Remember the new customers or subscribers you brought on last year, and how great they looked on paper? High credit score, low revolving debt—clean as a whistle, solid as a rock.
How do those stellar profiles look right now, in 2011? Still solid? Or has their luster recently faded? In today’s uncertain environment, it’s both a legitimate and prudent question credit departments should often ask.
Regular portfolio reviews: illuminate, eliminate
Because of the financial relationship between your company and its customers, you have a right to make “soft” inquiries to uncover new credit-quality risk. Red Flag indicators include a recent bankruptcy, an increase in late payments, and other credit obligations staying past due longer. Whatever the changes are, you’re entitled to know them, and regular portfolio reviews are an effective way to illuminate (and eliminate) risk.
The other side of the coin
Thankfully, telecom/cable credit trends are not all gloom and doom. Many people have actually improved their scores and are good candidates for better terms, better rates and cross-sell opportunities that can increase your wallet share.
Of course, once you land good customers, keeping them happy becomes paramount. Increasing the number of products or services they use can make customers “stickier” and more loyal.
So if, as mentioned in my previous post, acquisition is about prospect quality (not quantity), then retention and risk reduction are about regular portfolio reviews and keeping people happy. Supplementing reviews by letting customers know you value and appreciate their business, will help them stay put when pesky competitors come knocking.
