COMMERCIAL CREDIT CCR
SUCCEED IN OVERSEAS CREDIT MANAGEMENT
You can be an outstanding Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) credit manager by learning how to make a difference in distressed situations By Mike Segall
My next position was at Lloyds
Register of Shipping as their EMEA credit manager, responsible for a team of 243 – the largest team I have ever managed. This was my biggest challenge as I had 12 managers in London with 20 credit staff from all around the EMEA region reporting into each of them. Unbelievably the previous ‘credit
manager’ had been discovered to be an out of work actor who had some credit control experience and who had systematically employed his ‘resting’ mates within his team. To say that their ‘performance’ had been below par would be a complete understatement! So here is a tip: always specialise in
distressed situations where you can make a difference. I arrived to find only two seats out of 12 occupied so I got out my contact book and rapidly put a team together. Together we achieved better results in collections and debtor days in six months than had been achieved in the previous five
July 2015
years. I am rightly proud of that. My current position is with Kohler Co
as credit manager EMEA in their shared- service centre in the UK. I have a team of 10 based in Gloucester and one based in Casablanca! We divide down into four teams: UK, French, Italian, and Spanish. We serve the Kohler Co businesses
which include Kohler Mira in the UK, Jacob Delafont in France, and Lombardini in Italy. The company is the fourth largest private family-owned American company and has four divisions; Kitchen and Bathroom, Furniture, Engines and Generators, and Hospitality. I believe in being face to face with our customers and consequently have travelled extensively recently in both the USA and throughout Europe. Working throughout EMEA adds a
new dimension to credit management. As you can probably tell I love it and highly recommend it to anyone who has a love of different cultures, different peoples, and different challenges.
www.CCRMagazine.co.uk Technically you learn far more about
export activities, letters of credit and credit insurance, as well as having to be flexible in terms of your outlook. For example in the Moroccan market today we have moved to 210 days standard terms as the country moves into recession. Having languages helps enormously.
I recently found myself in a seven-hour meeting with a team of French businessmen, none of whom spoke a word of English. When I am struggling for vocabulary,
it is amazing how many English words have similar French equivalents because of the two languages’ Latin roots. CCR
Mike Segall, credit manager EMEA, Kohler EMEA Corporate Services
michael.segall@
kohlereurope.com
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