The First Annual Collection Oscar Awards

The Oscars for the Hollywood set are over.  Now, it’s your turn to help us choose some of   best Creditor Stories for 2009!

This contest is open to all Commercial Creditors only, no agencies or attorneys.  Simply post a story in one or all of the categories and we will put it up there for all our readers to vote one.  Winners will be announced on Wednesday, March 31, 2010.  All winners will receive a $25 gift certificate.

 There must be at least ten creditors per category, so submit your stories and let’s have some fun! 

Categories: 

Best Excuse by a Commercial Debtor

Best Sad Story by a Commercial Debtor

Best “How Stupid Do You Think I am Funny Story” by a Commercial Debtor

Most Continuous Ongoing Stall Tactic Story

Most Bounced Checks by Single Commercial Debtor

Most Money Owed in an Obvious Scam by a Commercial Debtor

Most Repeat Invoices Sent by a Creditor to a Single Debtor

Best Debtor “On Hold” Music or Commercial (like when they leave you on the phone?)

Best Threat Made by a Commercial Debtor   (The “It’s All YOUR Fault” Award)

Hello – Physic Hotline

“HELLO – PHYSIC HOTLINE”

“Please hold….” 

If this is how the phone is being answered when you call a client to inquire about your past due receivables, then you need to realize that you have other and better alternatives. 

Cultivate a degree of paranoia.  Keep in mind that if they are really out to get you or rather, not pay you, it is not being paranoid, It is just good common sense!  You can hope for the best, but you damn well better prepare for the worst! 

As the economy continues to stink no matter how the government tries to spin the story, all things being equal, if you continue doing business as you have, your risk factor increases by very frightening numbers.  The signs are there.  Read them. 

Not only do you have to stop counting chickens before they hatch, you have to be sure of the eggs getting to the incubator, that means front end protection.  If you have not been severely slammed yet, it is nothing but luck, and it is a safe bet your turn will come. 

Start looking at sales like a cop stop.  No matter why you are stopped – license, registration and proof of insurance, that is their big three.  

Your big three should provide you with a livable comfort zone.  

1.  Credit Application:  I say “credit app” and everyone goes “yep, got that one covered”.  You would be surprised how many credit applications get rammed through by heavy handed sales managers prior to verification.  So, just what is it that gets verified?  The correct corporation name and address, if the corporation is in good standing, and more available information free from the corporate division of most Secretary of State Offices.  Insist on more information.  Credit rating and references anyone? 

2.  Personal Guaranty:  Do you have a Personal Guaranty (PG)?  Was there verification of a driver’s license and social security number?  Does your PG have a stand alone section to be signed by an individual?  If their signature includes their position or title, then they signed as an officer not as an individual. 

3.  Proof of Delivery: What about Proofs of Delivery and the fact that post dated checks are not checks but merely promissory notes.  Have you deposited your bad checks the second time?  Does your client agreement have a clause pertaining to bad checks?  To maintain any profitability at times such as these, you must stay on top of your receivables, not the client’s excuses!  

Finally, do your terms include an interest rate in line with banks and credit cards?  Can you afford to without this legitimate source of revenue?  Your kindness and generosity for allowing over extensions of dollars or days will more likely result in a bankruptcy of one sort or another instead of payment. 

Call us!  Let us lead you through the maze of excuses that stand between you and your money.  You don’t need a physic, you need International Recovery Services!!!

