Tips &amp; Advice for Business Credit Pros

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Building a World-Class Credit Operation Through Technology [Webinar Replay]

September 23rd, 2011 by Alex Coté

In case you missed yesterday’s webinar with Brett Wegner, Credit Manager for Kemps here is a replay of the presentation.

Note: For improved readability, I recommend YouTube’s HD setting as well as full screen.

Posted in: Monitoring, Pulse, Scoring, Tips, User Group
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2011/09/23/building-a-world-class-credit-operation-through-technology-webinar-replay/
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Leveraging the Modern Web for Better Risk Insight [Webinar Replay]

August 19th, 2011 by Alex Coté

In case you missed yesterday’s webinar with Darrell Horton, Revenue and AR Manager for Shuffle Master, Inc, here is a replay of the presentation.

Note: For improved readability, I recommend YouTube’s HD setting as well as full screen.

Posted in: Business Credit Reports, Circles, Commercial Credit Reports, Community, Cortera Credit Exchange, Cortera PULSE, Free, Monitoring, Pulse, Tips, User Group
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2011/08/19/leveraging-the-modern-web-for-better-risk-insight-webinar-replay/
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Success with Cortera: John Pomilio, Vice President, Customer Financial Services, XTRA Lease

July 26th, 2011 by Alex Coté

Check out this interview with Cortera customer John Pomilio, Vice President, Customer Financial Services for XTRA Lease.

“I’m really excited about the Pulse Product.”
“I love Cortera because it truly is a partnership.”

Posted in: Community, Cortera PULSE, Information, Interviews, Monitoring, Tips, User Group
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2011/07/26/success-with-cortera-john-pomilio-vice-president-customer-financial-services-xtra-lease/
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Finding Tomorrow’s Deadbeat [Webinar Replay]

July 15th, 2011 by Alex Coté

In case you missed yesterday’s webinar, here is a replay of the presentation.

Note: For improved readability, I recommend YouTube’s HD setting as well as full screen.

Posted in: Community, Tips, User Group
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2011/07/15/finding-tomorrows-deadbeat-webinar/
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5 Tips for Business Owners to Track Your Customers

January 31st, 2011 by Alex Coté

As a business owner you tend to wear every hat in the organization at some point during the week. You are the head of sales, chief marketing officer, chief financial officer, and chief operating officer all rolled into one. However, realistically it’s impossible to micromanage every aspect of your operations—especially the core of your business: your customers. Cultivating and retaining healthy, long-term and highly profitable customers is essential to business success. It’s also no secret that developing a deep understanding of your customers’ evolving needs is essential to providing stellar service. But as an owner with hundreds if not thousands of customers, how can you still provide that personal level of service and stay on top with every change?

Here are five practical tips to help you create your personal, daily dashboard to track everything you need to know about your customers.

Get organized and assign an owner. The first step is to assign an owner to pull your new “daily dashboard” together. You will draw from both internal and external sources. For most businesses it makes sense to watch a core group of items that constitute a mix of both positive and negative customer behavior. Any good news within your customer base can lead to new sales opportunities or a chance for you to reach out to congratulate them in a timely manner. On the negative side you will want to watch for any changes in how you are paid, significant events like layoffs or plant closings and things like large tax liens. Start simple and measure your results. You can always get more complicated, but the goal is a daily report that can be scanned over a morning cup of coffee – not reams of complicated documents.
Monitor the social channels. There is an amazing amount of information available online that can give you an edge and better engage with your customers—and most of it is freely available (or close). The business world has rapidly embraced much of the consumer social web. The combination of LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook give you the ability to not only know what your customers are saying, but also know what your customers’ customers are saying. By following a business on any these social networks you can see product sentiment, news, recent hiring, departures, promotions and openings, news and even complaints – all clues about the company’s existing financial health as well as potential future growth plans.
Monitor with paid resources. Some cost more than others, but the point here is that some information is simply not free (or you will spend hours trying to bring it together). Google, Bing and Yahoo! generally pick up web, larger media news sources and blog information, but for more in-depth information on privately-held companies you’ll need to use a paid service. I’m biased of course so I’ll let our customers like John Culbert, Vice President of Credit at Ferguson do the talking: “Thanks Cortera! Almost immediately after signing up for PULSE you caught a $300,000 Federal Tax Lien on an account. We were able to react and protect ourselves in time.” Examples like this show that with some simple processes in place you can catch potential issues well ahead of the competition. Cortera offers a daily customer alerting service for only $99/month that focuses on payment risk, regional and industry news, public records (like liens, judgments, and bankruptcies) and growth opportunities.
Get started with your daily dashboard: Whether you are using paid or free services (or a combination of both), consolidating your alerts into a single report will streamline your use of the information. The report is only useful if it not ignored. If you end up with pages and pages of items to review, set your bar higher to narrow the list to the most important items for you and your team to dig in deeper.
Begin your morning ritual – review, assign, and reach out: It’s just as important to be aware of potential problems as it is to follow-up on them. Again, stick to a process. Review each alert, assign them and then close them out so nothing slips through. As a business owner a handful of personal notes to key clients about their business keeps you in touch and top of mind and shows you care about the heath of their business, not just yours. The last thing you want is a competitor to slip in with some timely knowledge and gain a foothold. Positive alerts will help you identify revenue opportunities in your customer base and enable you to focus your sales team more efficiently. Even if you spot something negative like a significant layoff at a key customer it’s still an opportunity to reach out see if you can help—building a tighter relationship over the long term so you are first in line when their business returns.

Have a tip? Comment below to share them with the community.

Posted in: Monitoring, Tips
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2011/01/31/5-tips-for-business-owners-to-track-your-customers/
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5 Tips to Help Your Organization Grow in 2011

December 29th, 2010 by Alex Coté

Happy New Year from the Cortera team! As we look forward to 2011, here is look back at our top tips from the Net 30 blog over the course of 2010.

1.) My top tip for 2011: This advice applied in 2010 and still applies going into 2011. It remains tricky out there so monitor, monitor, monitor: Five Tips for Monitoring Your Customer Base

2.) Whether you work at a Fortune 500 company or on your own there is wealth of free and nearly free tools out there that you can use to give you an edge and better engage with your customers: Using the Social Web to Grow and Protect Your Business

3.) A few credit & collections tips that can benefit your entire company from marketing to sales and even upper management.

