In this episode, Consultant and Trainer for Credit Management, Ken Young discusses the evolution of the credit management role, how to mentor the next generation of credit professionals and the importance of leading and retaining employees in today’s market conditions.
In this episode, Consultant and Trainer for Credit Management, Ken Young discusses the evolution of the credit management role, how to mentor the next generation of credit professionals and the importance of leading and retaining employees in today’s market conditions.
Welcome to Finance to Futurist, a Sidetrade podcast series on how innovation data and AI are disrupting order to cash.
Natalie Silverman:Hi, this is Natalie Silverman for Sidetrade. Welcome to Finance to Futurist. On today's episode, we have a special guest who has been a credit management professional consultant and trainer for over 25 years and has co-authored and compiled a book on mentorship for the credit profession. Please welcome Ken Young. Good morning, Ken and thanks for sitting down for Finance to Futurist.
Ken Young:Thanks, Natalie. It's great to be with you today.
Natalie Silverman:Well, thank you so much Ken, it was great to meet you in person at a recent event that we did up in Canada in Banff. And you know, I'm fascinated by your background. So I thought for our listeners, would you mind giving them a brief introduction about yourself and how you got to where you are today?
Ken Young:Sure, and I'll be glad to I've had many years of credit experience in various industries, the chemical industry, the aquaculture industry, raising salmon and other species around the world. Most recently, I was with Pepsi, I was the credit manager for Pepsi and Canada on the beverage side. When I was in the seafood industry, the aquaculture industry, I was credit manager, Americas. So I've got the kind of global experience. More recently, I guess, in the consulting part of what I've done more recently done a few projects that were kind of unique locations. Brunei, for example, Jamaica was another location that did a project in and keynote speaker in, so wide variety of experience. And I've served on a number of boards in Canada, and I've been advisor to NACM in the United States. Well that's my background.
Natalie Silverman:Well, it's fascinating. And I was also really interested to hear that you are an author as well. So I know you're modest there, you didn't mention that you're an author, but I figured I would do that for the audience. And you know, you've written a book that's called The Mentor Ship. And it really comes from your firsthand experiences working in credit and collections. So my first question for you is what inspired you to write the book and to focus on the mentorship and leadership aspect of credit management?
Ken Young:Yeah, that's a good question. Now we come up with what we do, I guess, in credit management when we're talking to other credit managers sitting down and having a coffee together, off the cuff routinely, we hear these stories from credit people around the world. And I started hearing enough of them and I had enough of my own, I thought that, you know, these are gems, we need to we need to protect these and keep these, the industry continues to change. And some of the more senior people retire, and we kind of lose some of these great stories that people can tell. And so that's what we did. We source stories from credit managers, or credit people around the world, senior people in credit to tell a story about what they did and worked or what they did and didn't work and never do. Again, I co-authored it with another person and written a few stories in there myself. And we've had quick success. And we're even thinking about doing a second version, because people have been coming back to us and say, Hey, when's version two coming out? It's a free ebook. And I'm sure Natalie or myself, we'd be very happy to offer it too. If you're interested.
Natalie Silverman:Oh, I love that. And you'll have to let us know when the sequel is coming. But you know, we'd love to hear maybe one of your favorite stories from the book, if you wouldn't mind telling us.
Ken Young:Sure. Well, in this day and age people, I think they've always been so important. But this day and age, it's critical to take care of your people. One of my very first jobs, I was in the credit department, and I probably started work at like 830. And my boss would come in at nine o'clock in the morning. And he was a fairly young guy, you know, maybe 5-10 years older than I was at the time. So you know, I thought he's kind of a cool guy. But one lesson I learned right off the bat, my very first job, he came in every morning, walked around to different rooms for all his staff, he must had 30 staff he would say good morning to them, look them in the eye. And he would probably say how was your weekend or how you doing or something, but you just spent a few seconds with each employee, he built relationships. For him, it was easy. It wasn't he was trying to do something he just, you know, naturally did it. But I could see that any one of his employees were more than willing to go the extra mile for him. If he would have wanted a project done or a question answered, they'd bend over backwards to give him the answer to get the project done as quickly as possible for this gentleman. So it was a lesson learned for me.
Natalie Silverman:You know, I think that brings up a great point, because I think sometimes we forget that credit management, it's all about people, right? I know, we focus a lot on technology and obviously Sidetrade is a software company, right. And we talk a lot about our AI but at the end of the day, it's all about people right? And it's about enabling your people and so and that's what the technology really is for right it's to drive success and to make people are more strategic right in their roles than to just have them maybe do those those mundane day to day tactical activities.
Ken Young:Right, I think AI helps tremendously as far as being more efficient and any good leader needs to continue to look for ways to be more efficient. And I think that's what AI does for us but it also boils down to as you said Natalie you know it's a it's a people business, you know, kind of getting to know your well obviously your employees but your customers as well and the more you know about them the better risk decision you can make.
Natalie Silverman:So I know there's a lot going on in the world. And we don't have to get into all the specifics. But you know, I'd love to hear your perspective. I know you're out there talking to clients. And, you know, what are some of those internal and also external market drivers that you see affecting the credit management space right now?
