How Shortcuts Undermine Your Company's Legitimacy

In business, legitimacy is everything. It's how large corporations stay at the top of their game and small mom-and-pop companies secure multimillion dollar contracts that change their lives forever. A company's legitimacy helps them to leverage access to credit cards, loans, purchases, contracts, deeds, insurance, leases and services every single day and all around the globe. Legitimacy is transparency. Justifiability. Validity. Without legitimacy, commerce and ecommerce would wither on the vine.

Legitimacy is easy, and it's easy to prove. It's the act of registering your business to do business, dotting the i's and crossing the t's. It's operating within the guidelines. While your business may require you to be flashy, attention-getting, and maybe even a little risky, growing your business credit requires simplicity, authenticity and legitimacy. Black ink on white paper. Cut and dried with no embellishments. Consistency across all platforms. Your company's legitimacy should never draw unnecessary attention or scrutiny.

Nothing will short-circuit legitimacy faster than a shortcut.

Shortcuts Undermine Authenticity

They are the "cheat sheet" — the misrepresentation that something "is" what it isn't. Shortcuts make you look like all the others who used those same shortcuts — fake, fraudulent, illegitimate, and risky — even if you're actually not any of those. Shortcuts are the clouds to an otherwise crisp, clear, transparent blue sky. Shortcuts are the snake-oil that lures with promises of the moon and the stars but leaves you holding an empty bottle, empty dreams and, usually, an empty wallet, too.

Shortcuts Cause Delays

I have a client who jumped headfirst into running his business without taking the necessary steps to correctly register his company as an LLC with the Secretary of State. Now, five years later, he's hoping to win some federal contracts, but his company doesn't have history built up over time that would boost his eligibility and credibility. Instead of fulfilling orders, he's having to backtrack and validate his business and everything he's built over the past five years.

Shortcuts Bring Added Scrutiny

I have a client to followed someone's advice on the web and signed up with companies who were "guaranteed" to add Net 30 payment history to her business credit file. What they didn't tell her was that corporate credit bureaus had already black-flagged those companies, restricting them from reporting. The simple act of pulling her credit report had placed her company under the intense glare of a microscope usually focused only on fraudulent businesses. Now she's having to prove that her business is real and legitimate, having already established real business-based credit with trustworthy suppliers before she ever took a fool's advice.

Shortcuts Cause Suspicion

I had a caller the other day who couldn't figure out why his company was always getting denied when applying for new credit. Instead of taking the creditbuilding process a step at a time, he purchased an aged shelf corporation for $2,500 because "someone on the web" told him it would help him get more credit and faster. When we finally found his company in D&B's database, he was furious to find that his company had no scores or ratings and had been designated as high risk for misrepresentation of ownership and operating details. Even if he wanted to start over from scratch, his name and tarnished reputation will forever be linked to a company that took shortcuts in an attempt to misrepresent their legitimacy.

Shortcuts Cause Confusion

I once had a client who was a General Contractor who had a dozen different DUNS numbers at different addresses all over the city. Instead of crafting and maintaining a single impeccable business credit profile ten years ago, he had opened new accounts at suppliers using whatever address was listed at his current project. Instead of having scores and ratings that proved his company was strong and well-respected, he faced a lengthy update and merge process to blend all of the best information into one report while deleting all of the duplicate files. That process took time away from what he should have been doing — fulfilling contracts and making money.

Shortcuts Cause Others to Question Your Company's Legitimacy

To build strong and supportive business credit scores, your company has to bring certain standards to the table, such as stability, credibility, validity, trustworthiness, integrity and verifiable data. When these standards are in full view, creditors know your company is not a risk to them or their bottom line. Whether your creditor pulls your business credit report, asks for a list of credit references, checks your company's corporate documentation, or requires a verified link into your business bank account, they need to be able to see a crystal clear, transparent path straight through to the final result. No clouds. No hiccups. No questions. No confusion. Just bold, strong, black ink on white paper.

If you would like more information about how you can build legitimacy and long-lasting business credit scores and ratings, feel free to reach out to me directly.