Help! I can’t find a decent credit controller

01/06/2016

Do you find yourself investing significant time and resource in the recruitment process only to find yourself looking for another credit controller a few months later? You’re not the only one!

It’s a common bugbear we hear from many businesses. They spend ages going through the recruitment process to find the perfect credit controller for their company, only to find themselves repeating the process a few months down the line.

Whether it’s because the new recruit isn’t skilled enough to cope with the workload, they don’t fit in with your other employees or they move on to pastures new, sometimes it’s hard to retain talent, especially for smaller businesses who can’t always compete when it comes to salary.

And in a role as important as credit control, the impact this can have is much further reaching than the tangible of cost of recruitment. Without a constant and well-trained eye on the business’s sales legder, customer invoices can go unmonitored and exceed terms without action, making it even harder to collect payment once the replacement has been found.

So what can you do?

Firstly it’s important to look at where your hiring process is falling short. Is there a lack of talent available? Do you struggle to retain staff once they’ve started? Or, do you simply hire the wrong people?

If you’re struggling to keep employees you need to ask yourself why they are leaving.

Is it salary related? Do you offer enough training and feedback? Is the workload too strenuous? Or does the employee lack the tools needed to successfully complete the job?

Spotting trends in why your staff leave could help you to make improvements to ensure you retain your star employees.

Or, if the problem stems from you hiring the wrong person for your team, your recruitment process may need improving.

It can be beneficial to ask potential recruits to come in for a trial period, even if it’s just a few hours, to see how well they fit into your team.

This will give you better insight into their compatibility with your current staff so you can find the best fit for your business whilst checking they have the necessary skills to fulfil the job role.

Alternatively, instead of focusing all your efforts on adapting your recruitment strategy, have you considered outsourcing the task to the experts?

Specialist credit control companies exist which can take on the task for you, giving you back the time and resource to focus on your business without having to worry about recruiting and retaining credit controllers.

Not only will you benefit from their expertise – which can significantly improve results and reduce debtor days – you will avoid the costs associated with recruiting, training, managing and retaining employees.

For more on the reasons, risks and rewards of outsourcing your credit control take a look at this blog. Alternatively to speak to one of our expert credit control team about how we could help your business call 0800 9774848 or email collections@hiltonbaird.co.uk.