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Our Subscribers Say...
"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
"As a corporate credit manager with over two decades of experience, I consider Credit Today to be one of the best credit newsletters. Whether it is because of Credit Today's management, its distinguished panel of advisors, or the caliber of Credit Today's subscribers, it would be fair to say that some of the best and brightest minds in our profession are represented. The credit issues, technologies, news, credit department profiles, etc. are interesting and useful. Credit Today is a valuable reference and communications tool which I look forward to reading each month."
Paul Brunner
Corporate Credit Manager
Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Inc. |
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The Best Credit Departments in the World!
Yes, that's what you'll read about here, in Credit Today's exclusive Credit Department Profiles section. You'll learn what's working at credit departments ranging anywhere from Fortune 50 operations to those with just one (overworked) person.
Just a few of the world's leading credit departments featured include Campbell Soup Company, Georgia Pacific, Serta Matress, BJ Services Company, USA, Hachette Filipacci Magazines, VF Jeanswear, USXpress, and Canon USA.
As you can see, we cover all industries, from manufacturing to media to service and everything in between. There's something valuable to learn from all of them! And don't worry - "world class" doesn't always mean big and deep pockets. You see, we also aim to find and highlight what every day credit operations are doing to get by - and excel, on less than adequate resources and unappreciative management. No one - even the best - has unlimited resources these days, so "world class" can often mean a small, underfunded operation that has found a way to do things very well despite their limited resources.
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Managing Credit With Minimal Financial Information
Urgent as it has become to accurately assess customers' financial strength, Credit Manager Jim Cunningham, a 32-year veteran of trade credit, finds that getting the information for making astute decisions has never been more difficult. It's "almost unheard of" that you can get a large bank to give you customer information today, he notes. Smaller banks may still be taking calls and talking, but that, he adds, is more of an old boy network. Bigger banks distribute information amongst themselves but don't distribute it to unsecured creditors, he tells us. And hedge funds and private equity lenders are even worse. It sounds good, he says, when a customer calls and says that they've got some kind of hedge fund backing them. When he hears that, he asks for personal guarantees, but "that's when we see them running," he relates. S elling from some 80 locations, O'Neal is the country's largest family-owned steel service center. Cunningham's region stretches from Atlanta on the East Coast to four districts in Colorado and includes the O'Neal facility in Monterrey, Mexico. . . .
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Credit Department Profile: CR Bard
Keeping Your Product on the Customer's Shelf
There aren't many new hospitals opening up so new credit applications at CR Bard, a manufacturer of single use medical products, are few and far between. What's more, if someone is opening a hospital, it's assumed that they have the financing necessary. Either they have cash in the bank or they have access to cash through their lending relationships. - An inside look at the strategies used by this medical manufacturer to maximize profits
- how the need for "shelf space" is balanced against credit quality issues
- staffing required to get the job done at this $2.4 billion firm
- why hospitals may not be as recession proof as they once were
. . .
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"Can You Do Something to Help Us Get Through This?"
Some customers were just late.Some were in bankruptcy. The net effect was severely reduced cash flow, and the CFO approached Leggett & Platt, a major trade creditor, with an appeal. "We've been in partnership for 25 years," he said. "Can you do something to help us get through this?" He'd come to the right folks. Leggett & Platt has a long and proud history, dating back to 1883 when J. C. Leggett invented and patented the spiral steel coil bedspring and went into business manufacturing them with C. J. Platt, his future brother-in-law. In the 126 years since then, the company has grown in into a $4-billion corporation, with product lines ranging from beds and bedding through home furnishings and carpeting to components for the automotive industry and beyond. . . .
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The Credit Force Multiplier
Nancy Alfveby manages the credit and collections functions for Malt-O-Meal's nationwide sales with a department staff of only three, including herself. But she's a genuine force multiplier. She draws on the experience of others throughout the company and knowledgeable industry resources. Outside the company there is a continuous supply of vital, factual information from industry trade groups and credit reporting agencies. "It's important to extend yourself as a resource to others, both within your company and within your industry," . . .
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Building Superior Customer Relationships With Account Service Reps
Until five years ago, customer phone calls regarding credit and collection problems and issues at Fine Art Lamps would be forwarded to the Customer Service Department. A Customer Service Representative would refer the call "blindly" to a credit department representative, who might or might not be familiar with the open order status of the account. Conversely, a call checking the status of an order would be routed to the Credit Department. It wasn't unusual for these calls then to be bounced around from department to department as the increasingly frustrated customer sought to get the problem resolved. . . .
