Owning a business can be the most exciting and satisfying thing in your life. Nothing is better than making sales, reaching goals, and moving product. But sometimes customers are unable to or flat out refuse to pay for products or services after they’ve used them. Despite your best efforts, your business may simply not be able to get certain customers to pay what they owe. But you also don’t want to lose a customer by pursuing debts in a reckless or uninformed matter. When courtesy and requests aren’t enough to collect debts, it may be best to call a professional collections agency.
Good collections agencies are not the aggressive gangsters portrayed on television. Collections agencies use sophisticated collection techniques and compliance knowledge to help customers resolve payment issues. Before selecting a particular collection agency to represent your company, consider the following elements:
- Ability to Communicate: If the agency is representing you, they must know how to communicate with your customers and you. Dig into how focused and detailed their reporting is. Do they record all phone calls and other attempts to contact the customer? How do you receive payment after collections?
- Success Rate: What is their percentage of successful collection for total past due balances? The higher this percentage, the more money your business makes.
- Industry Expertise: Ideally you will pursue a collections agency that is related to your industry. This is important because they will be more familiar with the ins and outs of your business operations and products. This will make it easier to collect payment.
- Observation: Ask to see any sample collection letters they have. Or to watch/listen to any recorded conversations they have with customers. This will give you a better idea of their approach so that you can refine it for your customer.
- Find a Credible Payment Processor: Once you’ve found a suitable collections agency, then make sure to have the best payment processor for your collection agency merchant account. eMerchantBroker.com is the preferred processor for Collections Max, and Industry Leading Collections Software. We have assisted thousands of collection agencies and will acquire the payment processing solutions needed to get the job done.