by Nancy Seiverd | Nov 14, 2017 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, Although I’m not formally a credit professional, I was asked a few months ago to take over the credit position at our company. As I plod along, I’m evaluating some of the documentation we use in the credit granting process, which includes our new customer...
by Nancy Seiverd | Nov 14, 2017 | Feature Article
As a credit and collection professional for a few decades, I’ve seen my share of ploys by debtors who have attempted to show they have paid. At a minimum, this illusion is an effort to buy a little more time to eventually make a legitimate payment. At a maximum,...
by Nancy Seiverd | Nov 14, 2017 | Feature Article
Another Thanksgiving is upon us and it’s time for millions of Americans across the US to share a beautiful meal, have lots of laughs, and enjoy one of the most important holidays in our country. Sadly, there are still millions who have no where to go for this special...
by Nancy Seiverd | Oct 17, 2017 | Feature Article
Some of us, in spite of spending a lot of time planning our days and weeks, know that with one phone call at 8:00am, our entire schedule can be thrown off and all the things meticulously planned can be put on the back burner. But before we let the backlog of our to-do...
by Nancy Seiverd | Oct 17, 2017 | Feature Article
In our world of ongoing technological improvements, it seems that companies are continuously striving to rationalize many aspects of their operations. Whether it’s the assembly line process, in which manufacturing robotics often replace factory workers, many...
by Nancy Seiverd | Sep 20, 2017 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’ve been trying for the past several weeks to get my customer’s AP supervisor (at a very large company) to come to the phone regarding some past dues. Every time I call I can only leave messages with his secretary and they keep telling me the same...
by Nancy Seiverd | Sep 20, 2017 | Feature Article
One of the things I greatly appreciate about working with a wide range of clients is that we can learn from each other. Some days I’m the teacher and other days, I’m the student. As every client’s business and credit risk management system has a vast array of...
by Nancy Seiverd | Aug 20, 2017 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’ve been enjoying your column and now find myself writing to you for help. Our staff collector was trained to be very polite, understanding, and to be reasonably, “accommodating” to our customers, as many of them have been with us for decades. I would...
by Nancy Seiverd | Aug 20, 2017 | Feature Article
One of the most important aspects in executing the functions of a credit manager is to keep one’s eyes open, especially for the possibility of a fraudulent situation. Although there are countless examples of how fraud can rear its ugly head from internal and external...
by Nancy Seiverd | Aug 20, 2017 | Employee Spotlight
As we are delighted to spotlight Cheryl Carliss for our August newsletter, please read through her short interview which conveys her passion for CMI and the collection business. Q-1: What was the initial opportunity that brought you into the collection profession? How...
by Nancy Seiverd | Jul 20, 2017 | Hector the Collector
Hi Everyone, It’s Hector the Collector here and as always, it’s a pleasure to work with you. Just a quick thought that I’d like to run past you. You know how sometimes a debtor may contact you after you’ve given me the claim and I’ve contacted them?...
by Nancy Seiverd | Jul 20, 2017 | Feature Article
From time to time we at CMI receive an inquiry from a potential client with a heads up that their conversation with the customer got a little intense. In a recent inquiry, we were informed that after making several prior requests for payment, suddenly during the last...
by Nancy Seiverd | Jun 14, 2017 | Feature Article
What’s the meaning of being a trusted outsourcing partner who can confidently fulfill a range of a client’s needs? Every new business relationship is usually met with a dose of skepticism, since the supplier and customer each have their concerns about fulfilling...
by Nancy Seiverd | Jun 14, 2017 | Hector the Collector
Hi Everyone, It’s Hector the Collector here and as always, it’s a pleasure to work with you. Just a quick thought that I’d like to run past you. If you could, please kindly include the Customer Credit Application when sending over the claim. As we read...
by Nancy Seiverd | May 16, 2017 | Uncategorized
Back in February after I published my article, “When Credit Managers Understand the Mind of Sales,” I received several requests from credit managers around the world for an article supporting their perspective. As I mentioned last time, when sales and...
by Nancy Seiverd | May 16, 2017 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’ve been having a problem at my company over the past couple of years trying to keep our collection people from getting bored and burned out in their jobs. Our company sells a magazine on credit and most customers who fill out the order form from the...
by Nancy Seiverd | Apr 7, 2017 | Employee Spotlight
As we are delighted to spotlight Guy Lang for our April newsletter, please read through his short interview which conveys his passion for CMI and the collection business. Q-1: What was the initial opportunity that brought you into the profession? How long have you...
by Nancy Seiverd | Apr 7, 2017 | Feature Article
As credit and collection professionals, we’re always under pressure from upper management to get the DSO down. Many years ago when I was just getting started, I remember learning that DSO is often determined on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis. Not to bore you but...
by Nancy Seiverd | Apr 7, 2017 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’m at my wits end. I have a customer who has gone through good and bad times over the years (decades) and our president continues to do business with him no matter how bad the bad times get. My problem is that one of those bad times has produced...
by Nancy Seiverd | Feb 22, 2017 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, This is embarrassing but I completely messed up on a collection call. Here’s what happened. I had been calling one of our regularly delinquent, but long term, customers for the past three months and dealing with several broken promises. Then last week...
by Nancy Seiverd | Feb 22, 2017 | Feature Article
It’s been said over and over that credit professionals should walk in the shoes of sales professionals and vice versa. Why is that so important? It’s because by experiencing each other’s challenges and frustrations, there will be a better understanding of what it...
