New industrial accounts often start in a hurry. A plant's regular supplier can't get them something, a maintenance manager calls you, and they want to order today. Then the paperwork starts: a credit application faxed back with half the fields blank, a tax exemption certificate that's "coming from accounting," and a first order sitting on hold.
Slow credit costs you sales. Sloppy credit costs you money. The app handles both ends.
Credit applications that come back complete
Customers fill out the credit application online and sign it there. No printing, no scanning, no illegible handwriting on the bank reference. When it comes in, you approve terms with one tap.
Because the form is online, it can't be returned with the trade references missing or the signature line blank. You get what you need to make a decision the first time, which means the first order ships sooner.
That matters most when the person applying isn't in purchasing. A maintenance supervisor at a food plant can send the link to his accounts payable team while he's still on the phone with you, and the application lands complete instead of in pieces.
Tax exemption certificates you can actually find
Industrial accounts are full of exemptions. Many manufacturers are exempt on items consumed in production, some resellers buy for resale, and multi-plant companies may have different certificates in different states. Keeping track of all of it on paper is how distributors end up eating sales tax after an audit.
The tax exemption view shows every exempt account and whose certificate is missing or expired. Instead of finding out during an audit, your office sees the gap and asks for the renewal while the customer is still happy to send it.
Offering better terms without more risk
Terms are a sales tool. A plant that can buy on net terms from you and has to use a P-card everywhere else has a reason to send you more. The question is how to extend terms without losing sleep.
A few habits help, and the app supports each of them:
- Start with a clean application. Signed, complete and on file, so you know who you're dealing with.
- Use the master account. A master account holds the terms, the price file and the part numbers for all its locations, so every plant under one parent buys on the same agreed terms.
- Keep budgets and approvals on. A monthly budget and manager approval mean a new location can't run up a surprise balance.
- Watch receivables. The collections helper shows who owes money and how late, so a slow payer is visible before the balance grows.
With those in place, you can say yes to terms more often, and say it sooner.
Why it pays
A distributor that can open a new plant account the same day has an edge over one that needs a week of paperwork. A distributor that keeps exemption certificates current avoids tax bills that come out of margin. And a distributor that can offer terms with confidence wins the orders that P-card-only competitors can't.
Think about the plant that's been buying a few items from you on a credit card for a year. A clean credit application, net terms and a monthly budget for its maintenance team is often all it takes to move the rest of its MRO spend your way.
None of that requires a bigger credit department. It requires the paperwork to come in clean and stay in one place.
Want to see it with your own catalog? See how it works.