Credit costs time and resources. You can reduce the cost by getting small orders started quickly with a 'Fast Start Limit' for any new accounts with no checking. Of course there is a risk but £500, say, may not hurt if it is lost. However, further orders need proper checks.

Use the 80/20 rule to identify the few accounts which buy most of your sales (list accounts in descending order of value until they add up to 80% of the total). Give those a full credit check and only brief checks on smaller ones. Always check customers by size of debt, not alphabetical order, so you never suffer a large bad debt through lack of time.