In a few days our team will take our first walk this year for Making Strides. We’ll walk in Boston on October 2 and we’d like to point out, there’s still time to join us or donate to our team. We had over 90 walkers between all our offices last year and many were family and friends as well as our employees.

I know we’ll all be thinking of those affected by this disease, the survivors we know and the ones that have lost their courageous battle. We remain strong and determined knowing we’ve done a small part in this fight against breast cancer.

There is power in numbers as they say; and not just in raising money. I still think we have a long way to go in creating awareness about this awful disease and if anything, our team and all the teams involved have helped the American Cancer Society raise awareness about this important issue and have at the very least, enlightened our employees and others.

But back to the money for a minute. We raise awareness so we can raise more money. In fact, since we have been taking part in Making Strides, this collection agency has raised over $40,000 to combat this illness.

Many have asked how they can help. Here are a few suggestions.

-Walk or donate: The links to our upcoming walks can be found on our Upcoming Events page.

-Five percent of all sales in October will be donated to Making Strides. That includes reorders so call us today!

-We’ll be donating one dollar for every  new “Like” we get on our Facebook Page to Making Strides so hop on over and “like” us.

Once again, thanks for your past support and thanks for all you can do to help us during this year’s events.

Like any company, recognition is nice when we do a good deed. We don’t really ask for it and it’s not why we do it. But we thought we’d share with you a sign of our commitment. Literally …

Every April we take part in a number of Earth Day cleanup projects called PLANET Day of Service. We’ve taken on a bunch of these in the past three years and we partner with the Professional Landcare Network of which we are a trusted partner.

This past year we took on a project at a place called Proud Lake Recreation. We’ve adopted the place with a commitment of many volunteer hours and in recognition of that, they gave us a sign. You’ll not only see our sign there but you’ll occasionally see our team cleaning the place up and making it a great place for families to enjoy.

Once again, this collection agency is proud of the resources we can provide places like this to make them a little better for everyone.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/We-re-Making-Strides-Again.html?soid=1102829252662&aid=m5JqsYqfV4Q.

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend a training seminar conducted by former IBM VP Mike Lesko. Anytime I have the chance to get out from behind my desk and brush shoulders with seasoned business professionals I chalk it up as worthwhile experience, but this trip was especially rewarding.

The training was geared toward effective management, increasing productivity, and effective communication in the business environment. As we discussed these topics and techniques to achieve our goals I realized that a lot of Mike’s recommendations were processes already implemented at American Profit Recovery. It’s comforting to know that the collection agency I work for is in tune with cutting edge business philosophies and has so many systems in place to help its employees and customers succeed.

This is one more experience that assures me I made the right choice when I joined the APR team and I’m excited to continue building my career and growing with this company.

I found a great article (believe it or not, not written by me…) on how to get paid on time. It points out many of the things we have been telling you for years on this blog or in our videos but takes a little different approach. The article is from New Zealand but as we all know, bad debt is not exclusive to this country. Some of the things this article points out include:

The author talks about charging for your services in advance. And while many businesses can implement this type of business model, it’s not always feasible in other businesses. If you can, that certainly solves one issue.

He talks about “rapid response.” When an invoice goes unpaid, make sure you call that customer immediately after it goes into late status.

Offer multiple payment opportunities. The more ways a customer can pay you, the better and the less excuses you might hear.

Of course, when accounts go too long, it’s time to partner with a reputable collection agency.

The full article is here if you want to check it out And while they may be a little harsher in their vernacular than we use here, the advice holds true in how to get paid.

And check out some video advice below as well on how to set up a proper accounts receivable system;

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I cannot believe we just finished up our 5th (5TH!!!!!) Annual Employee Week at APR. When I joined thic company 6 years ago it was made very clear to me that employees and family and work/life balance came first and that I worked for (with) a group of guys who wanted to be sure we as a company became and stayed a great place to work.

One small … well actually quite big way we celebrate our team is an entire week once/year dedicated to them. Think gifts on your desk each day … free meals … stocked fridge … and countless games and surprises. It may not be our most productive week as a team – but gosh darnit I think everyone at this collection agency sure does have a lot of fun.

Take a peek at what it looked like when the carnival arrived at APR this year:

In another edition of “Ask APR” we have a common question; What is the difference between a Flat fee agency and one that charges a contingency? Well aside from the obvious, there are differences in why you would use each one.

As with any bill that is not paid or paid on time, the longer that bill goes unpaid, the harder it is to collect on that payment. If you adhere to good internal polices and start the collection process after the first 30-45 days after a bill is not paid, a flat fee might be just for you. A flat fee collection agency such as APR gets in the game early and pretty much serves as an extension of your accounts receivables department. This is also attractive as the name indicates; you only invest a flat fee, typically around $15-$20 per account regardless of the amount being collected. For businesses such as medical and dental and other small businesses, the flat fee is attractive because it saves a company or medical practice internal costs and by nature, it’s more diplomatic.

Furthermore, you have total control over the accounts you place into the system; when they start, stopping them when you want, suspending the account and other diplomatic features. And with all payments going directly to the business, the perception they are dealing directly with the business adds another layer of diplomacy.

A contingency agency again by its name, charges a percentage of the amount actually collected. You might want to go with this type of service if you’ve waited too long to start the collection process or you have accounts that you know will be hard to collect on.

What’s right for you? Well for the record, this collection agency offers both services and both operate with a very diplomatic approach. Our Tier I flat fee service is a great place to start because there is a low investment and if those accounts end up identifying themselves as being much more difficult to collect on, we offer the Tier II service which specializes in these more difficult accounts while still staying focused on diplomacy. And while you may indeed want to keep that customer, there are also just as many businesses that may just want to let that customer go at that point.

Check out our video response to the question for more on this topic and don’t hesitate to send us an email and ask one of your own.

As they say; You Decide…