Good debtor management in times of crisis
- Wilco van Izerloo | Manager van het Financial Service Center | Isero B.V.
The construction industry is struggling. With the PFAS- and nitrogen crisis and now the coronavirus , the likelihood of companies making late payments or running into major (liquidity) problems is growing. Isero BV is therefore ( further ) tightening its debtor management. CreditDevice’ s data and the enhanced cooperation with the sales team and the branches are indispensable for this.
Tailor-made service
Isero BV is the largest hardware wholesaler in the Netherlands, supplying more than 50,000 supplies and materials for the construction professional. The company tries to keep the relationship with its more than 15,000 customers as personal as possible, says Wilco van Izerloo, manager of the Financial Service Centre. “We always think about how we can save them time and energy. For example, we put construction containers on site, full of products. The customer scans what he needs, we receive this digitally and order additional products where necessary. This is all done remotely.” In short, Isero does more!
Solution for every business
“From our range, 50,000 items are available directly from stock. Do you have a question outside this range? Feel free to ask because we also supply specials. Thanks to our finely-meshed distribution network, our own drivers, local availability at our branches, speed, reliability and careful adherence to agreements, we are able to deliver the right stuff, at the right time and right place,” says Wilco. So Marcel is convinced that as a debtor manager, you are always in conversation. Whereas the traditional debtor manager feels purely responsible for bringing in the money, the team at YoungCapital wants more. “As a customer service department, you automatically have to deal with the quality of invoicing, complaint registration and handling and service delivery. You talk to prospects and are confronted with contractual agreements. As a result, we take a lot of work away from other departments.
- “PFAS, nitrogen and now the coronavirus again . The construction industry is struggling. Companies are increasingly likely to run into payment problems. Wilco van Izerloo explains how Isero BV thinks along with the customer – with help from CreditDevice and its own sales team. Isero does more!”
Tighter monitoring of debtors
As good as relationships are, with the emergence of crises around PFAS substances, nitrogen and the coronavirus, Isero does monitor buyer payment behaviour more tightly. Indeed, the number of building permits has dropped drastically and it is very exciting where construction is heading. “What is the cabinet going to do? Are they going to support the sector and if so, how and for how much? Which companies will go bankrupt and will a domino effect follow? It’s really pie in the sky,” says Wilco. “We get it when a customer is having a bit of trouble, but an alarm bell goes off immediately when a customer suddenly pays 20 days later than usual or only pays the smaller amounts. You soon discover the systematics in that.”
Debtor management: together with Isero ‘s sales department
Cooperation with the sales department becomes even more important in this context and has improved in the last year. “We are increasingly solving everything together. On the financial side, we naturally look at figures, scores and ratios. However, an account manager often has an unfailing gut feeling. He or she may have just had coffee with a customer and has the impression that things are not going well there. Or who notices that someone no longer answers the phone. Perhaps such a customer still pays well, but then we keep a closer eye on it. Account managers are the eyes and ears of debtor management. Conversely, we sometimes advise sales to get a new customer to pay half the deposit. Or we report that credit limit reductions are coming to an existing customer, so the salesperson can subtly gauge how busy the customer actually still is,” Wilco said.
How CreditDevice helps monitor debtors
Isero’s Financial Service Centre gratefully uses CreditDevice’s Credit Information and Risk Analysis services. “Some of our account managers sometimes think we are being difficult,” Wilco says with a laugh, “then we take the relevant report from CreditDevice and substantiate our advice. This creates more connection and understanding internally, which is great to see. “Isero is now exploring how to further automate its receivables management, for example by bringing dunning to the cloud. CreditDevice is an important partner in thinking about those steps.
Valuable sparring partner
Wilco notices that the lines of communication at CreditDevice are short – just like within Isero. “The way of thinking along and working together is low-threshold and the aim is always to make things better. We dare to ask each other open questions and they are answered from both sides. CreditDevice does not always have the solution immediately at hand, but I like that. There will be a conversation first for more depth. And sometimes the answer is simply that something cannot be done (yet). I like that attitude! What I also like is that people don’t always think from a commercial point of view, but instead focus on how we can achieve more efficiency. For instance, in the current orientation phase, we have invited a number of colleagues to spend a day looking around Noordwijk, so that they can see the possibilities of a product on the spot. Sales are not even discussed. That immediately creates a basis of trust.”
Clarifying data
Bringing data together is, of course, another major plus point of CreditDevice’s products. Wilco explains that three months ago, Isero wanted to know which of their debtors were prone to the nitrogen problem and what the negative consequences might be. “The Excel file we received was very enlightening. I recognised some names on the list and had not seen some of them coming. So that information was very valuable. If issues escalate in construction, the risk of write-offs is significant. So then you better be close to it.”
