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Hours: 6am to 9pm
How Do I work?
I am a sole trader and do not engage any staff what you see if what you get
Mission Statement
"To provide receivable services within the highest ethical and moral standards,
to
accomplish unparalleled results anchored by a philosophy of performance and client
commitment and to provide personal
growth and opportunity to all staff & clients"
News and Announcements
HOW MUCH DOES A BAD DEBT COST?
Did you
know that a $5000 bad debt can actually cost your company $50,000 or even
$200,000?, well it's true.
If your profit
margin is 10%, you will have to find $50,000 worth of new business to pay
for that $5000 bad debt. If your profit margin
is only 2.5% you will need to generate
$200,000 worth of new business just to be in the position you were in before you
suffered
from a $5,000 bad debt. That's without considering what you spent in terms of time and
effort chasing the debt
and what about the other more obvious costs like solicitors or for
the time the salesman had to go round to try and get
a cheque, all the phone calls and
letters your staff had to do etc. All in all you could have spend another $5000 only
to
watch as the debtor went into liquidation and you get nothing as a result. If you had only
been tighter on credit
control or recognised the warning signs sooner!.
ac/dc Debt Collector say that things are getting very tough out there
and say that more
businesses are going to the wall faster now than at any time since the early nineties. ac/dc
debt
Collector recommends that you review your customer credit facilities on a regular
basis. Regular credit reviews are essential
and don't fall into the old trap of being tough on
new customers but relaxing after a couple of years for older "more reliable
ones" because
they had been good payers. Treat every customer as though they are on probation and
you may just save
yourself $200,000, or even stop
I Alan schwarz am an experienced collector who will make a "courtesy
call"
to your debtor approximately 3-10 days following the mailing of the first
letter. The purpose of this "courtesy call" is
to impress upon your debtor the
seriousness of your claim and your desire to resolve it as expeditiously as
possible.
It is not our intention to harrass, threaten or scare the debtor. Every call
is handled with the utmost in professionalism
and in compliance with all collection
laws.
Simply provide us with your debtors' telephone number and best time to
contact
him and leave the rest to us. We will make up to four attempts to contact the
debtor on your behalf. He will
be notified that he is being called by a collection
agency as a follow up to the letter he had received from us. We will
state that we
are calling as your representative and that this is merely a "courtesy call" to
explain the importance
of your claim. The debtors' response will be logged in the
debtor profile journal and be e-mailed to you. You will be notified
immediately of
and offer for settlement, payment arrangement or dispute of your claim.
As a full service debt collection
agency. he wants to make available every
opportunity for a claim to be resolved quickly and professionally.
The
companies - which offer to organise debt for a fee - must now conform to tighter
rules, or risk losing their consumer credit
licence.
The move follows a consultation with the credit industry, consumer groups, and the
debt management industry
over concerns about the practices of some companies.
Expensive advice
John Vickers, director general of Fair Trading,
said:
"Debt management companies provide services for a particularly vulnerable group of
consumers who may be in serious
financial difficulties.
"It is essential that these services are marketed and carried out with clarity and
fairness."
The new rules:
Consumers must be given adequate information before entering into an agreement.
Contracts should
specify the nature of the services provided, total cost to the
consumer, amount to be repaid and duration of the contract.
Contract terms should be fair, legible and in plain language.
A realistic assessment of the customer's financial circumstances
must be made before
advice is given, including verification of income and regular outgoings and any advice
must be in
the best interests of consumers.
Debt management companies must inform clients of the outcome of negotiations with
creditors,
as well as any developments with creditors such as the issue of default
notices or the threat of legal action.
Advertisements
and marketing must be accurate, clear and not misleading. Any
reference to 'savings' on repayments must make clear that
debt rescheduling will
usually lead to an increase in the size of the sum to be repaid and potentially affect the
consumer's
credit record.
No cold calling by personal visit.
Payments from consumers should normally be passed on to creditors
within 5 working
days of receipt of cleared funds.
