Business Success Secrets

To operate a organization profitably, every owner has to stay on top of their receivables and check their cash flow. Whether you promote a product or offer a service, you probably have to deal with late-paying or none-paying customers from time to time. That means that you have to have a sound, consistent internal debt recovery policy in place. Part of your policy should include knowing when to contract out problem accounts to a debt collection agency.

One significant reason this is true is because your delinquent accounts continue to depreciate, at a rate of 15% per month. And the longer an account goes delinquent, the more difficult AND costly it is to collect. In addition to spending more time, money and resources going after these depreciating accounts, its also costing your organization in lost opportunity dollars, by taking you away from your core revenue-generating functions. It is far more cost effective and efficient to outsource these difficult accounts to a impartial third party debt collection agency.

Below are three significant tips to think about when hiring a debt collection agency.

When hiring a debt collection agency, you ought to make sure they are licensed in the state(s) where your debtors are located. As collection laws can differ significantly by state, its to your advantage to look at collection agencies that are qualified nationally. Because we live in such a transient society, and with people moving across state lines regularly, its better to know a debt collection agency that is approved in all states are familiar with all the different laws and regulations. In fact, collection agencies can only collect in the states they hold a license in.

Fee structures can differ greatly with different collection agencies. Some propose prepaid, flat fee arrangements, as others cost a percentage of any monies collected, normally with no upfront costs necessary. Still others can propose some combination of the two. Depending on your organization, there are advantages to either situation. Even though there are upfront costs with flat fee based debt collection agencies, you can save a lot of money in the long run, since the collection costs tend to be a tiny proportion of the total dollars collected.

Because your costs are unchanging, you can also turn over difficult accounts quicker, when there’s a greater probability for recovering your money. Again, the longer you procrastinate, the more difficult it is to collect.

Still, many organizations opt to give up a percentage of whatever might be collected to preclude the upfront dollar costs. Be sure to compare rates though: a debt collection agency can charge anywhere from 20-50% in contingency fees. One thing to keep in mind though: while you might be inclined to seek out the lowest fees, you should also know that if the fees are very low, it can mean the debt collection agency has inadequate staff, time and resources that they will dedicate to collecting your accounts. Although percentage fees charged are significant, success in total recovery is far more principal to your business bottom line. Whichever option you choose, make sure the debt collection agency you’re considering spells out their fee structure clearly in writing.

Finally, when considering a debt collection agency, you need to think of them as an extension of your organization. Given that they will be collecting your money and acting on your behalf, its main that they mirror your establishment’s viewpoint. For example, if you run a medical practice, your reputation in the community is something you attach importance to. You wouldn’t want to affiliate with a debt collection agency known to engage in ruthless, hostile and/or inhumane behavior when handling patient collections. At the same time, you want a collection agency that while diplomatic, they are resolved, uniform and constant in their collections activity.