But did you do your due diligence in trying to get them to pay? If your customer has not paid you and you are getting to the 60-90 day mark, you might want to ask yourself; “What do I have to lose?” You have not gotten paid and you may not be serving that customer which means you’re not getting future revenue and you’re getting upset.

Collection agencies can actually save you a customer by allowing both parties to work out an amicable payment arrangement. If you just say, “forget it, I’ll just write it off, you have lost that customer forever.

One other very important factor to consider is how you are managing your internal resources. Having your staff mail letters and follow up on those calls month after month after 60-90 days may actually be costing you much more money than if you outsourced your receivables. Yes, it makes sense in the short term but after a certain point, this begins to cost you more money than if say, APR took over the process…

One of the best ways to work out small balances is to work with a collection agency that has a number of choices. One of those should be a flat fee collections system. It’s pretty much what the name implies. It costs a flat fee regardless of the amount owed. In our case, we work your account for a period of time on a flat fee basis and if you still have not seen a payment on that account, it goes into our Tier II system which is a more traditional method of collecting. Does it cost more? Yes, but at that point we would both agree that the account in question needs a little more diplomacy to settle.

One more point that many people don’t think of. Find an agency that reports accounts to a credit bureau. In our case, after a series of attempts, in our flat fee system, we move hard to collect accounts into our Tier II system. After a period of time, those accounts get reported to a credit bureau. This might motivate the consumer to make arrangements for payment to avoid having that issue pop up on their credit report.

For an average of $15 per account, the question you asked yourself, “What do I have to lose?’ We say, not much. In fact, you have everything to gain including preserving a customer. Want more? We discuss this topic in the video below;

Click here to view the embedded video.

I went to a University who’s motto was Learn. Lead. Serve. I was raised by loving parents in a tiny little town where everyone knew everyone, said hello to their neighbors and helped out when they could. I have friends who do amazing charitable work and give countless hours of their time to numerous charities. I have had good role models and positive people in my life always.

It’s odd to get an award for doing what you should do every day anyway – which is treat people with respect and kindness, work hard at all that you do, and give back more than you take. But it’s awesome how special I felt being given this honor knowing that others see these characteristics in me. It motivates me to continue to make good decisions – surround myself with positive people – give my time and my money whenever I can – and more importantly to just keep being me.

Thank you APR and to all my peers for this honor. I am in amazing company and I share this honor with many of you.

The stickers that have adorned my office window for years now did all the talking. Everyone knew what I didn’t even have to say. Thank you NY Giants – you made my Monday bearable and super productive (since no one here in Boston risked having to talk to the winner.)

A peek into my office

At 82 years old, he doesn’t have to work. And especially in an industry and job that can sometimes be a little nerve-racking, Al still enjoys coming to work every day. Al could be off playing golf which we know he enjoys but he chooses to spend his day with us.

All collection agencies need an Al Scott. He’s compassionate, understanding, knowledgeable and very effective as a collector. He knows that he and all collectors can be far more effective if they just employ a little diplomacy when dealing with consumers.

Al was featured in this article in the Worcester Telegram and Gazette and we thought we would share his story again with you. Al is another example of the good side of the collection industry; those that truly want to help people resolve their debt and not just collect it. Take a look at his story.

http://www.telegram.com/article/20120130/BUSINESS01/101309984/1002/business

Invoice on time and at regular intervals: Always set time aside to invoice. If you don’t have time, hire someone to do it. Send out invoices at the time of service or set a time each month or week to do it.

Follow up in a timely manner: When invoices go unpaid after a 30-day period, send a statement to that customer and place a gentle follow up call. Ask how their service was and bridge into the unpaid invoice.

Decide when to step up collection efforts: While you need to gauge this yourself, we recommend entering into some type of collection procedure after 60 days. A letter stating that the overdue account will be sent to your debt collection agency if not taken care of immediately sometimes solves the problem.

Turn your accounts over: After 60 days, it may be clear that the customer does not want to pay or is having issues. Have a third-party collection agency such as APR take over your collection efforts. It will save you staff time and in many cases, get you paid much quicker.

We look forward to helping you in 2012 and we wish you a profitable year ahead. Check out the video on our basic tips;

Click here to view the embedded video.

Having been a director of several corporations I can honestly say I have never seen as much information disseminated to staff. It is refreshing and without parallel in the corporate world that I know. It provides encouragement to perform at a high level as the company recognizes staff accomplishments and sets up for another year.

I for one sincerely appreciate being a small part of the whole and readily recognize that APR is a great place to work. Thank you for that opportunity.

The theme of the show was ‘Mission Possible’.  There were plenty of educational sessions (both technical and business) that were great learning opportunities.  I sat in on a technical session, accidentally (did you know there are 7000 ‘grains’ of water per pound by volume?), an economic outlook session (the economy is starting to rebound, albeit slightly) and a session on non-verbal communication hosted by body language expert Jan Hargrave (I now have the ability to tell when someone is lying and someone is telling the truth, so watch out!).  While the session on body language was informative and very entertaining, I probably got the most out of the session on customer service. 

