Finding Mr Right- The Perfect Credit Manager
By Krista T. Walsh, CFCP- President, KC Collect!
The success of a company relies heavily on its credit policies and procedures, so carefully selecting the correct candidate to manage your credit department is of the utmost importance.
A strong personality is mandatory in order to work in receivables management. While it is not usually the intention of most people to not pay, your credit manager must be able to handle difficult situations and resolve conflict effectively while still maintaining a good relationship with your customer. People who cannot deal with constant confrontation and upset customers should not be considered for this position. Your credit manager must be organized, and able to keep detailed notes, including pay-dates, reminders, and agreements made between your company and client. This will aid you in future interactions, especially if the account has to be taken to court.
Credit Managers must possess excellent customer service skills, as they will be dealing with your customers on a one-to-one basis in order to extend them credit. A majority of your employee’s duties will include handling different personalities, excuses and customer confrontation. Patience, and empathy is going to be key, as ideally you would like to keep the relationship with a customer with offering different payment options. In the unfortunate event that the relationship is not salvageable, your credit manager may have to take a more aggressive approach to recover the funds.
Most often a small part of a credit manager’s position will also include investigating a customer who has re-located. Whether the customer is trying to hide from you, or has just mistakenly forgotten to give you a forwarding address, your employee must be keen in establishing their whereabouts. They must be able to form personal connections with sources in order to develop a trusting relationship. Acquiring information about is not always easy, but it can also assist in locating a person and thus a resulting payment for your company.
Your potential employee must be a strong negotiator. They must be able to remain unbiased and develop a suitable settlement for both parties. This is essential when you want to maintain strong customer relations and continue future business.
A combination of all these characteristics is important when selecting a candidate who is going to successfully manage and maintain your accounts receivable. Your company’s future could be in their hands.
Krista Walsh was a failure. At twenty years old she had been fired three times in six months from her career as a dental assistant. As she had to re-evaluate her career path (and face unemployment), Krista moved back home with her parents to work in her family’s home heating business.
Driven by the fear of failure, she studied and researched account receivable strategies and policies. In 2007 Walsh became the first Canadian graduate of the International Center for Collection Professionals which aided her when she opened the doors of her own credit and resource company "KC Collect!", the first and only woman owned collection agency in Atlantic Canada.
Today Krista is a multifaceted entrepreneur, author and speaker with businesses spanning from debt collection to fitness. She has been named an Emerging Leader for Atlantic Canada (twice), Chamber of Commerce’s Entrepreneur of the Year, Canada Association of Professional Speaker’s Rising Star and has developed into one of Canada’s leading young entrepreneurs.