THE CREDIT MAN
Acknowledged specialists may be employed in every branch of an enterprise, the shrewdest brains may be engaged in buying, producing, and selling, but the final conservator of the business is the credit man; others may be profit makers, but he is the profit saver in every commercial organization.
He is on guard constantly—always on the lookout for the slightest sign of danger, ever ready to take prompt and vigorous action to avert disaster to his house or to lend a helping hand to a customer. His duties make him the most misunderstood man in the entire organization.
He is thorough, methodical, painstaking, a keen student of human nature, possessing faith in the inherent honesty of his fellow men. The insistent search for facts that he demands, may cause him to be regarded as an inquisitive busybody by the very customer whom he desires most to help; as a carping critic, by the salesman of his own house.
Through it all he remains faithful to his trust, watchful of the interests of his house, and has the satisfaction of knowing that in spite of his mistakes but a remarkably small part of his credits prove bad—that where his conservatism has lost hundreds in trade, it has prevented the loss of thousands.
On no man in the organization is there such tremendous pressure brought to bear to secure favors; on no man do the consequences of his own mistakes come back so surely. The credit man must be firm, and, while availing himself of every reliable source of information, he must stick to his decisions, for he is expected to collect from those to whom he has extended credit. Every other man has a loop-hole through which he may escape criticism; if a customer is lost because goods are unsatisfactory, it may be "up to" the salesman, the shipping clerk, the superintendent, a foreman, or even an obscure mechanic. The credit man has no one on whom he can place the blame; if a customer fails to pay, no reason short of an earthquake will relieve the credit man of the responsibility.
So much for the credit man. Now for a discussion of the work he is expected to do, the machinery of his office, and his methods of operation—for the writer disclaims any intention of attempting to teach the student how to become a credit man.