Building business credit is a lot like shopping for blue jeans. No two people's preferences or needs are exactly alike, and neither are their businesses. Even individual branch locations of the same company are going to have differing expenses, depending on location, staff and their particular costs of operating on a day-to-day basis.

Why would anyone think the exact same vendors, suppliers, products and services are going to fit each individual business the same way? Because a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all strategy is profitable. It allows them to run more clients through their process faster, regardless of where each of those companies ends up. They see your business as a statistic rather than focusing on what your business actually needs to get to your end goals.

Because robotic one-size-fits-all credit-building is what's easiest and most profitable for their type of business, not yours... and it requires no independent thought!

In reality, D&B has made it a part of their practice to track patterns of suspicious behavior and the run-of-the-mill tactics that come and go like the seasons. If the only vendors and suppliers (tradelines) that you have are the same ones the guy next door has, and the guy next door to him has, you've just put yourself in D&B's cross-hairs... and that's NEVER going to be a good thing!

Companies who sell a one-size-fits-all strategy don't care about YOUR company, and they typically do more harm than good because they send a common message to the bureaus — that your business is only as credible as the others who have used that same technique (and many of those have turned out to be high-risk, fraudulent or run out on their debts.)

If your business is legitimate, it deserves to be seen and judged on its own merit. For your potential creditors to find value and credibility, they need to see a variety of vendors and suppliers that are geared specifically toward your company, your industry, your financial activity, your location, your size and your capability to engage vendors, make purchases and pay your bills on time.

Nine times out of ten, adding your own existing payment history to your business credit report is going to be far more beneficial than following someone else's cookie-cutter roadmap. If you have already been paying bills and making purchases in your day-to-day operations, those transactions are the ones that are going to say more about your company's capability and credibility than any cookie-cutter tradelines ever will.

Not only is this process faster and more reliable, it's also a lot less expensive simply because you've already spent that money. Adding your existing payment history to your business credit profile allows your company to ... well ... get "credit" for what you've already done!

If you have struggled to build business credit or fallen into the one-size-fits-all trap and would like to move beyond those risky strategies, just give me a call.

I'm here to help — 800-918-7505.