Operations - What you do and how you do it
Think of 'Credit Control' as the 'tail end Charlie' of your business, it is the last process in the business and as such to be effective the Credit Controller needs to understand how each part of the business operates. From finding customers, taking orders, supplying goods and services to managing queries. This means when an invoice goes to your customer they understand the reasons the customer may have for not paying. That understanding leads to quicker query resolution and if not able to answer there and then then they at least know who to ask!
When was the last time you reviewed your processes and procedures?
Have you looked at how long it takes your business to resolve customer queries?
Have you looked to see if there area any redundant or duplicated processes that are wasting time and effort?
Do you actively review how your business operates or do you work on the theory that 'if it's not broken, we're not going to fix it'. Or maybe you work on theory B which is: 'it's always worked for us before, and we're getting by'. Either of these can be a slippery slope to: 'Because we've always done it that way'. Please read an informative BLOG by GRD Credit Control Services which shows where that slippery slope can lead. And we would bet that at least some of those old ways have changed!
Here are two examples to show how an operations review . Each started through a problem highlighted in Credit Control:
1. A client used to take on average about 3 months to resolve queries.
This was clearly too long, and caused a huge amount of bad feeling and cost
them immeasurably in customer satisfaction. After reviewing the existing
query process, all the administrative redundancies and duplications were
removed (such as needing three authorisations for every credit). The management
team in all other departments were the re-educated in the need for swift
query responses. The average query resolution time was reduced to less than
a week; faster answers increase customer satisfaction levels!
2.The same client sells goods to customers. A problem was identified that
for some reason some goods were not being signed for so there was no proof
of despatch or delivery. This made it impossible to refute any non-delivery
claim. At first there did not appear to be any identifiable pattern to it
a new checking process was implemented to locate the source of the problem.
Once found, staff were trained the there were no more 'lost goods' claims.
We are not saying here that Credit Controllers are all 'business coaches' but good, effective credit control can have some knock on benefits in other areas of your business. So we would ask that you think about the ancillary benefits you can gain from good credit control.
And that's not to mention the more immediate efficiencies you can gain in the function itself!
For more information about how we can help you call Geoff on: 01978 800390 or email info@urecall.co.uk
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