Motivation Is A Key To Success For Collection Agencies

Advice For
In-House
Debt Collection

Moti­va­tion Is A Key To Suc­cess For Col­lec­tion Agencies

By Dean Kaplan

Good man­age­ment skills help col­lec­tion agen­cies and com­pa­nies in gen­eral to stay com­pet­i­tive and suc­cess­ful. This is espe­cially true dur­ing tough eco­nomic times, when sur­vival of the fittest def­i­nitely applies. Moti­vat­ing and keep­ing good employ­ees is a way to cap­i­tal­ize on col­lec­tion oppor­tu­ni­ties. More col­lec­tions lead to increased prof­its. This arti­cle is the first in a series of five arti­cles deal­ing with how excel­lent man­age­ment skills lead to increased suc­cess for agen­cies and credit departments.

Moti­vate your work­ers. If they have rea­son to work, a lot more will get done.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion is the key to moti­vat­ing. In col­lec­tion agen­cies, this is true because debt col­lec­tors must thor­oughly under­stand their clients, the debtors and the inner work­ings of the col­lec­tion agency’s sys­tems in order to be most pro­duc­tive. Debt col­lec­tors and employ­ees in gen­eral like to know what is going on and what to expect. Keep your col­lec­tors and employ­ees informed. By com­mu­ni­cat­ing reg­u­larly with col­lec­tors, our col­lec­tors feel impor­tant and nec­es­sary to the process. We have very low turnover, and our col­lec­tors are very pro­duc­tive and successful.

One thing that has proven invalu­able at our col­lec­tion agency is hav­ing weekly meet­ings. These meet­ing give man­age­ment a chance to reg­u­larly inform col­lec­tors of what is going on around the agency. It also pro­vides a forum for col­lec­tors to share ideas or col­lec­tion tech­niques that are work­ing or not work­ing. Fre­quently open­ing up a dia­logue keeps col­lec­tors and man­age­ment talk­ing and leads to bet­ter over­all com­mu­ni­ca­tion through­out the orga­ni­za­tion on a daily basis.

Another ben­e­fit of com­mu­ni­ca­tion is that it gives man­age­ment a chance to rec­og­nize employ­ees for good work. Stud­ies have shown that recog­ni­tion is some­times more impor­tant to employ­ees than salary. While this is not true for every­one, peo­ple in gen­eral appre­ci­ate being rec­og­nized for their accom­plish­ments. Recog­ni­tion def­i­nitely is moti­vat­ing. At our col­lec­tion agency, we have awards fre­quently such as “col­lec­tor of the month,” “most col­lec­tion calls placed dur­ing a month” or “most accu­rate and com­plete month-end sta­tus reports.” These awards might come with a small bonus or an increased draw for the sub­se­quent month, and have proven to be very motivational.

Man­agers need to show enthu­si­asm and pas­sion for their work. We’ve all heard the adage “It starts at the top.” At col­lec­tion agen­cies, this def­i­nitely holds true. If man­age­ment is excited about help­ing its clients suc­cess­fully col­lect past due debt, this will help moti­vate and keep the col­lec­tors focused and excited too. If man­age­ment han­dles its rela­tion­ships with clients and debtors respect­fully, this will pos­i­tively influ­ence the col­lec­tors and how they choose to relate to clients and debtors.

Man­agers should work to set indi­vid­ual goals for the col­lec­tors who report to them. These goals need to be real­is­tic and reach­able. Each col­lec­tor has strengths and weak­nesses. Goals should be geared to improv­ing strengths and reduc­ing weak­nesses. There should be mea­sur­able bench­marks against which progress can be mon­i­tored. Col­lec­tors and employ­ees in gen­eral like to know what is expected of them. The manager’s job is to help them achieve their goals, while giv­ing them the inde­pen­dence and author­ity to do their job. If a col­lec­tor feels he or she has the tools nec­es­sary to under­stand the client’s col­lec­tion needs, under­stand the debtor’s sit­u­a­tion, and the author­ity to bro­ker a deal that works for both, then he or she will feel empow­ered and will more likely suc­ceed in the col­lec­tion attempt.

Clearly, com­mu­ni­ca­tion and moti­va­tion go hand and hand. Col­lec­tion agen­cies need moti­vated debt col­lec­tors who are well informed and know how to do their job. At our col­lec­tion agency, open com­mu­ni­ca­tion cou­pled with excel­lent, con­sis­tent train­ing has enabled us to achieve great col­lec­tion suc­cess. The sec­ond arti­cle of this five part man­age­ment skills series will deal with dis­ci­plin­ing tech­niques for the col­lec­tion agency. Click here if you are ready to read Dis­ci­pline Strate­gies For The Col­lec­tion Agency.

The Kaplan Group is a bou­tique col­lec­tion agency spe­cial­iz­ing in large (over $10,000) debt col­lec­tions due from busi­nesses. Founded in 1991, the com­pany has a stel­lar rep­u­ta­tion (A+ rat­ing with the Bet­ter Busi­ness Bureau) and is rec­og­nized as one of the lead­ing col­lec­tion agen­cies for results on large and com­plex mat­ters.

…