Credit Management July and August 2020

More documents

Recommendations

Info

CICM MEMBER EXCLUSIVE Your CICM lapel badge demonstrates your commitment to professionalism and best practice TAKE PRIDE IN WEARING YOUR BADGE If you haven’t received your badge contact: cicmmembership@cicm.com MANAGING CREDIT THROUGH THE RECOVERY What should your focus be on now? As the initial crisis settles, now’s the time to focus on navigating our way through the recovery phase. REGULATORY CHANGES • Consider Government support mechanisms and loan schemes for you and your customers. • Plan recovery action in line with legal moratoriums and suspended enforcement actions. • Adjust approach in line with Financial Conduct Authority guidance for consumer support. ORDER TO CASH PROCESS • Review any breaks or weak links in your supply chain and address them directly. • Revisit contracts with stakeholders, negotiate temporary new terms to assist. • Set contingencies for impacted suppliers, including switch of supply. • Categorise customer portfolio in line with risk and review regularly. £ CASHFLOW MANAGEMENT • Develop dynamic ledger management which is responsive to immediate change. • Re-write existing collections strategies to fit the current environment. • Revisit customers with agreed payment holidays and reduced instalments. • Maximise smaller ledger opportunity to concentrate on older, hard to collect, debt. • Revisit and recalculate collection targets with inclusion of impact factors. POLICIES AND PROCESSES • Review Credit Policy and risk strategy of your organisation in the current context. • Work with Senior Management to shape a future exit strategy. • Review operational processes in line with continued WFH and risk situations. • Retain more frequent targets and reviews in a supportive environment. • Re-write contingency and continuity plans that didn’t work in the crisis. PEOPLE • Plan staggered staff reintegration and support mechanisms to assist the transition. • Prepare working conditions in and beyond the office under continued constraints. • Consider opportunities for more agile working arrangements on a longer-term basis. ACCESS HELP FROM CICM Contact our Member Advice Service for support, answers and advice. Join the CICM Managing Credit through the Recovery Forum on LinkedIn. Visit our Managing Credit through the Recovery webpage for more resources. We are developing more resources, please keep in touch with us and join our community. CICM is your professional body, use it. We are stronger in numbers. Advancing the credit profession / www.cicm.com / July & August 2020 / PAGE 46
OPINION LADIES FIRST A talk at a Ladies Club proved an eye opener for our correspondent. AUTHOR – Derek Scott FCICM IN a previous article I mentioned my first job in credit management as an Assistant Arrears Supervisor. Two recent unrelated events took me back to that time. The first was a telephone conversation with a speaker’s secretary of a Ladies group for a booking of my talk on credit and debt entitled ‘Never Pay Later’. The second was a film from 1960 called ‘Light up the Sky’. ‘Light up the sky’ tells the story of a searchlight battery during the Second World War. It starred Ian Carmichael, who some of the older generations in the CICM may recall, as well as a host of other film actors of the 1950/60s, including the comedian Benny Hill. By the time the film was released, I had become the Arrears Supervisor after the sudden departure of my boss. I was now in sole charge of a team of 12. It was a soft start to be a number one in credit management as despite being of many different ages, the team all got on really well, and probably knew more about the requirements of the job than I did at that stage. ROCK ON TOMMY Another star of the film was the rock and roll pop idol, Tommy Steele. Some of my team were fans and asked me to write to the studio to see if we could visit the set to meet him and the other cast members. The film was being made at the famous TV studios in Twickenham, only a few minutes away. The Public Relations Manager apparently thought it was a good idea to generate some good publicity. A few days later I received a call from the PR Manager who explained that due to the shooting schedule a visit was not possible, but she would send autographed pictures etc. She then asked me what my job was, and when I told her there was a moment of silence, and then in a tone I would soon learn that went with the public image of debt collectors, she said: ‘So you’re one of those people!’. Over the years I have constantly come across this view of our profession and I can think of many other examples. One in particular that sticks in my mind, was when I had to provide my details to someone at the local council. When we reached the area of occupation I said, ‘credit manager’, to which she responded with ‘that’s not a very nice job, I bet you’re not very popular!’