When I grow up

Kids!  Aren’t they great?  “Mom, when I grow up I want to be a fireman”.  “When I grow up I want to be a police officer, a teacher, President, etc., etc., etc.”.  All of these, mind you, are noble professions with delusions of grandeur!!  Now, in all of my years, I don’t believe any of these kids have said “ Mom, I want to be in debt collections or I wanna work for a collection agency”  In fact, if that did happen, I would be curious to see the look on that parents face.  These other positions and aspirations, as you know, are noble and prestigious positions, so why would a child aspire to be in debt collections?  Well, let me share with you my thoughts and why I AM proud to be a 24+Year veteran in this industry.

I have had the true pleasure to meet with literally thousands of businesses over my years, in just about every industry from medical and dental to lawn care to HVAC.  Some of the greatest, kindest, most inspirational, entrepreneurial and generous people you could ever hope to encounter in a lifetime.  Each of them with the daunting task of maintaining and growing a business, many times a small business.  The American Dream!  They employ great people, buy goods and services from others and keep making this country the greatest place on Earth.  Often times they share their story of how they came to this place in their life and speak with pride about how their business provides fantastic goods or services to their customers.  I have absolutely loved the stories!!  Then, we start to talk about their accounts receivables, and like a light switch that was flipped, you see the joy and pride turn to frustration, sadness and dare I say anger.  This, unfortunately, is a point of pain for them.  They have provided a product or service that they believe, in their hearts, is a great thing for their customers, clients, patients, etc.  Now, these people are not paying them.  WHY?  They are working their tails off, employing people, buying from others, only to be refused payments.  Now keep in mind that this is usually a smaller portion of their overall business, but one of the biggest frustrations.

Can you imagine going to work and your employer just didn’t pay you?  They face this on a fairly regular basis.  By the way, the last time I checked, if you walk out of a store without paying, you get arrested for stealing!  So, as I continue my discussions, each and every one of these businesses are more than willing to work with someone who has fallen on hard times.  ALL of them seem willing to bend over backwards for their customers.  Yet, some of these people will not even return a call, send an e-mail, send a little bit of money to show good faith.  Thus, leaving the business holding the bag.  Is that really fair?  I would like to see 60 minutes or 20/20 or Dateline do a special coverage of that injustice!  Maybe …… someday?

So, when I am able to step in and help these small businesses, it is a great feeling.  They simply want to be paid, and rightfully so, for what they earned.   I am able to help them to either get paid, or to at least help open up the lines of communication with their customer.  Again, some people have fallen on some unexpected hard times, especially in today’s economy.  However, these businesses, at a minimum, deserve to be communicated with and not just ignored.

These kids dream of doing good things for people and helping people.  I feel that is exactly what I am privileged to do for these businesses.  You CAN help ousource your accounts receivables in a diplomatic way, and in doing so, help all that are involved.  What I get to do is a noble profession and I am proud to be in the collection agency industry!  I would also be proud if my kids said “Dad, I would lke to grow up and be in……… debt collections”  Wow, dare I say, NOBLE ! : )