Describe your review process. Makeform creates a trade reference form for vendors to report account history, payment timing, terms, balances, and their relationship with the applicant.
Route reference responses to Google Sheets, Slack, and Zapier.
Sample prompts for the builder
Choose a prompt, adapt it, or send it into the Makeform builder. Each example is editable.
Audience
Suppliers named by a business credit applicant
Format
Structured payment-history questionnaire
Prompt size
333 chars
Example form structure
Structured payment-history questionnaire
Reference company and respondent
How long has the account been open?
Usual terms and highest credit extended
Typical payment timing
Past-due balance and comments
Suggested routing tags
Reference requested
Response received
Needs review
Ask for both usual terms and actual payment timing. A Net 30 account that usually pays in 45 days tells reviewers more than the approved terms alone.
Step 1
Request
send each named supplier a unique form
Step 2
Verify
capture the respondent and account relationship
Step 3
Compare
review terms, balances, and payment timing
Step 4
Decide
record the result in your own review process
Why structured references
Give every supplier the same questions and keep answers attached to the correct applicant.
Use fixed fields for relationship length, terms, balances, and payment timing so reviewers can compare responses.
Conditional follow-ups can ask for context when a respondent reports late payments, disputes, returned payments, or collection activity.
Tag the applicant, reference company, and status, then send submissions to your team's inbox or spreadsheet.
Common review paths
Keep core questions consistent, then tailor them to the commercial relationship.
Compare requested terms with reported payment timing and balance history.
Verify an active trading relationship, typical order volume, agreed terms, and whether the retailer keeps the account current.
Ask about fulfillment, invoice handling, issue resolution, and relationship status.
Gather supplier experience with material purchases, days to payment, disputed invoices, and overdue balance ranges.
Reference workflow
Align the form with your criteria and send each reference a consistent request.
Describe the account, respondent, and facts your team uses: terms, balances, payment timing, disputes, or service history.
Choose exact amounts or ranges, make identifiers required, and add conditional explanation boxes for overdue balances or other reported issues.
Share the form link with each vendor contact and include the applicant name or internal application ID so the response can be matched correctly.
Filter submissions by applicant and compare answers. Apply your policy and record the decision separately.
Form vs calls and email
A structured form makes required questions and missing responses visible.
Field guide
Collect enough context to interpret payment history without an open-ended interview.
Respondent
Capture the supplier, respondent's work contacts, and role so reviewers understand the source.
Relationship
Ask how long and often the companies traded and whether the account is active.
Terms and exposure
Record agreed terms and highest credit or balance. Offer ranges when exact figures are unnecessary.
Payment behavior
Offer consistent lateness ranges plus a notes field for unusual circumstances.
Exceptions
Show a follow-up when the reference reports a dispute, late balance, or exception.
Confirmation
Request an accuracy-to-knowledge confirmation and completion date without promising approval.
Related tools
Connect reference collection with application, onboarding, registration, and supplier review.
Collect the applicant's business details, requested terms, and named trade references.
Open toolCreate an account-opening form for retailers requesting wholesale purchasing terms.
Open toolGather vendor identity, capabilities, contacts, and operating details for review.
Open toolTrack the documents, owners, and setup steps after a vendor is accepted.
Open toolEvaluate delivery, quality, communication, and issue resolution over time.
Open toolRegister supplier contact, category, and business information in a consistent format.
Open toolFAQ
Practical answers for credit and procurement teams collecting supplier references.
It is a questionnaire sent to a supplier named by an applicant. It asks about their commercial relationship, terms, balances, payment timing, and account issues, giving the reviewing team a factual input for its process.
Send it to someone who can consult the applicant's account history, such as an accounts-receivable representative, credit manager, owner, or finance administrator. Collect their role and work contacts.
Ask for respondent identity, relationship length, account status, terms, highest balance range, current and overdue balances, and payment timing. Add conditional questions for relevant account issues.
Use what your team needs. You can offer ranges for highest, current, and overdue balances instead of exact values. Explain each request and avoid unnecessary information.
Yes. Require the applicant or application ID, reference company, and respondent on every response. Then group supplier submissions by application and compare them.
Yes. Conditional logic can reveal details after an overdue balance, returned payment, dispute, or collection event is selected, keeping routine responses short.
Yes. Makeform is unlimited free for generating, editing, publishing, and collecting responses with your form. The paid tier removes the Makeform badge.
No. A trade reference reports one supplier's experience and may cover only part of the applicant's history. Your organization decides how to verify responses, weigh them with other information, and apply its own credit or procurement policy.
Standardize the next reference request.