Start Credit Scoring Your Customers and Prospects (Part I)
Segment and Assign Sales & Collections Strategies (Part II)
Automate the No Brainers (Part III)

4.) As a freelancer you have to do it all yourself – even the back office. Most importantly, you need to make sure you get paid.

5.) A simple tip that works: Contribute your accounts receivable information to the major credit bureaus (like Cortera) and you’ll get paid faster – it’s that simple. This post covers all the benefits: Why Contribute to a Business Credit Bureau?

Posted in: Tips
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2010/12/29/5-tips-to-help-your-organization-grow-in-2011/
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Using the Social Web to Grow and Protect Your Business

November 23rd, 2010 by Alex Coté

One of the great things about the web these days is all of the free and nearly free tools that have popped up to help businesses of all sizes better support, sell, and market their products. What is often overlooked is that many of these tools are also great at helping you identify new growth opportunities and protect against any downside risks. There is an amazing amount of information available that can give you an edge and better engage with your customers. Here are some tips to get you started.

Follow your customers on LinkedIn, Twitter & Facebook

The business world has rapidly embraced much of the consumer social web, with LinkedIn leading the charge. But don’t overlook Twitter and Facebook – many businesses have invested in these outlets as well. The combination of all three social networks give you the ability to not only know what your customers are saying, but also know what your customers’ customers are saying. LinkedIn recently added an expanded companies feature that has a wealth of statistics that can give you a feel for whether a business is expanding or contracting. By following a business on LinkedIn you can see recent hiring, departures, promotions and openings – all clues about the company’s existing financial health as well as potential future growth plans.

View your customers business location on Google StreetView or Microsoft Bing Maps 3D

I’m sure you’ve used Google or Bing Maps to get directions to a customer location, but one feature that’s often overlooked is Google Street View or Maps 3D. (See my office here) Google and Bing have amassed a massive collection of street level and bird’s eye view pictures and allow you to pan in different directions to get a complete feel of the surroundings. From a business perspective this extra level of information helps tell you whether your customer is in an office park, industrial complex, renting space above a restaurant or even working out of their house—all of which can help provide you with more insight as to the financial strength of your customer.

Monitor your customers’ social channels with TweetDeck, Seesmic, HootSuite, or CoTweet

There are a variety of tools that allow you to follow companies and track specific keywords across the major social networks. Tools like TweetDeck, HootSuite, Seesmic and CoTweet provide both desktop, web and mobile clients to help you manage the flow of information. All offer free versions and some offer premium offerings. You’ll find a broader range of features for the paid versions. Not only can you track your own brand, but you can search and monitor your customers.

Create alerts with SocialMention, Google and Yahoo

Obviously you can’t be in front of your computer all the time, so alerts are a great way to stay up to date. On this front you have a few options that range from free to paid monthly subscriptions—for these it depends on the type of information being monitored to determine cost. For public companies there is a wealth of free information from Google, Yahoo, MarketWatch and others – all enable you to build a portfolio of public companies and trigger alerts for free. For private companies Google and Yahoo will generally pick up web, larger media news sources and blog information, but for more in-depth information you’ll need to use a paid service. I’m obviously biased, but in the spirit of nearly free, Cortera offers a daily customer alerting service for only $99/month that focuses on payment risk, regional and industry news and growth opportunities. Recently called the “biggest ‘bang for my buck’ of any source that I have ever used“, Cortera can spot the downside and upside in your customer portfolio – all for thousands less than other solutions on the market. Another free service called SocialMention enables you to both set alerts and search in real-time across the major social networks, web and blogs.

Checkout the review sites like Yelp, Kudzu, TripAdvisor, CitySearch, InsiderPages and others

Rating and review websites have become a major intersection of consumers with local businesses. Instead of a professional critic rating a service, business or restaurant- – these communities enable members to provide their own commentary and ratings. The number of outlets grows every day along with the wealth of information provided on these sites. If you are interacting with smaller, local business, websites like Yelp, Kudzu, TripAdvisor, CitySearch, and InsiderPages are worth a search. You’ll definitely get a feel for what your customers’ customers are saying. On payment risk side we have the Cortera Credit Exchange which provides members with free access to ratings and reviews of how companies pay their bills. If you operate in specific industry, we also have groups or what we call Circles that you can join – you’ll receive alerts on how businesses are paying their bills from other users in the same industry.

All of these tools will help you become smarter about yours customer and will likely win you a few points as are able to easily converse about their current needs.

Have a website or source I missed? Please send them along for the group.

Posted in: Circles, Cortera Credit Exchange, Free, Google, Monitoring, Tips, Twitter
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2010/11/23/using-the-social-web-to-grow-and-protect-your-business/
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Automate the No Brainers (Part III – Practical Credit & Collections Tips)

November 3rd, 2010 by Alex Coté

My final installment in this three part series of practical credit & collections tips. Part I covered tips for getting better risk insights on your entire customer base. Part II took a look at account segmentation and assigning sales & collections strategies. This final post helps with tips on how automate the entire process.

Credit workflow tools can help to automate credit requests from the sales team and branch offices while centralizing and standardizing company credit policies. They also help by creating a digital credit file for information collected and decisions made about the each customer account. If you have a system in place, now is the time to re-evaluate existing strategies as more aggressive and/or comprehensive methods may be necessary—automating old techniques can sometimes make things worse.

Review every credit request, regardless of amount

Through basic decision logic the easy decisions (good or bad) can be quickly reviewed and approved enabling companies to focus their time on the more difficult decisions. Finance should be teamed up with sales to creatively approve nearly every deal.

Include risk into your segmentation automation

Many old norms are no longer valid. Once your portfolio has been scored adding risk is a straightforward exercise for setting segmentation for sales and automating collections strategies.

Review old policies and challenge previous approaches

For upfront credit decisions – review your policies to make sure they still make sense for today’s economy and applied consistently. Bad habits can form during the good times – they breakdown quickly when times are tough.

Get Started Today

We are still working through a challenging economic environment, but with a few process upgrades there is an opportunity to leverage this tough cycle to improve organization-wide visibility of customer credit risk management. What has historically been a finance function with an eye on accounts receivable can now become a competitive sales asset to win the new business needed to fuel near and longer-term cash flow.

