by Nancy Seiverd | Mar 8, 2022 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’ve been working as the credit and collection manager at a large heating & cooling equipment installation and maintenance company for the past 20 years, and about two months ago a new CFO came on board. From the start this person has been...
by Nancy Seiverd | Jan 4, 2022 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby,I wish I could tell you that I had a nice holiday and new year, but something was gnawing at me dampening my holiday spirit. Let me explain. I have been the credit and collection manager at a mid-size industrial electronics part distributor for the...
by Nancy Seiverd | Oct 4, 2021 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’m the credit and collection manager at a mid-sized fragrance manufacturer and like many managers, beyond the usual credit and collections challenges, I also deal with a myriad of human relations issues. So, it’s that time of year again when...
by Nancy Seiverd | Aug 9, 2021 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’m the credit and collection manager at a small scrap and metals processing company. We basically buy old industrial electric motors and disassemble them for the copper, silver, titanium, and other precious metals. We’ve had a long-term client, who...
by Nancy Seiverd | Jun 8, 2021 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I have an interesting scenario to share with you. A month ago, I received a new credit application with an unusual looking company name. At first blush, the company looked good as I began the credit risk evaluation. This new customer was requesting...
by Nancy Seiverd | Apr 6, 2021 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’m glad there’s someone like you to talk to right now because I have a touchy problem at work and I’m not sure how to manage this delicately. First, a little background. We’re a small business of about thirty employees with a long history in our...
by Nancy Seiverd | Feb 8, 2021 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, Like many companies, ours has also had to let people go during these tough times, and several departments are now running on a skeleton crew. Up until around mid-summer of last year, I was carrying out credit functions and some high dollar collection...
by Nancy Seiverd | Nov 10, 2020 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’ve been reading your column now for the past few years and as a credit & collection professional at a small distribution company, I’ve always found your advice to be spot on. That said, I never thought I’d actually be writing to you. Recently...
by Nancy Seiverd | Sep 9, 2020 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’ve been reading your column for a long time and I can’t believe I’m actually writing to you. But here I am and I’ve got a big problem. As the credit and collection manager for a small wholesale distributor (there are only six of us at the company), it...
by Nancy Seiverd | Jul 14, 2020 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’m the accounting and credit manager at a mid-sized shipping company and over the past few months, almost all the staff are working from home. In view of keeping safe and well, working remotely has been both a blessing and a curse. I have three teenage...
by Nancy Seiverd | May 12, 2020 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, As the credit manager at a small tools manufacturing and distribution company of 50 employees, we’ve been closed since April 1st and it looks like we’re going to be closed for the rest of May. Fortunately, during this time our company has continued to pay...
by Nancy Seiverd | Jan 7, 2020 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, Another year has passed by quickly and I’m looking towards this new year with hope and promise. As the credit and collection manager at a small company, my work is always very busy, which I generally love. I especially feel good when I can support...
by Nancy Seiverd | Oct 8, 2019 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I can’t believe I’m actually writing to you but glad you’re there to give me some badly needed advice. Our company is on the east coast and about one year ago we sent a claim for $25K to a collection attorney on the west coast, nearby the debtor. From the...
by Nancy Seiverd | Aug 13, 2019 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’ve been the person in charge of credit at my company (over 200 employees) for the past two years, and I’m the third credit professional in the last eight years to have this position. I found out that the turnover was rather high (they left on their own)...
by Nancy Seiverd | Jun 19, 2019 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I work at a mid-size company of about 150 employees and I’m part of a team of four collectors. I’ve been working at my company for over fifteen years and I have the title, Senior Collector. Over the past few months I’ve noticed that I’m getting more...
by Nancy Seiverd | Apr 17, 2019 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’m the accounting manager at a small wholesaler and like many small companies, we have just a handful of clients. Although there’s the general formula that 20% of your clients make up 80% of your sales, in our case we have one client that makes up 80% of...
by Nancy Seiverd | Feb 18, 2019 | Dear Crabby
Our company is a small business with about thirty employees and I have been there about five years as the person in charge of collections. After I arrived, I inherited a long time customer who always had a very up and down payment record with us. Although he would pay...
by Nancy Seiverd | Nov 7, 2018 | Dear Crabby, Uncategorized
Dear Crabby, I meant to reach out to you much sooner as I’ve got a customer (very small business, 2-3 employees) who rambles on and on with a new excuse each time I call them to make their payment. For example, four months ago the problem was due to severe cash flow...
by Nancy Seiverd | Sep 18, 2018 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’ve been reading your column for some time now and as the accountant at my company who is also managing some of the credit and collection functions, I finally decided to put pen to paper and seek your advice. My company is in the service business,...
by Nancy Seiverd | Apr 11, 2018 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’m at my wits end and I need to vent! To make a long story short, as the credit and collection manager at our mid-sized home interior decorating company, I’ve got dozens of past due accounts where the customer wants to pay but is holding back until we...
