Frustrated you’re losing sales to competitors offering more relaxed terms of payment?

You may use more secure Terms of Payment than ‘open account’ with some customers, and this is particularly common with overseas buyers. Do you think your existing sales could be eroded, or are you missing out on opportunities where your foreign competitors may well be offering open account terms?

Example:

Our client is a manufacturer in the chemical sector, and supplies end customers and distributors in some difficult export markets. They were experiencing pressure from foreign competitors who were offering open account terms in some of these markets. We were able to obtain cover on a very specific basis for a handful of named customers, allowing our client to offer open account terms, secure in the knowledge that the risk of non-payment was covered.

“Competitors from the Far East were trying to establish relationships with our customers and despite having superior product quality and more reliable service, we needed to be seen to be flexible on our terms of payment. The credit insurance policy has helped us to do so but at the same time we feel we have mitigated the risk of non-payment successfully.” – Credit and Treasury Manager (EMEAI)