Posted in: Tips
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2010/11/03/automate-the-no-brainers-part-iii-%e2%80%93-practical-credit-collections-tips/
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Segment and Assign Sales & Collections Strategies (Part II – Practical Credit & Collections Tips)

October 14th, 2010 by Alex Coté

Once your portfolio has been scored, the next step is to implement sales targeting, credit line, and collections strategies based on the combination of risk analysis and your own accounts receivable balance. Lower risk or underutilized credit line accounts should be reviewed with sales for potential up-sell opportunities. Higher risk accounts should be queued for appropriate actions. Collections strategies do not have to be overly complex, but should be documented so that the organization has a clear treatment for each type of invoice. Given the current economic climate many collections departments are revaluating their strategies and touching accounts earlier in the cycle.

Score your entire portfolio monthly (at least quarterly) or use a monitoring service to watch every day

With customers deteriorating quickly and long-term consistent payers suddenly degrading, you cannot afford to not score your accounts regularly. The pricing and effort required to do this is no longer the barrier it once was in the past. Every new customer and any request for a change in credit line should be thoroughly vetted.

Publish your newly scored portfolio results to upper management & sales

With risk on the rise the entire company needs better visibility into the financial health of the customer base. Involving sales early in the process to qualify targets or before an account gets to far past due can help avoid internal conflicts, the potential loss of a customer, and future risk of default.

Derive credit line & collections decisions based a wider variety of information—not just internal payment experience

Payment risk scores based on a wide variety of contributing partners can help provide a complete picture. Are you being paid better or worse than the average? Couple this with other pertinent information such as tax liens, judgments, bankruptcy and important news for clues into warning signs that may impact a customer’s ability to pay.

Posted in: Collecting, Collections, Monitoring, Tips
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2010/10/14/segment-and-assign-sales-collections-strategies-part-ii-practical-credit-collections-tips/
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Start Credit Scoring Your Customers and Prospects (Part I – Practical Credit & Collections Tips)

October 10th, 2010 by Alex Coté

This week I’m kicking off a three part series of practical tips you can put to use immediately. The first post helps set the foundation for better company-wide insights about the payment risk of all of your customers. The next two posts help you take action.

Every business has them. They are a drag on margins and eat up countless hours of time for branch managers, sales execs and finance pros. They are dealt with in the back office and through repeated phone conversations, emails, faxes and letters. The customers that looked good on paper, but quickly went downhill and stopped paying their bills.

The reality for most companies is that the financial health of their customers is worse today than a few years ago. With many banks unable or unwilling to lend, businesses are finding themselves in the position of waiting longer and longer to get paid as customers are slowing payments to manage their own limited capital. Given the cash flow and credit crunch, taking on new customers is critical to making up the difference, but it also runs the risk of exacerbating the problem, as an expanded portfolio runs the risk of carrying tomorrow’s slow payers, non-payers and bankruptcies.

How can a business – often with thousands if not tens of thousands of customers — maximize sales performance and optimize cash flow while not taking on an overly risky group of customers? The answer lies in a few precautionary steps that any company from large to small can follow.

Score your entire portfolio monthly (at least quarterly) or use a monitoring service to watch every day

With customers deteriorating quickly and long-term consistent payers suddenly degrading, you cannot afford to not score your accounts regularly.
The pricing and effort required to do this is no longer the barrier it once was in the past. Every new customer and any request for a change in credit line should be thoroughly vetted.

Publish your newly scored portfolio results to upper management & sales

With risk on the rise the entire company needs better visibility into the financial health of the customer base. Involving sales early in the process to qualify targets or before an account gets to far past due can help avoid internal conflicts, the potential loss of a customer, and future risk of default.

Derive credit line & collections decisions based a wider variety of information—not just internal payment experience

Payment risk scores based on a wide variety of contributing partners can help provide a complete picture. Are you being paid better or worse than the average?
Couple this with other pertinent information such as tax liens, judgments, bankruptcy and important news for clues into warning signs that may impact a customer’s ability to pay

In my next post I’ll take a look at how to put this information to use for both collections and better sales targeting.

(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Success with Cortera: John Pomilio, Vice President, Customer Financial Services, XTRA Lease

July 26th, 2011 by Alex Coté

Check out this interview with Cortera customer John Pomilio, Vice President, Customer Financial Services for XTRA Lease.

“I’m really excited about the Pulse Product.”
“I love Cortera because it truly is a partnership.”

Posted in: Community, Cortera PULSE, Information, Interviews, Monitoring, Tips, User Group
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2011/07/26/success-with-cortera-john-pomilio-vice-president-customer-financial-services-xtra-lease/
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Success with Cortera: Judy Waters, Director of Credit, WinWholesale

June 3rd, 2011 by Alex Coté

Check out this interview with Cortera customer Judy Waters, Director of Credit for WinWholesale.

See how WinWholesale Inc. one of the leading suppliers of domestic and industrial supplies and materials has optimized their credit and collections operations with the help of Cortera. Judy discusses her success in leading her team of credit and collections professionals in a high-volume environment leveraging Cortera’s full suite of offerings.

Posted in: Community, Company, Interviews
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2011/06/03/success-with-cortera-judy-waters-director-of-credit-winwholesale/
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Business Credit Technology Tips from a Global Credit Management Pro

March 14th, 2011 by Alex Coté

A Q&A with Kevin Corcoran, Former Global Credit Architect, Sun Microsystems and principal at European credit & collections processes consultancy 4pcl

As a global credit leader with responsibilities worldwide for much of your career, tell us about some of the challenges you’ve experienced both in Europe and globally.

Within any credit management role I’ve always believed that you need a strong policy as this is where good process comes from. It’s the process to tell everyone what you do and how you do it. It’s the process to tell everyone else what they need to do to get what they need from you. It’s the document that states what the process, rules and tools are that manage the process. Having said that, there is a major challenge in getting a policy to a globally acceptable state. The challenge is mainly in the perception of locations that need to adopt it but it can be done and you will find that generally the only variations need to be fiduciary and legislative.

Another challenge is that varying qualities in credit reporting and financial data that is available. In my opinion there is no one credit reporting agency that has quality global coverage. The global players now tend to work through partners or are just resellers of information. In general, in order to get the best information you need to get a combination of suppliers otherwise you will get a mixed bag of quality. I’ve always looked for the best supplier in each time zone as this keeps it simpler to manage.

Generally, if you have a good policy and good tools a global process does get accepted and welcomed. People enjoy working with good direction and good support.

What excites you most about the new technology you are seeing out there?

