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Friday, November 27, 2009
Demand Good Communication from Your Collection Agency
After reading Article #1 titled "Is Your Business Owed Money?" in my series of "Recover Your Business Profits" blog posts, your business should have concluded to use a third party which is a profit recovery company to free up those profits which are tied up in late past due accounts receivable.
Another critical question that must be asked before selecting which profit recovery company to use is, "How excellent is its communication capability?"
The level of communication excellence should be determined based upon:
1) its ability to work bi-directionally
2) its technology
3) its accessibility
4) its flexibility
On point 1), insure the profit recovery company has the ability not only to accept submitted debtor information from the creditor but just as importantly has the ability to supply needed debtor pursuit status back to the creditor. This debtor pursuit status should include information such as whether the debtor is in bankruptcy, if the debtor address is good or if it has changed, what the recovery phase (written, verbal, or litigation) and step (how many letters have been sent or calls have been made) is, if the debtor has contested the recovery, if the debtor has made partial payment, etc.
On point 2), insist that the profit recovery company have an internet based primary creditor interface for debtor information submission and debtor status monitoring. It is fine if a secondary option exists in a paper or phone format if you are one of those few creditors that do not have internet capability. However, if you do not have internet access as a creditor, it is highly recommended you do so to reap the great benefits. If you are not comfortable with the internet, hire someone full-time or part-time to assist.
On point 3), demand that you as a creditor have the ability to submit debtor information and to request debtor status from the profit recovery company 24 hours per day and 7 days per week. It should be noted that one of the biggest complaints heard from creditors about their collection agencies is that they call their agency and have to leave a message inquiring about a debtor's status and no one ever gets back to them! This really goes hand-in-hand with point 2) since an internet interface is always available per the schedule of you the creditor. An internet creditor interface eliminates the need for information to be "pushed" from the collection agency to you since it is simply "pulled" from the profit recovery company whenever you want it.
On point 4), confirm that debtor information can be submitted to the profit recovery company on a single debtor basis via manual entry or on a multiple debtor basis via a batch file. Also confirm that batch files can be submitted in a variety of formats (ie. Excel, Access, ASCII, Comma De-limited, etc.) so it is compatible with your creditor's business accounting software or ERP system. Make sure that you the creditor can also flexibly select the format in which the debtors are contacted in writing based upon the debt specifics (unpaid invoice, bounced check, un-returned equipment, etc.). Check if there is flexibility in the manner in which the debtors are contacted so that it can be done diplomatically if you the creditor want to retain the debtor as a customer or intensively if you never care to do business with the debtor again.
So as you can see, you as a creditor must select a profit recovery company that has the ability to communicate with you in a bi-directional, high technology, accessible, and flexible fashion.
To inquire about how you can work with a profit recovery company that has high technology 24 hour 7 day a week accessible client internet based interface for debtor upload and recovery status that has a flat fee of @$10 per late past due account and an average 56% recovery rate in 40 days for accounts turned over before they exceed 90 days late,
call us at:
818-710-0244
Series: "Recover Your Business Profits"
Article: #5 "Demand Good Communication from Your Collection Agency"
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