Their Faith Pays Off: Debtors Turn To Bible

 Can the Bible help you pay off your credit cards? Christian debt-elimination programs, which use Old and New Testament passages as a framework to encourage financial responsibility, are surging in popularity, with seminars offered at churches across the United States. In South Florida, Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University has proven especially popular. Nine Palm Beach County churches and 15 in Broward are offering the course. Across the country, 4,000 churches started classes between Jan. 1 and Feb. 6, said Meg Alcorn, a Dave Ramsey spokeswoman. Alcorn said the average family that completes the program pays off $5,300 in debt and saves $2,700 within three months. This promise of a debt-free future is especially appealing during the recession, a “wake-up call” to Americans who pursued the dream of limitless prosperity, said Arthur Ally, president of the National Association of Christian Financial Consultants. “We are getting people to reassess the direction they’ve been going in,” said Ally, founder of The Timothy Plan, a group of funds that screens for conservative Christian values. The plan has about $500 million in assets and 40,000 shareholders. For Christians seeking a religious basis for a new financial direction, the Bible has proven a rich resource. According to Crown Financial Ministries, the Bible has more than 2,000 verses related to money and managing assets. Among them, Proverbs 22:7: “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.” Churches in South Florida are using such verses to get congregants to examine their personal fiscal conduct, an aspect of life not typically scrutinized in the spiritual world. At Parkridge Baptist Church in Coral Springs, pastors began noticing about a year ago that congregants were streaming in with stories of unemployment, foreclosures and unpaid bills. “Many in our community were living above their means,” the Rev. Daryl Brown said. “We started exploring what it would mean for the whole church to reassess on a full-scale basis.” The congregation was invited to participate in Dave Ramsey’s 13-week series after services each Sunday. About 150 of 430 members attend, Brown said. Among them is Duane Hershberger of Coconut Creek. Hershberger said he used to owe about $100,000 on credit cards and a home equity loan, and $150,000 on his mortgage. About five years ago, Hershberger and his wife, Patti, attended a Crown Financial Ministries series. After learning about their liabilities from a biblical perspective, they sold their house to pay off the loan and credit cards and now rent. They started a strict household budget which they still follow today. They place all their money in 10 cash envelopes, labeled in categories such as groceries, clothing and gifts, and only buy needed items if they have enough cash set aside. “Debt is a curse,” said Hershberger, 42, a father of two and Motorola program manager. “I hate debt now. I’ve become really hard-core.” Danny Best, a hairdresser in Boca Raton, is taking the Dave Ramsey series at South Palm Community Church in Boynton Beach, which he has attended for the past six years. Best, 31, said he and his wife, Danielle, entered their marriage three years ago with about $35,000 in debt to their parents and on their cars, student loans and credit cards. “I felt entitled to have things even though I didn’t have the money,” he said. Best said the couple has followed Ramsey’s advice and created an emergency savings account and paid off their credit cards. Now they are driving aging cars, which they paid for in cash, and building up six months’ worth of living expenses. “God works things out for good if we live by his principles,” Best said. “He’s entrusted this stuff to me. My job is to be the best manager of it that I can.”

Consulting The Scriptures

According to Crown Financial Ministries, the Bible has more than 2,000 verses related to money and managing resources. Among them:

“But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.” Deuteronomy 8:18

“Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow.” Proverbs 13:11

“On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.” 1 Corinthians 16:2

“The wicked borrows and does not pay back, the righteous are gracious and give.” Psalm 37:21

“People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” 1 Timothy 6:9-10

To read the entire article with photos, please visit http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/religion/fl-biblical-finance-20100301,0,3243633,full.story

What I think:  I don’t wish to discuss the pro’s or con’s of any religion but I do question priorities!  Look at our world, our country, our states, our cities, our business, even our families….We have manged to act in an honorable fashion yet continue finding ways to meet our obligations, so where does any religion jump to the aid of deadbeats before anyone else?  Is it right to believe that God doesn’t want you to be paid?  The world has gone mad!!!

Donkey in the Well

One day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a Well… The animal cried piteously for hours as The farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the Well needed to be covered up anyway; It just wasn’t worth it to retrieve the donkey. He invited all his neighbors to come over and Help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began To shovel dirt into the well. At first, the Donkey realized what was happening and cried Horribly. Then, to everyone’s amazement he Quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally Looked down the well. He was astonished at what He saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his Back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel Dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it Off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey Stepped up over the edge of the well and Happily trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds Of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well Is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of Our troubles is a stepping stone. We can get out Of the deepest wells just by not stopping. Never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up. Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

Free your heart from hatred – Forgive. Free your mind from worries – Most never happen.

Live simply and appreciate what you have.

Give more. Expect less NOW …….

Enough of that crap. The donkey later came back, And bit the farmer who had tried to bury him. The gash from the bite got infected and The farmer eventually died in agony from septic shock.

MORAL FROM TODAY’S LESSON: When you do something wrong, and try to cover your ass, it always comes back to bite you!

Now ask yourself, if you apply this same scenario to debt collection, who would be the farmer, who would be the townspeople and who would be the donkey?

TRUTHS

“The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple.” Oscar Wilde

The Truth:  International Recovery Services can collect your debts.

Explanation of the Truth:  Perhaps we can not collect all of them but we can collect a higher percentage than the national average with hard work and professional strategy that has proven successful for over 15 years.

“Everything you add to the truth subtracts from the truth.”   Alexander Solzhenitsyn

The Truth:   International Recovery Services can collect your debts in 30 days.

Explanation of the Truth:  Whereas we attempt to collect all debts over the course of the first 30 days from placement, most debts are not collected in 30 days.

“Falsehood has an infinity of combinations, but the truth has only one mode of being.”  Jean Jacques Rousseau Falsehood

International Recovery Services is the best and most successful collection agency in the world.

The Truth:  International Recovery Services is a very good collection agency and we highly suggest that you stay away from agencies that claim to be the best or market themselves using grandiose claims.