Some of the technology that I’ve seen that is exciting is still in the very early days and I have no idea how it will work in a credit environment. The whole process of getting credit decisions and reporting via mobile telephony – I know of company’s who are looking to cover the more complex regions and they will be taking a photo of the customer premises and doing local research with neighbours and other local businesses and then sending the results by phone and all for a few dollars. That’s exciting to me and how will it develop.

I’m still excited by the existing automation and workflow solutions as I think we are just touching the surface. Why can’t the systems be even more interactive? Can they auto resolve queries – I think they can in some instances such as validating short deliveries, correct discounts, etc. Does it really need a person to do that?

I’m not even advocating reducing heads – what I’m suggesting is using the heads you have to better use their skills on work that actually uses those skills rather than general administration.

What about the social network sites? Can you really use them to supplement credit checking and collections. Some people are saying that you can and is it really too far a stretch to think it can be done?

Like it or not, technology in the credit environment is moving forward as fast as in any other and we need to test it, develop it and embrace it. You may enjoy it.

You’ve been in commercial credit for over 25 years. How has it changed since you first started? What still remains the same?

This is a massive question as so much has changed around support and perception although the core role of a Credit Manager hasn’t really changed that much. The Credit Manager makes decisions for the business based upon a combination of ensuring that they take appropriate levels of risk to pursue sales opportunities, while maintaining balance sheet quality and at the same time trying to ensure consistency and quality in that decision process. You can argue about the words that I use, but that’s what we do.

The big changes have really revolved around the technology that now exists to support those decisions. The workflow solutions that manage administrative tasks and ensure activities take place when they are due. The still emerging role of scorecards in the B2B market which delivers consistency and filters out the more complex decisions to allow the Credit Manager to use their skills on accounts that really do need that expertise.

To a certain extent the level of data that has become available through information agencies – and you can tell that this has gone as far as the local customs and legislation allow by the volume of add ons the suppliers offer to boost sales and justify cost increases whether you want the extra data or not. The skill of the Credit Manager is identifying who actually does add value in information at a reasonable cost.

Internally, the Credit Manager is, in some cases still struggling against the sales prevention tag. It is less, and the there is a lot more understanding of how the Credit Manager is a business enabler as they find inventive tools and processes to aid sales. The successful Credit Manager will always generate some level of tension with the sales team – it’s the resolution of that tension that generates respect and understanding on both sides so long may it continue.

The Credit Manager is still a skilled professional who is now getting more respect and there is more understanding in a difficult financial market of how they protect cash flow and the bottom line for a business.

What hasn’t changed is that there is a point that the Credit Manager needs to bring their skills to the fore and make a decision that benefits the business and the customer. This is a skill that has come about by training and experience – no tools can replace this. The information may be deeply hidden, good or bad, and the Credit Manager will find this and use it to make a decision. Some call it “gut feel” but I think it’s more than that – I think it’s a good business understanding, it’s good detective work and it’s good decision making all coupled with a good financial knowledge.

Posted in: Interviews
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2011/03/14/business-credit-technology-tips-from-a-global-credit-management-pro/
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Credit & Collections Tips from a Wholesale Industry Vet

September 30th, 2010 by Alex Coté

A Q&A with Judy Waters, Director of Credit, WinWholesale

How did your department weather the economic storm we’ve seen over the last couple of years?

“Much of our business is in residential home construction which was obviously hit hard. 2008 was a rough year – it was for everyone. But in some ways that was a good thing. We sat down with senior management and got a significant amount of support to make changes and refine our processes to better protect the business. We built a system that makes credit management part of our regular processes not an afterthought. We were able to get involved with customers earlier and even upfront to protect a job before you even ship the first material which has contributed to the bottom line. Even though it was tough climate we were able to keep bad debt down to almost pre-recession levels.”

There have been quite a bit of press coverage of the tight credit markets – Can you talk about the credit conditions for your industry in general? Are distributors in general picking up the slack and becoming a bank to their customers?

“Yes – we have always been a bank for our customers, but that’s the nature of our customer base and the industry overall. Most business is on credit sales, especially for smaller customers that have never had a bank line and won’t get one in this credit environment. They rely on supplier credit and the deposit from their next job to keep cash flow going. We know our smaller customers can be higher risk, so we try to find the best security on each job and have tightened up our collections strategies as necessary. We try to make the credit work. Our industry is very fragmented. Even though sales are down for everyone, the company that is still able to aggressively work with customers actually has an opportunity to increase their sales as competitors weaken. We are well capitalized, so for us it’s an opportunity for us to take market share.”

You’ve been in a credit leadership position in wholesale distribution for the last 20 years and lived through both a boom & bust cycle – can you offer some advice?

“Wholesale distribution is all about customer relationships. It’s not like you are working in a call center. My people work the same customers year in and year out, they develop relationships with them, they communicate well with them. Working credit for this industry is about establishing and creating those relationships and using that information to guide you. I’m a big believer in the cradle to grave approach to credit management – credit managers making their own decisions all the way through collections. That said we do have scorecards and credit polices built into Cortera’s eCredit software along with credit limit authorities – exceptions to the policies have to be documented and approved. In our business we deal with so many small customers it can be difficult to get good credit information. In reality most of our customers are a higher credit risk than the general business community at large –we just need to know how much risk and how to follow-up after the deal is done. We use multiple sources of information. Our job is not to be the sales prevention department. We try to figure out a way to make the sale make sense even if a customer appears to be pretty risky. We do try to make it work.”

Posted in: Interviews, Tips
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2010/09/30/credt-and-collections-tips-in-the-wholesale-industry/
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Tips for Collecting from a Long Time Customer

July 28th, 2010 by Alex Coté

A Q&A with Dave Schier, Credit Manager, Jacobus Energy

The last 18 months have certainly been a challenge for credit pros as even your oldest customers have become problem accounts. Can you share some of your tips on how to collect from a long-term customer that has started paying slower than normal or not at all (without jeopardizing the future relationship)?

Dave Schier: No easy solution. Usually I sit down and speak with the higher ups (owner, controller, VP, etc) to discuss. We talk about profitability of the account and how their payment affects our profit. I let them know that our purpose in business is to make a profit while maintaining a partnership with our customers. I try to keep it simple sticking to the facts but still let them understand that there is little reason to business with anyone, even a long term customer, if it isn’t profitable.

How far do you push it before you walk away?

