We all know the old joke: Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side. It’s simple, predictable, and harmless.
But when a debtor crosses the road, it’s something entirely different.
In credit and collections, “crossing the road” is not about geography, it’s about behavior. It’s the moment when a once-reliable customer quietly transitions into someone you can no longer trust. Not just slow. Not just disorganized. But fundamentally unreliable.
And the most dangerous part? You often don’t see it coming until you’re already exposed.
There’s an old expression in Japanese: as long as a person has a roof over their head and food on the table, they can maintain good manners. But when those basic conditions begin to slip, behavior can change. Priorities shift. Ethics bend. Survival takes over.
The same principle applies to your customers.
A company that once paid like clockwork can, under pressure, begin to justify actions that would have been unthinkable before. What starts as a temporary delay can evolve into something much more concerning.
The “crossing of the road” rarely happens all at once. It happens gradually, through small but meaningful changes:
- Payment promises become less specific (“We’ll get to it soon” instead of firm dates)
- Excuses become repetitive and harder to verify
- Partial payments are made just often enough to keep you engaged
- Disputes suddenly appear where none existed before
- Communication shifts from proactive to reactive, or disappears altogether
- Commitments are made confidently… and broken just as easily
Individually, these behaviors may seem manageable. Together, they signal something more serious: a change in mindset.
This is where many credit professionals get trapped.
Because the customer has a long history of paying, there is a natural tendency to give them the benefit of the doubt. You tell yourself, “They’ve always come through before.” And many times, they have.
But past performance does not guarantee present integrity.
When a debtor has truly “crossed the road,” the issue is no longer timing, it’s trust. At that point, the conversation shifts from when will they pay to will they pay at all, and can anything they say be relied upon?
This distinction is critical.
A slow payer can be managed.
An unreliable payer must be controlled.
So how do you recognize when a customer has crossed that line?
Here are a few practical indicators:
- Consistency disappears — Payment behavior becomes unpredictable, not just delayed
- Accountability fades — They stop acknowledging missed commitments
- Transparency declines — Financial explanations become vague or evasive
- Leverage weakens — Your requests are acknowledged but not acted upon
- Behavior normalizes — Late payment becomes their standard operating mode
Once you identify this shift, your strategy must change just as quickly.
This is no longer about maintaining the relationship through flexibility. It’s about protecting your company through structure and discipline.
That may include tightening terms, reducing exposure, requiring payment before shipment, or escalating the account internally. In some cases, it may mean accepting that the relationship, as it once existed, is no longer viable.
That’s never an easy decision. But neither is absorbing a preventable loss.
The key lesson is this: customers don’t cross the road overnight. They drift. And if that drift goes unchallenged, it eventually becomes a pattern.
So don’t just listen to what your customer says. Watch what they do. Because when a debtor crosses the road, it’s not to get to the other side. It’s because something fundamental has changed.
Your thoughts and comments (nseiverd@cmiweb.com) are most welcome!
Nancy Seiverd, President
CMI Credit Mediators, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Image by freepik.com
