When Lhoist North America hired Chris Soignier as Credit Manager in 2012, senior management recognized that they wanted to better control risk and reduce DSO. They had just made DSO one of the variables that impacted bonuses for sales people, but there was still much to do in order to achieve their objectives. Chris identified … Read more
The easiest time to get a personal guaranty is when a business is first asking for credit. It is very easy to include this provision on a credit application as described in our free eBook, The Credit Application Handbook. Many business owners will sign a personal guaranty just because it is on the form. Alternatively, … Read more
Arguments occur all too often, whether with a debtor who is disputing a debt, or a co-worker, manager, employee, or spouse. Anyone who is in an argument really wants to win. Frequently in an argument the parties get very emotional and winning is more important than the issue itself. More often than not, neither side actually … Read more
Here’s the premise: Good questions directly lead to greater success in life and career; Most people ask bad questions (myself included). We are constantly solving problems on the job, including making the sale. We need to collect information to solve these problems. How we ask questions greatly influences the answers and our eventual success. Better … Read more
The Kaplan Group, Inc. is pleased to announce that the Kaplan Group Annual Scholarship of $1,000 has been awarded to Stephen Lyons, a first year graduate student at the University of Georgia and a candidate for a Master of Accountancy. A main goal of the scholarship was to expose students to career opportunities in credit … Read more
Write Offs Can Be Part Of A Profit Maximization Strategy No one wants bad debt. Everyone hates it when you do not get paid. But, is it possible that never having had a bad debt is a sign of a problem? Absolutely! Over the last few weeks, I’ve heard these comments from a few CFOs: … Read more
My son graduates from UCSB in 20 days under a black cloud. He knew 2 of the six students killed by gunfire on Friday, and at least one of the hospitalized. What should be a joyous time for our son and family is now filled with enormous sadness as we think about those who lost … Read more
Michael Lewis’s latest bestseller ‘Flash Boys, A Wall Street Revolt’ is a non-fiction tale of Wall Street intrigue, unfairness, and salvation. The story itself has nothing to do with credit and collections, and yet it highlights the traits that make some people great at managing credit risk or successful debt collection when things go wrong. … Read more
Article by: Bertrand Mazuir Any commercial relationship based on mutual commitments shared between the seller and the buyer. The buyer undertakes to pay the price of the service or equipment delivered on the date specified in the contract and invoices. However, he frequently has a high propensity to forget, at least temporarily, this commitment. Several … Read more
You have been calling your customer about a past due invoice for the last month. After a couple excuses and a couple broken promises, now no one answers the phone or returns messages when you call repeatedly. What does this mean? Have they closed? Has office staff been reduced to the point there is no … Read more
Last week I read an article on LinkedIn on how to be more productive. I’m always looking to learn and try new things. The one productivity tip that resonated the most for me was this: Before you go home today, write down the top 6 things you want to accomplish tomorrow; Cross out the bottom 5; … Read more
“You’ll Get Paid When We Get Paid” This is one of the most common ‘explanations’ we get while providing commercial collection services. How the debt collector responds to this assertion can have a big impact on understanding what is really going on and figuring out how to get paid even if they don’t get … Read more
How One Credit Manager’s Creativity Made The Big Sale Possible Most credit managers have been in this situation: the company wants to make the big sale, the buyer is ready, but their credit situation doesn’t make a standard transaction possible. Bud Rule, who has 40 years of credit experience, recently shared this story of a … Read more
A Credit Manager’s Creative Way of Saving Customers Want to see a salesperson squirm with displeasure: just tell them the account for a long-term customer is being sent to a collection agency. The salesperson has visions of rogue debt collectors badgering their customer with threats of bad credit references, legal suits, judgments and garnishments, caring … Read more
We don’t know anyone who actually wants to make it harder to collect invoices, but we frequently encounter situations where businesses do just that. This week’s blog highlights six common problems from our eBook, How to Make Receivables Harder to Collect. The eBook has 47 tips on how to reduce delinquencies and write-offs and avoid the need for collection agency services. #12 … Read more
One of the simplest ways to detect potential fraud is to confirm certain information provided on a credit application using easy, free resources on the Internet. As a commercial collection agency, we regularly get claims where this has not been done and we discover that the information provided was either misleading or outright fraud. In … Read more
We hear it all the time: “We are not going to pay those invoices because the person who signed the contract didn’t have authority.” Many go on to say: “It says right in our By-laws that only an officer can bind the company.” This tells us several things: The debtor does not want to pay; … Read more
Getting permission to run personal credit reports on B2B Credit Applications can lead to payments during difficult times At our commercial collection agency, we often encounter business owners who claim their company’s financial condition is terrible and they can’t pay anything or can make only small payments. It is difficult to verify this information on … Read more
Elite athletes mentally visualize technique and success to improve actual performance. Our debt collectors use a very simple technique to get better results. Studies have shown that visualization improves awareness, mood, confidence and outcome. We’ve been using these techniques with dramatic success at The Kaplan Group for years. In house collectors typically have 2 objectives, … Read more
At our collection agency, we have a client who uses a provision in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (“CFR”) to collect significantly more than the original balance due on accounts sent to collections. As an example, we collected over $22,000 on freight bills that were only $11,000 if they had been paid on time. … Read more
