A cursory look at the headlines will likely leave you a bit confused. On the one hand, there are reports of mounting consumer fear and trepidation over everything from the job market to inflation, economic growth, tariffs, taxes, etc. At…
Not every customer has a perfect credit score or strong balance sheet, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth doing business with. Marginal customers often stand in a gray area: high potential, but higher risk. The challenge is to identify…
There has always been a struggle at the heart of American business development. On one extreme there is the notion that business should be completely unfettered and allowed to do whatever is necessary to promote greater revenue and profit. It…
Imagine you’re a buyer and you want to purchase a high-value shipment from a seller overseas. You don’t know each other well, so you bring in a letter of credit (LC)—your trusty financial bodyguard from a bank. The bodyguard promises…
It may be a bit early for the annual economist exercise of forecasting the year ahead, but nothing about this year has been normal. We are doing good to predict next Tuesday, much less next year. Nonetheless, there is demand…
Credit managers spend a lot of time seeking out the ideal balance between risk and speed. Finding a credit line that protects your company without hindering profits is no easy task. Whether they’re eager towhen closing a large sale or…
The automotive sector has traditionally been one of the most volatile and unpredictable and there are several factors that play into this pattern. The bottom line is that consumers behave in ways that are generally not considered logical or likely.…
This is a term I have been hearing a lot lately. People are growing weary of the constant coverage and the constant variation in policy. Now the most common business reaction is to essentially throw one’s hands in the air…
Nothing epitomizes the work of a credit manager quite like the initial credit investigation performed on a potential customer. Gleaning details of a customer’s payment habits and professional relationships as you assess how large of a credit limit they should…
This is a good time to remind people of my favorite quote from J.K. Galbraith – “there are two kinds of forecasters – those who don’t know and those that don’t know they don’t know”. This has rarely been as…