“If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.”   Albert Einstein

 The Truth:  International Recovery Services has the finest collectors available in the marketplace. Our professionalism is a cut above the rest. Our recovery results are extraordinary and we provide world class support.

Explanation of the Truth:   We do have great collectors but we are very aggressive. Our aggressiveness tends to overshadow our professionalism but we do produce excellent results and that is the name of the game. As far as support goes, we don’t mollycoddle clients to say the least. As long as you are paying us to do our job, let us do our job and we will get along just fine.

“I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think its hell.”   Harry Truman on himself 4/3/56

 The Truth:  Hell is merely a state of mind that commercial debtors sometimes think there in when they deal with International Recovery Services.

Explanation of the Truth:  As stated previously, we are a very aggressive commercial collection agency. If a debtor thinks he is in Hell when dealing with us then so be it. Hell is also a place where clients find themselves when they watch their hard earned money fly out the window when their debtors don’t pay.

The Real Truth:  You have accounts to collect. We collect accounts. You should use us to collect your accounts.

Attention: Former Mann Bracken Clients

International Recovery Services, Inc. and the Law Offices of Joseph F. Whitehead have agreed to make a consolidated effort to provide all former Mann Bracken clients with collection and litigation services to help mitigate any possible monetary losses you may incur. At this juncture, monetary losses may be possible regardless of what you have or have not been able to accomplish since the Mann Bracken fallout began. The sending of a cease and desist letter to Mann Bracken, including a demand for any and all funds collected on your behalf is critical.

In order for International Recovery Services to assist you in the collection and litigation of your accounts receivable, we will need any paperwork that you have for the accounts placed with Mann Bracken that they were actively pursuing. Requesting all information back from Mann Bracken and from any possible legal outsourcing venues that they utilized is important, if you do not have the information readily available for transmission to our offices. It is not our intent to take advantage of Mann Bracken clients by penalizing them with second placement fees or non contingency fees. International Recovery Services is a national collection agency with an in-house litigation team and a national collection attorney network. We will take all claims as first placement claims and you will receive all the advantages of our pre-collection services that we do for our many existing clients. We specialize in commercial collections but we will work consumer claims on a case by case basis.

If you are interested in a professional collection agency handling your bad debt accounts receivable before they get lost in the shuffle, please contact our office toll free at (800) 868-9298 or visit our website at www.abad-debt.com and we will be happy to design a collection campaign to suit your company needs.

Best regards,

Jared A. Schultz

CEO and Founder

International Recovery Services, Inc.

(954) 963-9298

Game Time!!!

Let’s play a game, I am going to ask you a few questions about your delinquent receivables and all you have to do is assign each question a percentage.  When you add up the percentage it must come out to the total of 100%. 

1.  How many of your 90 days past due have been contacted by your   in-house people? 

2.  With regards to these accounts, how many contacts were made on the average for each one? 

3.  What percent did not honor promises of payment in full or even show the courtesy of a return call? 

4.  After your people have made a number of no resolution calls, what percentage of their time is wasted by not calling fresher accounts that, by nature, will bring in more dollars? 

That was the question section.  How did you do? 

Understand that each call that did not result in dollars is actually your people teaching the debtor the benefits of negative reinforcement.  This type of debtor has learned that telling your in-house people whatever they want to hear and buys them more time.  Face it, these accounts will net you more dollars faster if they are being worked in our house instead of yours.  The odds are your people are paid on an hourly or salary program.  They might even get an incentive of some sort.  We are contingency based.  We are only paid in direct proportion to the dollars removed from your receivables.  Business is bad, the economy is bad and cash is king!  Make sure you get yours – stop stalling and making excuses like a debtor.  

Call us today @ 800-868-9298 and when you do, you will know that you picked the right place!  Check out Collection Industry News @ www.collectionindustrynews.com to see the articles in the left hand column of the front page.  You will see that International Recovery Services is listed as “Collection Agency of the Week” and we here at International Recovery Services, Inc. are grateful for the recognition of always putting our clients and the recovery of their funds as Job #1!  We will continue to fight the good fight on your behalf and look forward to serving you in the future!

From the Harvard Business Review….

Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey?

by William Oncken, Jr., and Donald L. Wass

The burdens of subordinates always seem to end up on the manager’s back. Here’s how to get rid of them.

 This article was originally published in the November–December 1974 issue of HBR and has been one of the publication’s two best-selling reprints ever.

For its reissue as a Classic, the Harvard Business Review asked Stephen R. Covey to provide a commentary.

Why is it that managers are typically running out of time while their subordinates are typically running out of work? Here we shall explore the meaning of management time as it relates to the interaction between managers and their bosses, their peers, and their subordinates.

Specifically, we shall deal with three kinds of management time:

Boss-imposed time—used to accomplish those activities that the boss requires and that the manager cannot disregard without direct and swift penalty.