The OFT plans to issue similar guidance in other sectors,
such as debt collecting,
credit broking, used car and home improvement services.
We have the flexibility to design
efficient collection systems to meet your needs.
Every Debtor should be assessed as soon as your trading terms have been
exceeded.
Three Types of Debtors
Those who will pay and have the means.
Those who have the
means, but dispute the debt.
Those who won't pay because they don't have the means.
Pre-Litigation package
customised to your needs
Phone calls.
Solicitor's Letter of Demand.
Field calls.
Location searches.
Bankruptcy
& Company searches.
Arrangements monitored.
Regular reporting to you.
Litigation Basic Steps
Complaint
filed with Court.
Service by post on companies.
Personal service on individuals.
Debtor has 21 days from service
to defend.
If no defence, apply for Default Order.
Enforcement Options
Summons for Oral Examination - A Summons requiring the Debtor to be
examined by the Court Registrar
as to his or her ability to pay. Useful for
determining further course of action.
Warrant to the Sheriff to seize and sell the Debtor's goods and/or real estate.
Attachment of Earnings - Court order
to the Debtor's employer to deduct part
of the debt every pay day and be paid to you.
Garnishee Order - Court order directing money owed to the Debtor be paid
directly to you.
Bankruptcy of Individuals.
Winding Up of Companies.
A Kinder, Gentler Way To Collect.(debt collection) (includes
list of resources)
A friendly nudge can work better than a harsh ultimatum when persuading a customer
to settle an
overdue account.
"I realized that a lot of people were terrified of visiting the dentist," she says, "so I
tried to
make the experience as painless as possible-even enjoyable."
A friendly, relaxed approach can work magic not only in soothing
dental patients but
also in getting a company's slow-paying customers to settle their debts,
The low-key approach that
has worked "The majority of collections in the 1950s and
1960s involved contacting blue-collar workers," Willis says. "The
perception at the
time was that in order to collect, you had to 'grind' people-be tough."
Most debtors today, however,
are senior citizens, "aging yuppies," . "People are much
more educated and less accepting of criticism and pressure."
Updating
The Formula
Despite changes in demographics and customer attitudes over the past 40 years,
collections experts say,
some practitioners still go about their work as if they were in
the 1950s.
But an increasing number of them are finding
that the old talk-tough approach to
collections doesn't work as well as it did then.
What does work?
One of the most
significant findings in consumer-collections research, Willis says, is
that "what happens during the first 30 seconds of
a collection call determines whether
that customer will pay you or not.
"The goal is to become the 'payment of choice'
based on the way you treat your
customers, especially during the first 30 seconds."
"We operate under the philosophy
that the majority of people are honest and want to
do the right thing," . 'The people we call are just like us. The only
difference is that
they have fallen on hard times, such as divorces, medical problems, family deaths, and
so on. As
such, we treat them with respect, dignity, and politeness."
Using this customer-friendly approach, schwarZ.com collects
millions of dollars
yearly, . The firm also receives many unsolicited letters from customers expressing
their appreciation
for the way they were treated, he says, and for the opportunity to
resolve their debts and get back on track with their
finances.
"In the justice system, you're innocent until proven guilty," "The same should be true
in collections. Nine
out of 10 times, customers want to pay you. If they do not, you
need to start with the assumption that they have valid
reasons."
For example, maybe the customer withheld payment because of something your firm
did or failed to do. Perhaps
the shipment or the invoice never arrived, the product
didn't work, or the service wasn't satisfactory
Assume when she
calls clients for the first time that there are valid explanations for
nonpayment. For that reason, she prepares herself
mentally for each call by making
sure she has a positive attitude. "I visualize a positive encounter every time I pick
up
the phone," she says.
The positive attitude-her concern and interest-get through to that person, she believes.
The
experience for the person being called, she says, is completely unlike that of
someone called by a collection specialist
who conveys resentment, anger, or
frustration.
