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Tuesday, April 13, 2010

An Accounts Receivable Imperative - Know Your Customers

Obviously, you cannot work with customers effectively if you do not know who they are, what they do, and why they should deal with you. And you need to know more about the customer you regularly contact each month than the ones you talk to only every six months. These assumptions should be self-evident. Let's talk about them on a case-by-case basis.

It is important that you be able to converse with your customers in a language they understand. Naturally I'm not speaking of English as opposed to Spanish or German, but of the jargon of their particular industry. You don't have to be an engineer to speak to an engineer, but if you plan to ask for payment for the paint he used on his last bridge you should at least know what a bridge is. It is important to know your customer's business if it's a commercial account. Know something about what the company does.

For example, it may be a manufacturer of bicycles. You should know that for a number of reasons. If you can discuss bicycles, you'll automatically establish a smoother working relationship. If you can also discuss trends and inventions in the bicycle industry, you can establish a rapport that can pay big dividends if and when money gets tight and the customer has to decide who and what to pay first. It's harder to say no to a friend.

You should also know something about your own company's value to the customer. Why do they deal with you? Is your service especially good? Is your own product one that they absolutely need in their business, and one that they cannot get anywhere else? This case is rare, but it does happen.

How does your price compare? If you upset or mishandle someone, can they go somewhere else? Those may sound like hard questions, but they're really not--even if the customer has no other source for your product, you are still a professional and should not act with any less respect. But you do need to know such things because, in some cases, you may have to work closely with debtors to help them stay in business so that they can repay you.

In effect, you might be their lifeline. For example, if a debtor is a photographer, and you are the only laboratory in town able to develop pictures from a certain type of camera to certain specifications, you might literally "have the person by the throat." That fact does not excuse your mistreating or hounding anyone for payment; on the contrary, it should mean that you would try especially hard to help the customer manage his or her payments to stay afloat.

In dealing with companies large and small, all these guidelines apply. The customer may have dozens of other sources and may need you like the proverbial hole-in-the-head; in that case, knowing the reality, you would do well to maintain an extremely friendly relationship--it might be your one hope. When all other factors are equal in business, friendship carries the day.

You should know how your product is used by your customer. Sometimes you will encounter a customer who is withholding payment because your own company refuses or fails to deliver your product as the customer requires it. Knowing about a customer's business and understanding that particular customer's position in the marketplace as you do, you can help resolve such a situation.

You might be able to ask your friends in the shipping department to change the shipping schedule for the customer, and they'll do it for you because you've made friends with them, too.

As an exercise to help you understand all your customers, and the interdependence between them and your company, list three reasons why each customer needs your product or service. Try it--the results may surprise you and the benefits may accrue for months to come. You may want to list the information on a customer account card, or in a small database on your computer.

George Bancroft spent over 40 years in the corporate world. Working his way up to senior levels of management and then working from the outside for 13 years as a management consultant. He spent 10 years in the Accounts Receivable sector.

He now spends his time writing about his experiences.

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