Thea Dudley
What to say when you can’t offer credit
Dear Thea, We have a customer who has been paying much later than their granted credit terms. We had to place them on a cash-on-delivery status for quite some time because of their chronic late payments.
Plant a seed with the right leader
What if you work for someone who does not believe credit department ever needs to change up how they do things?
Why pre-liens are important
I am a firm advocate of serving a preliminary lien notice or statutory notice whether it is required or not. I suggest you make it company policy.
The case of the ugly-credit customer
Dear Thea, I recently had a customer apply for credit, and their commercial credit report was UGLY. They owe everyone, and they’re past due 90+ days.
Is it ever just a name change?
I have a customer who has informed us that their company name has changed but everything else is staying the same.
Remember, tax laws vary from state to state
In a recent column you stated “Everyone knows that you don’t get a discount on sales tax. No one offers it because it is a government required item to collect and not part of an optional program.” While I know this is true in many areas, it’s not true here in Washington state.
How much can I charge for a past due fee?
Dear Thea,
We are currently charging late fees for past due invoices. We want to see if there are any guidelines out there for what to charge our customers. Thank you.
Everyone can win when a cash bond is involved
Dear Thea,
We had a recent inquiry from a prospective customer with poor business credit wanting to use a $10K cash bond to secure a line of credit with us.
The trouble with third-party credit agencies
If a cow doesn’t produce milk is it a milk dud or an udder failure? If your third-party credit agency isn’t working for you, why are they working for you?
The state of state lien laws
The mechanics lien process and all its related glory is by far the number one topic I get asked most about, and it's the most misunderstood and under-utilized tools in the credit and sales tool kit.