"I want to make the experience as painless as possible. If defenses go
up, rapport goes
down."
Friendly Ploneers
One of the early practitioners of the customer-friendly approach to collections
is Jack
Renton. In the 1960s, Renton was the credit manager for a construction firm in
Australia, where he found that
applying friendly, colorful reminder stickers to
customers invoices increased on-time payments substantially.
While
he continued working for the company, Renton and his wife, Patience, began a
part-time business printing and selling such
stickers.
"The Denver-based company also sells other business-oriented stickers such as
"Thank you for your business,"
"Thank you for your timely payments," and "20 years
in business."
The firm is also expanding its line to include labels
and holiday cards.
"Most billings lack any type of relationship-building," says Peter Renton. "Companies
spend a lot
of money getting new customers but never spend another dollar to keep
them."
In fact, a firm's collection practices
can send customers running in the opposite
direction, collection experts say. "If I have been paying on time for a number
of years
and then, one month, I'm late by two or three days, I would really resent receiving a
collection call," Renton
says.
A company that decides to take a customer-friendly approach to collections might
consider the following methods,
which have worked for others:
Ward off collection problems with an early dose of thoughtful friendliness. Some
firms
that attach Renton's International Stationery's thank-you stickers to initial
invoices find that it sharply cuts the need
for subsequent collection calls.
Before you place a call, get yourself into a positive frame of mind. "Visualize yourself
and
the customer having a positive interaction," emphasizes Frischer. "See the
customer wanting to pay you. This will definitely
come across when you call."
Begin with questions, not demands. "Your first call should be to find out what the
situation
is," suggests Shaw. Begin with something like: "We believe we shipped you
these items and that there is payment due. Can
you help us understand where things
might have gone awry?"
Frischer's initial statement is often along the lines of:
"We noticed that your invoice is
X number of days old. We want to make sure that you received the invoice, that you
are
happy with the service you received, and if there is anything else we can help you
with."
Emphasize listening skills.
Once you pose your opening question to the customer, you
should listen. "You have to be able to listen to and understand
customers and be able
to convey to them that you are listening and understanding," says Willis, who refers to
this technique
as "bridging"--getting yourself on the customer's side of the issue.
Use communication and negotiation skills. Once you
understand the situation and can
offer a resolution, you need to state the resolution clearly to the customer, reach an
agreement
on payment terms, and sell the customer on the benefits of complying with
the terms.
If you collect by mail, try
"friendly reminder" stickers. "If a customer has 50 bills to
pay but only has enough money to pay 10, you need a way for
your invoice to stand
out-in a friendly way," Renton says.
He recommends a test mailing in which you would affix "friendly
reminder" stickers
to half of your delinquent invoices and nothing to the other half. Many companies that
do this find
that they get far better results from the mailings with the stickers.
The stickers are appropriate
for companies that bill consumers and small to
medium-sized companies. "They're not going to be too effective if you're
billing a
large corporation," Renton says.
Betty Prentice, manager of credit and collections at Ted's Jewelers in Dothan,
Ala.,
found that on-time payments doubled the first month she used the stickers. "Some
customers made payments within
two days," she says. "Others brought their payments
in person, adding favorable comments about the stickers."
When Prentice
calls customers who owe, she uses a friendly approach: "I'm reviewing
your account and notice we haven't received a payment.
In the past you were always
so prompt. Is there something we can do to help?"
Be persistent. At Tulsa's Commercial Finance
Services, which collects from
longoverdue accounts, polite persistence is considered a necessity.
During the first few
calls, customers may vent anger and frustration. Nonetheless,
CFS's account officers continue calling and continue to be
pleasant. By the fourth or
fifth call, some customers respond with "Are you guys always this nice?" or "You're
not going
to yell at me like everyone else did, are you?"
Once the account officers have achieved this rapport, they can begin to
understand the
customers' situations, recommend solutions, and get paid-when no other collector
Calling
Past Due Customers
The most direct way to resolve disputes and bring customers current
Diplomatic & Firm &
Effective
Don’t have the time to make all the calls you need?