. So, back to my conversation a few weeks ago with the Speaker’s Secretary. She had been told by the President to book me but was not happy to comply. She was under the impression that I would be talking about debt and didn’t understand the difference between debt and credit management. I shared the title of my talk – Never Pay Later – but I could tell she was still not convinced. After a further discussion she decided that in order to encourage more members to attend I would need to change the title to ‘Would you Credit it?’. NEGATIVE VIEW My point is that even after more than 60 years, it appears the public view of our profession is still extremely negative, like we are the type of people who throw old ladies out in the snow if they owe money. Regretfully there are those who seem to enjoy this reputation as they see themselves as a cross between Atilla the Hun and Vlad the Impaler. I had hoped before I shuffled off this mortal coil, we would be recognised for the key role we play not just in business, but also in maintaining the economy of the UK and every person’s life! Even as I write this, in one tabloid there is a piece about debt collectors chasing people who do not owe any money or are even in credit. It is in part headed ‘Receive Debt Threats!’. We have been compared to ‘wheel clampers’. There was the fiasco of the TV license fee where people without televisions were harassed every month for up to a year with collection letters which must have been designed by someone from the Dark Ages. There are still so many amateurs working in our profession; look at the debt burdens of even major companies who have failed or are in serious financial difficulties, and perhaps we only have ourselves to blame! The television lends a hand with its undercover investigations into debt collectors where the training of the staff has to be seen to be believed. The institute has, to its credit, raised our profile so the importance of our profession is accepted by the government and most major players in the world of business. However, we cannot expect to reach the same position with the general public. We can only do that if we formulate a mission statement to fight what appears to be a campaign by the media, led by the tabloid press, to only highlight negative news about us. To finish on the right note I did my talk at the Ladies’ club and received one of the best notes of thanks I have ever had. The president told me at lunch she had never known her group to enjoy a talk more on such an unusual subject and found it interesting and humorous. Even the Speaker’s secretary it appears was won over; she asked if I was available for any other talks! Derek Scott FCICM is a freelance writer. ‘Light up the sky’ tells the story of a searchlight battery during the Second World War. It starred Ian Carmichael, who some of the older generations in the CICM may recall, as well as a host of other film actors of the 1950/60s, including the comedian Benny Hill. Advancing the credit profession / www.cicm.com / July & August 2020 / PAGE 47
Page 1 and 2: CREDIT MANAGEMENT CM JULY & AUGUST
Page 3 and 4: 14 CARRY ON REGARDLESS Matthew Godb
Page 5 and 6: GET YOUR CREDIT CONTROL SALARY SURV
Page 7 and 8: NEWS ROUNDUP Association adopts pos
Page 9 and 10: THE CICM THINK TANK > THE NEWS IN B
Page 11 and 12: INSOLVENCY PRIME STAKE Insolvency P
Page 13 and 14: INSOLVENCY EXCLUSIVE The Moratorium
Page 15 and 16: ASK THE EXPERTS IN this series, we
Page 17 and 18: COMMERCIAL COLLECTIONS PERSONAL ACC
Page 19 and 20: COMMERCIAL COLLECTIONS AUTHOR - Sea
Page 21 and 22: SECTOR COMMENT DINING OUT Has the r
Page 23 and 24: OPINION AUTHOR - John Ricketts FCIC
Page 25 and 26: LEGAL MATTERS AUTHOR - Peter Walker
Page 27 and 28: VIEW FROM THE SEA FRONT AUTHOR - Da
Page 29 and 30: EDUCATION & MEMBERSHIP Which CICM q
Page 31 and 32: Handy Andes are not to be sniffed a
Page 33 and 34: COUNTRY FOCUS France is our nearest
Page 35 and 36: COUNTRY FOCUS AUTHOR - Adam Bernste
Page 37 and 38: Each of our Corporate Partners is c
Page 39 and 40: CAREERS ADVICE STAYING AHEAD Why op
Page 41 and 42: It needn’t be that hard. Imagine
Page 43 and 44: OPINION AUTHOR - Chris Sanders FCIC
Page 45: PAYMENT TRENDS Data supplied by the
Page 49 and 50: PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT Making Memorie
Page 51 and 52: HR MATTERS Vicarious Living Indiscr
Page 53 and 54: INSPIRE ME IN THE NEW ERA OF WORK Y
Page 55 and 56: More reasons to be a member Make co
Page 57 and 58: FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION OPTIONS
Page 59 and 60: PAYMENT SOLUTIONS ARE YOU A LEADER

Credit Management July and August 2020

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?