Dave Schier: Like in any negotiation, in order to be successful, the customer has to infer (without you saying it outright) that you’re willing to walk away from the business if an agreement can’t be reached.

Posted in: Interviews
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2010/07/28/tips-for-collecting-from-a-long-time-customer/
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New Mexico Businesses Tops in Late Payments, Hawaii a Close Second

September 19th, 2011 by Alex Coté

Top 10 States with the most amount of businesses accounts receivable debt past due (July 2011)

State	% Business A/R Debt Past Due
New Mexico	23.16%
Hawaii	23.11%
Florida	22.85%
Wisconsin	22.62%
Colorado	22.05%
Washington	21.60%
Missouri	20.98%
Oregon	20.92%
Minnesota	20.42%
Connecticut	20.32%

Top 10 States with the least amount of businesses accounts receivable debt past due (July 2011)

State	% Business A/R Debt Past Due
Alaska	7.16%
West Virginia	9.38%
Utah	9.98%
Kentucky	10.65%
North Dakota	10.81%
Maryland	11.57%
Pennsylvania	12.31%
Rhode Island	12.85%
Ohio	13.06%
Virginia	13.22%

Posted in: Economy, Market Trends
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2011/09/19/new-mexico-businesses-tops-in-late-payments-hawaii-a-close-second/
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Latest Cortera Supply Chain Index Steady Near Historic Lows

September 13th, 2011 by Alex Coté

A three year view of the Cortera Supply Chain Index and other industry data and figures are available on Cortera’s Market Trends website.

Media Inquiries: please contact Alex Coté at 857-403-1370.

Posted in: Market Trends, Supply Chain, Supply Chain Index (SCI)
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2011/09/13/latest-cortera-supply-chain-index-steady-near-historic-lows/
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Florida Businesses Tops in Late Payments for Second Straight Month

December 10th, 2010 by Alex Coté

For the second straight month Florida businesses on average are the slowest at paying their invoices in the nation. According to Cortera’s monthly report on businesses accounts receivable debt past due by state for October 2010, Florida businesses are 24.21% past due making them the slowest in the country. On a positive note, Alaska tops the most current list at only 6.51% past due – the only state below 10% past due. The top 10 lists are below.

Top 10 States with the most amount of businesses accounts receivable debt past due (October 2010)

State	% Business A/R Debt Past Due
Florida	24.21%
New Mexico	22.45%
Minnesota	22.44%
Oregon	22.30%
Illinois	22.04%
Hawaii	22.00%
Oklahoma	21.87%
Georgia	21.70%
Indiana	21.49%
Wisconsin	21.20%

Top 10 States with the least amount of businesses accounts receivable debt past due (October 2010)

State	% Business A/R Debt Past Due
Alaska	6.51%
Wyoming	10.52%
Utah	10.53%
Maine	10.56%
South Dakota	11.40%
Louisiana	11.70%
New Hampshire	11.94%
North Dakota	12.71%
Mississippi	13.41%
Vermont	14.05%

Posted in: Economy, Market Trends
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2010/12/10/florida-businesses-tops-late-payments-for-second-straight-month/
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Florida on Top of Business Late Payments by State, Michigan a Close Number Two

November 19th, 2010 by Alex Coté

It’s not exactly the title you want to win, but Florida businesses on average are the slowest at paying their invoices in the nation. According to Cortera’s monthly report on businesses accounts receivable debt past due by state for September 2010, Florida businesses are 23.91% past due making them the slowest in the country. Michigan came in number two at 23%. On the bright side, businesses in states like Alaska, Wyoming and Maine remain below 10% past due. The top 10 lists are below.

Top 10 States with the most amount of businesses accounts receivable debt past due (September 2010)

State	% Business A/R Debt Past Due
Florida	23.91%
Michigan	23.00%
Oregon	22.48%
Minnesota	22.41%
Illinois	21.75%
New Mexico	21.75%
Hawaii	21.54%
Indiana	21.19%
Washington	21.00%
Georgia	20.81%

Top 10 States with the least amount of businesses accounts receivable debt past due (September 2010)

State	% Business A/R Debt Past Due
Alaska	6.90%
Wyoming	9.92%
Maine	9.93%
South Dakota	10.87%
Utah	10.92%
North Dakota	10.96%
Louisiana	11.23%
New Hampshire	11.88%
Mississippi	13.19%
Kansas	14.13%

Posted in: Industry Metrics, Market Trends
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2010/11/19/florida-on-top-of-business-late-payments-by-state-michigan-a-close-number-two/
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Cortera Supply Chain Index Up, In Line with Seasonal Payment Slowness

November 4th, 2010 by Alex Coté

Our latest Cortera Supply Chain Index (SCI) numbers are in and jumped by 13% over the prior month. While this might seem like a big jump, this typical for this time of year as we head into the holiday season and businesses tend to slow payments to help finance their expanded inventory. Still, since the beginning of 2010 the Cortera SCI has trended back down to levels last seen in early 2008.

As we look back on the Cortera SCI over the last few years it correlates nicely with both the ISM’s Purchasing Managers Index and NACM’s Credit Managers Index—as both indices started contracting in late 2008 (below 50 on the scale), US businesses also began to slow their invoice payments to their suppliers. In 2009 and 2010 as both the PMI and CMI began to improve and show economic expansion, the SCI also began to improve as businesses became more confident in future sales and made more timely payments to their suppliers.

Posted in: Market Trends, Supply Chain, Supply Chain Index (SCI)
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2010/11/04/cortera-supply-chain-index-up-in-line-with-seasonal-payment-slowness/
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(2 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)

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Latest Supply Chain Index Steady at Lowest Levels in Over Two Years

July 28th, 2010 by Alex Coté

The June 2010 Cortera Supply Chain Index (SCI) remains in record low territory dropping to 6.79 days beyond terms (DBT), its second lowest level since the index was started in January 2007 and the third consecutive month below 7 days—all good news. The lower the SCI the better as business confidence rises and businesses pay their suppliers in a timely manner. The SCI measures the payment activities of approximately 300,000 businesses covering manufacturers, distributors & wholesalers, retailers, services, and transportation companies.

The June 2010 ISM Manufacturing Report on Business also showed healthy numbers with the eleventh consecutive month of expansion in manufacturing activity. However, it’s not all positive news as the ISM index dropped from 59.7 in May to 56.2 in June. Readings above 50 indicate an expansion; below 50, a contraction. One area to watch is the new orders component of the ISM index – it dropped from 58.5 to 65.7. While still in expansion territory this could indicate a more moderate pace in the second half of 2010. The Commerce Department also reported today that demand for durable goods dropped 1 percent in June—another sign that the recovery may be losing steam. We’ll be watching the SCI closely for any signs of weakness.