WE CAN HELP
Our PHONE POWER service includes:
Optional interlink with your system so we can bring your computer up on our
screen
Experienced, professional credit
personnel
Reports
Scripting
Dedicated line
bOn The Scene
Need to see a customer right away?
Don’t
have the time & people to do it?
Sometimes personal contact is a must. Delay can mean loss of your receivable &
the
customer too.
That’s where we can help!
Our Credit Management Service team is here for you. We’ll
visit your customer in
your name just like we were on your payroll.
What the service includes:
Contact within 72
hours. Professional and diplomatic
A photograph of your customer’s place of business
A full report on the outcome
of our conference
Special alert to any unresolved disputes
Recommendations to protect your interests
How I
charge:
10% on collection to your door when cheque/funds are cleared
Letters are geared toward payment coming directly to you. When you receive
payment, just return the acknowledgment
and our service stops.
If the customer contacts us, or if mail is returned, we will notify you.
At the end of the
Service, you receive a printout showing results.
1st - A final notice in your name - gives your customer a chance to
respond
and preserve good will… Choose One
Experienced collectors
I have the experience and training to maintain a consistent
high rate
of recovery. Our training includes sales as well as collection tactics to assist our
collectors in getting
past the gatekeeper, identifying the decision maker, overcoming
objections, and convincing your customer it is in their
best interest to pay your bill.
Each collector has the experience and ability to adjust their techniques as needed to
collect
your accounts.
Flexible Approach
maintains a client profile that identifies the tenor of the collection tactics you
want us
to use on your accounts. Our standard objective is to collect your accounts while
maintaining your relationship
with your customer. However, each contact becomes
more threatening as circumstances warrant. Further, if you have an account
that
requires immediate legal action, we can usually get suit filed within 24 hours,
depending on the jurisdiction.
Personalized Service
The same staff member will handle your account from beginning to end. Our
acknowledgement will
identify the collector handling each account so you know
whom to contact should the need arise. That collector will keep
you abreast of the
status of your account either by phone, email, fax, or regular mail, whichever you
prefer.
Comprehensive
Reports
I am trained by myself to report developments to you as they occur or at least every
thirty days,
whichever is more frequent. Summary reports listing each account or just
listing the statistics can be tailored to meet
your needs. Whatever statistical
information you require can be emailed to you in an Excel format. If you have more
than
one employee placing accounts, separate accounts can be established for each
employee.
Quality Hungry solicitor Forwarding
If
we are unable to collect an account, we forward the account onto a solicitor in the
debtor's area who specializes
in commercial law.
We know your concern is to get the account collected, regardless of whether
we collect it or the attorney collects
it.
ADVANTAGES OF OUTSIDE COLLECTIONS
1. You are a specialist at what you do. Collection firms do not typically
design their
own computer systems, nor do they build their own office furniture, nor do they
manufacture telephone,
photocopier or other office equipment. We don't all clean our
own offices, or plow snow or mow lawns or do landscaping
or cater our office parties.
We often retain outside companies to help us in performing these services for us. Why
not
consider hiring us to help you with an area in which we are intimately familiar,
and use your time and resources elsewhere
(on more profitable customers, for
instance)?
2. Putting some distance between yourself and/or your office staff once
your customer
becomes delinquent is generally considered to be more professional. This may, in
turn, increase the likelihood
that the customer will return to you, on your terms, in the
future. Do your best to avoid burning bridges - use a professional
to represent you.
3. Delegating responsibility for collection of delinquent accounts to professionals
outside your
organization should remove concern that your collection techniques may
violate state or federal law.
4. In many jurisdictions,
corporations must be represented in court by an attorney
(there is no such thing as a pro se corporation in many jurisdictions).
5. Failing to pursue delinquent accounts (or pursuing them ineffectively) may attract
more delinquent accounts as "word
may get out."
