RCR Flooring Products Limited is a company that specialises in designing and creating industrial concrete flooring. Since they’ve been with Allianz Trade in the UK – approximately 10 years – their turnover has doubled and they’ve also progressively increased the number of countries they sell to. In 2019, they sold to over 42 countries.
Discover how Allianz Trade’s trade credit insurance helped them develop their business.
RCR Flooring was relying on agents and distributors to give them local knowledge. Unfortunately, this knowledge was often questionable, which was putting the company at risk. “The credit decisions were made by crossing your fingers and hoping for the best,” said Jon Tarrant, RCR Flooring’s Finance Director. “We knew we had a problem with bad debts and the credit checking information we obtained wasn’t working properly, so we decided through the help of our broker that we needed a trade credit insurance policy”.
They went out to the market to four different providers. "Allianz Trade came back as one of the most proactive”, reveals Jon.
Immediately from the start of their trade credit insurance policy, RCR Flooring was able to identify which customers were good or bad payers.
“It was the opposite of what we had been doing before”, said Jon. “Now if a new customer comes to us, we’re able to go online to see if they are a ‘good risk’ and in nine times out of ten, we get an instant decision from Allianz Trade. If a customer comes in and wants to buy from us but is from a country that we don’t have yet on the trade credit insurance policy, it’s amazing how quickly that can get added. Within a couple of hours, we can have that country covered.”
Now, trade credit insurance is so inbred in their systems that the first thing they do when they get a new customer inquiry is to get the customer credit-checked. It allows them to know if they are a good customer or potentially a bad one.
“We were surprised by the proactiveness and pragmatism of Allianz Trade's account managers,” says Jon. “If a rejection comes back, then it’s not necessarily a ‘no’. You can still go back again and they’ll often try and find a very workable solution for you. The service that Allianz Trade provide is very professional, very proactive and very pragmatic.”
Taking out trade credit insurance remains one of the most efficient ways to manage to control trade credit risk and secure cash flow. It then comes to finding the trade credit insurance provider with the necessary experience, proactivity and reliability to manage risky situations and support your commercial development in the long term is essential. If, like RCR Flooring Products Limited, you’re interested in safely developing your business, do not hesitate to visit our trade credit insurance page to learn more or contact us in your country.