Posted in: Economy, Market Trends, Supply Chain, Supply Chain Index (SCI)
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2010/07/28/latest-supply-chain-index-steady-at-lowest-levels-in-over-two-years/
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Small Business Index Hits Best Levels Since 2007

July 26th, 2010 by Alex Coté

As we do each month, today, we published our latest report of small business payment activities (see chart below). After watching as the gap grew between the payment habits of large and small businesses throughout the worst periods of the recession, both indices have now converged into a tighter pattern. The SBI peaked out in December 2008 at 12.66 days beyond terms and now stands at 7.02 days – the lowest level since we created the index back in August of 2007. This kind of improvement in paying behavior is typically a sign of confidence, as owners and managers feel more comfortable with the expectation of replenishing cash as new business comes in the door. The latest survey results from the NFIB also support a more confident outlook. In May, the NFIB Small-Business Optimism Index recorded another advance, rising 1.6 points to 92.2. The largest index component improvements were found in expectations of economic conditions (+8 points) and plan to increase inventories (+4 points).

Posted in: Economy, Market Trends, Small Business, Smalll Business Index
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2010/07/26/small-business-index-hits-best-levels-since-2007/
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Consumer, Business Delinquency Data Reveal Mixed View on Recovery, Stress

March 18th, 2010 by Alex Coté

Earlier this week, CNBC (via Reuters) published what looks to be great news when it comes to embattled consumers: Major credit card companies were reporting an improvement in delinquent payments. Simply put, their clients (aka The consumer), were suddenly paying their bills at a faster clip. And while reasons other than improved personal finances were floated (like the use of year-end bonuses to pay down debt), most reporters covering the story – and the companies reporting the good news – suggested this was indeed a sign of the long awaited consumer rebound.

Fast forward to today and Cortera’s related business view of debt and delinquencies – our Past Due by State Report – and the picture looks a little less rosy. Unless of course, you’re a business owner in Nevada.

According to our just published data, businesses in the top-ten most delinquent states look to be trending in the wrong direction, revealing a less than uniform impact of the supposedly improving economy. In fact, 9 of the top 10 most delinquent states showed delinquencies actually getting worse.

One of the nice exceptions is Nevada, far too long a poster child for delinquent businesses. As it turns out, Nevada businesses improved to the point that the state no longer makes the dubious top ten list. And that welcome surprise might be as much a sign of impending recovery as consumers suddenly finding the cash to pay down their personal debts.

So how is the recovery impacting debt, delinquencies and deadbeats in your neck of the woods? Is cash suddenly flowing quicker or is the stress still front and center? We’d love to hear from you.

Posted in: Economy, Industry Metrics, Market Trends
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2010/03/18/consumer-business-delinquency-data-reveal-mixed-view-on-recovery-stress/
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(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

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Credit by association: Chamber members offer safest bets when it comes to commercial credit

February 22nd, 2010 by Alex Coté

Visit your local chamber of commerce website and you are bound to see list of reasons to join – the benefits of membership. Among the most common cited: networking, advocacy and public policy, awareness and marketing, and of course, local credibility. And now we can add another to the list – one uniquely relevant to small businesses in today’s economic landscape: Attracting credit.

According to a Cortera study produced for the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE), chamber members consistently received better credit scores than other businesses in their region, their states, and across the country as a whole. The study covers 10 regional chambers to ensure both geographic and economic diversity. To a chamber, member businesses scored well above 600, compared to the national average of 557, even in hard hit states like Oregon and Florida.

When we asked the respective chamber execs why such a favorable discrepancy exists, some suggested it matched with the responsible corporate citizen profile of the average chamber member. Others pointed to a great sense of partnership and local commerce responsibility – local businesses helping each other out by paying their bills more rapidly and ensuring fluid cash flow for all. Still others pointed to the types of programs chambers put in place to ensure members were always up to speed on the best finance, accounting and credit practices. Whatever the answer, one thing is clear: When comes to credit in this era of risk adverse lenders and trading partners, chamber members enjoy a distinct competitive advantage.

Posted in: Economy, Industry Metrics, Market Trends
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2010/02/22/credit-by-association-chamber-members-offer-safest-bets-when-it-comes-to-commercial-credit/
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Oregon businesses: “The check is in the mail”

January 27th, 2010 by Alex Coté

Good news, Nevada. You’re no longer the poster child for delinquent payments. While it’s a bit too soon to be popping the champagne – Nevada still ranks #1 in percentage of accounts 90+ days beyond term – Oregon businesses now own the dubious distinction of leading the nation in late payments. According to our latest Past Due by State report unveiled this morning, more than 20 percent of Oregon-based business accounts receivable are past due, the highest percentage of any of the 50 states. Alaska, in contrast, continues to enjoy the lowest percent of past due accounts, with just over 6 percent past due. The national average is hovering in a familiar range of just over 16 percent, which has been the norm over the past year.

Joining Oregon on the less-than-favorable top 10 list are Wisconsin (20.46 percent past due), New Mexico (19.79), Florida (19.72), Minnesota (19.64), Nevada (19.55), Michigan (19.15), New York (18.30), and Hawaii (18.05).

As the saying goes, “if I don’t get paid, you don’t get paid.” Timely payments are critical to ensuring fluid cash flow and therefore optimizing working capital. Unlike the larger credit story, where business owners can quickly point to banks and other lenders for their woes, we’re all in this one together. And at the risk of over simplifying, we all control our own interdependent destinies. Pick your suppliers, partners and even clients carefully, and make sure you take the time to assess and reassess risk when it comes to the payment behavior of those directly responsible for your cash flow. Or adopt a strategy of doing business exclusively with Alaskan companies.

