When you are working as credit analyst, you have to learn to say no from time to time and say yes some other times, and always to decide and convince with limited information.
You need to learn not only how to drive a car looking only into the mirror, but to do it as if you were in a race. At speed! Because you are! Customer has a need and will take whoever gives them the best solution, so being the first one in offering that solution could be pivotal for the final decision.
Being quick and accurate... that's the key for anybody working in the credit department of a finance company: Getting prompt and sound credit decisions is the most complex problem of a finance company and it cannot be overemphasized.
Fail to provide a quick decision and the criticism will be justified... fail to provide a good decision and criticism wont be needed.
Following are some suggestions and guidelines which, when followed, could speed up credit services:
• DEFINE: Gather as much essential credit data as possible when we first learn of the transaction. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, businessmen are accustomed to answering them.
• PREPARE: Explore with the customer at the outset alternative ways of handling the transaction. Then we can judge what his reaction will be if the approval has to be made on a basis other than as originally submitted. Example: "I don’t know what our credit committee’s decision will be, Mr. K., but, should it be a requirement, would you be willing to guarantee the transaction personally (or, put up additional collateral, increase the down payment, shorten the term, etc)?" Our customer is more likely to respond favorably to such questions when they only represent possibilities and we will save a lot of back and forth telephone calls.
• MEASURE: Don’t waste time waiting for the last bit of non-essential information. We should ask ourselves repeatedly, "Do we have enough essential information to make a decision now?" When we have it, make it.
• SUMMARIZE: Do submittals and write-ups so well that the person receiving our recommendation has only to read it, check a few facts in the file for accuracy, and say "yes" or "no". A good job, and the next voice on our telephone will give an approval. Do a bad job, and we will have to answer twenty questions.
• ADVANCE: Keep the deal moving. Don’t let it float in limbo between the credit and marketing departments or between levels of credit authority. When no one takes charge of a deal, the salesman thinks the credit person is working on it, the credit person thinks the salesman is getting the answer to a question for him; and after the deal is lost, everyone has useless explanations for how this misunderstanding occurred. Take charge! Push it along! Keep it moving!
• ACCEPT: Don’t beat dead horses. Move on to the next deal. We’ll get more approvals if we don’t waste time on hopeless cases.
• DECIDE: Think the deal through yourselves. Don’t take someone’s time on the next level of credit authority discussing possibilities. They want our opinion so let’s make up
our minds. A credit person gets paid to perform one thing, give his opinion and/or decision.
Take a decision! and do it quickly... but do not forget that accidents may lie ahead , and in those case you better be prepared to avoid use of crutches....
from Alejo Lopez Casao - Blog https://ift.tt/2SJmm9p