When margins are thin, every unpaid invoice is a direct hit to your bottom line. Tools like Trade Credit insurance can help cover up to 90% of unpaid claims. Coupled with digital payment solutions you can mitigate financial risks while streamlining your operations.
Are you confident that your fuel payments and balance sheet are fully protected? Most petroleum marketers aren’t—until they uncover the hidden opportunities in Trade Credit and innovative fuel payment solutions.
Is Your Balance Sheet Really Protected? The Surprising Overlooked Risk
In an industry where margins are thin and financial risks are high, protecting your bottom line is crucial. Yet, many petroleum marketers aren’t leveraging the right tools, whether it's through insurance to safeguard receivables or more efficient digital payment systems. Let's dive into how these strategies can help you protect your assets and streamline operations at the same time.
Why Accounts Receivable Insurance Matters for Petroleum Marketers
For petroleum marketers, two common concerns arise:
How can we protect our balance sheets from unpaid receivables?
How can we streamline fuel payments for fleet customers while staying competitive?
These questions reflect the constant struggle between mitigating risk and maintaining efficiency. With many companies grappling to balance growth and operational costs, the solutions may not be obvious. Should they rely on traditional credit management practices, or are there new tools available that can transform the way fuel payments are handled?
Protecting Your Bottom Line with Trade Credit
Corey Watson from Marsh McLennan emphasized a key point during the webinar: 40% of a typical company’s assets are tied up in accounts receivable. Yet, many businesses don’t insure these receivables, leaving their balance sheets vulnerable.
Trade Credit insurance offers a safety net, ensuring that if a customer defaults or goes bankrupt, the insurer covers the unpaid invoice. While this practice has been standard in Europe for over a century, many US petroleum marketers are still unfamiliar with it.
Key Insights on Trade Credit Insurance:
Covers bankruptcies and slow/no payments.
Provides protection for up to 90% of a claim.
Can be customized based on your customer portfolio and sales terms.
Trade Credit insurance helps petroleum marketers extend credit to new customers without exposing themselves to excessive risk. As Corey pointed out, this can also speed up the sales cycle, enabling quicker approvals and larger sales, since the credit risk is shared with the insurer.
The Power of Digital Fuel Payments: A Seamless Solution for Fleets
The big insight here? You don’t need to overhaul your entire business model to protect your balance sheet or improve fuel payments. By utilizing Trade Credit insurance and digital payment platforms, you can mitigate financial risks while also streamlining operations.
These tools are especially powerful for petroleum marketers operating in an industry with thin margins and high risks. Leveraging technology and insurance allows you to secure your receivables and provide your fleet customers with a seamless payment experience—all without adding more complexity to your processes.
Protecting Your Bottom Line and Enhancing Efficiency: Key Takeaways
As the fuel industry evolves, staying competitive means embracing new strategies. Trade Credit insurance offers a way to protect your business from customer defaults, while digital payment platforms like DFS enhance efficiency and reduce costs. These solutions aren’t just about protecting your bottom line; they’re about positioning your company for growth in a competitive market.
With rising fuel prices, fluctuating demand, and growing operational costs, now is the time for petroleum marketers to reassess their risk management and payment strategies. Are you taking full advantage of these tools, or are you leaving your business vulnerable to financial risk and inefficiencies?