Posted in: Economy, Industry Metrics, Market Trends
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2010/01/27/oregon-businesses-the-check-is-in-the-mail/
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(2 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)

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Spot New Revenue Opportunities in Your Customer Base with Cortera Growth Clues

May 2nd, 2011 by Alex Coté

We launched our first iPhone and iPad app for Cortera’s customer monitoring service, PULSE back in February. Today we are happy to announce a new version of our app that adds our latest type of alert: Growth Clues. With Cortera PULSE we constantly monitor over 20 million public & private companies for meaningful changes in their business. Growth Clues™ is a new type of daily alert (that was previously only available in our web product) that is designed to help sales leaders, executives and business owners spot new revenue opportunities within their customer base. Now it is also available within our iPhone & iPad app. This type of alert is one of several Cortera PULSE alerts designed to give you hints that a customer is in a growth phase. Alerts are triggered by positive signals such as increased purchasing, new funding, or expansion that could present growth opportunities for your business.

In addition to the updates you receive in your iPhone & iPad app, you will also receive a daily email alerting you to which of your customers need your attention. With Growth Clues you will now know exactly where to prioritize sales efforts and take action. We look at five main categories and notify you when we spot an opportunity:

Increase in key purchases
Improving payment behavior
Signs of operational changes
Signs of improving financial conditions
Signs of increased online activity

The app is available for immediate download in the iTunes AppStore. If you are currently a Cortera PULSE™ subscriber, the app is free. Simply search for Cortera in the AppStore, download the Cortera PULSE app and enter your online username and password. You’ll have your daily PULSE alerts delivered right to your iPhone or iPad.

With the Cortera PULSE app you will be able to access your daily alerts including:

Recent financial and business news articles
Bankruptcy filings
Tax liens
Civil Judgments
Payment behavior score changes
And now Growth Clues

You also get a monthly benchmark report that gives your management team insights into your riskiest accounts and customers that should be paying you faster. All for only $99/month for an unlimited number of customers and users.

Not a Cortera PULSE subscriber? Click here to learn more or call 877-569-7376.

Get the app today! Download the app here (iTunes link).

Posted in: Company, Cortera PULSE, Cortera Update, iPad, iPhone, Pulse
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2011/05/02/spot-new-revenue-opportunities-in-your-customer-base-with-cortera-growth-clues/
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(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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NAW Endorses Cortera

April 12th, 2011 by Alex Coté

We are excited to announce today that the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW has entered into a strategic alliance with Cortera®. Through this alliance, the NAW is featuring Cortera PULSE™ a daily alert system and a proactive approach to business that monitors over 20,000,000 companies – both public and private. Cortera PULSE gives wholesale distribution finance executives, business owners and sales & marketing professionals the ability to continuously monitor all of their customers for meaningful changes in their business and alerts them once a day to potential opportunity and risk so they can take immediate action. Daily alerts include:

Significant changes in Cortera Payment Report (Cortera CPR™) risk scores
Financial and operational news, covering over 10,000 publications
Growth clues, signs a business is expanding
Bankruptcy filings
Tax liens and civil judgments

“We only endorse companies that we truly feel represent the best of the best for our members, said Dirk Van Dongen, President, National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors. “Having personally worked with Cortera over the last several months and watched their solutions in action at NAW member companies I fully recommend their suite of business information products. For any distributor looking for better insights about their customers and suppliers, Cortera should be their first stop.”

Read the official press release here.

Posted in: Company, Cortera PULSE, Cortera Update, Information, Monitoring, NAW, Supply Chain
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2011/04/12/naw-endorses-cortera/
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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The Cortera Pulse iPhone and iPad App is Here!

February 18th, 2011 by Alex Coté

Today we are excited to announce our first iPhone and iPad app for Cortera’s customer monitoring service, PULSE. The app is available for immediate download in the iTunes AppStore. If you are currently a Cortera PULSE™ subscriber, the app is free. Simply search for Cortera in the AppStore, download the Cortera PULSE app and enter your online username and password. You’ll have your daily PULSE alerts delivered right to your iPhone or iPad.

With the Cortera PULSE app you will be able to access your daily alerts including:

Recent financial and business news articles
Bankruptcy filings
Tax liens
Civil Judgments
Payment behavior score changes (CPR)

Not a Cortera PULSE subscriber?

Click here to learn more or call 877-569-7376.

Cortera PULSE continuously monitors all of your customers for meaningful changes in their business and alerts you once a day to potential opportunity and risk so you can take immediate action. You also get a monthly benchmark report that gives your management team insights into your riskiest accounts and customers that should be paying you faster. All for only $99/month for an unlimited number of customers and users.

Get the app today!

Download the app here (iTunes link).

Posted in: Company, Cortera PULSE, Cortera Update, iPad, iPhone, Monitoring, Pulse
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2011/02/18/cortera-pulse-iphone-and-ipad-app/
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(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)

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Fresh Perspectives 2010 Photos

November 1st, 2010 by Alex Coté

Thanks to everyone who helped make Fresh Perspectives 2010, Cortera’s Global Customer Conference a success!

Posted in: Community, Company, Cortera Update
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2010/11/01/fresh-perspectives-2010-photos/
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Customer Credit Risk Monitoring with Cortera Pulse

August 31st, 2010 by Alex Coté

So many customers and so little time! Do more with less! Over the years I have had countless discussions with credit pros on how to best monitor their customer base for any sign of degradation and what comes screaming out of those discussions is the need for a new approach. There are two ends of the spectrum – those with lots of tools and resources and then those relying on manual research, customer experience and whatever they can find on the web for free.

So credit leaders at the high end are in information overload. They are bombarded with free and paid sources mostly focused on large public companies, internal systems, and management reports. At the other end, there are those without many information sources or tools who are also overloaded with manual research, weeding through cumbersome reports and simply relying on institutional knowledge. For both groups getting solid intelligence on the vast majority of their portfolio (likely close to 100% private companies) is still a challenge.

This week we are rolling out Cortera PULSE. You’ll find a simplified approach to customer risk monitoring and alerting. If you are like me, you want the facts without any fluff and that’s just what gets delivered each day. Here is what you get:

The ability to monitor all of your customers
A single, daily risk alert in a consolidated, easy to follow format
Alerts on liens, judgments, bankruptcies, news and credit score changes
Thousands of news sources consolidated down to only the financial stories that matter to you
Coverage of 20,000,000+ private businesses (public too, but that’s the easy stuff)
A monthly management report that sums up your customer portfolio with actionable insights into your top credit balance accounts, riskiest accounts, most collectible accounts and more

Interested in learning more? We’ll give you a personal tour. Give us a call or click here.

Posted in: Company, Cortera Update, Monitoring
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2010/08/31/customer-credit-risk-monitoring-with-cortera-pulse/
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(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Congratulations to Our Comeback 2010 Contest Winners!

