There are several important factors to consider when starting a debt collection practice. The following article is intended to provide 3 easy steps to help you succeed at your collection practice. The concepts are not new ones, but if followed they will bring success in your collection endeavors.
The following 3 steps are critical for a successful debt collection practice. I will discuss each of these in detail, but for simplicity sake we will refer to them as the 3 S2019s of SUCCESS (System, Staff, Software).
1. SYSTEM 2013 In order to be successful, it is essential to have a well thought out system in place. Parts of your system should include areas such as identifying specific needs for staff, cross-training staff, delegating staff responsibilities, ways to track and increase efficiency of collection cases, determining what to do when growth comes, and making a plan for the organization of collection cases. The system that you choose or design is critical to your success and should be specific to your needs. If you are a new collection business or collection lawyer starting out you may only have a secretary to work with, if you are a larger firm you may have 6-8 people that handle your collections. Regardless of your situation, an organized system will improve your success. If you have more than 1 person handling your collection cases, most collection practices will tell you that it is most effective to have your staff specialize in specific areas of the debt collection life cycle specifically when it comes to tracking the legal life cycle of each case. Rather than having a debt collection staff that does it all, have staff members that specialize in areas of the collection life cycle. By adding this paradigm to your current system or the system you are designing, you can greatly improve the number of collection cases you can handle and ultimately improve your bottom line.
2. STAFF 2013 It is critical that you have staff that is motivated to work and work hard. One way to motivate your staff is to provide bonus programs or incentives. Statistics show that money and bonuses motivate employees to perform better. It also builds employee loyalty and gives them something to strive for. It is important to make sure that you have a way to track the efficiency of staff based on individual and collective performance. By building bonus programs or incentives into your SYSTEM, and monitoring the efficiency of your staff and collection business, you can greatly increase the efficiency of your collection practice. Finding staff that share the same work ethics and get along is also helpful. It goes without saying that you can get more work done if your staff works together as a cohesive team.
3. SOFTWARE 2013 Once you have your system defined and you have hired a successful staff team it is time to focus on software. Because of the complexity of the debt collection process, it is critical to have software that is as specialized as your debt collection practice. There are several off-the-shelf debt collection software packages. Some of these software packages offer to "do it all for you". It is best to steer clear of these types of packages. Generally they are very expensive and provide so much functionality that they don2019t provide specific functionality really well. The 3 areas that you should focus on for your software needs are as follows:
a. Software that does a good job at handling the financial portion of debt collection cases,
b. Software that handles the legal tracking process,
c. Software that handles the document preparation process.
By focusing on specific software that meets the needs of these 3 areas rather than a single software package that "does it all", ultimately you will spend less money on software and services and your collection business will become more organized and effective.
The biggest problem inherent with collection case management is that most collection agencies or collection attorneys do not have a good handle on the number of collection cases that they are managing and do not have effective software that allows them to track the collection cases through the litigation lifecycle. Our recommendation for software to improve efficiency in this area is a software product called Simplicity. This software is the only specialized software that we have found that focuses only on the legal aspect of collection cases. Developed by a successful collection lawyer, Simplicity keeps track of every aspect of the litigation process associated with debt collection cases. We have seen agencies and collection lawyers achieve phenomenal success in terms of collection case file organization, an increase in number of debt collection cases they are able to handle, and ultimately an increase to their bottom line.
In summary, by following the 3 S2019s of success and focusing on a good SYSTEM, effective STAFF, and specialized SOFTWARE, you will see your collection business expand, grow, and achieve the success you dreamed of.
For more information please visit us at http://www.seikosoft.com
About the Author:Christian Smith is a successful Debt Collection Consultant specializing in assisting collection agencies and law firms in setting up new collection practices or improving existing ones. He is also the co-founder of a debt collection software solution that allows the tracking of collection cases through the legal process.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - 3 S'S Of Debt Collection Success