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Horizontal Organization--Making a Virtue of Necessity
The key to effective credit department organization is usually astute delegation. You've selected, trained and are continuously motivating the staffers best qualified to handle duties ranging from initial risk analysis to final collection efforts. Some may handle multiple responsibilities. But all come to you for decisions that exceed their expertise and authority. How do you organize a credit department when virtually no duties can be delegated to subordinates? . . .
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Staffed to Build and Nurture Customer Relationships
Make very good credit decisions at the beginning of relationships with customers, and then stay very close to them. That's the gist of the credit philosophy at D&H Distributing, and the credit department is perfectly structured to carry it out. The 40-member staff includes risk analysis specialists, researchers, and cash application personnel, but nearly half of the department--some 18 people--are dedicated to maintaining close, and often personal, relationships with individual customers. . . .
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The Warning List
On January 6, a credit warning list went out to all sales managers, regional managers and collectors at Tyco Valve and Controls North America. Listed were all customers past due or expected to go past due. The reaction? Consternation. "Oh, my God! These are big companies!" exclaimed one sales person. Credit Manager Carolyn Pavlovsky, the author of the list, was well aware of that. "Here in Texas we have a battle cry: 'Remember the Alamo!' I've changed in to 'Remember Enron!' Everything looked great. They were big, and everyone thought they had lots of money. And the next day, disaster. . . .
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Staying Ahead of Growing Risk
What used to be considered red flags are normal, everyday life now," says Corporate Credit Manager Pat Rydzik, CCE, of Quad/Graphics. "We're trying to understand where our bigger risk is versus our no . . .
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Credit Department Profile: Handling High-Risk Credit With a Trained, Experienced Staff
We're in business to sell, so here in Credit we're programmed to err on the side of sales." To really appreciate the significance of that statement you have to realize that the speaker is director of credit for a major construction supply company in the hard-hit housing markets of California, Nevada and Arizona. She's Michelle DeBay of ORCO Construction Supply, and her 14-member credit staff wrestles daily with outsized risk levels. She allows that mechanics' lien laws are a big help. But applying the provisions of these laws is no cinch. . . .
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A Credit Staff Selection and Training Success Model
Six years ago, Verisign, Inc., was operating without a formal credit department. There was credit and collection work to be done and staffers assigned to do it, but their effectiveness-or lack of it-was reflected in average delinquencies of over 90 days. Today, delinquencies are down in single digits, and all other indicators of credit management effectiveness are similarly impressive. (The wide variety of terms and due dates for the company's world-wide operations renders DSO to be less meaningful.) What happened? Veteran credit manager Michael Puccinelli arrived. . . .
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Taking Charge of the Order-to-Cash Process
Five years ago disputes and various misinterpretations of the agreed terms held up almost 70 percent of this company's orders. Today, the hold up has been reduced to merely five percent and the DSO has improved significantly. What happened? Credit Manager Pamela Kumal took on the additional responsibility of managing the customer service department. Kumal began her professional credit management career in 1989 when she was hired by Canadian Thermos Products Inc. as an accounts receivable clerk. Since then she has steadily advanced through various steps including credit analyst, senior credit analyst, and assistant credit manager. . . .
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Three Guidelines Developed For Managing Deteriorating Customers
The construction industry's collapse, accelerated by an unprecedented surge in energy costs, is challenging trade creditors as never before. Every link in the credit management chain, from order approval to final collections, is straining to the breaking point. Any lapse or mistake can lead straight to a writeoff, and this credit manager is making sure those lapses and mistakes don't happen. "It's frightening that some of your best customers in the past are now your moderate customers, and the guys who were struggling are either gone or in collections." Speaking is Robin Pacheco, who, as vice president of credit for North Atlantic Corp (NAC) & Subsidiaries (Somerset. MA), is responsible for managing credit and collections for both commercial and residential contractors. . . .
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This month's topic: Processing of Credit Applications
Click here to participate!
We're examining:
- What information is being captured on credit applications
- What additional information is being requested during the credit app process (such as personal guarantees, financial statements, resale certificates, etc.)
- What the primary challenges are relative to the processing of credit apps
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March 2010
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