A retailer places an order on a Tuesday for delivery Thursday. He has a customer expecting it.
The order does not ship. His account is on hold because an invoice aged past terms while he was away, and nobody told him before the order was blocked.
He finds out on Wednesday afternoon, pays immediately, and the delivery is now Monday. His own customer is let down over an invoice he would have paid instantly had anybody mentioned it.
The first failure: no warning before the hold
The whole of the problem. A message when an account approaches a limit or an invoice approaches terms prevents almost every one of these.
The second failure: the buyer cannot see the position
Balance, limit, what is outstanding and what is overdue, all held by the supplier and invisible to the person responsible for it.
The third failure: the hold is discovered through a blocked order
Which is the most damaging possible way to find out, since it affects the buyer's own customer rather than merely their administration.
The fourth failure: the credit limit is never reviewed proactively
A growing account outgrows its limit, and nobody notices until an order is refused, which penalises exactly the customers who are growing.
The fifth failure: the increase process is opaque
What is needed, who decides and how long it takes, which buyers need to know before they are blocked rather than afterwards.
The sixth failure: the conversation is awkward on both sides
Nobody enjoys raising money, so an account manager avoids it and a buyer does not ask, and it becomes a hold instead.
The seventh failure: finance and the account manager are not aligned
The buyer's contact does not know the account is at risk, so nothing is said until a system blocks something.
The eighth failure: the payment routes are inconvenient
A buyer willing to pay immediately frequently cannot, which turns a same day fix into a three day one.
The ninth failure: the genuine dispute is treated as a debt
An invoice unpaid because something was wrong is a different situation, and handling both as arrears damages the relationship.
The tenth failure: the terms were never clearly explained
Which is the gap at account opening described in trade account applications that stall.
The eleventh failure: the hold is not lifted quickly
Payment made on Wednesday and an account released on Friday costs the relationship considerably more than the original delay.
The twelfth failure: the buyer moves supplier
Not over the money, which he accepts, but over being let down in front of his own customer without warning.
The thirteenth failure: the buyer cannot pay at the moment they want to
Somebody willing to clear an invoice on a Wednesday evening to release a Thursday delivery frequently has no way to do it, which turns a solvable problem into a lost week.
The fix: warn before the hold and show the position
An assistant that lets a buyer see their balance, limit and overdue items at any hour, warns before an account would be blocked, explains the increase process and handles the conversation without awkwardness prevents a Thursday delivery becoming a Monday one. The terms discussion sits in account and credit terms questions from trade buyers, the clearance opportunity in end of line and clearance questions, and the delicacy required in how to handle sensitive questions in your chatbot. Start at try, see features, and the sector view sits under wholesale distribution.