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Invoice
Factoring Companies
Business Resource Article, Part II
"How
to build a sustainable, Trust based Invoice Factoring Company"
Only “Trust” based factoring firms will be the survivors
in serving cash flow funding clients
How do I know if I have a trust based business financial
factoring firm? |
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Toll Free Phone
877.894.UCFC (8232)
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Again, the first step in the journey is to ask difficult
questions and do some corporate soul searching. As Greenleaf
notes , there are two distinct points on the trust pendulum; a
high trust vs. a low trust financing organization. Where is
your business finance firm on this spectrum relative to other
commercial factors? Take the Trust Culture test, by thinking
about which end of the spectrum your invoice factoring company
is on. Which of the two extremes do you honestly fall into
below, or are you in the middle?
Are you a low trust funding culture, with these visible signs? |
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High
control management of your factoring company |
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Political
posturing |
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Protectionism |
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Cynicism |
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Internal
Competition |
Or a high trust culture, as it relates to factoring
receivables, with these attributes? |
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Set
of Values, followed everyday in every aspect of cash flow
funding |
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Sense of
fairness, honesty, respect and contribution to employees and
financing clients |
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As a factor,
is yours an organization that builds a conscience? |
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Has an
“inward moral sense of what is right and wrong” in the
accounts receivables management industry |
It is imperative that your invoice factoring company knows
where it is on this spectrum, and develop a plan today to move
from a low trust to high trust business financing
organization. I am convinced that not only will the high trust
factoring companies succeed; they will endure when they are
committed to the daily utilization of the four dimensions of
Trust: |
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Sacrifice |
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Inspire |
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Ends = means |
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Factoring
Client Relationships are everything |
Let’s spend a minute and explore each of the 4 Greenleaf
dimensions of a high trust business financial services firm in
consideration of the factoring receivables industry.
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1. |
Sacrifice. When we sacrifice to serve receivables management
clients well, our cash flow funding firm will succeed and
survive. What this dimension asks is that we focus our efforts
and financial resources on serving our funding clients and
employees, not our own egos. If we focus on our own egos, we
may succeed for a while, but we cannot succeed over the long
term. Egos focus on our “own” survival, and are selfishly
ambitious but and myopic. |
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Difficult as
it is, we need to focus our efforts on serving all whom we
come in contact with; or accounts receivables clients,
partners, employees and others. When we do, this becomes the
conscience of the organization and all individuals are then
judged based on the service and contributions that they
provide to others. This service based approach becomes the
“bright light” that empowers all in the working capital
funding business.
Stephen Covey brilliantly notes the differences between an ego
based environment and a conscience based culture, as follows:
“Ego can’t sleep. It micro manages. It disempowers. It reduces
our capability. It excels in control. Conscience deeply
reveres people and sees the potential for self control.
Conscience empowers. It reflects the worth and value of all
people and affirms their power and freedom to choose. Then
natural self control emerges, imposed neither from above nor
from the outside.”
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2. |
Inspire. Easier said than done! When we seek to inspire others
in our invoice factoring company, we reaffirm that all on our
financing team are important, and that all are significant. In
a high “Trust” based environment, every single employee’s
contribution adds up to ensure the highest possible level of
service to receivables management clients. Do we try to
inspire with a positive comment or a reassuring suggestion to
all in our organization?
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3. |
That the
ends and the means are inseparable for growth as a commercial
factor. This is perhaps the most important dimension that
exists in a high “Trust” environment within business
financing.
I believe that this approach in working capital funding and
invoice discounting [where the path we take to reach the end
does make a huge difference] clearly illustrates the
difference between an ego based organization and one with a
servant mentality conscience.
Within the business financing arena, we have all been exposed
to individuals and funding organizations that lack the morals
and ethics to do things “the right way.” To them, cutting a
corner, acting in a manner that is deceitful and dishonest is
no big deal. Is it any surprise that when we then enter into a
business financing contract or Agreement with them, we can not
trust them to keep “their word”?
This dimension applies to factoring of accounts receivable and
invoice discounting also, and clearly exposes the differences
between an ego driven culture and one that has a “Trust” based
conscience. How so? Again, Covey hits the nail on the head by
illustrating the differences between the two:
“It is conscience that constantly tells us the value of both
ends and means and how they are inseparable. But it is ego
that tells us that the end justifies the means, unaware that a
worthy end can never be accomplished with an unworthy means.
It may appear that it can, but there are unintended
consequences that are not evident at fist that will eventually
destroy the end.”
From a historical perspective, Machiavelli represents the ego;
Kant represents the conscience. Kant taught that the means
used to accomplish the ends are as important [if not more
important in my opinion] as those ends. Machiavelli taught the
opposite; that the ends justify the means.
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4. |
Relationships are everything in business financial factoring.
In our specialized financial services practice, in our
community, in our families, in our marriages, in our
partnerships, with our employees and in our business funding
firms, the ability to serve invoice funding clients is
directly related to how well we strive to build and nurture
relationships, while increasing working capital and cash flow
for our clients. The famous saying the “no man is an island”
is truer today than ever before as applied to business
financial factoring. As the Internet, Blackberries, text
messaging and all of the technological marvels that we have at
our fingertips continue to become more main stream, it becomes
even more important to build personal relationships with our
partners and clients. The challenge as a commercial factor of
receivables is to be both “high tech” and “high touch”
simultaneously.
How can I reinforce with my funding clients that their
relationship is important to us? We have previously discussed
some of the ways we have tried to do this in our specialized
financial services practice. Some ideas include: |
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Professionally and constantly reinforce with them that your
goal is to be their funding partner, not their “vendor” |
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Communicate
to your accounts receivable financing clients, employees and
partners your Vision Statement that should include language on
your relationship goals for all |
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Survey your
invoice factoring clients to ensure that your level of
professional finance service exceeds their expectations. |
This article
continued (part 3):
Trust Based Financial Services
in Accounts Receivables Factoring:
How to build a sustainable
trust based financial services firm, Part II
View and Print this Article (pdf version):
Invoice Factoring:
Building a Trust Based Financial Services Firm
In this
series of articles to assist you in winning business and loyal
clients, Mark Mandula offers his guidance from the viewpoint
of an experienced business finance professional based in the
US.
Winning Business and
Loyal Clients in Invoice Finance (part I)
Winning Business and
Loyal Clients in Invoice Finance (part II)
Winning Business and
Loyal Clients in Invoice Finance (part III)
Winning Business and
Loyal Clients in Invoice Finance (part IV)
Winning Business and
Loyal Clients in Invoice Finance (part V)
Winning Business and
Loyal Clients in Invoice Finance (part VI)
Winning Business and
Loyal Clients in Invoice Finance (part VII)
Winning Business and
Loyal Clients in Invoice Finance (part VIII)
Other Invoice Factoring Articles of Interest
Trust Based Financial Services
in Factoring of Accounts
Receivables:
How to build a sustainable
trust based financial services firm
Winning Business
and Loyal Clients in Accounts Receivable Factoring "How to Sell More to Your Existing Clients"
Winning Business
and Loyal Clients in Accounts Receivable Factoring "Work
Smarter, Not Harder"
Factoring: Fact vs.
Myth: What types of companies use factoring?
Factoring: Fact vs.
Myth: Will factoring negatively affect your
customers perception of your company?
Factoring Company
Corporate Overview
Apply for Factoring Online
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