducting a credit investigation on a new customer, you are not completely satisfied, have the courage to seek further information or ask for some form of security. You may even need to turn the order down. Be willing to "take the heat" for doing so.

• Know your customer base. Certain products are generally sold to certain types of customers. If a customer is ordering a product that seems unusual for its business, get more information on the customer. In addition, conduct some investigation on the customer's customers.

• Know the geographical preferences for your products. For example: If you typically ship "downtown," but you receive an order from "uptown," investigate further. Visit the site yourself, or ask the salesperson to do so.

• Talk to accountants. If you find some inconsistencies in a credit agency report on the customer, try to contact the accountant whose name is provided with the report. In addition, contact the American Institute of CPAs to get the accountant's CPA license and phone number. Sometimes you'll find a bogus or non-existent account. Other times you'll find a real accountant who'll shed more information.

• Independently verify that the references a new customer provides are genuine. One way to do this is to get reports from a credit reporting agency on the references themselves. Another is to visit the references in person. And now with easy search engine access, that's a great way to verify the references.

• Don't waste time. If a bustout customer somehow slips through all of these steps and you become suspicious after the order has been shipped, call immediately. Don't wait until the end of collection terms to place a call. At least you can get a jump on the problem and prevent future orders from being shipped.