A C CO U NT S "We work with them," she said. "They pay a little bit here
and there. We don't usually stop a delivery." Instead, it is made clear that payment must be received for the next delivery, "and a little bit toward your balance, which usually works pretty well," Suomela said. The ADD Systems software provides a general guideline
that Como Oil adapts where the accounts receivable personnel want to make exceptions. "Not everything is black and white," Suomela said. With some 21,000 oil and propane accounts altogether, Como
Oil accounts receivable personnel rely on the system to keep track of the status of each one, "for working budget accounts, running reports" and so on, Suomela said. "They work on it every day so they can keep up with it." A credit manager works with customer service, she added. Suomela's duties include training backups in each division
so that if someone is out, "someone can step into their position and keep the flow going. That's an ongoing process. Our goal is to make sure every division is operating the same." "Working collections you have to do a little bit every day
otherwise you get behind the eight ball," said James Gillis, appli- cations specialist, ADD Systems, Flanders, N.J.
The credit module in ADD Energy E3 enterprise software
allows dealers to put credit actions on accounts "whether it be a phone call or a promised payment or to put the customer on delivery hold in extreme situations," Gillis said. Users can then pull reports that remind them when follow up action is needed. "That's why we preach using the application to work credit all year long," Gillis said. Accounts receivable personnel talk to hundreds if not thou-
sands of people during a month, Gillis said. Using the software for credit actions and setting automated reminders to follow up "keeps it from becoming an overwhelming project." "Some dealers are very aggressive and work their collections
hard every day," Gillis noted, while others might be operating in areas that have been hit harder economically and for that reason they may feel obliged to work more with customers. The software can help a fuel oil dealer maintain communications with custom- ers, and possibly work out a payment arrangement, Gillis said. Pointing people to assistance programs or steering them toward
a budget payment program are further options, Gillis added. I'm a firm believer that you can work out an arrangement with
just about any customer," Gillis said. "Every customer is impor- tant. Dealers hate to lose one." l FON
www.fueloilnews.com | FUEL OIL NEWS | APRIL 2012 21
