The Internet and the social web are changing how we communicate, connect, and collaborate—and the way we work in business credit. Hear from commercial credit pro Darrell Horton, Revenue and AR Manager for Shuffle Master, Inc as he explores the dramatic change in credit risk management that has already begun and his latest tips on leveraging the web for better risk management.

Note: For improved readability, I recommend YouTube’s HD setting as well as full screen.

Follow your customers on LinkedIn, Twitter & Facebook

The business world has rapidly embraced much of the consumer social web, with LinkedIn leading the charge. But don’t overlook Twitter and Facebook – many businesses have invested in these outlets as well. The combination of all three social networks give you the ability to not only know what your customers are saying, but also know what your customers’ customers are saying. LinkedIn recently added an expanded companies feature that has a wealth of statistics that can give you a feel for whether a business is expanding or contracting. By following a business on LinkedIn you can see recent hiring, departures, promotions and openings – all clues about the company’s existing financial health as well as potential future growth plans.

View your customers business location on Google StreetView or Microsoft Bing Maps 3D

I’m sure you’ve used Google or Bing Maps to get directions to a customer location, but one feature that’s often overlooked is Google Street View or Maps 3D. (See my office here) Google and Bing have amassed a massive collection of street level and bird’s eye view pictures and allow you to pan in different directions to get a complete feel of the surroundings. From a business perspective this extra level of information helps tell you whether your customer is in an office park, industrial complex, renting space above a restaurant or even working out of their house—all of which can help provide you with more insight as to the financial strength of your customer.

Monitor your customers’ social channels with TweetDeck, Seesmic, HootSuite, or CoTweet

There are a variety of tools that allow you to follow companies and track specific keywords across the major social networks. Tools like TweetDeck, HootSuite, Seesmic and CoTweet provide both desktop, web and mobile clients to help you manage the flow of information. All offer free versions and some offer premium offerings. You’ll find a broader range of features for the paid versions. Not only can you track your own brand, but you can search and monitor your customers.

Create alerts with SocialMention, Google and Yahoo

Obviously you can’t be in front of your computer all the time, so alerts are a great way to stay up to date. On this front you have a few options that range from free to paid monthly subscriptions—for these it depends on the type of information being monitored to determine cost. For public companies there is a wealth of free information from Google, Yahoo, MarketWatch and others – all enable you to build a portfolio of public companies and trigger alerts for free. For private companies Google and Yahoo will generally pick up web, larger media news sources and blog information, but for more in-depth information you’ll need to use a paid service. I’m obviously biased, but in the spirit of nearly free, Cortera offers a daily customer alerting service for only $99/month that focuses on payment risk, regional and industry news and growth opportunities. Recently called the “biggest ‘bang for my buck’ of any source that I have ever used“, Cortera can spot the downside and upside in your customer portfolio – all for thousands less than other solutions on the market. Another free service called SocialMention enables you to both set alerts and search in real-time across the major social networks, web and blogs.

Checkout the review sites like Yelp, Kudzu, TripAdvisor, CitySearch, InsiderPages and others

Rating and review websites have become a major intersection of consumers with local businesses. Instead of a professional critic rating a service, business or restaurant- – these communities enable members to provide their own commentary and ratings. The number of outlets grows every day along with the wealth of information provided on these sites. If you are interacting with smaller, local business, websites like Yelp, Kudzu, TripAdvisor, CitySearch, and InsiderPages are worth a search. You’ll definitely get a feel for what your customers’ customers are saying. On payment risk side we have the Cortera Credit Exchange which provides members with free access to ratings and reviews of how companies pay their bills. If you operate in specific industry, we also have groups or what we call Circles that you can join – you’ll receive alerts on how businesses are paying their bills from other users in the same industry.

All of these tools will help you become smarter about yours customer and will likely win you a few points as are able to easily converse about their current needs.

Have a website or source I missed? Please send them along for the group.