Ken Young:Sure, I'd say there are a number of issues that are really out there. I mean, first of all, interest rates, it's very, you know, topical, I mean, first of all, if you have a customer that was barely making ends meet before it with the interest rates going up, and the Feds in the United States, and the Bank of Canada and Canada have already very boldly said, they're going to keep going up, you know, maybe not minor adjustments, maybe kind of more major, three quarters of a point, maybe perhaps, these interest rate hikes could affect your customer, if they're, like I said, barely making ends meet. Now, you know, with that additional debt load debt servicing, you know, amount, they could put them on a business, another thing that would be kind of an external thing is back orders. And just in time inventory, what we used to consider just in time inventory is really considered just not in time inventory anymore. So many industries are backlogged, even even sometimes store shelves that you go into don't have product. And if it's, for example, it's a risk for your customers, if their customer gets upset that they didn't get the inventory in time, they could lose customers. And if they lose customers, how dramatic can that be in their business? And I'd say the other major point as far as an external part is gasoline, oil prices, input costs for producing a product. Can your customers pass that on? Can you pass it on? Or do you have to swallow some of that? So you know, kind of all these things kind of take a bite out of the profit margins? And I'd say the internal factors would be kind of the people management part, managing people successfully in an ever changing environment is critical. As leaders, we're responsible for our greatest resource, our people. And I was just reading yesterday, an article about Tom Brady answering a question, and the question was put to Tom Brady, you know, a famous quarterback, what characteristic is applicable to all great leaders? And he said, the utmost priority for all good leaders is pretty simple, caring deeply about what you do. And for the people that are doing it with you know. I thought that that was a great answer. And it kind of just drives home my point right here. Workplace wellness, and a healthy balance in life are very important now, and critical. And as we know, unemployment rates are changing dramatically. So it's easy for people leaving, I'm just hearing the other day that somebody from Robert Half was telling me a story that they were trying to get somebody rehired at a new company, and they had four different offers. So you know, not only critical to take care of your employees to care about them and look after them in regular times. But these are, you know, really serious times you could lose employees very easily. If you're not looking after your your staffing. So I'd say those, those are the hot issues right now.
Natalie Silverman:Now I would say that that's some very good advice from one of the greatest sports leaders, I would call Tom Brady, one of those for our European audience who might not be as familiar with American football, but he certainly knows a thing or two about being a leader on and off the field. So that's a great analogy. You just brought up a great point, when you're telling me about again, it's really about people management or more of a people industry. Right now, in terms of credit management, I just wondered, going back to something I said earlier, how can a credit manager move from maybe some of those tactical activities that bog them down a lot of the times to becoming more strategic, and that strategic business partner
Ken Young:I'd say as far as being strategic right now, some companies will allow employees to get involved in other areas of the business. And if you can, I think it's a wise idea, you could certainly make your kind of wishes known to your manager. And, and certainly working along with other departments, like I'd say the credit department is, is a great area to really already be involved in so many other areas of the company, you know, you're involved with, you know, kind of the, you know, operation side, obviously, the sales side, senior management side, putting the reports together, as far as risk goes, you're involved in so many other areas of the company, that already you're there. And if you can kind of take on a little bit more responsibility for those areas. That's great. I took on fleet management, because we had our sales people, you know, kind of wheeling and dealing their own deals as far as vehicles go across the United States and Canada, and we put some fleet rates together and save the company money back on insurance, or insurance portfolio. And I've also got involved in HR rewriting corporate policies, and being the power of attorney for our company. So different companies allow you to get involved in different areas, as you can expand your horizon and learn more that more beneficial to your to your company.
Natalie Silverman:I think you're absolutely right. And when it comes down to the idea of order to cash or invoice to cash, it really affects more than just the finance department, right? I mean, we've talked about how closely aligned the finance team needs to be with sales and with marketing and with you know, other areas of the business customer success, because at the end of the day, it's the customer experience, right and invoice to cash really is what touches the customer more closely than some of the other areas of the business. So going back to customer experience, why is it so important to the credit manager? And why is it something they really need to focus on?
Ken Young:Yes, I would say, you know, for different industries, and different exposures by customer allow you to do different things, if you've got a high exposure and customers that, you know, there's an element of risk, you know, sometimes it's really prudent to go and visit them. And building a relationship with with your customer base gives you a great insight into their operations. And you can better understand how your company and your customer can work together for mutual benefit. And customers also going to be a great source of information on a geographical territory, like there are many customers, I would call up in a different areas, just touch base with them occasionally, but also kind of find out what's going on in their area that could affect us, and I'd say, a relationship and may allow you to access financial information from them, that they trust you. And you've built that rapport with them that they're a little bit more willing to provide you financial details of the company that maybe other suppliers, they wouldn't. So the customer experience is so important. And one of the Starbucks guys, this has said something about willing to pay more for something, if you have that great experience.
Natalie Silverman:But you know, going back to all of the experiences that you've talked about and what you've written in your book, tell me what advice would you give this next generation of credit manager?
Ken Young:You know, I would say for the for the next generation of credit managers, I'd say stay informed as much as possible. Get out to your industry credit groups, learn about what's going on, learn from suppliers, learn from your software provider, you know what's new and more relevant every day and see if it applies to your business, do the risk reward analysis, see if it's applicable to your business, attend Credit Congress in United States, NACM and in Canada attend the Credit Institute's conference. Just kind of build a series of mentors, if you can, you know, maybe other credit managers that have been around for a while maybe they can give you some tips and advice when you when you need some help. You know, if you've got a few mentors out there, you're going to be better off because you can pick up the phone and call somebody and get the information you need readily. But like I say, I can't think of a department in a company that working in that's more rewarding is such an integral part of the company than the credit department. Cash is king. But you also want to have that customer experience when you're doing that builds rapport and builds professionalism.
Natalie Silverman:Thanks, Ken, for your insights into the future of finance. For Sidetrade, this is Natalie Silverman.
Conclusion:This has been another episode of Finance to Futurist a Sidetrade podcast series. Make sure you catch every episode by subscribing to our podcast on Sidetrade.com or through your podcast platform of choice. Thanks so much for tuning in. This podcast is brought to you by Sidetrade and is for general information purposes only. All rights reserved.