Q&a: Mike Colicchio, Celanese Hungary
SSON: In this current economic downturn it’s very important to keep robust lines of communication open throughout the business. Can you tell us a little about the steps you’ve taken at Celanese to enforce this?
Mike Colicchio: Of course. We’re carefully monitoring our overdues and looking for any signs of softness in our very structured collection process. I stay in close contact with our sales directors in the EU and we strategically determine proper collection protocol in these challenging times. Being a relatively new SSO our recent hires have received exceptional training and job-shadowing; however, being rookies they’re not as well-versed on the qualities of different types of customers. They also need to understand the histories of our customers, and even when the customer is also a vendor. This is sometimes a point of interest. I bring the sales directors to Budapest for a “learn the customer” day. To serve our customers we must understand their customers. This gives the sales organization leaders and the credit and collection staff an opportunity to set expectations and parameters, but most importantly it opens up even more the communication channels, which is tantamount to success today.