Preparing Your Credit Team for the Unexpected, with Donna Burton

Economic conditions can change in a heartbeat. For credit professionals, the challenge is recognizing what’s changing before it shows up in overdue accounts.

In this episode of Overdue Advice, host Bryn Griffiths sits down with Donna Burton, Credit Manager with ZyTech Building Supplies and the Alfab Group, to talk about preparing for uncertainty when business is booming today and tomorrow is much harder to predict.

Donna has seen what happens when conditions turn. During the 2008 downturn, construction customers with spotless payment histories suddenly disappeared. More recently, she helped navigate pandemic-era price volatility, disputes and rapidly changing credit requirements. Today, with construction busy but economic questions mounting, those experiences are shaping how she approaches risk.

Donna explains why her team focuses closely on payment behaviour, how regular communication with sales and branch teams helps surface problems early, and why conventional credit limits sometimes need to give way to more responsive measures of customer risk.

The conversation also explores tariffs and economic uncertainty, AI and automation, the value of industry intelligence, and the often-overlooked importance of relationships between credit professionals. For Donna, staying prepared means watching economic indicators, listening to people closest to customers and continually learning from peers facing the same challenges.

It’s a timely conversation with a timeless lesson: you may not know what’s coming next, but your credit team can prepare for it.

Episode Highlights:

00:48 — Why Credit Managers Need Other Credit Managers
Donna discusses the value of industry conferences, peer relationships and learning from people who understand the unique challenges of the credit role.

02:20 — Navigating the Pandemic and Its Aftermath
How Donna returned to the workplace and joined ZyTech during a period of extraordinary activity and volatility in construction.

04:00 — When Pricing Changes Create Credit Problems
Rapidly changing material prices, shortened quotation periods and the customer disputes that followed.

05:35 — Getting Proactive About Disputes
Donna explains the weekly reporting process that keeps branches and sales teams aware of outstanding issues and recognizes problems that get resolved.

06:22 — Business Is Booming. Will It Hold?
Alberta construction is busy, but Donna draws on her experience during the 2008 downturn to explain why today’s success can’t be taken for granted.

08:33 — Tariffs, Trade and Economic Uncertainty
Donna and Bryn discuss concerns around steel, employment and an economy that can send conflicting signals.

09:22 — Preparing for Whatever Comes Next
How ZyTech is positioning itself to respond proactively as economic and market conditions evolve.

10:00 — AI, Automation and Better Ways to Work
Donna discusses adopting new technology for efficiency and how automation in manufacturing produced an important additional benefit: improved worker safety.

11:25 — How a Credit Manager Watches the Economy
Economic reports, sales-team intelligence and conversations with other credit professionals all help Donna assess what could be coming.

12:39 — When Traditional Credit Limits Stop Working
During extreme price volatility, Donna’s team shifted its attention toward a highly practical indicator: how quickly customers were actually paying.

13:02 — Passing Along Decades of Credit Experience
With retirement on the horizon, Donna talks about mentorship and helping the next generation of credit professionals develop their skills.

Relevant links:
ZyTech Building Systems website: https://www.zytechtruss.com/