If anyone is going to paint a picture of your business, don't you think your hand should be on the brush?

D&B will create a composite credit profile based upon information that is provided by local, state, and federal agencies, third party resources, your vendors and suppliers, and you, as an active participant in your own business. They are going to paint a picture onto the canvas of a corporate credit report that will represent you and your business — impacting your credit approvals, bids you submit on projects, and even the interest rates you are given on loans, insurance and credit cards.

History has proven that businesses can be impacted by factors that are within their control as much as factors that are outside of their control. D&B will generate scores and ratings based on 75 different factors they have found to have defining impacts on a company's financial status, longevity and credibility.

For instance, they know that:

• A hurricane will affect every business, even those NOT directly in it's path

• A change in business management affects the way bills are paid

• A drought will affect a broad spectrum of businesses

• Sudden employee hires and layoffs affect pricing and product flow

• Providing additional products or services will affect your cash flow

• A rapid change in payment habits foresees closures or bankruptcy

• Negative media can be devastating

• CEOs sometimes get arrested

It is crucial to your company's success that you have access to the funds you need when you need them. But it is also crucial that you get the best possible interest rates for that funding. Believe it our not, YOU are the determining factor in that equation. A lack of information in your D&B profile can be just as devastating as having negative information.

It is your responsibility to make sure your D&B report is up-to-date and accurate and that the information contained in that report paints a clear picture of who you are, what you do, and the stability of your credit worthiness. If you do not provide this information to D&B, they will create a profile that is based solely on averages of millions of other businesses your age, in your region, in your industry, with your employee count, etc.

Shouldn't your business credit report be based on information about YOUR company?

You don't have to think very far back to remember an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico - an explosion and raging fire on a damaged oil rig that caused billions of gallons of raw crude to flow unimpeded. While the effects to millions of businesses along America's third coast were not immediate, the impact on their D&B profile was.

From historical insight, D&B knew how devastating this could be to businesses and livelihoods all along the Gulf Coast. They knew that everyone would be impacted by the disaster. Not just the oil company responsible for the rig itself, but everyone from the shrimp and fishing industries, to the hotels and resorts, to the Mom and Pop shops, to the trucking and shipping industries, to the employment agencies, to the environmental agencies, to the vacationers and hobbyists who frequent all of those businesses during the tourist season and off-seasons alike.

Hundreds of thousands of businesses were impacted by that disaster, and millions of dollars were lost. But there were many more businesses that were negatively impacted by D&B and it's sudden downgrade of their overall composite credit appraisal and financial stress scores simply because they were located in that region and had the POTENTIAL to be impacted by the disaster.

It became the responsibility of those business owners to then repaint the picture of their company's credibility, their ability to withstand the tests of the disaster and possibly even thrive from it. Was that fair? No. Was it a brutal reality? Yes. Did they survive? Only if they took matters into their own hands and worked past it.

How can you positively impact your Dun & Bradstreet business credit profile?

• Provide up-to-date and accurate information

• Use D&B's free services to update your file

• Do not provide misleading or false information

• Be ready and able to back up your data with credible evidence

• Challenge inconsistencies when you see them

• Know when to push back and when to step back

• Hire people who know how to paint a better picture…

How can you positively impact your composite credit appraisal? There are hundreds of ways.

How to know which are the right ways and which would spell disaster? You don't. That is why you may want to hire people who do know how to paint a clearer picture of your business, a specialized advocate who knows what to look for and what to look out for, an adviser who understands the factors that impact your creditworthiness and can guide the processes in place to get you to your goals.

LESSON: If you are unsure about how to build and maintain a more creditworthy corporate credit profile, free information is available for those who want to start taking the necessary steps. Reach out if you need assistance. I'll be glad to point you in the right direction.

CLICK HERE to schedule a free one-on-one consultation if you need assistance.