Here are just a few examples of Circles created by members since we launched – all sharing their credit risk experiences:

• “HVACR” Circle – A Group for the heating, air conditioning, plumbing and refrigeration industry.
• “Manufacturing & Distribution – Heavy Duty Truck and Trailer” Circle – A group for manufacturers and Distribution of Truck and Trailer parts for new and pre-owned trucks and trailers, both over the road and off-road truck and trailer equipment.
• “Sign Manufacturer” Circle – A group for the manufacturers of architectural signs.

I can’t help but think back to September 2009 when Cortera launched a community-based alternative to business credit reporting. Aimed at small businesses, who were often neglected from the credit reporting process, the service combined credit data with familiar social review and ratings functions — quite literally encouraging a crowdsourced approach to credit reports. The service became an instant hit with the press and a game changing, if not controversial, development in the 100+ year old business credit reporting market. With yesterday’s launch we are building on this successful community foundation while transforming risk management tools from static information solutions to dynamic, real-time social circles where people can share information. Traditionally organizing risk professionals into groups has been limited to the largest organizations. These groups, while highly useful in sharing credit information, meet only a few times per year and lack the efficient movement of risk information required to fully exploit the group’s organization.

The solution: Cortera Circles – A social extension to our platform that brings the tried-and-true – but often exclusive – concept of local and industry-based credit groups to the Web and the masses. Delivered as a free service, in a streamlined form, Circles can be created around a company, an industry or even project or job site–with each supplier and service provider providing their own unique perspective for ultimate financial transparency.

Create your Circle today and start getting the real-time insights you’ve always wanted from your most trusted peers.

Think of Circles as LinkedIn meets business credit reporting – the ease of joining a LinkedIn group meets the sharing of real deal/hard numbers of an offline credit group. Have a question about a business who you are about to extend credit? Now you can ask your peers with your own credit Circle. In just a few minutes you can create and invite your business friends and best of all it’s free to use and open to anyone. Need insights outside of your own network or entering a new market, simply browse the many existing Circles to the tap intelligence of thousands of others.

Business credit reporting, risk management tools and systems are hardly new – Cortera itself is one of the more successful providers of such solutions. But to date, such solutions run algorithms, business rules, and static, structured data feeds to help companies more efficiently identify risk. Cortera Circles will, in contrast, thrive off of ongoing and ever changing contributions and sharing between like-minded businesses. This dynamic information will be exclusively crowdsourced. Microgroups will serve the immediate needs of localized and project-specific audiences to provide insight into risks that are hyperlocal in nature and far too specific to be accurately addressed by traditional solutions. Today’s report-based solutions as point-in-time snapshots that immediately age—a result of decades old technology that has evolved little despite the social web’s impact on nearly every other aspect of business. In contrast, Cortera’s group sourced approach delivers a live risk assessment, continuously updated by the community.

Have a question about a business’s ability to pay their bills in a timely manner? We make it as simple as asking your Circle.

We are on stage during the first session: 8:30 – 9:45 AM.  Our group includes MoneyAisle, Fiserv, Wikinvest, Worklight, Visa, oFlows, eRollover, Bill.com and Cortera.

Stay tuned…we reveal what’s new from Cortera tomorrow morning.

“I think there should be a website where independent contractors can rate how well or how poorly a company pays. Big companies decide how credit-worthy another company is by going to look at a Dun and Bradstreet report. But what about you as the person who’s working on your own, serving at the pleasure of this non-employer, and they stiff you? We need this for those working as freelancers. That’s how capitalism works. A need is met in the marketplace and your reward for it is money – a real paycheck!!”

Clark is spot on in identifying this need. Freelancers, unfortunately, too often get the short end of the stick when it comes to payment. It’s time we bond together and change that. It relates directly to our company’s mission.

Cortera has built the first true online community where small businesses, freelancers and anyone can check in real time who’s getting paid and who’s getting delayed, or worse yet, stiffed. They can even report the deadbeats to protect the entire community. Check it out http://www.cortera.com/community/. Best of all, it’s free to join.

It’s time that the “little guy” in business has a say and gets heard.

Join the Cortera Credit Exchange at www.cortera.com.