July 6th, 2010 by Alex Coté

After a long and arduous struggle to weigh the considerable merits of our semi-finalists’ submissions, our talented panel of judges has finally emerged with our Comeback 2010 contest winners!

You can check them all out here, at our official contest site: www.thecomeback2010.com

We’d just like to take a moment to thank all of the entrants for their thoughtful submissions. We were genuinely moved by the amount of time, effort, and creativity that went into each of the entries, and we wish you all the best as you continue to drive your businesses forward.

Thanks again for spending time with us over the past few months, and we look forward to seeing all of you in the Cortera community!

Posted in: Community, Company, Cortera Credit Exchange, Cortera Update
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2010/07/06/congratulations-to-our-comeback-2010-contest-winners/
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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The Final Round! Cortera Announces Semi-Finalists in the Comeback 2010 Contest!

June 28th, 2010 by Alex Coté

It’s finally time – after receiving over 275 fantastic entries into our Comeback 2010 small business competition, Cortera is pleased to announce the semi-finalists for each of our four categories. These twelve submissions are the cream of the crop – advanced by a group of some of the most interesting small businesses we’ve come across.

Our contest sought to find the best small business stories out there – those that inspired while providing insight on how small businesses can continue to thrive in tough times. It’s no secret that it’s been difficult out there for American small business owners lately, and we found ourselves truly taken by the quality of the submissions.

So, head on over to our contest site to look at our semi-finalists – thecomeback2010.com – learn more about each of them, and view some of our other outstanding entries!

Posted in: Community, Company, Cortera Update
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2010/06/28/the-final-round-cortera-announces-semi-finalists-in-the-comeback-2010-contest/
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(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Cortera Circles – the next big thing in business credit – launched at FinovateSpring 2010

June 17th, 2010 by Alex Coté

In case you missed the live event here is our video from Finovate Spring 2010.

Jim and Alex on stage demoing Cortera Circles. Create your Circle today! www.cortera.com

Posted in: Circles, Company, Cortera Credit Exchange, Cortera Update, Credit Groups, Credit Network, Finovate
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2010/06/17/cortera-circles-the-next-big-thing-in-business-credit-launched-at-finovatespring-2010/
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Highlights from NACM Credit Congress 2010

May 24th, 2010 by Alex Coté

I just spent 5 days last week at the National Association of Credit Management‘s 114th Credit Congress & Exposition 2010 in Las Vegas – it was my 10th year attending so I’ve seen my fair share of this event over the years. I have to say this is the first time in many years that I think everyone was enjoying their time in the expo (our staff, other vendors and attendees in general). Last year was a bit rough – the economy wreaked havoc on attendance and many were simply asking “what’s next” for their profession that had just been hit by more bankruptcies and business failures than seen in decades. This year was different. The attendees had pulled out of the haze of the Great Recession and were looking for tools, answers and most of all; change so that they’d be better protected the next time the economy takes a stumble.

I think it is safe to say that we caused the biggest stir at the show. We went through 700 buttons! Not bad considering there were roughly 1000 attendees. But, what was striking was how well received our commentary was among credit professionals. We pointed out what we think is wrong with our industry and what we are doing about it. It’s a pretty simple message – we are building great credit risk products based on the best of traditional products combined with the insights of the community and offering them to the market at the lowest possible prices – even free. Choice and competition is a good thing. Our booth traffic universally agreed with a genuine showing of enthusiasm over our approach and our products. What was even better was that attendees would tour the floor then come back for more with a common theme – “we are not seeing anything like this from anyone else here”. I thought this summed it up the best:

“I have never seen a company listen to what their customers are saying, and then put those suggestions into practice the way Cortera does. It is amazing what their product suite does and how it continues to adapt to the ever changing needs of the credit profession. I would not want to do my job without Cortera.”

- Darrell Horton, Revenue and AR Manager, Shuffle Master, Inc.

All and all it was a great show. The booth was swamped with customers, other vendors and prospects that were universally saying the same thing: “It’s about time.” I have a few more poignant others too, but I can’t exactly quote those here

Posted in: Business Credit, Circles, Community, Company, Cortera Update, Credit Groups, NACM, User Group
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2010/05/24/highlights-from-nacm-credit-congress-2010/
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Social networking + P2P + credit groups = a renaissance of relationships in commercial credit

May 12th, 2010 by Alex Coté

What a day! Yesterday we launched Cortera Circles™ – another industry first – enabling business professionals from any organization to form their own groups of trusted peers to exchange their ratings and reviews about the businesses they interact with.

Here are just a few examples of Circles created by members since we launched – all sharing their credit risk experiences:

“HVACR” Circle – A Group for the heating, air conditioning, plumbing and refrigeration industry.
“Manufacturing & Distribution – Heavy Duty Truck and Trailer” Circle – A group for manufacturers and Distribution of Truck and Trailer parts for new and pre-owned trucks and trailers, both over the road and off-road truck and trailer equipment.
“Sign Manufacturer” Circle – A group for the manufacturers of architectural signs.

I can’t help but think back to September 2009 when Cortera launched a community-based alternative to business credit reporting. Aimed at small businesses, who were often neglected from the credit reporting process, the service combined credit data with familiar social review and ratings functions — quite literally encouraging a crowdsourced approach to credit reports. The service became an instant hit with the press and a game changing, if not controversial, development in the 100+ year old business credit reporting market. With yesterday’s launch we are building on this successful community foundation while transforming risk management tools from static information solutions to dynamic, real-time social circles where people can share information. Traditionally organizing risk professionals into groups has been limited to the largest organizations. These groups, while highly useful in sharing credit information, meet only a few times per year and lack the efficient movement of risk information required to fully exploit the group’s organization.

The solution: Cortera Circles – A social extension to our platform that brings the tried-and-true – but often exclusive – concept of local and industry-based credit groups to the Web and the masses. Delivered as a free service, in a streamlined form, Circles can be created around a company, an industry or even project or job site–with each supplier and service provider providing their own unique perspective for ultimate financial transparency.

Create your Circle today and start getting the real-time insights you’ve always wanted from your most trusted peers.

Posted in: Business Credit, Business Credit Reports, Circles, Community, Company, Cortera Credit Exchange, Cortera Update, Credit Groups, Finovate, Free, Small Business
Permalink: http://www.start.cortera.com/2010/05/12/social-networking-p2p-credit-groups/
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