CuNegotiated Fee Schedules
Various Levels of CCMS Include:
FasTrac Prompt Payment Systems
Onsite
Person to Person Debtor Contact (FDPCA
Compliance)
Senior Account Manager Assigned to Client
Customized EDI/Electronic
Data Interchange
Customized Statistical Reporting
In the event legal action is required fees will be listed and presented
separately
for the consideration of the client.
TIPS FOR AFTER YOU GET A CUSTOMER, BUT BEFORE (OR
DURING THE TIME) A CUSTOMER
BECOMES DELINQUENT:
1. Make photocopies of cheques used by customers in payment on any invoice or
bill. If this is
impractical, you should do it for all new customers, and then verify
that this information is still accurate when subsequent
payments come in.
WHY? Bank information (as well as other asset information) is crucial to
enforcement of judgments.
This small investment of time, to record information
which is in your hands for only a short period of time, can pay great
dividends later.
2. Turn over delinquent accounts for outside collection quickly - after the first
broken promise
or refused or unreturned telephone call.
WHY? There is a significant drop-off in the collectability of accounts after
90 days
past due, and then again after 180 days. In fact, a recent survey by the Commercial
Law League of America found
that the chances of collecting an account placed after
90 days is 72%; after 180 days, 44%, and after one year, 29%. While
it is true that
turning over accounts comes at the expense of a fee, you should view this step as a
necessary one, where
you hire experienced professionals to do something for you, in
order that you may spend your valuable time and resources
on more profitable
customers. Not only are successful collections like "found money," they also serve as
a message that
your business is not an "easy mark," and will hopefully deter future
delinquencies, not only from the customer in question,
but also from all of your
current and prospective customers.
Also, there are practical concerns about being able to
successfully document and
prove a collection case after significant time has elapsed (i.e., your staff may change,
your
record-keeping may call for the purging of accounts, the customer could
relocate). Most important of all, the statute of
limitations may bar a collection action
after the passage of too much time from the date of contract (as little as three
years in
some jurisdictions, as long as six years in others).
3. Always credit customers' payments to their oldest
invoice or bill (unless they
specify otherwise in writing).
WHY? This goes directly to the statute of limitations issue.
Let's assume that you
have a relationship with customer which goes back over ten years, and that this
customer was never
current in payment, yet made consistent late payments so that the
size of the past due balance remained relatively constant,
on average, through time. If
you credit payments to the newest invoices, you will have a delinquency which is over
ten
years old, and thus, time-barred by the statute of limitations. If, however, you
credit payments to the oldest invoices,
you will technically have a zero balance (even
after adding finance charges on a monthly basis) as of approximately the
date where
the total of most recent purchases, when added together from most recent to oldest,
equals the total balance
due. This will invariably produce a more recent date for the
start of the delinquency, which, for these purposes, is to
your advantage.
4. Get delinquent customers' promises to pay in writing.
WHY? If your customer promises now to
pay at some point in the future, this can
only be viewed as an attempt to "buy time." While it may be true that your customer
does
not have the money at this time, use this situation to your advantage, by agreeing
to wait a short time (no more than 30
days), but only if your customer puts this
promise to pay in writing. Remember, each stage of conducting business consists
of
exchanging something of value; when a customer becomes delinquent, this
temporarily upsets that balance of exchange.
In order to avoid being totally at the
mercy of this customer, you should set out to continue the "give and take," rather
than
pleading for payment. Remember, you can always say "enough is enough" and file suit
- you are doing your customer
a favor by not doing so, and you should be rewarded
with a favor in exchange.
If you don't obtain this promise in writing,
and you eventually sue the customer, you
should not be surprised if the customer asserts that you failed to live up to
the contract
in some way (by raising affirmative defenses or even a filing a counterclaim for
damages against your company),
in order to buy more time, or to obtain a result which
is more to their liking, through advantageous use of the legal system.