Without going into too much detail, the session covered how customers have changed over a very short period of time, specifically how they find out about products and services.  Everyone can remember where they were on September 11th, 2001, but how did you hear about it?  Did someone tweet you?  Facebook post perhaps?  Of course not because both were not invented at the time.  Nowadays, information about virtually everything is accessible by a few mouse clicks or taps on a smartphone.  

Everyone has heard the adage that a happy customer will tell 1 person about you, an unhappy customer will tell 15.  It is more important to keep your customers happy than ever before and the session covered ways to do that.  Though the session was geared toward HVAC contractors, there were a lot of take-aways that still apply to collections and most other industries.  The presenter gave many ideas and strategies to improve customer service and I can happily say that most of the recommendations are already policies and procedures that American Profit Recovery uses! 

When most people hear ‘collections’, customer service is probably the last thing they are thinking.  It is great to work for a company that prides itself in being different and puts customer service to the forefront.  From being able to reach a live person during business hours (rather than an automated voice prompt system) to have dedicated customer support reps for each client our collection agency (in my biased opinion) is an industry leader in this area.

Talking to clients who tell me that their business is doing better, whether tremendously better or just slightly better, in-part due to our collection efforts is always great to hear.  Thank you to Leigh and the staff at the SCAHACC, I had a great time at the show and look forward to next year’s show (where I hear there will be a mechanical bull!).

New England Grow gives us a huge opportunity to get in front of the many business owners we serve day in and day out. Working with lawn care and landscaping professionals is a big part of our business and something we know well. With hundreds of these businesses across the country entrusting their receivables to this collection agency, you have to wonder why.

Here’s just a few reasons why:

Countless Endorsements: We have been endorsed by some of the leading organizations in the green industry, software companies that serve these businesses, franchise groups and others. I’d say we have more endorsements than any of the other collection agencies around.

Flat fee Collections: With our flat fee system, many small businesses can now afford to utilize the services of a third party agency. Our system is not only affordable but actually saves a client time and money. And the resources they might normally use to track down late payers can now be used to service customers and look for new ones.

Experts in the industry: We have many on our team that are industry experts. They know the lawn care and landscaping business and know what it takes to get you paid and keep your customer after the collection process.

So, it’s no doubt why we spend time at New England Grows and many other trade shows that cater to lawn care and landscaping professionals. Check out the video below to find out more about what we do to keep these pros in business;

Click here to view the embedded video.

However, now that you have seen all the morning shows take on the topic of New Year resolutions including fitness, weight loss and money, it’s time for us to bring it up again. Here’s a few tips for staying on track in 2012 and not getting into trouble with your money and too much debt.

Pay extra on your credit cards: If you’ve racked up some debt on your credit cards during the holidays, it’s time to address that. We all know whether we like to admit it or not that paying just the minimum on your cards, it will take forever to pay them off. Paying just a little over the minimum can drastically reduce the time it takes to pay them off.

Transfer balances: Many of us are getting inundated with those blank checks from our credit card companies. If you’re like me, I just shred them but if you’re having trouble, it might make sense to use them as long as you follow the rules and make future payments on time. One issue with these offers is if you fall late on just one payment, all your effort to reduce your debt can be virtually wiped out because the interest rate will jump back up.

Monitor spending: Keep track of what you spend. Monitor your food shopping, entertainment, gas and other household expenses and see if you might be overdoing it a little. Just that fact that you are looking at this on a regular basis might open you eyes to something.

Spend less: Not much to say here…You can always find something to cut out if you look hard enough. You would be surprised once you take a hard look at your monthly spending, how much you actually are spending that you were unaware of.

Take care of unexpected bills: Taking care of unexpected bills such as medical, car repair, veterinarian and others right away will help preserve your credit and help you avoid being sent to a collection agency.

I’m sure you’ve glanced by a few articles on how to beef up your finances for the New Year. As someone who has worked at collection agencies for many years, I have seen what can happen when you lose sight of your finances. Don’t let this issue take a back seat. Take time to go over the above and turn these things around.

Why do we spend so much time here? That’s simple. We have earned a reputation in dental and medical collections as a company that not only get these professionals paid for their work but tries very hard to keep their patients coming back after the collection process. When we are at YDC, we hear many stories from our dental professionals about how we’ve collected their office fees, saved them time and money by allowing their staff to make the patient happy instead of tracking down late payers and kept their patient for them. Something not all collection agencies can say.

In essence, we make the collection process so much simpler for these professionals. A dentist or doctor should not be worrying about when a patient pays them. With a few internal procedures and the help of a third party like APR, we are helping these practices focus on what’s important; the patient.

When we get out of the office and spend time with these dentists and office managers we find out so much about them and what they really want so we can’t wait to get on the floor and start talking. We hope to see you there so we can tell you more about what we have to offer. (if you’re not already doing business with us…)

In the meantime, check out this short video on dental and medical collections and here what some of our customers have to say.

Click here to view the embedded video.