Credit guru Thea Dudley has spent more than 30 years in LBM credit management. Now she’s here to answer your credit and collection questions. Got a question for her mailbag? Contact Thea at theadudley@charter.net
Dear Thea,
I am a sales rep and part of my job is to fight for what I think is right for my customer. I have approached my credit manager on customer issues and after a few minutes of discussion, I get a one word response of “fine” or “whatever” as she is walking away. What am I supposed to do with that? How can I resolve things for my customers if she won’t talk to me?
Signed, Baffled in Buffalo
Dear Baffled,
Are you married? I ask this because anyone with a spouse, regardless if you are male or female, at some point has to walk away from a “discussion.” You have to walk away because choking someone is frowned upon in polite society and if you do it at work, HR makes you fill out paperwork, watch a video, or take classes (not that I would know–this is what I have heard).
Here is a simple guide to a credit manager’s one word answers:
- Fine: This is a word credit managers use to end an argument when we know we are right and you need to shut up.
- Nothing: Means something and you need to be worried.
- Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don’t do it.
- Whatever: This is a credit manager’s way of saying “go pound sand.”
- That’s OK: Your credit manager is thinking long and hard about how you are going to pay for your mistake.
BONUS WORD:
Wow: This is not a compliment. We are amazed that one person could be so stupid.
Not knowing the circumstances around your attempted “discussions,” I am going out on a limb to say you have not built up any goodwill with your credit manager. I also suspect you may have a poor track record for dragging LBSs up to your credit manager’s doorstep and leaving her to clean up.
In case you are wondering, LBS stands for leaky bag of stuff. You drop your customer issues and go. That makes you a less than desirable cause for us credit people to want to stick out our necks for.
I suggest a different approach: Get a relationship going with your CM. I didn’t say you had to hold hands and sing silly songs together. But you do have to a mutual trust and respect.
Go sit down and have a conversation with your CM and hash out your past indiscretions. It doesn’t have to be a long drawn-out cataloging of every misstep. Just a simple, “Hey we have had some challenges, I want to take ownership and move on.” This usually works. It is not worth anyone’s peace of mind to hold on to issues forever. At the heart of it, this is business and you are a for-profit company that needs both sales and credit to make it work.
Sales and credit can be an uneasy partnership at times. Like with any marriage, at some point one of you has to be the bigger person and get the conversation started. Divorce in this case usually means one of you is out of a job because that much drama is not good for profitability. So go make nice.
