Bridge That Sales & Credit Department Divide

Lack of communication between sales and credit teams can lead to aging of accounts beyond terms, increased costs—or to (much worse) a write-off. With so much at risk, why can't these two groups just get along? They can, if they can rally enough support to begin a process. The departments must; 1. Build collaborative relationships
2. Implement a working process between departments
What's at the usual cause of the divide? Sales teams believe they do the important work which is making the sale. They usually feel they are the reason everyone else at the company is employed. The Credit team feels they have to ‘recover’ from the carelessness of some Sales team members and feels undervalued.
How can you cross the divide? A united front starts with making rules and procedures that everyone can live with. Communications are the most important part of that process.
Credit team – present a list of the problems common in collections and credit application processing. Collaborate with Sales to develop procedures that need to be in place to make necessary changes.
o Make sure credit applications are filled out completely.
o Establish rules to enter all customers following Alphabetic filing standard.
o Can a procedure be set in play for Credit to involve the Salesman in the collection process?

Bridge the divide with a unified message and tangible tools to help Sales and Credit better communicate which could improve the collection process and help Sales to see which customers they need to spend more time selling to.