Credit in Distribution

 

In order to be successful, Distribution Credit Management must offer a competitive, selling, commercial and financial advantage. It’s not just about giving credit, collecting money and managing risk as quite frankly one can easily outsource or automate any or all of these three functions and achieve passable results.

To optimise this financial discipline and deliver constant above par performance requires a number of additional skills and uniform application.

My mission statement always made a point of omitting common words such as Cash, Collection, Dispute Resolution or Bad Debt. It did so because Distribution Credit Management has to provide a company and its clients with a credit management service designed to create, expand, secure and support business opportunity and profit.

In my early years in IT Distribution, I recognised that getting to know Resellers was absolutely crucial in being able to deliver against the mission statement I created and this in so many ways, demonstrated to Sales that intent was there to support their sales efforts. In my first three years with Ideal Hardware Ltd, I consciously set about meeting the top 250 accounts over a period of some three years and thereafter, made repeat visits across the UK and EMEA regions as and when circumstances demanded. Visits were not limited to just those top 250. 

Distributors need ‘touch points’ with Resellers far more than they do with Manufacturers but sadly for the channel, few people meet face to face beyond perhaps designated account or product managers. The more touch points one has, the greater the solidity and strength of the relationship. 

Managing the deal and the risk, being able to grant the credit and being fully conversant with Reseller history and plans give review of financial and other risk information enormous clarity.

Continuous regular touch with a client is just so important to the overall trading relationship and I’m quite frankly staggered that many in Credit are often viewed as customer service orientated only by phone; in other words, they have no business meeting client owners or client directors and belong in a lower pecking order, talking or meeting only with accounts payable or financial controllers.

Get out there and meet clients; it will not only enrich the relationship but will significantly broaden your knowledge, skill and expertise and will hugely increase confidence and raise you and your team’s profile.