Business Practices Archive

It’s no secret that B2B credit management is a forward-thinking career. From building customer relationships and mitigating risk to forecasting business and economic trends, credit managers are focused on shaping the future. By setting goals and creating a plan to achieve them, credit professionals can secure their department’s long-term success.

In person customer visits, face-to-face meetings between a representative from your company and your customer at their location, are becoming less common. Video conferencing platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams have reshaped how businesses interact with customers, providing more convenient and cost-effective solutions.

When considering the work of a credit manager, it is impossible to overstate the importance of interdepartmental communication, especially when it comes to the relationship between credit and sales. While the two departments work in tandem, with the sales team securing customers the credit team will then manage, in some offices, the two can be a bit isolated. 

Retirement is one of the most significant decisions in a professional’s life, and for credit managers, it comes with its own set of unique challenges. The transition from an active career to retirement requires careful planning and thoughtful consideration of numerous factors—from financial stability to passing the torch to the next generation of leadership.

Among the core responsibilities of a credit professional is the credit approval process, enabling a business to assess a customer’s creditworthiness, minimize the risk of bad debt and make informed decisions about extending credit. For larger credit requests or riskier customers, the decision may need to be reviewed by senior management or a credit committee to ensure alignment with the company’s risk tolerance.

For a B2B credit manager, the news that a customer has filed for bankruptcy can feel like a gut punch—especially the first time it happens. It’s a painful and unavoidable reminder of the unpredictability of business and the risks that come with extending credit.

Senate Bill 1286 (SB 1286), signed into law by California Governor Gavin Newsom on Sept. 24, 2024, will extend existing consumer debt collection protections in the state to small businesses and to the collection activities of business debt.

As a B2B credit manager, you have likely worked with a diverse range of customers, from small local businesses to expansive national chains. But venturing into the realm of federal government contracts presents a new set of challenges.