Cheques saved…

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/Cheques-saved-yahoofinanceuk-3897631824.html?x=0

I am a little late with this news but it is quietly significant for credit managers and the wider public of course

It would appear that the driver behind this was the concern from charities that contributions would diminish. Very true. Less widely reported are the concerns of those collecting debts (and it would be interesting to hear from recovery agents on this) and the loss of some security that the cheque offers as opposed to “i will transfer it later today”

But thats not a surprise

And neither is the clearing banks inability to have thought this particular proposal through

Oh dear….

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financial-crime/8619244/Bridge-Business-Recovery-finds-2000-labradoodle-puppy-was-put-on-company-credit-card.html

Some business failures are simply fuill of irony…

Bring it back home

;http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/santander-call-centres-return-to-uk-2309107.html

Perhaps they read my article? (see download on tab above) I would like to think so of course…

Now before anyone may suspect a little xenophobia may i just emphasise that I believe English call centres would be equally hopeless for Indian customers, but i believe the era of the overseas call centre is coming to an end.

The battle in the high street is going to be focused more and more on customer service in the future. this has kicked in already as anyone who would compare the results of John lewis and Dixons (businesses at opposite ends of the customer service league table ) would confirm

Connection is everything. The accent, the manner and the banter. Its just like life and the difference between a result or a shouting match can be simply down to these small elements.

Maybe my friend Simon Penn at Santander passed on my piece in Accountancy magazine….

Supermarkets hammer suppliers…

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jul/02/british-farmers-supermarket-price-wars?INTCMP=SRCH

Is there a more dominant relationship than that between Supermarkets and their suppliers at the present time? The above article would suggest not and many are now quite rightly considering whether this is entirely healthy. Of course some of the examples given by The Observer could be extreme or un-representitive or on the other hand they could be widespread. Either way the economic model will always be skewed if a very small number of buyers are purchasing off a huge number of suppliers. Inevitably suppliers will find that as well as a large proportion of their turnover being in one (supermarket) basket, heavy investment will often have been committed. The question then is how much this is exploited by the buyer?

The supermarkets would not necessarily bully Heinz or Kellogs perhaps but the temptation to achieve financial internal targets by squeezing a smaller dependent supplier must be there. And the key word is “dependent”

A big and often underestimated element of credit management is understanding the relationship between the two parties in the wider context. It is only really from that position that you can properly negotiate existing settlements or future relationships. The legal position doesnt change but the will to enforce will vary and when a client is dictating changes to existing contracts without fear of recourse, the will is very weak indeed.