Credit Decisions are Now Social

Join the first community dedicated to making the flow of business credit information as free and widely available than ever before. We’ve taken a basic commercial credit report, put it online for free, and then made it social, creating the first website where you can share your customer payment experience with other decision makers. Just like the many consumer and business online communities you’ve come to rely on every day, you can join for free, glean insight from user reviews, and even write a few of your own.

Harness the Power of Thousands of Credit Professionals

The Cortera Credit Exchange brings together the collective wisdom of the commercial credit community. In a few clicks, you can join Cortera and get ratings from your peers–giving your direct access to the type of information you’ve always wanted. The community brings online what already is being used daily in conference rooms, on the phone and over lunch. You’ll find timely reviews on businesses of all sizes, and you can even add your own review to provide your unique insights.

What’s the Catch?

There is no catch. We believe strongly that the commercial credit reporting system is currently broken and can be improved through the flow of free and drastically lower priced premium information. Want a traditional credit report? We have those too, just at price that might surprise you. Need corporate family information, business scoring on many businesses or business demographic information? We’ve got you covered.

The basic credit report information and community is free to use. It’s that simple.

Join the Community Today – It’s Free

Leverage the collective experiences of credit professionals, business executives, and owners like you to make better decisions. Getting started is easy and won’t cost you a thing—all you have to do is register.

Tell us what you think. We’d love to hear from you.

You’re probably thinking, “c’mon, there must be a catch.” There’s not. We’ve been compiling credit reports the same way the Other Guy does for more than 10 years. Thousands of customers rely on our credit reports every day to support their business risk management. They love the accuracy and ease-of-use of our credit reports. We think you will too.

So stop spending too much and getting frustrated by the Other Guy.  Start using Cortera’s free business credit reports instead.

The Other Guy’s Pricing is from the Dark Ages

The cost of collecting and distributing business information drops every year, yet the public continues to pay as if business credit data was still being gathered in the coffee houses and counting rooms of the 1860s. With the Other Guy, you get locked into “unlimited access” programs with complex pricing schemes that increase exponentially every year. You’re locked in so that their shareholders stay happy. What about your happiness? Why aren’t you reaping the savings from technology innovation?

You get those savings with Cortera. Start with our free business credit reports and upgrade to low-priced premium reports or nearly-free monthly subscriptions if you like what you see but need more information. And cancel any time you like. If you don’t like our products, we don’t deserve your business.

You Can Have High Quality at Inexpensive Prices

As a credit and collections technology innovator for the last 16+ years, we feel it is time for a change in the commercial credit reporting space. By listening to our highly active user community and delivering the solutions they really want, we have earned the respect and trust of some of the largest companies in the world. We’ve heard you loud and clear that you want better information at fair prices. So our mission is simple – we’ll continue to listen to your needs and deliver high quality information in return.

Getting Started is Easy

Visit www.cortera.com to start searching the 6 million free credit reports available today. The reports include business contact information, business demographics (revenue, number of employees, industry and more) and a payment rating. If you need more, we have a premium report that includes detailed payment behavior data, trade lines, and more for only $3.00. That’s a fraction of the price the Other Guy charges. We also have nearly-free monthly subscriptions for unlimited access.

Stay tuned. There’s more exciting stuff coming your way soon.

The landscape is changing.  This weekend, Cortera launched a new source of free information on small and medium sized privately held businesses (as well as large and public ones).  Cortera business profiles help businesses more easily find companies who can deliver what they need, gain insight into the stability and credibility of their existing trading partners, and identify new customers in need of their products.  Containing detailed information on business size, industry, real-world trade payment history, recent news and more, the business profiles enable companies to grow their businesses and manage risk.

Our initial launch is concentrated on the world of suppliers.  Cortera’s business profiles are designed for both suppliers and the companies that buy from them.  For buyers, Cortera profiles improve their ability to find suppliers and evaluate their health to avoid supply chain disruptions.  For suppliers, Cortera profiles assist in finding potential buyers and assessing both their capacity to spend and ability to pay.

There are millions of daily interactions between buyers and suppliers that are begging for better intelligence.  Our objective is to provide a new level of insight into private companies to support these interactions at either free or near-free price points.

We believe that greater transparency into businesses will lead to smarter commerce between them.