Onboarding a customer before the first booking is accepted

Establish who the counterparty actually is

Confirming the legal entity, its ownership and its trading address is the base layer, and it is more than a formality where the party engaging the firm is not the one whose goods will move. Screening against applicable restricted-party and sanctions lists, and considering whether the commodities involved attract control requirements, are obligations set by the authorities in each territory the firm operates in, so the relevant regulator rather than a general rule should define what is required. The commercial reason to do this properly is that the alternative is discovering the problem when goods are already in transit, at which point every option is expensive.

Credit before capacity

A trading account is an extension of credit, and it should be sized before volume rather than after. That means a completed application, references or financial information, an agreed limit that covers invoiced amounts together with disbursements and work in progress, and a clear statement of who may increase it. New or thinly documented accounts can trade on payment in advance without insult; many do. What causes disputes is granting terms informally, then attempting to withdraw them once the relationship is established and the exposure has grown.

The written procedure is the real deliverable

Routing preferences, documentation requirements, who may instruct and who may authorise release, escalation contacts and hours, billing arrangements including which entity is invoiced for which charges, and any commodity-specific handling all belong in one document available to every operator. It exists so that service does not depend on the individual who took the enquiry. Writing it with the customer, rather than about the customer, has a useful side effect: it surfaces expectations that were never stated during the sales process and are far cheaper to resolve before the first shipment than after the first complaint.

System set-up and rate loading

Party records for every entity involved, agreed selling rates loaded where quoting staff will find them, connectivity arranged if the customer expects electronic booking or reporting, and the reporting the customer was promised actually configured. Each is small and each is a source of friction when missing. The most commonly deferred item is the rate load. Until the negotiated prices are in the system, every quotation is reconstructed from an email, and the differences between what was promised and what is charged begin immediately.

Treat the first shipment as a test

It should be supervised by someone who knows what was agreed, reviewed once complete, and used to correct the procedure. Most of what was wrong in the paperwork, the assumptions or the charging model becomes obvious on a single real file and stays hidden for months if nobody looks. A short review with the customer after that first movement also sets the tone for how problems will be handled later, which is worth more than the review itself.

Frequently asked questions

Is it reasonable to ask a new customer for payment in advance?

Yes, and it is common practice while a trading record is established. It is far easier to relax terms once behaviour is known than to withdraw credit that has already been granted and relied upon.

Why does a written customer procedure matter if the account is small?

Because handling should not depend on which operator is available. Even a short procedure covering release authority, billing and escalation prevents the errors that arise when someone unfamiliar picks up the file during an absence.