I fulfilled a goal last week.

A client, a large veterinary practice servicing domestic and farm animals, who has been with us for over two years and came to us like many of our clients do, because he was finding it hard to get his customers to pay.  He needed our help. He needed to involve us in the process early on, and he believed in our concept and our diplomacy and yet he, like many, found it hard to change.

He was busy. Each morning he would be at a farm at 4:30am, back in the office for surgery by 11:00am and did his final rounds on the farms around 4:30pm, a long grueling day. When I was able to reach him, his response was he had not had the time to review his accounts. I asked if that made sense … could he afford not to get paid? He admitted he hated to submit people into collections. He lived in a rural area, his neighbors were his customers, and how could he do this?

I reminded him: Tier I can open the lines of communication … maybe they do want to pay; maybe they are not able to pay in full and don’t know how to tell you. The impact of a third party can push them to the phone; they call you and you know now they are struggling. Would you give them a payment plan? Maybe you would and the debt would be paid and your customer would be grateful for your help in offering the payment plan.  What could be better than that?  Of course, some may not pay in Tier I … but at least you then would know they truly do not intend to pay.

Months went by, another year went by and I keep delivering the same message with the same concern for his wellbeing.

He recently had a new billing person come aboard. I explained the services we offered and she saw the value and the importance of changing the way they handled delinquent accounts. A few months later with no accounts submitted I asked she speak to the Dr. and tell him I said he needs to enter accounts now. If he doesn’t, I have to accept he will never do so and let it go.

Every Customer Service Representative struggles with this. We know the systems works and we want our clients to get the best results possible. We all make this a priority, getting them to change to what we know would benefit them.  But we can only call and ask so many times! 

I called back a couple of days later and his billing person had 16 accounts approved for her to enter. It felt like winning the lottery!

If entering accounts each month at 90 days truly becomes a habit, it will positively affect his bottom line and he, who exemplifies the hardworking, caring clients we represent, will benefit so much from that long road to change.

The first couple of months coming out of the holidays have been a blur. We’ve been completing a lot of 2010 reports and figuring out what we want to track into 2011. We’ve set goals for our departments and for APR and communicated those goals with our staff so that we are all on the same page working towards the same thing. And we’ve set up our training, charity and trade show calendars to start to plan out these next 12 months.

I wanted to take a couple minutes and share with you a couple of this collection agency’s accomplishments thus far and some of our plans for the near future.

In 2011:
• We have donated to and supported 2 new charity initiatives:
o Our Michigan office collected donations for children in foster care to use at their school in Dearborn Heights, Vista Maria.
o Our MA office collected over 90 cans for the Feeding Families Food Drive which supported food banks throughout Greater Boston.
• We have continued to hire adding 2 new collectors in our MI branch.
• We have acquired more space in MI and are almost done with construction which will add room for 20 more employees.
• Our managers have attended non-harassment training to keep APR a great place to work.
• We’ve attended the Real Green Users Conference, Yankee Dental Congress, NE Grows, Florida Pest Management Trade Show and Michigan Green Industry Expo and are already gearing up for more shows including MedTrade Spring and the Oklahoma Dental Association Annual Show.
• We are holding a month long Facebook contest for clients, employees, vendors and partners to increase our reach and ability to share meaningful information.

None of this includes the numerous new clients we have welcomed, the anniversaries we have celebrated or the revenue goals we have achieved. APR is off to a great start for 2011 and we hope you check back to read about what else we accomplish this year!

P.S. – Click on over to APR’s Facebook page and mention you “Liked” our page because you read this blog! Help this employee win this contest

As our Sales Manager, I meet with hundreds of different businesses in all different types of industries.  I hear many interesting ways businesses try to collect internally and the struggles businesses face daily.  In the past, when they had finally exhausted all of their collection efforts, there are a number of businesses that went the route of small claims court.  Most of these businesses now utilize our Tier I flat-fee program with much success, but of course there are still a residue of accounts that go unpaid.  What should these businesses do now?  Still use small claims?  Use another collection agency?  Or use APR’s Tier II division?

Small claims court can serve its purpose in some cases, but often times the feedback that we get is actually the exact opposite.  Many businesses are short staffed as it is, and when their day in court comes, a person from their staff has to take time out to go, leaving them even further short.  Once at court, you have to wait for your case(s) to come up many times hours after arrival.   

We hear that 99% of defendants do not even show up, thus winning the business a default judgment.  Sweet, right?  Well, not so much.  You are awarded a nice piece of paper saying you won, but still no money to show for it.  Not only is there no money, but most small claims courts are charging $35-$60 just to file the claim, not to mention the certified letter or the costs of having someone served.   

So small claims court is expensive, time consuming AND often times not successful in collecting any money, leaving the business almost even further behind where they were before.  Also, different small claim courts have different regulations.  Some require that the business must verify addresses are correct through two different sources; some say that businesses can only file a certain number of claims per week or per month … The bottom line is that we believe there are better options for the businesses out there than this.

The best option I believe is our Tier II division.  Why?  Thanks for asking.  First, let’s start with our people.  We have an incredible staff of motivated individuals that have gone through intensive training on how to professionally handle consumer situations.  They are trained on the laws to protect the consumer and protect our clients.  They take the collectors pledge to treat everyone with dignity and respect, to help consumers find ways to pay their obligations, and to be professional and ethical.   

Secondly, we have an amazing web based collection portal, APRweb, that keeps clients up to date on activity and the accounts placed.  We don’t collect in Tier I – one click of a button will move it to Tier II – no time wasted by your staff or lapse in collection efforts.  We show you up to the minute stats on how we have done for you and real-time reporting.  

Third, we subscribe to a number of databases that helps locate up to date information and helps provide us the tools to communicate properly with the consumer and identify their capability of satisfying their bills.  Fourth, we report to the Credit Bureaus.  This is an amazing tool we offer in Tier II to help you collect your money.  Many small claims courts do not report thus causing you another step and potential cost. 

And lastly, we get results.  The feedback from our clients is that Tier II has far exceeded other agencies performance and we attribute that to our staff and training.  On top of all of that, our clients have a full team of customer service reps to help answer questions and provide the information that our clients need and expect.  Bottom line?  Using Tier II is easy, convenient, and limitless as far as accounts placed; has an amazing staff of collection professionals and customer service reps; and will get more of your money back in your pocket without further expense or time. 

Seem like a no-brainer?  I agree.  Stop spending your time or money at small claims and utilize our Tier II now.