Improving customer service & customer retention levels

The obvious importance of the collection of accounts receivable is that a sale isn't a sale until you're paid, and all businesses run on money. A less obvious but important reason is that of customer service and retention levels.

by Abe WalkingBear Sanchez

In most businesses the largest percentage of past due accounts are directly tied to something going wrong (Type II Systems Problems). Surveys have found that 70 percent or more of delinquent customers fall into this category. 

Whether the source of the problem is on the sellers' end, the customers' end or due to the action/inaction of a third party (direct ships, agents, the post office, transportation etc.) makes no difference. Until a problem is identified and corrected the customer will not pay, and those unpaid open invoices become an irritant and  money drain to vendor and customer alike.

Identifying systems problems early and fixing them improves the cash flow and also represents an improvement in customer service levels. Better customer service equals higher customer retention.

When customers are current they're more apt to continue buying. The most profitable sale is normally the repeat sale. Remember the primary goal of the completion of the sale (collections) is to keep customers current and buying.

Implementation
Some business executives are a walking contradiction. They spend time and money in sending their people to seminars/workshops and  then they fail to get involved in bringing about improvement. Too busy fighting fires,  I guess.

Four steps in change/improvement
1. Expect resistance
2. Take baby steps
3. Keep shifting the comfort zone
4. Pay for what you want

Push against a dog and they push back; they resist. People do the same. When you're trying to implement something new you need to explain it and then ask your cohorts why it won't work. Make up a "fail list," reasons why the change/improvement won't work and then ask for ideas on how to overcome the problems.

By allowing people to tell you why something won't work you give them a chance to vent, to release the natural tendency to push back. Then by coming up with ways to overcome the very problems they brought up, you give them a chance to think it was all their idea in the first place. You know, the ownership thing.

First steps on long journeys must be the hardest. Pace yourself when trying to change/improve on things. Don't try to get others in your organization to change everything at once. Start small and, as it works, add a little more.

The place to start in improving the credit and collection function is collections. Simply by implementing a simple Daily A/R contact report you'll get a lot of mileage.

Track calls made and reasons given for payments not being made within terms. Review of the report is important. After all, any report not reviewed is a waste of time.

It's just like Willie Nelson said: “I’d cry for the time I’ve wasted, but that’d be a waste of time and tears.”

It's amazing how people do the things that are being monitored;  expect your cash flow to improve and repeat sales to go up with the use of a contact report.

Once they're halfway comfortable with that report, introduce the systems problem log. In the process of identifying the source of things going wrong (Type II Systems Problems), and then fixing the business process to avoid the same problems in the future,  people will come to see that they're contributing to higher customer service levels, customer retention and to the quality of business practices.

Change doesn't create stress, stress must be present for change to happen. Remember high school science when they talked about inertia? Basically inertia means that if something is standing still it's going to continue standing still until some outside force makes it move. People are like that. They get comfortable, and while that's a great attribute in a chair, sofa or bed, it'll kill you in a competitive marketplace.

There’s a real good reason for dating your policies and procedures. You want to be able to tell when they were last updated. And if you think updating policies and procedures is not important, you my friend are too comfortable.

Once things are working pretty good,  look for the next improvement. Go to seminars, guys like me need the money. Survey the customers, ask vendors and pay your guys to think... oops, that's the fourth step in change/improvement.

People do those things they perceive to be in their own best interest. Last time I checked,  the first law of human dynamics was still in effect.

In asking people to make changes, you're crazy if you think they're going to put out 110 percent unless they understand how it will impact them. I'm not saying that you need to negotiate every nickel and dime change. What I am saying is that by setting up goals for the change/improvement, and by paying people to achieve those goals, it becomes  a win/win deal. The goals must be based on improved profitability. We're not talking change for the sake of appearances.

What we hear we forget, what we see we believe, what we do we understand.

As busy as everyone gets, new ideas die a quick death unless they're put into action. Wait for a more opportune time and chances are real good  you'll space it out.

Abe WalkingBear Sanchez is an International Speaker / Trainer on the subject of cash flow / sales enhancement and business
knowledge organization and use. Founder and President of www.armg-usa.com, Abe also sits on the board of www.BestBizways.com Inc.

A hard hitting and fast paced speaker, Abe brings life and energy to a critical business function whose true potential has yet to be realized by most businesses.

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