Kudos to our Michigan office for climbing to #6 for companies in MI raising money for Making Strides.  As of this morning, not only are we the #6 company, but we are the #9 team! 

What an awesome accomplishment for a company with 40 employees in that location!  We are very proud of you all.

To join us in walking or donate to our team in MI visit:  http://main.acsevents.org/goto/APR-MI 

To join is in MA or NC visit http://main.acsevents.org/goto/APR-MA or http://main.acsevents.org/goto/APR-NC respectively!

Thanks in advance for your support and participation.

Collection Agencies for Small Business? Absolutely…

Many think of a collection agency as working for the big company, credit card companies or the bank for late auto loans. Maybe they feel they can’t afford to use one, or maybe they feel they will alienate their customers by using a collection agency. What many do not realize is a small business can utilize the services of a collection agency as well. In fact doing so, has many advantages. 

First, a small business has limited resources including labor, and of course funds to use a variety of outside help. Many small business owners do much of the work around their place themselves including their accounting and collections. By using a collection agency and a quick plug for our Tier I flat-fee system, a small business can turnover accounts very quickly and for a minimal fee, have that outside help to help get them paid.

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Daily (at least) I’ll find myself asking the question, “What are odds of …”

The odds of attending a perfect game? 

The odds of running into your middle school boyfriend in a park 5 hours from home who you haven’t seen in 10+ years?

The odds that the Yankees will win the world series this year?  (The odds Matsui would actually stay healthy to help that happen …)

Coming into the office daily and hearing our collectors and admin teams on the phone with consumers, I’ve even found myself wondering, what are the odds that I could end up in collections?  Or what are the odds that someone I love is?   Continue reading »

We recently saw a report that several collection agencies across the country were laying off staff. While we were somewhat surprised, I guess it’s not a shocker…What we will tell you is that American Profit Recovery is not laying off anyone. In fact, this collection agency continues to grow at a steady pace. While it may be because of the economic times we are living in, we believe it’s the way the company operates. Yes, business is up, but many collection agencies face tough times collecting on that business because many consumers do not have the resources to pay an entire bill at once. With the diplomatic approach that American Profit Recovery take with consumers, and the flexibility that the firm embraces, it makes resolving past due debt that much easier. But it might be a deeper issues that that.

Once again, we are proud to point out that we are very strict in our efforts to operate under the most credible way we know how to. Any company that pays close attention to the way they do business and the values they operate under will always do better than the company that does not pay attention to their ethics. We believe this to be true. We also believe that our greatest asset, as cliché it may sound, is our workforce. They come here every day ready to represent American Profit Recovery they way each of the partners would do. Continue reading »

I recently had the opportunity to attend the ACA convention in fabulous Las Vegas.  I had several takeaways from the experience, and one in particular I would like to share.  I sat in on a recruiting and development seminar where key practices were discussed on how to find “A” players to bring into your organization.  There were many ideas that came about, but one quote that stuck out for me was, “Knowing what to do is not the major challenge faced by executives-finding who to do it is!” by Marshall Goldsmith.  This quote is printed on the front of the book WHO, by Geoff Smart and Randy Street and is a must read if you want to improve your chances for hiring an “A” player.  I purchased the book the day after returning from the conference and have shared it with my management team.  We have seen immediate results from some changes suggested in the book we implemented and have had a blast learning from some new hiring techniques.

This morning, Melissa and I attended the Detroit “Kickoff Breakfast” for the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Annual Breast Cancer Walk set for October the 10th.  How anyone could attend this event, hear the stories of loss and survival, and not be touched, is impossible.  I thought a lot about my grandmother throughout the entire event.  She was diagnosed with breast cancer, went through surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation only to pass away within a matter of months diagnosis.  She never lived to see any of her grandchildren graduate from high school, and did not live long enough to meet her only granddaughter.  That was 24 years ago.  I can only imagine what medical advances have occurred since then that may have cured her, or at least given her more time.  I am sure that all of us have loved someone, or have at least known someone, who has had to face some form of cancer.  I strongly encourage all of you to participate in this year’s walk.  One of the corporate sponsors is General Motors, and for the first time in the 12 years they have been involved, they cannot make any fiscal donation.  The recent economic hardships, and their reorganization are preventing them from doing so this year.  However, they are still organizing their employees participation.   The point being, money is not the only donation you can make.  A few hours of your time on a Saturday morning can help make a difference.  The money that we raise is to help pay for testing women so they can be diagnosed early, to help pay for their treatment if they are diagnosed, and to fund ongoing research.  I ask you the same thing the organizers of the event asked us, to think of your mothers, sisters, daughters, girlfriends, and wives.  It’s a great cause, and a great time.  I hope you all participate!

Leadership at American Profit Recovery and in more general applications boils down to proactive influence; persuading group change in a specified direction by way of a common goal.  An individual’s behavior however, cannot be swayed towards any goal by focusing solely on those behaviors; this because behaviors are the natural consequence, a result, not an affect, of desires.  Efforts concentrated on a what a person desires will bear more fruit; this because desires drive motivations, give purpose to, and are the reason for eventual behaviors you seek to persuade.  This introspection into leadership cannot be summarized better than in the words of French writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea”

I had the unique opportunity yesterday to attend the Kickoff Breakfast for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk that will take place in Boston on October 4, 2009.  As American Profit Recovery’s Team Leader last year, I was invited to attend this year to see how we could better motivate our team.  And motivate me it did …

I was seated at a table with a survivor of breast cancer, Joyce, and her daughter who appeared to be about my age.  Like APR, they first participated in this event last year as “Team Believers,” just days after Joyce completed chemo.  She has been cancer free since.  She is now my motivation. Continue reading »

While Collection Manager Bruce took some much deserved time off, his team decided to play a slight prank …

Bruce's Desk in NC

Since Bruce is a bit of a “clean freak” you can imagine his horror when arriving back to work.  He has vowed that revenge will be sweet.  What a way to motivate your team to rethink those PTO requests!