System-imposed time—used to accommodate requests from peers for active support. Neglecting these requests will also result in penalties, though not always as direct or swift.

Self-imposed time—used to do those things that the manager originates or agrees to do. A certain portion of this kind of time, however, will be taken by subordinates and is called subordinate-imposed time. The remaining portion will be the manager’s own and is called discretionary time. Self-imposed time is not subject to penalty since neither the boss nor the system can discipline the manager for not doing what they didn’t know he had intended to do in the first place.

To accommodate those demands, managers need to control the timing and the content of what they do. Since what their bosses and the system impose on them are subject to penalty, managers cannot tamper with those requirements. Thus their self-imposed time becomes their major area of concern.

Managers should try to increase the discretionary component of their self-imposed time by minimizing or doing away with the subordinate component. They will then use the added increment to get better control over their boss-imposed and system-imposed activities. Most managers spend much more time dealing with subordinates’ problems than they even faintly realize. Hence we shall use the monkey-on-the-back metaphor to examine how subordinate-imposed time comes into being and what the superior can do about it.

Where Is the Monkey?

Let us imagine that a manager is walking down the hall and that he notices one of his subordinates, Jones, coming his way. When the two meet, Jones greets the manager with, “Good morning. By the way, we’ve got a problem. You see….” As Jones continues, the manager recognizes in this problem the two characteristics common to all the problems his subordinates gratuitously bring to his attention. Namely, the manager knows (a) enough to get involved, but (b) not enough to make the on-the-spot decision expected of him. Eventually, the manager says, “So glad you brought this up. I’m in a rush right now. Meanwhile, let me think about it, and I’ll let you know.” Then he and Jones part company.

Copyright © 1999 Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved..

Written By

William Oncken, Jr., was chairman of the William Oncken Corporation until his death in 1988. His son, William Oncken III, now heads the company.

Donald L. Wass was president of the William Oncken Company of Texas when the article first appeared. He now heads the Dallas–Fort Worth region of The Executive Committee (TEC), an international organization for presidents and CEOs.

Acceptance or Grace Unde Fire

 

Each new client will inevitably come up with the same question in the early part of our working relationship. How can we recover problem funds in such an expeditious fashion, that is seems easy?  

With decades of diametrically opposed points of view, you and your people live by the code “the customer is always right”.  We, on the other hand, know the debtor is always wrong.  The only problem is getting you to recognize when the customer becomes the debtor. 

It is time to get away from the “old school” approach to collecting monies owed to you by current customers.  Chances are, these are not the “old school” customers that you once dealt with, but rather they are the kind who are the hit a few times and then run for the hills type of customer that leaves you holding the bag while they move on to the next supplier. These are not customers, these are debtors! 

Face it! You are not a collection agency.  Customers don’t go 60, 90 or 180 days past due!!  They certainly don’t ignore you for a year or more either, but Debtors do!  Time to accept the reality of the situation, cool your heels and let the experts take over.  Call us!  We do not take “no” for an answer and we never will!  Call: 800-868-9298

The Settlement

Settlement is a funny word.  According to Webster’s this word used as a noun means: 

1 : the act or process of settling
2 : an act of bestowing or giving possession under legal sanction b : the sum, estate, or income secured to one by such a settlement 

Now, when the work SETTLEMENT first comes up, you don’t know whether you should puke or celebrate.  First, there are the “how much” questions:

 1. How much am I going to get?

 2. How much am I going to lose? 

Let us not forget the timeline, especially if litigation is already in progress.  You might ask yourself “is something better than nothing?”  You can bet your lucky stars that the debtor is offering a settlement only so he can minimize his own losses and not because he suddenly had an attack of conscience. 

Once he finds himself in litigation, it is a safe bet that the debtor will be contacting you, the creditor, directly to try to negotiate a settlement on their own.  Do not be tempted to accommodate them.  The promises they make are the same ones they made before you were forced to turn their account over to an agency.  Empty promises!  Let’s face it, if you ever see a dime, it won’t be even close to what is owed you.  Stop re-enforcing bad behavior  and call us! 

You need to know that your agency is working for you and that the attorney that they chose to litigate is working for you and not just a pay check.  You need an agency that fights for your best interests, one that can collect your monies with or without litigation.  You need someone on you side that will fight for your rights and for payment of the debt that is rightfully yours.  Ask yourself this:  “Why should the debtor walk away with your goods and / or services for only a fraction of the cost?”  You worked hard to be able to provide those goods and services to your clients, so why should the chosen few get it for almost nothing? 

Call us and let our experts explain how we can recover what is owed to you in away that will lessen the stress on you, the creditor!  Contact us @ (800) 868-9298