time spent debt collecting

16% of Time Spent Debt Collecting

Those who don’t work in Credit Management have the perception that the credit control team spends all of its time spent collecting debt. However, this is not borne out by the results of the information gathered as part of the Credit Management Benchmark.

One Credit Manager interviewed during the process said that management in her company expects her team to be on the telephone calling customers from first thing in the morning to last thing in the evening and would be shocked if they discovered that so little time was actually spent chasing monies due.
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sales team cost

How much does the Sales Team Cost the Credit Team?

Before anyone clicks on the comment option to say that a business would not exist without sales, let me say that you are absolutely right. Sales is the engine of business, but the credit team manage the fuel (cash) that enables it to drive forward.

My question is really aimed at identifying where sales processes could be improved to reduce costs and eliminate wasted time for credit teams. The rationale for asking the question comes from data captured in the OnePosting Credit Management Benchmark.

Hard facts from the benchmark are combined with feedback from benchmark participants in this article to identify areas where small improvements in the sales process could have a beneficial impact on credit management.
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#1 query received

#1 Query Received by Credit Teams

In the Credit Management Benchmark assessment, we listed seven common queries received by credit/collections teams and asked participants to rank them in volume order, i.e. the most frequently received query first, followed by the next most frequently received one, and so on through the list.

The number one query received, by a very significant margin is requests for copies of invoices. In the age of modern communications, how is this possible?

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