Electrical contracting runs on terms. A contractor buys wire, gear and fixtures in the first weeks of a job, and gets paid by the general contractor or owner weeks later, sometimes after retainage. If you can't give them a reasonable line of credit, someone else will, and the material for that job goes with them.
That makes credit a sales tool, not just a risk department. The faster and more cleanly you can open an account, the sooner the new contractor's first big order comes to you instead of to the branch across town.
Credit applications without the paper chase
The usual credit application is a PDF that gets printed, half filled out, scanned crooked and emailed back missing a page. Meanwhile, the contractor is at your counter wanting to charge a reel of MC cable.
The app has an online credit application with signature. The customer fills it out on their phone or computer and signs it there. Your credit manager reviews it and can approve terms with one tap. The application is complete, legible and on file, and the new account can start ordering on terms the same day you approve them.
Tax exemption certificates that don't expire on you
Electrical distributors sell to a lot of exempt buyers: contractors buying for resale on certain jobs, schools, hospitals, government buildings, utilities and nonprofits. Each one needs a valid certificate on file, and certificates expire. Nobody notices until an audit, and then you are on the hook for tax you never collected.
Tax exemption certificates in the app show every exempt account and whose certificate is missing or expired. Your office can chase the gaps before they become a problem, instead of after.
Offering better terms, safely
Better terms win business, but only if you can afford the risk. A few things in the app make it easier to extend a little more credit to the right customers:
- Clean applications with signatures mean you know who you are dealing with from day one.
- Collections helper shows who owes money and how late, so you spot a slow payer early.
- Pay links on every invoice make it easy for contractors to pay as soon as they get paid.
- Customer health flags accounts that are slipping or at risk, which often shows up in buying before it shows up in payments.
- Approvals and budgets let a contractor's owner control what their foremen can charge to the account.
That last point matters more than it looks. A lot of electrical credit problems start with too many people charging to one account: foremen, apprentices, the owner's nephew. When the owner can set budgets and require approval for orders over a limit, they are more comfortable with a bigger line, and so are you.
Terms as a reason to buy from you
A contractor who can get approved quickly, see their own invoices, and pay with one tap when the GC finally pays them has a reason to keep you as their main supplier. Terms are part of what you sell. The app helps you sell them without taking on risk you can't see.
It works with your existing ERP, so approved terms and certificate status live with the account where your team already works.
See how it works with your own electrical catalog.