Success In Collections Comes From Focus

We just received a new portfolio two weeks ago from a new client – reassigned files, high balance, and they wanted to keep in the loop.  So we shared our weekly project report with them.  We’re just getting going as the first week was sending the mandatory letters, so our by file count our liquidation is 0.13% and our projected liquidation by file count including payment arrangements, promises, etc is 1.11%  They were floored and amazed.

But I'm thinking, it’s not that big a deal – it’s not hard, doesn’t take a lot of time, and was easy to do – all it really is, is creating focus.

Agencies that are starting out treasure every single file from the dentist or the auto loan company, they naturally have focus, because their inventory is limited, and the one or two collectors can make sure everything is done perfectly.  But when an agency is successful and grows, bureaucracy and lack of information between team members makes things less efficient – files aren’t imported right away, accounts are pooled and no one even knows what the liquidation of a portfolio is on a given day without massive spreadsheets or being chewed out by a client for non-performance.

Here’s the secret – keep yourself honest, assign a project manager, and have them report to the entire staff on the portfolio every week, with a report like the one below. 

But it’s file counts, not dollars you will say! ... and you’re right, but it’s not about the dollars, it’s about the focus – which is file management.  You can see below that after one week or 1-2 initial calls, some of the agents are averaging about a 7% contact rate, and of those contacts they are converting to payment 80% of those contacts.  While it's super early to say, my hunch is this program will liquidate 4-5% in the long run.  For a reassign program, that's not horrible -- and the client said that would be amazing.  If you manage the individual files, the dollars will follow.

The magic of this report that you don't see from this blog is that we compare it to previous weekly project reports for trends – is liquidation going up, and at what rate?  Is one team member having better success others, and can you share what is working for them?  Are you keeping up with new assignments or are you running out of forward flow files which would require increasing or decreasing the number of staff on the program?  You can see in our report the XFR column files waiting to be assigned out, you can see the overall behaviour of the consumers, and so on.  

Also, when you send out this weekly report, the project manager (who is a collector by the way, not some armchair general/middle management type) can share one or two things they’ve learned this week from the client, from edge cases that require special handling, or give direction on how to improve one or two small areas.  Also they can get feedback from their team members, and anyone in the company -- and everyone knows whether we are succeeding or failing, it's not a state secret.

This report took 10 seconds to run, and maybe 2 minutes to share with our staff along with some guidance – don’t your clients deserve that time, and don’t you deserve some success from a little focus?

DBStatus		AO1	BM1	CF1	DR3	JR1	KH1	ME1	TT1	XFR	YR1	TOTALS
Avoids Contact		1			2						1	4
Bankrupt		2		1		1		1	1	4	1	11
Claims Fraud					1			1				2
Consumer Proposal		1				1		2	1			6
Contact Attempted		108	56		33	21	58	111	48	2	69	506
Cooperative			1			1		2	3			7
Deceased		3				1			1	1	1	7
Disputes		1			1							2
File Closed						1		1				2
File on Hold									1			1
In Progress			52		11	71	35		36	623	36	867
Incarcerated							1					1
Listed in Error											1	1
No Income					1			3	1			5
Partial Payment					1			2				3
Payment Arranged								1			2	3
Promise Payment			1			3		1	2		1	8
Settlement									1		1	2
Trace		3	6		16	1	10	22	10		4	72
Uncooperative		3	1		1			4	3		1	13
TOTAL COUNT		122	117	1	67	101	104	151	108	630	118	1522

Every agency can succeed on any project with the right approach.  Want to talk about project management, and how to implement this at your company?  Give me a shout, happy to talk shop.

Thanks kindly,

Blair DeMarco-Wettlaufer
KINGSTON Data & Credit
Cambridge, Ontario
226-946-1730
blair@receivableaccounts.com