Fireside Chat: Two Collection Experts on Brand Reputation, The Industry, and Finding a True Partner

It is November, that means it is time to build a fire, crack open a bottle of your favorite beer or whiskey and have a chat by the fire. NCS Companies VP of Sales, Philip Eboli did just that. Last week, Philip spoke to Glen Olson of Olson Cash Flow Consulting Services LLC, a friend and partner for 10+ years. The conversation was not as tense or strategic as a chess game. It was casual but dove into the true meaning of a business partner and the state of the asset management industry.

A fresh log was added to the fire, and a pair of ice cold beers were opened. Philip kicked off the conversation by asking Glen to recount his 30+ years in the industry. Holding every position from the billing department to collection payments, this is an incredibly unique perspective. Similar in many ways to an actual chess game, in asset management you are collecting a business's debt from other businesses. You need to make very strategic and careful moves to achieve your objective, if not you could leave your king or queen trapped. 

By the time the fire turned into hot embers and Philip broke out his favorite bottle of Scotch whiskey, the conversation went deep. Here’s what they discussed….

Philip: In your experience, how can a Collections Partner successfully protect a client’s brand reputation during the collections process?

Glen: You bring up a great point about protecting the brand, it is one of the most important things you need to do. Here is a relevant example for you, when a client hires you, your business is NCS so you are “technically” collecting as NCS. But, to your client, and their clients, you represent their brand. So professionalism is essential.

There are other key values you need to follow to protect your clients brand: be courteous, kind, and a good listener. When you follow these values, you can turn a business you are attempting to collect from back into a client buying from you once again. This is one of the things I love most about NCS, when you work with a client you bring their clients back to the table to start buying from them. This is a tricky balance, you are curating a sales and finance parity. 

Philip: What characteristics do you believe define a good versus bad collections partner?

Glen: A good collections partner takes key steps to reduce the volume of escalations. If you don’t, and an issue with a client is escalated to the CFO, that is when I get called in. I have had situations where a collections agency had issues that were escalated 10+ times to the CFO. And the cause of the escalations was easily preventable, the agency just needed to take the time to properly understand their service agreement. This is not a good situation, this is why I am so careful about who I partner with. 

Another essential attribute of a good collections partner is the ability to evolve. You need to evolve and adapt your processes to align with the existing systems and processes of your clients. You also need to be able to evolve with the times. I mean look at NCS, it has been around for over 30 years, you have constantly evolved, and will continue to. Or what about AI? It is having a huge impact on the industry. There is more coming down the pipeline with cash flow management. We will all need to evolve to the changes that AI will bring to the technology and software we are reliant on everyday.

We can’t talk about the attributes of a good collections partner without discussing collection rates.There is a misconception that the most attractive collections partners offers the lowest contingency fee. That is untrue, say you hired an agency who offered you a 10% contingency fee but only collected $1,000. You could have hired another agency with a slightly higher contingency fee but they collected $10,000 and got key clients back buying from you. It should be a simple answer about which agency had a bigger impact on your business.

The embers in the fire have turned cold and the moon is high in the night sky, casting a glow through the window. It is time to wrap it up, so if you take one point from Glen and Philip’s conversation, it is that a true partner can help you navigate a game of chess like a world champion. Integrating seamlessly with your existing processes, communicatively effectively and professionally, and yielding a high net return on your investment.