Get the promise
in writing, set out to defeat the credibility of bogus defenses, and hopefully you will
see more of
your money sooner.
5. Consider sending a survey to customers after you have completed your work,
but before payment
is due.
WHY? First of all, this is good customer service. You may want to include a business
reply envelope, and perhaps
even offer a gift certificate on the customer's next
purchase in exchange for sending back a completed survey. This survey
is especially
useful for first-time customers, or existing customers who suddenly purchase a "big
ticket" item. Beyond
the customer service aspect, you will learn early on if there are
any perceived problems from the customer's point of view,
and you may be able to
utilize a favorable survey or even lack of a response as evidence of customer
satisfaction if
a dispute occurs later.
so why outsource???????????
Outsourcing your credit department is a viable alternative
for small business.
Some small business owners today have the challenging task of managing all aspects
of their company.
Managing the accounts receivable function of their business can
take valuable time away from selling, networking and marketing
of the business.
Checking credit references and chasing delinquent receivables can be exhausting for a
sales driven
owner trying to grow the business with limited staffing and time.
Typically, companies outsource because of staffing issues,
a lack of expertise in a
certain function or for cost saving measures. More and more businesses today are
going outside
of their company for payroll, accounting, human resources, computer
and data processing services. The virtual company is
becoming a reality and the next
evolution in outsourcing is the credit department.
A concern all small business owners should have is selling their product or service on
credit
to a company that is not creditworthy. Business owners may have access to
commercial credit information on a particular
company, but having the time and credit
management expertise to interpret the credit scores and ratings can be tricky.
Making
the right credit decision is critical because writing off just one account to bad debt can
have a dramatic effect
on a small business’s bottom line. Furthermore, letting
receivables slip past terms can choke a company’s cash
flow desperately needed for
capital improvements and business growth.
The small business that is sales and service
driven with little or no human resources
must look at using a credit department consultant. Slacking off on invoicing,
accurate
credit risk assessment and collection of receivables can result in unexpected surprises
small business cannot
afford. An experienced credit department consultant is someone
you can lean on when making that critical credit or collection
decision. A third party
credit department professional can act as your credit manager implementing systems
that decrease
collection cycles and bad debt, increasing cash flow for your business.
You have a customer that won't pay
the money he owes you. Here's a trick that
might work if your customer has a business. But, even if he doesn't, you might
be able
to think of some leverage - many people have part-time money-makers, or profitable
hobbies.
Have a friend
call this deadbeat. Your friend must say that you referred him to your
customer. Your friend will say that you said the
customer was very good at ....
(whatever his business or hobby entails) ... and that he (your friend) is interested in
doing
business - buying whatever the bum sells, hiring him, whatever. Let them
discuss the business to some extent - some big
but fictitious project.
Then, at just the right moment, your friend will bring up the question of references.
He must
ask, almost casually, "This will be quite a big contract (purchase). You will
be able to provide me with a couple of references,
won't you?"
Your customer will be so scared of losing this lucrative deal when your friend finds
out he has bad credit
with you, the deadbeat will pay your bill without further delay!
ANALOGY!!!!!!!!!!
Imagine you business operations as a hot air balloon attempting to keep in the air and possibly
reach some new frontiers.
The hot air balloon is made of the right materials, it is well
equipped, and its compass (or GPS apparatus) is well tuned.
The only problem is that the
sandbags, attached to the bottom of the balloon's basket, cannot be detached. The sandbags
are
used in order to ground the balloon securely prior to take off. But, now you want to move
forward.
Delayed receivables
are similar to the sandbags of the hot air balloon. Your business wants to
move forward and flourish, possibly reach new
frontiers, but the effect of debtors delaying
payments is a burden.
release the burden call
me 0414 781639 in AUSTRALIA
OR 61 414781639 OVERSEAS,WHEREVER YOU ARE I WILL COLLECT THAT CORPORATE DEBT OR my name is
not Alan Schwarz(let me at them)
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