Size does matter.
In an age where the need to recover bad debt is more critical than ever, emotions are high, and clients are eager to turn their bad debt into bottom-line revenue. Speaking truthfully, because emotions are high, clients are also vulnerable and can be easily persuaded by promises that “bigger is better”; but what do you get when you partner with an entity that is so large? The mega-agencies might use intriguing promises of employing hundreds of collectors but may fail to mention that 50-60% of those collectors are in third-party offshore call centers in order to handle call volumes and offset costs.
The natural claim that these agencies make is that your accounts will be worked harder than the smaller agencies are capable of, but in fact, the problems and complaints with large agencies are on the rise, not only with the debtor, but with the client as well. Frustrations with cultural and accent barriers result from real and psychological distance, and not necessarily nativism. Forbes reported that “call centers are still not universally seen as a potential generator of profits rather than costs” because mounting criticism of these offshore practices diminish the bottom line. American job loss equates to 250,000 jobs in Bangalore alone and over 700,000 in the Philippines. Despite these facts, large collection agencies continue to pass off your debt collection efforts to offshore call centers even in the face of the growing displeasure of debtors that refuse to talk to someone 10,000 miles away.
These agencies might have more collectors able to make more calls, but if the efforts are unsuccessful because Americans refuse to trust offshore call centers, what are you gaining?
At Account Resolution Team, we see this every day. We get calls from new clients that are angry with their previous agency because their patients or debtors feel stonewalled and disheartened when they can’t adequately communicate with the person on the other end of the line. Not only that, will these call centers ever realize that as your collection agency they represent the face of your company.
These barriers are real. And they cost you money.
Account Resolution Team has been independently owned and operated for almost 60 years. Richly enmeshed in the communities we live and work in, we know how to talk to your debtors through all the phases of collections; therefore, we have a recovery rate that surpasses the industry average. Not only are our live agents still right where they started, in Morristown, TN, our agency was instrumental in the development of the leading debt collection software used in North America which provides unparalleled digital solutions. Virtual agents, chatbots, pay portals, SMS and unattended messaging, alongside our savvy live collectors make paying debts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week a breeze.
Trust us. Size does matter.
Interested in learning about contingency-only collections with ART? Give us a call today! 423-586-7613